Norbert M. Samuelson
Encyclopedia
Norbert Max Samuelson is a scholar of Jewish philosophy
. He holds the Grossman Chair of Jewish Studies
at Arizona State University
. He has written 13 books and over 200 articles, with research interests in Jewish philosophy
, philosophy and religion, philosophy and science, 20th-century philosophy (with an emphasis on Alfred North Whitehead
and Franz Rosenzweig
), history of Western philosophy, and Jewish Aristotelians
(with an emphasis on Gersonides
). He also lectures at university-level conferences around the world.
in 1957. He then attended the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he earned his Bachelor of Hebrew Letters in 1959 and his Master of Hebrew Letters in 1962. He received his doctorate
at Indiana University
in 1970, writing his dissertation on "The Problem of God's Knowledge in Gersonides – A Translation of and Commentary to Book III of the Milhamot Adonai (The Wars of the Lord)". His dissertation advisers were Shlomo Pines
of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
and Milton Fisk of Indiana University.
from 1969–1970 and a visiting associate professor in the Hebraic Studies department at Rutgers University
from 1969–1973.
Beginning in 1975, he was an associate professor in the Religion Department at Temple University
; in 1987 he became a full professor, and continued in this position until 1998. At that point he moved to Arizona State University
, where he became the Harold and Jean Grossman Professor of Jewish Studies in the Religious Studies Department. He is currently a resident of Tempe, Arizona
.
Samuelson has also lectured at Vanderbilt University
Divinity School and Lancaster University
in England, and has served as an assistant professor at the University of Virginia
Department of Religious Studies (1973–1975), a visiting associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania
Religious Studies Department (1984), and a guest professor at the University of Hamburg
, Fachbereich evangelische Theologie (1993 and Summer 1995).
at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1967–1968; a fellowship at the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies at Oxford University in 1987; a fellowship at the Chicago Center for Religion and Science in 1992; and a Fulbright Senior Professor Travel Fellowship at the University of Hamburg
, Germany, in 1993.
Samuelson is a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion
. He is a past member of the board of directors of the Metanexus Institute and a current member of that organization's academic board. He is also a member of the presidium of the International Franz Rosenzweig Gesellschaft, a member of the International Hermann Cohen Gesellschaft, and a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy.
He has been a fellow of the Academy of Jewish Philosophy since 1979, serving as Chairman from 1979–1988 and Secretary-Treasurer from 1988 to the present.
' Mishneh Torah
to rabbis in the East Valley of the Phoenix metropolitan area
. From 2001–2004 he also delivered a weekly adult education
class on the history of Jewish philosophy for the Reform
and Conservative
synagogue
s in the East Valley.
), is Director of Jewish Studies, Professor of History, and Professor of Modern Judaism at Arizona State University. The Samuelsons co-founded the Judaism, Science and Medicine Group in ASU's Jewish Studies Department in 2008 and occasionally appear on the same conference programs. In 2006 the couple summarized their joint positions on transhumanism
in an article in Milestones, published by the John Templeton Foundation
. They have since divorced.
Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy , includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or, in relation to the religion of Judaism. Jewish philosophy, until modern Enlightenment and Emancipation, was pre-occupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism; thus organizing...
. He holds the Grossman Chair of Jewish Studies
Jewish studies
Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history , religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages , political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies...
at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
. He has written 13 books and over 200 articles, with research interests in Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy , includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or, in relation to the religion of Judaism. Jewish philosophy, until modern Enlightenment and Emancipation, was pre-occupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism; thus organizing...
, philosophy and religion, philosophy and science, 20th-century philosophy (with an emphasis on Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead, OM FRS was an English mathematician who became a philosopher. He wrote on algebra, logic, foundations of mathematics, philosophy of science, physics, metaphysics, and education...
and Franz Rosenzweig
Franz Rosenzweig
Franz Rosenzweig was an influential Jewish theologian and philosopher.-Early life:Franz Rosenzweig was born in Kassel, Germany to a middle-class, minimally observant Jewish family...
