Jeffrey Shoulson

Jeffrey Shoulson is Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies, Professor of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, and Professor of English at the University of Connecticut

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About

Jeffrey Shoulson is the Konover Chair of Judaic Studies, Professor of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, and Professor of English at the University of Connecticut. After 12 years of day school education (Ramaz), he studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion before earning degrees from Princeton (A.B.), Cambridge (M.Phil.), and Yale (Ph.D.). His scholarship focuses on Jewish-Christian literary encounters.

Programs

Shakespeare and Shylock

Alternatively seen as viciously anti-semitic or remarkably sympathetic to Jews, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice needs to be read in the context of the complicated perceptions of Jews and Judaism in Elizabethan England. This lecture examines why Shakespeare wrote a play with such a complex Jewish character at a time when Jews had been virtually absent from England for more than 300 years.

Prayer for the Government: Jews and Citizenship

It is only in the last century that Jews have enjoyed equal access to the political institutions of some of the countries in which they live. This lecture takes a historical view of the fraught relationship between Jews and the government through the lens of the Prayer for the Government found in most siddurim.

Not Your Hebrew School Bible: Sex, Lies, and Love in the Torah

Racier than most soap operas, more shocking than the tabloids, the Bible is filled with stories that usually get left out from grade school education. Here’s your chance to learn about the juicy bits your teacher wouldn’t share with you.

Forgiveness in Shakespeare

An examination of some of the key insights the great playwright offers into the dynamics of forgiveness and interpersonal relations. This lecture is especially appropriate around the High Holiday season.

Jewish and Christian Approaches to Translating the Bible

What are the key issues? What are some of the most important and influential translations? What makes a translation Jewish? How have Christians differed in their attitudes toward biblical translation? What are the better, or worse, translations? What is lost and what is gained in translation?

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Books

Milton and the Rabbis

Hebraism, Hellenism, and Ch...

2010

Columbia University Press

Fictions of Conversion

Jews, Christians, and Cultu...

2013

University of Pennsylvania Press

Hebraica Veritas?

Christian Hebraists and the...

2004

University of Pennsylvania Press

Interested in booking Jeffrey Shoulson to speak at your next event? Contact Jewish Speakers Bureau (infREMOVEo@jewREMOVEishspeakerREMOVEsbureau.com), America's only speakers bureau for Jewish-interest speakers, authors, entertainers, and experts.