Burton Visotzky
Burton L. Visotzky is a rabbi and scholar of midrash. He is the Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies and Director of the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS).[1]
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[edit] Education
Visotzky was educated at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he received his BA, Harvard University, where he received his EdM, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he received his MA, Ph.D. and rabbinic ordination.
[edit] Career
Visotzky joined the JTS faculty, teaching midrash, following his ordination in 1977. He also served as associate and acting dean of The Graduate School of JTS, and he was the founding rabbi of JTS's egalitarian worship service in the Women's League Seminary Synagogue.[2] Visotzky was appointed as director of the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2010.[3]
He has served in visiting faculty positions at a variety of schools including Oxford University, Clare Hall – University of Cambridge, Union Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, Princeton University, the Russian State University of the Humanities in Moscow, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
[edit] Interfaith Dialogue
Visotzky has been active in interfaith dialogue, including at a groundbreaking meeting of Muslims, Christians, Jews sponsored by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in Madrid in 2008.[4] He also participated in interfaith dialogue in Doha, where he was in the first group of Jews invited by the emir of Qatar.[5]
Visotzky was appointed as director of the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2010.[6] His work as director of the Finkelstein Institute has focused on Muslim-Jewish-Christian dialogue. In October 2010, Visotzky and Arnold Eisen organized a group of prominent Muslim and Jewish scholars and leaders, joined by the heads of several Christian seminaries, to meet at JTS for two days for a groundbreaking workshop comparing the situations of Islam and Judaism in America.[7]
[edit] Publications
Visotzky's books include:
- Reading the Book: Making the Bible a Timeless Text (1991)
- The Genesis of Ethics: How the Tormented Family of Genesis Leads Us to Moral Development (1996)
- The Road to Redemption: Lessons from Exodus on Leadership and Community (1998)
- From Mesopotamia to Modernity: Ten Introductions to Jewish History and Literature (co-editor, 1999)
- A Delightful Compendium of Consolation: A Fabulous Tale of Romance, Adventure and Faith in the Medieval Mediterranean (2008)
- Sage Tales: Wisdom and Wonder from the Rabbis of the Talmud(forthcoming 2011)
[edit] Film and Television Consulting
Visotzky consulted with Bill Moyers for Moyers' PBS television series, Genesis: A Living Conversation and with Jeffrey Katzenberg and DreamWorks for the film Prince of Egypt.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.jtsa.edu/x1338.xml?ID_NUM=100589. Accessed 10-26-10
- ^ http://www.jtsa.edu/x1338.xml?ID_NUM=100589
- ^ http://www.jtsa.edu/News/Press_Releases/LFI_Anouncement.xml
- ^ Groundbreaking interfaith meeting shuns extremism. Accessed 10-26-10
- ^ http://www.jtsa.edu/x1338.xml?ID_NUM=100589. Accessed 10-26-10
- ^ http://www.jtsa.edu/News/Press_Releases/LFI_Anouncement.xml
- ^ At Conservative Seminary, Getting Beyond Park51. Accessed 10-26-10
