Michael Fishbane's scholarship has spanned the range of Jewish history -- from the Hebrew Bible and classical Midrash through medieval Kabbalah and modern Jewish thought -- and he has also pressed contemporary Jewish theology forward in astonishing ways through his own constructive writings.
The Nathan Cummings Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies, Michael Fishbane retired in 2022 after over thirty years of service on the Divinity School faculty.
Throughout the various branches of Fishbane's academic explorations, there is the continuous thread of hermeneutics, his enduring interest in how human beings are always already interpreting at the intersection of tradition and presence. For Fishbane, hermeneutics animates the core of Jewish religious culture, where boundaries between text and life melt into the most fertile wellsprings.
In honor of Prof. Fishbane's contributions, this conference, generously cosponsored by The Joyce Z. and Jacob Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies and the Aronberg Lectures in Judaica Fund, will gather colleagues and former students to explore and build upon methods and insights at the heart of Fishbane's work.
This video includes:
Welcome from James T. Robinson, Dean of the Divinity School, and Ken Moss, Director and Governing Board Member of the Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies
Thematic Framing
Sam Shonkoff (Graduate Theological Union)
Reflections and Reminiscences
Deborah Green (University of Oregon), Dov Lerner (Yeshiva University), and David Gottlieb (Spertus Institute)
Plenary Address by Arthur Green (Brandeis University)
“Celebrating a Deep-Sea Diver in Yam ha-Talmud, ‘The Sea of Learning.’”