AISG

Soci                                                      curriculum vitae

Adam Shear

PhD, History, University of Pennsylvania, 2003

Assistant Professor University of Pittsburgh

 

University of Pittsburgh

Department of Religious Studies

2604 Cathedral of Learning

Pittsburgh, PA, 15260 USA

+1 412 624 2280

e-mail: ashear@pitt.edu

 

RESEARCH INTEREST

- Early modern Jewish intellectual and cultural history; history of the book; transmission of Jewish philosophy in the early modern period.

 

Publications (peer reviewed)

 

Book, Authored

The Kuzari and the Shaping of Jewish Identity, 1167-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521885331.

       

Book, Editorial Role

The Historical Writings of Joseph of Rosheim: Leader of Jewry in Early Modern Germany. Edited with an Introduction, Commentary, and Translations by Chava Fraenkel-Goldschmidt, translated from the Hebrew by Naomi Schendowich. English edition edited with an Afterword by Adam Shear. Studies in Jewish History and Culture (formerly Studies in European Judaism) 12. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2006. xiv, 448 pp., 10 illus.

 

Refereed Journal Articles/Book Chapters 

“William Whiston’s Judeo-Christianity.” In Philosemitism in History, ed. Adam Sutcliffe and Jonathan Karp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming (final version of chapter submitted to and accepted by editors). 

“Jews and Judaism in Early Modern Europe, c. 1400-1800.” In Cambridge Religious Traditions: Jewish Religion, History, and Culture, ed. Judith Baskin and Kenneth Seeskin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming (final version of chapter submitted to and accepted by editors).

“Canonicity and the Authority of Works of ‘Jewish Thought’: Theoretical Perspectives and Some Examples from the Early Modern Reception of the Kuzari.” In Iggud: Selected Essays in Jewish Studies, vol. 1, ed. Baruch Schwartz, Aharon Shemesh, and Avraham Melamed. Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies, in production (final version of chapter submitted to and accepted by editors).

“‘The Italian and Berlin Haskalah’ Revisited.” Simon-Dubnow-Institute Jahrbuch-Yearbook 6 (2007): 49-66. ("Special Issue: Early Modern Culture and Haskalah: Reconsidering the Borderlines of Modern Jewish History," ed. David Ruderman and Shmuel Feiner.)

“The Role of Judah Halevi’s Sefer ha-Kuzari in Ashkenaz: A Case Study in the Transmission of Cultural Knowledge.” In Sepharad in Ashkenaz: Medieval Knowledge and Eighteenth-Century Enlightened Jewish Discourse, ed. Irene Zwiep, Andrea Schatz, and Resianne Fontaine. Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2007, pp. 69-83.

“Afterword.” In The Historical Writings of Joseph of Rosheim. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2006, pp. 424-430.

“Judah Moscato’s Scholarly Self-Image and the Question of Jewish Humanism.” In Cultural Intermediaries: Jewish Intellectuals in Early Modern Italy, ed. David Ruderman and Giuseppe Veltri. Jewish Cultures and Contexts series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, pp. 149-177.

“Judah Halevi’s Kuzari in the Haskalah: Reinterpretation and Re-imagining of a Medieval Work.” In Renewing the Past, Reconfiguring Jewish Culture: From Al-Andalus to the Haskalah, ed. Ross Brann and Adam Sutcliffe. Jewish Cultures and Contexts series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, pp. 71-92.

       

Book Reviews in Academic Journals

Karaite Judaism and Historical Understanding, by Fred Astren. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2004. In Journal of Religion, forthcoming (submitted).

Jews, Judaism, and the Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Germany, ed. Dean Phillip Bell and Stephen Burnett. Leiden: Brill, 2006. In Shofar 26, 4 (Summer 2008): 187-190.

The Censor, The Editor, and the Text: The Catholic Church and the Shaping of the Jewish Canon in the Sixteenth Century, by Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.  In Renaissance Quarterly 61, 3 (Fall 2008): 905-907.

Rites and Passages: The Beginnings of Modern Jewish Culture in France, 1650-1860, by Jay Berkovitz. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. In Religious Studies Review 34, 2 (June 2008): 115.

Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation, by Naomi Seidman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. In Religious Studies Review 33, 3 (2007): 257–258.

