Professor of Religion
Jonathan 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.
Courses in Jewish Studies
- World Religion West (RN 104)
- The Hebrew Bible (RN 201)
- Priests and Prophets (RN 306/606)
- Readings in Classical Hebrew (RN 320/620)
- Wisdom in Israel (RN 321)
- Introduction to Rabbinic Literature (RN 324/624/STH TX 824)
- The Dead Sea Scrolls (RN 334/634)
- Judaism in the First Century (RN 335/635)
- Theory of Religion (RN 495)
In May 2025, as part of his ongoing project on biblical forgeries, Prof. Klawans published an article in the online journal, Ancient Jew Review, calling for publishers to consider retracting publications that authenticated likely forged Dead Sea Scroll fragments. (Note: the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Qumran in the 1940s and 1950s are authentic; but as many as 100 small fragments emerged through the antiquities markets in the early 2000s, and most if not all of these are forgeries.) This publication has proven to be quite impactful: so far one book and two academic articles have been retracted; other publishers are still considering the matter.
Prof. Klawans’s next book, entitled Biblical Forgery and Academic Authentication: Persisting Patterns of Guile and Gullibility, is set to be published this fall by Oxford University Press.