"SENATOR LIEBERMAN AND THE DEBATE OVER RELIGION AND POLITICS" WILL BE THE TOPIC OF A PANEL DISCUSSION AT BARD COLLEGE ON OCTOBER 23

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY—The Jewish Studies Program at Bard College will present a panel discussion by five Bard professors on the subject of the vice-presidential candidacy of Senator Joseph Lieberman and its impact on the debate over religion and American politics. The discussion, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, October 23, in Room 102 of the F. W. Olin Humanities Building.

The evening\'s program will consider the significance of Senator Lieberman\'s candidacy to the ongoing discussion of the place of religious values in government and public life. Participants include Professors Mario Bick, anthropology; Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton, religion; Joseph Luders, political science; Jacob Neusner, religion; and Rona Sheramy, Jewish studies.

For further information, call Rona Sheramy at 845-758-7090; or email [email protected].

About the Participants:
Mario Bick, professor of anthropology and codirector of the Jewish Studies Program at Bard College, received a B.A. from Columbia College and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has taught at Hunter College, SUNY at Stony Brook, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Barnard College, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil), and Cuttington University College (Liberia). Bick has conducted archaeological and ethnographic research in the United States, Zambia, Brazil, and Liberia, and is the recipient of a summer fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has contributed articles by Bick have been included in American Ethnologist, Journal of Human Evolution, Revista Brasileira de Sociologia, Collier’s and Columbia encyclopedias, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, and other publications.

Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton is Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion, chaplain of Bard College, and director of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. He is a scholar of early Christianity and Judaism, the principal focus of which is understanding Jesus within his Jewish context. Chilton is the author and editor of fifty books, including The Temple of Jesus, Pure Kingdom: Jesus\' Vision of God, the recent James the Just and Christian Origins, and the forthcoming Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography. Chilton, who graduated from Bard College in 1971, received a master of divinity degree from General Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Cambridge University. He has taught at Yale University, the University of Münster in Germany, and St. John\'s College of Cambridge University and the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom.

Joseph Luders, visiting assistant professor of political studies, received a B.A. from Evergreen State College; and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research. From 1995 through 1998, he was a Mellon Fellow in the Special Project on Contentious Politics at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University. Luders has taught at Seton Hall University, Hunter College, and Eugene Lang College, and has given numerous presentations at professional conferences.

Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Theology and Judaism and senior fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. He received his Ph.D. in religion from Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary and his rabbinical degree at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In addition, he holds seven honorary doctorates and numerous other academic medals and honors. He has published more than eight hundred books and countless articles. Neusner taught part-time Bard College, prior to accepting this full-time appointment. He has also taught at Dartmouth College, Brown University, and the University of South Florida, among others. He is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, and a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, in England. Neusner is a past president of the American Academy of Religion, a member of the founding committee of the Association for Jewish Studies, and founder of the European Association of Jewish Studies. He served on the National Council on the Humanities under President Carter and the National Council on the Arts under President Reagan. Neusner’s named position is supported, in part, by a grant from the Tisch Family Foundation of New York City.

Rona Sheramy, assistant professor of Jewish studies and co-director of the Jewish Studies Program, received a B.A. with highest distinction, University of Michigan; and an M.A. with distinction and Ph.D. from Brandeis University. She has taught at Clark University, Brandeis University and the Riverdale Country School. She has received numerous honors, including an American Association of University Women American Fellowship, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture Fellowship, Women of Vision Society Grant, Irving D. Klein Memorial Fellowship, Rapoport Fellowship, Leo Wasserman.

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(10.9.00)

This event was last updated on 03-02-2001

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