Elias泭Sacks
- Associate Professor
- RELIGIOUS STUDIES
- JEWISH STUDIES
泭泭 Office:泭Eaton Humanities 286
勛圖厙 Prof. Sacks:
Elias Sacks joined the 勛圖厙 of Colorado Boulder faculty in 2012, and works on the Jewish tradition, religious thought, and theories and methods in the study of religion. After receiving his A.B. from Harvard 勛圖厙 and studying at the Hebrew 勛圖厙 of Jerusalem, he earned an M.A. in Religion from Columbia 勛圖厙 (2007) and a Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton 勛圖厙 (2012). His research focuses on the modern period, with particular areas of interest including Jewish thought, Jewish-Christian relations, philosophy of religion, religion and politics, hermeneutics, and religious ethics. His first book,泭泭(Indiana 勛圖厙 Press, 2017), offers a far-reaching reassessment of the account of Jewish practice developed by Moses Mendelssohn, the eighteenth-century philosopher generally seen as the founder of modern Jewish thought. Sacks is currently working on a second book泭on the nineteenth-century thinker Nachman Krochmal, one of modernitys first Eastern European Jewish philosophers.泭He has also written on medieval and modern figures such as Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Jacob Taubes, and published some of the first English translations of Mendelssohns Hebrew works in泭a泭泭(Brandeis 勛圖厙 Press, 2011, finalist for the National Jewish Book Award).泭
Sacks is the Modern Judaism editor for the泭泭(De Gruyter), and is involved in grant-funded projects on泭Jews of color in the United States泭and泭. He holds leadership positions in the Association for Jewish Studies and Society of Jewish Ethics, and previously served as Director of The Jewish Publication Society.
Areas of Research Related to Jewish Studies:
Jewish thought, Moses Mendelssohn, Nachman Krochmal, Jewish-Christian relations, philosophy of religion, religion and politics, hermeneutics, and religious ethics
Courses:泭
- God (FYSM 1000)
- Religion, Ethics, and Politics (RLST 2400)
- Judaism (RLST/JWST 3100)
- God and Politics (RLST/JWST 4170-5170)
- Is God Dead? (RLST/JWST 4180-5180)
- Love & Desire (RLST/JWST 4190-5190)
- Topics in Judaism: Bible in Judaism and Christianity (RLST/JWST 4260-5260)
- Introduction to the Academic Study of Religion (RLST 6830)
- Capstone in Jewish Studies (JWST 4000)
- Undergraduate Independent Study (RLST 4840/JWST 4900)
- Graduate Independent Study (RLST 5840/RLST 6840/JWST 5900)
Recent and Forthcoming Publications (Selected):
Can God Reject the Jewish People? Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik, Supersessionism, and Modern Jewish Thought,泭Journal of Textual Reasoning泭(forthcoming)
Moses Mendelssohn,泭in泭Jewish Virtue Ethics, eds. Geoffrey Claussen, Alex Green, and Alan Mittleman (SUNY Press, 2023), 241-254
Modes of Interpretation in Jewish Ethics,泭in泭Encyclopedia of Religious Ethics, 3 vols., eds. William泭Schweiker, Maria Antonaccio, Elizabeth Bucar, and David Clairmont (Wiley-Blackwell, 2022), 2:831-840
Liturgical Counter-Symbols: Jacob Taubes, Franz Rosenzweig, and the Politics of Redemption,泭Rosenzweig Jahrbuch泭12 (2021): 127-141
Exegesis and Politics Between East and West: Nachman Krochmal, Moses Mendelssohn, and Modern Jewish Thought,泭Harvard Theological Review泭114.4 (2021): 508-535
The Promise and Perils of Perplexity: Jewish Philosophy and Public Culture, Yesterday and Today, in泭The Future of Jewish Philosophy, volume 21 of泭The Library of Contemporary Jewish Philosophers, eds. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson and Aaron Hughes (Brill, 2018), 79-97
Poetry, Music, and the Limits of Harmony: Mendelssohns Aesthetic Critique of Christianity, in泭Sara Levys World: Bach, Gender,泭and Judaism in Enlightenment Berlin, eds. Nancy Sinkoff and Rebecca Cypess, Eastman Studies in Music (勛圖厙 of Rochester泭Press, 2018), 122-146
Worlds to Come Between East and West: Immortality and the Rise of Modern Jewish Thought, in泭Olam Ha-zeh vOlam Ha-ba:泭This World and the World to Come in Jewish Belief and Practice, ed. Leonard Greenspoon, Studies in Jewish Civilization (Purdue 勛圖厙 Press, 2017), 171-195
Moses Mendelssohns Living Script: Philosophy, Practice, History, Judaism泭(Indiana 勛圖厙 Press, 2017)
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