A renowned authority in Talmudic Culture, Professor Daniel Boyarin from the University of California at Berkeley will speak at the Judaic Studies Program’s B.G. Rudolph Lecture. Presenting “Jewish and Christian Apologetics and the Inventions of Religion,” on Wednesday, March 26 at 7:00 p.m. in room 010 of Crouse-Hinds Hall, the lecture is free and open to the public.

Professor Boyarin is the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture and won the 2006 Award for Excellence in the Historical Study of Religion from the American Academy of Religion. He’s written several acclaimed publications including, Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture (University of California Press: Berkeley, 1993) and Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism (Stanford University Press, 1999). Professor Boyarin is a well-known scholar, author, and lecturer with work that expands beyond cultural studies in the Talmud to include gender and sexuality, hermeneutics, and ancient Judaism and Christianity.

What did ancient Jews and Christian mean by the term “religion” and how did politics influence discussions about it? As part of an ongoing interest in Jewish-Christian relations in the ancient world, Professor Boyarin will share at SU his thoughts about the “invention of religion” by Jewish and Christian authorities. About Professor Boyarin’s work, The Jewish Quarterly wrote, “Boyarin has placed the separation of Judaism and Christianity into the historical context of real people attempting to understand themselves and one another, and the once-familiar story will never again look the same.”

Professor Boyarin’s presentation is a part of the B.G. Rudolph Lecture series that was created in 1973, by Bernard G. Rudolph, in order to bring distinguished Judaic Studies scholars to SU’s campus.  For more information on the program or the lecture series please contact Professor Zachary Braiterman, Judaic Studies Program Director, at (315) 443-5719.