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Sun Min
Director of Media Relations
Alyssa Vine
Associate Director of Media Relations
Alan Segal
Professor of Religion
Ingeborg Rennert Professor of Judaic Studies
Alan F. Segal, Professor of Religion and Ingeborg Rennert Professor of Jewish Studies, joined the faculty of Barnard College in 1980. His other teaching experience includes Princeton University, the University of Toronto, and the Aspen Institute. In addition to his teaching duties for the Department of Religion, Professor Segal is affiliated with the programs in Jewish Studies and Human Rights Studies at Barnard. He holds a concurrent appointment as Adjunct Professor of Scripture at Union Theological Seminary.
His teaching at Barnard includes courses in “Introduction to Judaism,” “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” “Judaism in the Time of Jesus,” “Life After Death,” and “Literary Approaches to the Bible.”
Professor Segal's scholarly interests have a broad multi-disciplinary basis. His own graduate and undergraduate studies included English literature, psychology, anthropology, comparative religion, Judaica, Christian origins, and rabbinics. One of his long-term interests is the historical and ideological relationships between Judaism and Christianity. He has also studied and written on the topic of Jewish mysticism.
He writes and publishes widely for both scholarly and general audiences. He has published a number of books and has written many scholarly articles for journals in the United States, Canada, and Europe. His books have been selections of the History Book Club, the Book of the Month Club, and the Behavioral Science Book Club. His media appearance include Talk of the Nation, NPR; Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC; Barbara Walters 20/20 Special, ABC; and the History Channel.
Professor Segal's research and scholarship have been supported by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies, National Endowment for the Humanities, Annenberg Institute, and J.S. Guggenheim Foundation. He has received such fellowships as Mellon, NDFLA, and Croghan (at Williams College).
He was a member of the board of the American Society for the Study of Religion and the board of the World Alliance of Interfaith Organizations. He also served on the editorial board of the Journal of Biblical Literature.Selected Publications:
"The Afterlife in Modern America," Speaking of Death:America's New Sense of Mortality, M. K. Bartalos, MD, ed., (Westport: Praeger, 2009).
"The Afterlife as a Mirror of the Self," Experientia Volume 1:Inquiry into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity, Flannery, Shantz, and Werline eds. (Atlanta: SBL 2008).
"Religious Experience and the Construction of the Transcendent Self," Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism, A. D. DeConick ed. (Atlanta: SBL 2006).
"Paul's Religious Experience in the Eyes of Jewish Scholars," Israel's God and Rebecca's Children: Christology and Community in Early Judaism and Christianity: Essays in Honor of Larry W. Hurtado and Alan F. Segal, Capes, DeConick, Bond, and Miller eds. (Waco: Baylor, 2007).
A Concise Introduction to World Religions, editor and contributor (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
"The Resurrection: Faith or History?" The Resurrection of Jesus: JohnDominic Crossan and N.T. Wright in Dialogue, R. B. Stewart ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006).
"Angels in Judaism," An Extraordinary Gathering of Angels, M. Barker ed. (London: TandT Clark, MQ Publishing, 2004).
Life After Death: The Afterlife in Western Religions (New York: Doubleday, 2004).
"Paul's Jewish Presuppositions," The Cambridge Companion to Saint Paul, J. D. G. Dunn ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
"The Jewish Experience: Temple, Synagogue, Home, and Fraternal Groups," Community Formation in the Early Church and in the Church Today, R. N. Longenecker ed. (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2002).
"Jesus in the Eyes of One Jewish Scholar," The Historical Jesus ThroughCatholic and Jewish Eyes, B. F. LeBeau, L. Greenspoon, D. Hamm, S. J., eds. (Harrisburg, Pa: Trinity Press International, 2000).
Paul the Convert: The Apostasy and Apostolate of Saul of Tarsus (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).
The Other Judaisms of Late Antiquity (Scholars Press, 1987).
Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World (Harvard University Press, 1986).
Two Powers in Heaven (Brill Archive, 1977).212.854.5419
asegal@barnard.edu
EDUCATION:
BA, Amherst College
MA, Brandeis University
BAHL, HUC-JIR
MA, MPhil, PhD, Yale University
RELATED LINKS:
Faculty page
Inst. for Israel and Jewish Studies
Segal's full CV (pdf)
SPECIALIZATIONS:
History of religion
Jewish studies
Human-rights studies