Friday, September 7, 2001

Brite hires faculty for Jewish Studies Program
By Heather Christie
Staff Reporter

After seven years of planning the Jewish Studies Program, Brite Divinity School has hired two new faculty members to begin the program’s academic agenda.

W. David Nelson was hired as the Rosenthal Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Athalya Brenner was named the Rosalyn and Manny Rosenthal Distinguished Professor-in-Residence of Hebrew Bible for a three-year term.

Nelson said his position entitles him to teach three Brite courses and one undergraduate course each year.

This semester Nelson is teaching two courses at Brite, but he said next fall he hopes to teach an undergraduate course, Introduction to Judaism.

“One of my long-term goals is to have one of my Brite courses be open to university students as well, in order to enhance the Jewish Studies offerings there,” Nelson said.

Brite President, Leo Perdue, said Nelson was hired for his specialization in early Judaism.

Nelson said Brenner will spend three to four weeks on campus each year to teach a two to three week course to Ph.D. students and serve as a dissertation advisor.

Brenner will arrive in Fort Worth and begin teaching and advising in late October.

Brenner currently teaches at the University of Amsterdam. She was formerly on the faculty of the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Brenner attended the University of Haifa before getting her master of arts degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and doctorate of philosophy degree from the University of Manchester.

Nelson is a 1989 graduate of the University of Virginia. He received two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He taught Jewish Studies at Washington University, in St. Louis, Mo., for two years. He has been at TCU for one month.

Nelson said if there is student interest and the courses are merited and received enthusiastically, he believes there will be support in the future to add faculty members and to improve the Jewish Studies program.

Nelson said the Jewish Studies program encompasses four areas: first, the Rosenthal academic positions fulfill teaching and research needs; second, community outreach with the annual Gates of Chai lectures; third, the Barnett International Scholar series which will bring prominent scholars to TCU on a short-term basis to teach at Brite and present public lectures and seminars; fourth, the Jack B. Friedman Judaica Library, on the second floor of the Mary Couts Burnett Library, which will house a collection of Jewish artifacts, literature, the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Talmud and other ancient and modern commentaries.

Perdue said $2.5 million was raised to launch the program. The majority of the money came from the Rosenthal family and the rest was given by the community members.

“The program of Jewish Studies at Washington University is much more substantially developed than the program here,” Nelson said. “I do think that Jewish studies is a growing endeavor and I think there will be potential for growth of the faculty in Jewish studies at (TCU) in the future.”

Nelson said he is working closely with Hillel, the Jewish student organization on campus, to raise the awareness of Jewish Studies at the university.

“I think there are a lot of Jewish students here that don’t identify and who don’t feel there is any reason to identify,” Nelson said. “So, I’m really hoping that the courses that I offer will bring Jewish students together.”

Laurie Feille, a Brite student in Nelson’s Literature in Early Judaism/ Readings in Midrash class, said studying Judaism will help her understand parts of the Bible better.

“Being a Christian minister, it’s very important for me to understand the traditions, theology and rituals of Judaism because the very first Christians were Jewish,” Feille said.

Heather J. Christie
h.j.christie@student.tcu.edu