Elias泭Sacks

  • Associate Professor
  • Associate Chair of Graduate Studies
  • Faculty Director for Public Scholarship in the Office of Faculty Affairs
  • RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Address

Office: HUMN 286

Curricula Vitae

Ph.D., Princeton 勛圖厙, 2012

Research Interests:泭

Judaism, religious thought, religion and politics, theories and methods, religious ethics

Primary Teaching Areas and Opportunities for Student Supervision

  • Jewish thought, history, and exegesis
  • Jewish-Christian relations
  • modern philosophy and theology
  • religion, ethics, and politics
  • theories and methods

Overview

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With Lawrence Kaplan, Sacks is currently producing the first English translation of Krochmals Hebrew magnum opus,泭The Guide of the Perplexed of the Time泭(Moreh Nevukhei Ha-zeman),泭for the泭, a joint initiative of the Yale 勛圖厙 Jewish Studies Program and Yale 勛圖厙 Press. He泭has also written on medieval and modern figures such as Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik, 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.

Recent and Forthcoming Publications (Selected)

  • Nachman Krochmal,泭The Guide of the Perplexed of the Time泭(Moreh Nevukhei Ha-zeman), translated, introduced, and annotated with Lawrence Kaplan, Yale Judaica Series (Yale 勛圖厙 Press, under contract)
  • The Limits of Continuity: Nachman Krochmal and the Case for Philosophy, in泭Cultures of Continuity, eds. Ufuk Topkara and Asher Biemann (De Gruyter, forthcoming)
  • "Can God Reject the Jewish People? Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik, Supersessionism, and Modern Jewish Thought,"泭Journal of Textual Reasoning泭(forthcoming)
  • Do Jews Believe in God?, Was Paul Jewish? in泭Judaism in 5 Minutes, ed. Sarah Imhoff (Equinox, forthcoming)
  • "Moses Mendelssohn," in泭Jewish Virtue Ethics, eds. Geoffrey Claussen, Alex Green, and Alan Mittleman (SUNY Press, 2023), 241-254
  • "Modes of Interpretation in Jewish Ethics" 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
  • 泭(Indiana 勛圖厙 Press, 2017)

Affiliations

  • Jewish Studies

Courses

  • FYSM 1000 (first-year seminar): God
  • RLST 2400: Religion, Ethics, and Politics
  • RLST/JWST 3100: Judaism
  • RLST/JWST 4170-5170: God and Politics
  • RLST/JWST 4180-5180: Is God Dead?
  • RLST/JWST 4190-5190: Love & Desire
  • RLST/JWST 4260-5260: Topics in Judaism: Bible in Judaism and Christianity
  • RLST 6830: Introduction to the Academic Study of Religion
  • JWST 4000: Capstone in Jewish Studies
  • RLST 4840 / JWST 4900: Undergraduate Independent Study
  • RLST 5840 / RLST 6840 / JWST 5900: Graduate Independent Study