Scholar Discusses a Resurgence of Anti-Semitism at University Lecture

Apr 16, 2014
Author and scholar Alvin Rosenfeld, Ph.D., will discuss “The New Anti-Semitism” at The University of Scranton’s Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute on Thursday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m.
Author and scholar Alvin Rosenfeld, Ph.D., will discuss “The New Anti-Semitism” at The University of Scranton’s Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute on Thursday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m.

Author and scholar Alvin Rosenfeld, Ph.D., professor of English and Jewish studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind., will deliver a lecture titled “The New Anti-Semitism” at The University of Scranton on Thursday, May 8.

Presented by The University of Scranton’s Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute, the lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall on campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Rosenfeld, who holds the Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies and is director of Indiana University’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, has been honored with the Indiana University Distinguished Service Award and also the Provost’s Medal “in recognition of sustained academic excellence, vision and leadership resulting in lasting and widespread impact.”

Recently, Dr. Rosenfeld has written about contemporary antisemitism, and some of his articles on this subject have evoked intense debate. “Resurgent Antisemitism: Global Perspectives,” an edited volume, appeared in 2013. He is also the editor of a series of books titled “Jewish Literature and Culture,” published by Indiana University Press, as well as IUP’s new book series, “Studies in Antisemitism.”

The author of numerous scholarly and critical articles on American poetry, Jewish writers and the literature of the Holocaust, Dr. Rosenfeld’s “The End of the Holocaust” (2011) is being translated into German, Hebrew, Hungarian and Polish. He also wrote “The Writer Uprooted: Contemporary Jewish Exile Literature” (2009) and edited “Thinking About the Holocaust: After Half a Century” (1997), a collection of articles by 13 scholars, which includes his essay “The Americanization of the Holocaust.”

Dr. Rosenfeld has served as a board member and scholarly consultant to various Jewish institutions and organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Lilly Endowment, the Wexner Heritage Foundation, the Koret Foundation and the Conference on Material Claims against Germany. He held a five-year Presidential appointment on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council (2002-2007), currently serves on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Executive Committee and is chair of the Academic Committee of the Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies.

Dr. Rosenfeld, who has lectured widely in the U.S., Europe and Israel, is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the recipient of fellowship grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Foundation of Jewish Culture and the National Endowment of the Humanities. He was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa, by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in 2007.

The Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute was created in 1979 through an endowment funded by the local Jewish community. The Institute fosters a better understanding and appreciation of Judaism, Israel and their histories. It supports visits to the University by Jewish scholars and writers, and supports library acquisitions, publications, faculty research travel and other scholarly endeavors. The work of the Institute was further enhanced by a $1 million gift from Harry Weinberg in 1990.

For further information, contact Marc Shapiro, Ph.D., professor of theology/religious studies at The University of Scranton, at 570-941-7956.

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