2023 Fall Shapiro Lecture ■ The Shapiro Lecture will be offered Virtually ■ Lecture will begin at 2:00 pm CT. ■ Please register below to receive the meeting link
Sibling Rivals: How the Idea of Chosenness Unites and Divides Jews and Christians The idea that God specially chose the people of Israel is central to the theology of the Hebrew Bible yet is among the most maligned and misunderstood biblical concepts. This talk aims to introduce major aspects of the Hebrew Bible’s election […]
It's complicated! Network analysis and Jewish-Christian relationships in the Babylonian Talmud. This talk will introduce a new set of methodological tools for understanding the connections between Jews and Christians in late antiquity. Together with a zoologist, Prof. Yossi Yovel, Bar-Asher Siegal will use network analysis, commonly used in sciences, to generate models of inter-religious […]
What Bible, Whose Bible: Studying the Scripture of Others “The” Bible does not exist. Different religious communities have different Bibles, with different books, in different orders, and different languages—and this matters. How can we be fully sensitive to these when we study the scriptures of others? By reflecting on The Jewish Annotated New Testament and […]
Winter Shapiro Lecture Synopsis: Do Jews and Christians Love the Same Way? For centuries, Christian anti-Judaic prejudice insisted that whereas Christianity is about love, Judaism is about ... something else, like law, or justice, or obedience. Rabbi Shai Held's new book argues that Judaism, no less than Christianity, is a religion of love. And yet Judaism […]
Ranana L. Dine Ph.D. "Surely Bury: Jewish and Catholic Law, Responding to Suicide, and the Work of Catholic-Jewish Studies" When it comes to tricky questions of ethics and law, Jewish and Catholic traditions at times converge, and at times develop distinct approaches. In the history of Jewish and Catholic responses to suicide both patterns emerge. […]
Rabbi Ariel Evan Mayse Ph.D. Rewilding the Tree of Life: Jewish Law and Theology in the Time of Climate Change. This lecture will explore how deep engagement with Jewish law and theology may help us respond to the rapidly mounting threats of global climate change and ecological degradation. Grappling with the full range of Jewish […]
The Role of Faith in Times of Crisis Panelists: Kathryn Lohre, Chief of Staff, St. Olaf College Karen Ross, PhD, Director of the Pathways Program, Catholic Theological Union Tariq El Amin, Resident Imam, Masjid al-Taqwa, Chicago
2026 Spring Shapiro Lecture | Mara H. Benjamin, Ph. D. Dominion, Stewardship and Other Ways of Being Earthling Many contemporary religious communities have increasingly prioritized climate action as a calling and a responsibility. Yet the classical teachings of Western traditions on the created world can hinder undertaking the climate action we need now. This lecture […]