), history of Western philosophy, and Jewish Aristotelians
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
(with an emphasis on Gersonides
Gersonides
Levi ben Gershon, better known by his Latinised name as Gersonides or the abbreviation of first letters as RaLBaG , philosopher, Talmudist, mathematician, astronomer/astrologer. He was born at Bagnols in Languedoc, France...
). He also lectures at university-level conferences around the world.
Education
Samuelson earned his bachelor's degree at Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
in 1957. He then attended the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he earned his Bachelor of Hebrew Letters in 1959 and his Master of Hebrew Letters in 1962. He received his doctorate
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
in 1970, writing his dissertation on "The Problem of God's Knowledge in Gersonides – A Translation of and Commentary to Book III of the Milhamot Adonai (The Wars of the Lord)". His dissertation advisers were Shlomo Pines
Shlomo Pines
Shlomo Pines was a scholar of Jewish and Islamic philosophy, best known for his English translation of Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed.-Biography:...
of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
and Milton Fisk of Indiana University.
Academic positions
From 1963–1967 he was a teaching assistant in the philosophy department at Indiana University. He was a visiting lecturer in the philosophy department at Brooklyn CollegeBrooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
from 1969–1970 and a visiting associate professor in the Hebraic Studies department at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
from 1969–1973.
Beginning in 1975, he was an associate professor in the Religion Department at Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
; in 1987 he became a full professor, and continued in this position until 1998. At that point he moved to Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
, where he became the Harold and Jean Grossman Professor of Jewish Studies in the Religious Studies Department. He is currently a resident of Tempe, Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...
.
Samuelson has also lectured at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
Divinity School and Lancaster University
Lancaster University
Lancaster University, officially The University of Lancaster, is a leading research-intensive British university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established by Royal Charter in 1964 and initially based in St Leonard's Gate until moving to a purpose-built 300 acre campus at...
in England, and has served as an assistant professor at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
Department of Religious Studies (1973–1975), a visiting associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
Religious Studies Department (1984), and a guest professor at the University of Hamburg
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...
, Fachbereich evangelische Theologie (1993 and Summer 1995).
Fellowships and memberships
His fellowships include a Fulbright-Hayes Research FellowshipFulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1967–1968; a fellowship at the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies at Oxford University in 1987; a fellowship at the Chicago Center for Religion and Science in 1992; and a Fulbright Senior Professor Travel Fellowship at the University of Hamburg
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...
, Germany, in 1993.
Samuelson is a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion
International Society for Science and Religion
The International Society for Science and Religion is a learned society established in 2001 for the purpose of the promotion of education through the support of inter-disciplinary learning and research in the fields of science and religion conducted where possible in an international and...
. He is a past member of the board of directors of the Metanexus Institute and a current member of that organization's academic board. He is also a member of the presidium of the International Franz Rosenzweig Gesellschaft, a member of the International Hermann Cohen Gesellschaft, and a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy.
He has been a fellow of the Academy of Jewish Philosophy since 1979, serving as Chairman from 1979–1988 and Secretary-Treasurer from 1988 to the present.
Community service
Since 2001, Samuelson has taught a weekly course on MaimonidesMaimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
' Mishneh Torah
Mishneh Torah
The Mishneh Torah subtitled Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka is a code of Jewish religious law authored by Maimonides , one of history's foremost rabbis...
to rabbis in the East Valley of the Phoenix metropolitan area
Phoenix Metropolitan Area
The Phoenix metropolitan area, often referred to as The Valley of the Sun, is a metropolitan area, centered on the city of Phoenix, that includes much of the central part of the US state of Arizona...
. From 2001–2004 he also delivered a weekly adult education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
class on the history of Jewish philosophy for the Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
and Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s in the East Valley.
Personal
Samuelson married Hava Tirosh-Rothschild in 1997, whereupon she changed her name to Hava Tirosh-Samuelson. Tirosh-Samuelson (born 1950, Kibbutz Afikim, IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
), is Director of Jewish Studies, Professor of History, and Professor of Modern Judaism at Arizona State University. The Samuelsons co-founded the Judaism, Science and Medicine Group in ASU's Jewish Studies Department in 2008 and occasionally appear on the same conference programs. In 2006 the couple summarized their joint positions on transhumanism
Transhumanism
Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...
in an article in Milestones, published by the John Templeton Foundation
John Templeton Foundation
"The John Templeton Foundation is a philanthropic organizationthat funds inter-disciplinary research about human purpose and ultimate reality. It is usually referred to simply as the Templeton Foundation...
