Shaye J. D. Cohen

Shaye J. D. Cohen (b. October 21, 1948) is the Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. in Ancient History, with distinction, from Columbia University in 1975. He is also an ordained rabbi, and for many years was the Dean of the Graduate School and Shenkman Professor of Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Before arriving at Harvard in July 2001, he was for ten years the Samuel Ungerleider Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University. The focus of Professor Cohen's research is the boundary between Jews and gentiles and between Judaism and its surrounding cultures. He is also a published authority on Jewish reactions to Hellenism and to Christianity.

Professor Cohen has received several honors for his work, including an honorary doctorate from the Jewish Theological Seminary and various fellowships. He has been honored by appointment as Croghan Distinguished Visiting Professor of Religion (Williams College), the Louis Jacobs Lecturer (Oxford University), the David M. Lewis Lecturer (Oxford University), Lady Davis Visiting Professor of Jewish History (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), the Block Lecturer (Indiana University), the Roland Visiting Lecturer (Stanford University) and the Pritchett Lecturer (University of California, Berkeley). He appeared on a "Nova" episode [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2706israel.html] as an expert on Jewish history.

Aside from his scholarship, Professor Cohen is also known for the strong language he occasionally uses in reviews or responses. For example, in the preface to the second edition of his work "From the Maccabees to the Mishnah" he tells the readers that the parent organization of his publisher (Westminster John Knox Press), the Presbyterian Church (USA), is "an organization whose anti-Israel policies I condemn and distrust." Professor "Jacob Neusner" found himself on the receiving end of Professor Cohen's sharp words when he wrote a book that criticized Professor Morton Smith. Cohen wrote, "This book is a disgrace to its author and a disgrace to its publisher. The scholarship is shoddy, the writing repetitious, the tone vituperative, and the argumentation is flawed." Similarly, Meir Soloveitchik came under fire from Professor Cohen for allegedly misusing Cohen's own article on matrilineal descent in Judaism in an article he wrote for "Azure". Cohen writes, "Soloveichik, however, ignores my thesis because he ignores history."

References

*Cohen, Shaye J. D., "From the Maccabees to the Mishnah", Westminster John Knox Press, 1988. ISBN 0-664-25017-3
*Cohen, Shaye J. D. "The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties", University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 0-520-22693-3