Fairfield University’s 10th Annual Lecture in Jewish-Christian Engagement featuring author and scholar, Rabbi Michael J. Cook

Fairfield University’s 10th Annual Lecture in Jewish-Christian Engagement featuring author and scholar, Rabbi Michael J. Cook

Media Contact: Teddy DeRosa, tderosa@fairfield.edu , 203-254-4000 ext. 2118

Rabbi Michael J. Cook, PhD, the Sol & Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judeo-Christian Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, serves on many advisory boards in Jewish-Christian relations and has addressed leading scholars around the world.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (March 3, 2016) – Fairfield University’s 10th annual Lecture in Jewish-Christian Engagement will be delivered by Rabbi Michael J. Cook on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.

Free and open to the public , the lecture, entitled “Gospel Dynamics: When the Jewish Jesus Isn't Enough,” will take place in the Dolan School of Business Dining Room. The lecture is co-sponsored by Fairfield University’s Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies and the Center for Catholic Studies. Reservations are requested for the lecture. Please email bennettcenter@fairfield.edu or call 203-254-4000, ext. 2066.

Dr. Cook is the Sol & Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judeo-Christian Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, and is the only rabbi in North America with a Full-Professorial Chair in New Testament.

The lecture is partly based on his major book (in its third printing) Modern Jews Engage the New Testament (Woodstock: Jewish Lights), a work that Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie , president emeritus, Union for Reform Judaism, described as “a wonderful resource for Jews who seek to take on the challenges posed by the New Testament and for Christians who wish to understand Jews' relationship to Christian theology." Amy-Jill Levine , PhD., E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School, also praised the book, calling it “Practical, pointed and provocative.... Points out how and why Jews need to understand this material. A welcome addition to both New Testament scholarship and Jewish-Christian relations.”

In 2003, Dr. Cook was one of seven scholars selected by the Catholic Bishops to assess the accuracy of the advance script of Mel Gibson's film, Passion of the Christ . He serves on many advisory boards in Jewish-Christian relations, and has received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities. He has addressed leading scholars of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Episcopalian Presiding Bishop's Advisory Committee on Christian-Jewish Relations, as well as assemblies of Air Force Chaplains at the United States Air Force Academy.

Dr. Cook’s numerous publications treat evolving Jewish views of Jesus and Paul, and focus on a wide spectrum of specialized subjects, including the trial of Jesus, images of Judaism in Christian art, the history of anti-Semitism, and the role of Passover in modern Christianity. He travels widely, addressing Jewish and Christian audiences, including congregations as well as university academicians, clergy, and seminarians throughout North America.

Professor Cook has served as a member of the Executive Board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. He has keynoted 215 Institutes for Christian Clergy in roughly 40 states, and delivered 235 academic papers at universities, seminaries, conferences, and art museums, in addition to several hundred Scholar-in-Residences presentations at synagogues across the globe.

Pictured: Rabbi Michael J. Cook, PhD, speaker at Fairfield University's 10th Annual Lecture in Jewish-Christian Engagement

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Vol. 48, No. 100

Fairfield University is a Jesuit University, rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 36 states, 47 foreign countries, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are enrolled in the University’s five schools. In the spirit of rigorous and sympathetic inquiry into all dimensions of human experience, Fairfield welcomes students from diverse backgrounds to share ideas and engage in open conversations. The University is located in the heart of a region where the future takes shape, on a stunning campus on the Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.

Posted On: 03-04-2016 03:03 PM

Volume: 48 Number: 100