Lecture on Christian and Jewish Interpretations of the Bible Dec. 4

New York, NY, November 20, 2002-- Barnard College will host a lecture by Israeli scholar Chanita Goodblatt titled The Words Expressly are ‘A Pound of Flesh’: Jews and Christians Read the English Bible, on Wednesday, December 4, at 6 p.m. The lecture will compare and contrast how Christians and Jews interpreted Scripture, specifically during the time of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. This event is co-sponsored by the English and Religion Departments.

Goodblatt will also speak during the 18th Barnard Medieval and Renaissance Conference, "David in Medieval Culture" on Sunday, December 7. Her talk, titled Dialogue and David’s Voice: Jewish Exegesis and Christian Hebraism in the Sidneian Psalms, will take place in conjunction with lectures by two other scholars, Robert Kuin and Kim Coles. They will tackle the issue of the Sidneys and the Psalms and their importance during the Renaissance.

Goodblatt received her Ph.D from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1990, and has been a senior lecturer there since 1996. Her research has covered poetry and discourse, modern American and Hebrew poetry, metaphor comprehension, the English Bible, and John Donne’s sermons. Her recent publications, in both English and Hebrew, include "In Other Words: Breaking the Monologue in Whitman, Williams and Hughes" in Language and Literature and "From Jewish Literal Meaning to Christian Interpretation" in Eit Hada ‘at.

Contact: Petra Tuomi, Office of Public Affairs, 212-854-7907