. They have since divorced.
Books
(editor and translator)-
- Review by M. Goldberg, The Journal of ReligionThe Journal of ReligionThe Journal of Religion is an academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press founded in 1882 as The American Journal of Theology. The journal "embraces all areas of theology as well as other types of religious studies ."...
, April 1990, vol. 70, no. 2, pp. 282–283. - Review by Leonard S Kravitz, AJS ReviewAJS ReviewAJS Review, published on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies, publishes scholarly articles and book reviews covering the field of Jewish Studies. From biblical and rabbinic textual and historical studies to modern history, social sciences, the arts, and literature, the journal welcomes...
, 1995, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 202–205. - Review by Benjamin E. Sax, The Journal of ReligionThe Journal of ReligionThe Journal of Religion is an academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press founded in 1882 as The American Journal of Theology. The journal "embraces all areas of theology as well as other types of religious studies ."...
, April 2004, vol. 84, no. 2, pp. 324–326. - Review by Michael Zank, Modern Judaism, February 2004, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 93–100.
- http://www.123people.com/ext/frm?ti=person%20finder&search_term=norbert%20samuelson&search_country=US&st=person%20finder&target_url=http%3A%2F%2Flrd.yahooapis.com%2F_ylc%3DX3oDMTVnZWVha3FuBF9TAzIwMjMxNTI3MDIEYXBwaWQDc1k3Wlo2clYzNEhSZm5ZdGVmcmkzRUx4VG5makpERG5QOWVKV1NGSkJHcTJ1V1dFa0xVdm5IYnNBeUNyVkd5Y2REVElUX2tlBGNsaWVudANib3NzBHNlcnZpY2UDQk9TUwRzbGsDdGl0bGUEc3JjcHZpZANQZzc1QW1LSWNyb2VBTUZsUmxjbkJ6SUxXODV4cmszQTNNY0FDcG5u%2FSIG%3D11fuffjui%2F**http%253A%2F%2Fwww.janushead.org%2F8-1%2FSamuelson.pdf§ion=document&wrt_id=257Review by C. Oscar Jacob], Janus Head, 2005, 8(1), 388-393. (editor with Luc Anckaert and Martin Brasser)
- Review by M. Goldberg, The Journal of Religion
Book chapters
- "Judaism and Science", chapter in
Peer-reviewed articles (selected)
- Ethics of Globalization and the AIDS Crisis from a Jewish Perspective Zygon, 38, no. 1 (2003): 125-139
- Autonomy in Jewish Philosophy "Journal of the American Academy of Religion," 72, no. 2 (2004): 560-563
- The Death and Revival of Jewish Philosophy Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Mar., 2002, vol. 70, no. 1, p. 117-134
- Rethinking Ethics in the Light of Jewish Thought and the Life Sciences Journal of Religious Ethics, 29, no. 2 (2001): 209-233
- Culture And History: Essential Partners In The Conversation Between Religion And Science ;Zygon, 40, no. 2 (2005): 335-350
- Creation and the Symbiosis of Science and Judaism Zygon, 37, no. 1 (2002): 137-142
- The Economy of the Gift: Paul Ricoeur's Significance for Theological Ethics Journal of Religious Ethics, 29, no. 2 (2001): 235-260
- On the Symbiosis of Science and Religion: A Jewish Perspective Zygon, 35, no. 1 (2000): 83-97
- That the God of the Philosophers Is Not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob The Harvard Theological Review, Jan., 1972, vol. 65, no. 1, p. 1-27
- Ibn Daud's Conception of Prophecy Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Sep., 1977, vol. 45, no. 3, p. 354
- "Maimonides' Doctrine of Creation", The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 84, No. 3, July, 1991, pp. 249–271