Beautiful Death: Jewish Poetry and Martyrdom in Medieval France, by Susan Einbinder. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. In Religion 37 (2007): 106-107.

Major Turning Points in Jewish Intellectual History, by David Aberbach. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. In Shofar 24, 2 (Winter 2006): 173-175.

The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book, by Marvin Heller. Leiden: Brill, 2004; and Le livre hébreu à Paris au XVIe siècle, by Lyse Schwarzfuchs. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 2004. In Renaissance Quarterly 58, 4 (Winter 2005): 1330-1333.

Spirit Possession in Judaism: Cases and Contexts from the Middle Ages to the Present, ed. Matt Goldish. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003; and Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism, by J.H. Chajes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003. In Sixteenth Century Journal 36, 1 (2005): 309-312.

Isaac Abarbanel’s Stance Toward Tradition: Defense, Dissent, and Dialogue, by Eric Lawee. Albany: SUNY Press, 2001. In The Jewish Quarterly Review 94, 2 (Spring 2004): 405-409.

The Impact of Kabbalah in the Seventeenth Century, by Allison Coudert. Leiden: Brill, 1999. In The Jewish Quarterly Review 94, 1 (Winter 2004): 186-190.

Light of the Eyes, by Azariah de’ Rossi, annotated translation by Joanna Weinberg. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. In Sixteenth Century Journal 33, 3 (2002): 929-931.

Abraham’s Heirs: Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe, by Leonard Glick. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1999. In H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews, September 1999:
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=3666937425269.

Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Jewish Identities, ed. Norman Kleeblatt. New York: Jewish Museum, 1996. In H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews, November 1997:

http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=8636890942936.

 

Publications (not peer reviewed)

 

Book, Coauthored

From Written to Printed Text: The Transmission of Jewish Tradition. An Exhibition of Books and Manuscripts from the Library of the Center for Judaic Studies. Catalogue co-authored and exhibit co-curated with Rebecca Kobrin. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Center for Judaic Studies, 1996.

On-line version: http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/cajs/exhibit1996/.

 

Catalogue Entries

“The Examination of the World.” In The Jewish Book: Material Texts and Comparative Contexts. An Online Exhibition from the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, ed. Seth Jerchower. Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Library, University of Pennsylvania, 2006: http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/cajs/fellows06/cajs2006.html.

“Liber Cosri.” In Hebraica Veritas? An Exhibition from the Collection of the Center for Judaic Studies Library, ed. Stephen Burnett and Seth Jerchower. Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Library, University of Pennslyvania, 2000: http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/cajs/exhibit/toc.html.

Consultant for Hebrew manuscripts in exhibit, Bibliotheca Schoenbergensis: An Exhibition from the Collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg, curated by Lisa Fagin Davis. Department of Special Collections, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania, 1995:

http://www.library.upenn.edu/special/gallery/schoenberg/schoenberg_exintro.html.

 

Journal Article

“B’nai Jacob in the Interwar Period: An Immigrant Synagogue’s Move Toward Conservative Judaism.” Jews in New Haven 6 (1993): 69-86.

 

Work in Progress

“Jewish Enlightenment Beyond Western Europe.” In Cambridge History of Modern Jewish Philosophy, ed. Martin Kavka and David Novak. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapter under contract).

“Medicine, Science, and Jewish Philosophy.” In Cambridge History of Judaism, volume 7, 1500-1815, ed. Jonathan Karp and Adam Sutcliffe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapter under contract).

“The Jewish Book: Material Texts and Comparative Contexts” (working title), co-editor with Joseph Hacker. Multi-contributor volume on the history of the Jewish book, commissioned by the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies for publication in Jewish Cultures and Contexts series, University of Pennsylvania Press.

“Kulturtransfer im neuen Stil: Der Renaissance-Prediger Yehuda Moscato (ca. 1530-1590)” [Cultural Transfer in a New Style: The Renaissance Preacher Yehuda Moscato (ca. 1530-1590)], participant on editorial and translation team led by Giuseppe Veltri and Gianfranco Miletto, project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Berlin), 2007-2011.

“The Formation of a Canon of Jewish Thought as an Early Modern Process: The Book Culture of Early Modern Italian Jews” (monograph project; working title)

_____________________________________________________________

AISG