Jonathan Klawans

Klawans_Jan 2012
147 Bay State Road, Suite 409
Boston, MA, 02215
T: 617.353.4432; F: 617.358.5441
E: jklawans@bu.edu
Spring 2012 Office Hours: Mon 10:30-11:45AM; Wed 1:00-2:15PM; Fri 11:00-11:45AM and by appointment

Bio

Professor Klawans joined the Department of Religion and the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies in the fall of 1997. Professor Klawans is a specialist in the religion and religious literature of ancient Judaism. He teaches courses in Western Religion, the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Jewish history, and Rabbinic literature. He has published articles in journals such as AJS Review, Harvard Theological Review, Journal of Jewish Studies, New Testament Studies, Numen and Religious Studies Review. He is also editor for ancient Judaism for the journal Currents in Biblical Research (http://cbi.sagepub.com/). Professor Klawans’s first book, Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism was published by Oxford University Press in 2000, and received awards as a best first book for that year from both the American Academy of Religion and the American Academy for Jewish Research. This book explores varied attitudes toward impurity and sin as expressed in the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Rabbinic literature and the New Testament. Professor Klawans’s second book was published in 2005, also by Oxford University Press: Purity Sacrifice and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism. This book aims to correct a number of misconceptions about the practice of sacrifice in the ancient world, and the understanding of it in the modern world. It was selected as a finalist in the Jewish Thought category for a 2005-2006 Koret International Jewish Book Award.

Professor Klawans spent the 2010-2011 academic year on sabbatical with the support of an American Philosophical Society Sabbatical Fellowship. During that year, he largely completed the manuscript of his next book, tentatively entitled, Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism. This work re-examines the theological view of Josephus and the ancient Jewish sects (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes), arguing that matters of belief played an important role, alongside Jewish law, in ancient Jewish sectarian disputes.

Complete CV

Books

Purity, Sacrafice and the Temple Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism
By Jonathan Klawans
Oxford University Press
May 13, 2009
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Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism
By Jonathan Klawans
Oxford University Press
Oct 2000
Buy it now from Amazon.com !

 

Articles

“An Interview with Dr. Jonathan Klawans – Teacher, Scholar and Associate Professor of Religion at Boston University”
New Vilna Review  (March 22, 2011)

 

Courses

  • CAS RN 104 World Religion West
  • CAS RN 200 Theory of Religion
  • CAS RN 201 The Hebrew Bible
  • CAS RN 216 Judaism
  • CAS RN 324/624 Rabbinic Literature
  • CAS RN 334/634 The Dead Sea Scrolls
  • CAS RN 335/635 Judaism in the First Century