Sherman Community Lecture in Jewish Studies 2024

"Judaism and Climate Change: Religious Responses to the Eco-Crisis"

Prof Hava Tirosh-Samuelson (Arizona State University)

Chair: Prof Nalin Thakkar (Vice President, University of Manchester)

Time and date: Monday 27 November

Abstract: We are living through a major ecological crisis brought about by human activities, and climate has emerged as the “face” of the eco-crisis. Global warming has brought about heat waves, wildfires, floods, drying of aquifers, acidification of oceans, loss of biodiversity and spread of diseases among other devasting phenomena. We are now at the beginning of a climate breakdown that will make the Earth increasingly unlivable, lest we change our ways of life. The major strands of contemporary Judaism – Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox, and Humanistic – have all acknowledged the reality of climate change, responding to it theoretically and practically. Across the denominational spectrum, climate change is seen not only as a physical/scientific issue but as a moral/spiritual issue to which Judaism offers a meaningful response. Focusing on the United States, the lecture explores theological, exegetical, halachic, ethical, and socio-economic dimensions of Jewish responses to climate change. The lecture argues that Judaism provides a framework for living responsibly, resiliently, and hopefully in the age of climate change.

Biography: Hava Tirosh-Samuelson (Ph.D. 1978, Hebrew University) is Regents Professor of History, Irving and Miriam Lowe Professor of Modern Judaism, and Director of Jewish Studies at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. An intellectual historian, she writes on Jewish philosophy and mysticism; religion, science, and technology; and religion and ecology. In addition to over 70 journal articles and book chapters, Tirosh-Samuelson is the author of the award-winning book, Between Worlds: The Life and Thought of Rabbi David ben Judah Messer Leon (1991); Happiness in Premodern Judaism: Virtue, Knowledge, and Well-Being (2003); and Religion and the Environment: The Case of Judaism (2020). She is also the editor of 8 volumes, among them are: Judaism and Ecology: Created World and Revealed Word (2002), Women and Gender in Jewish Philosophy (2004), Judaism and the Phenomenon of Life: The Legacy of Hans Jonas (2008); Perfecting Human Futures: Transhuman Visions and Technological Imaginations (2016), and The Future of Jewish Philosophy (2018). She is also the editor-in-chief of the Library of Contemporary Jewish Philosophers (2013-2018), a set of 21 volumes. Tirosh-Samuelson’s research received funding from the Templeton Foundation for projects on transhumanism and on religion, science, and technology in public life.