Tikvah

The Tikvah Workshop on the idea of Messianism will provide a format for eight scholars from a variety of fields to discuss various developments in the history of the idea of Messianism within the Jewish tradition. Participants will include specialists in Bible and ancient Judaism, rabbinics, medieval Judaism and kabbalah, and modern Jewish thought and philosophy. The concept of an anointed savior or redeemer emerged in the Biblical world and was appropriated, modified, and enriched by reflection in subsequent periods. The workshop will consider the meaning of the idea of a personal Messiah, the special roles of divine agency and the role of human action, the relationship between the messianic coming and historical development, the relationship between messianism and politics, the role of ethics in messianism, and the way in which messianic themes were adopted and altered in the middle ages, the early modern period, and in the twentieth century. One goal of the workshop is to consider, in light of this background, the ways in which a contemporary conception of messianism might play a role in understanding the roles of politics, ethics, and Halakhah within Judaism in today’s world.

 

Michael Morgan, Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies, Indiana University

Steven M. Wasserstrom, The Moe and Izetta Tonkon Professor of Judaic Studies and the 
       Humanities, Reed College, Portland

Shai Held, Department of Religion, Harvard University

Benjamin Pollock, Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Michigan State 
       University

Kenneth Seeskin, Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Religion, Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick 
       Professor of Jewish Civilization

Annette Y. Reed, M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Assistant Professor in the Humanities, Department
       of Religious Studies and Program in Jewish Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Steve Weitzman, Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies, Stanford University

Elishava Carlebach, Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies, Columbia University

 

First Meeting:
        September 13th and September 14th, 2009.  Princeton University

Second Meeting:
       May 23rd and May 24th, 2010.  Princeton University
 

Third Meeting:
       May 22nd and May 23rd, 2011.  Princeton University