Dartmouth College, United States
Professor Susannah Heschel
Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies
Chair, Jewish Studies Program
Department of Religion
Official University Profile: Dartmouth College – Susannah Heschel
Expertise: Jewish Studies; Modern Jewish Thought; Hebrew Bible Reception History; History of Biblical Scholarship; Jewish-Christian Relations; Jewish-Muslim Relations; History of Antisemitism; Holocaust Studies; Jewish Feminism; Abraham Geiger Studies.
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CURRICULUM VITAE
Academic Profile
Professor Susannah Heschel is the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, where she also serves as Chair of the Jewish Studies Program and is a faculty member of the Department of Religion. She is internationally recognized as one of the leading scholars of modern Jewish thought, the history of biblical scholarship, Jewish-Christian relations, Jewish-Muslim intellectual history, and the history of antisemitism.
Her research explores the interaction between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in modern Europe, with particular attention to nineteenth- and twentieth-century German scholarship, the development of biblical interpretation, and the political uses of religion. She has made major contributions to the study of Abraham Geiger, Jewish feminism, and the reception of the Hebrew Bible in modern intellectual history.
Professor Heschel has held visiting appointments at Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Frankfurt, the University of Cape Town, the University of Lucerne, and the University of Hamburg. She is the recipient of numerous international honors and fellowships and is widely regarded as one of the foremost voices in contemporary Jewish Studies.
QUALIFICATIONS
A.B., Trinity College.
Master of Theological Studies (M.T.S.), Harvard Divinity School.
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College.
Chair, Jewish Studies Program, Dartmouth College.
Faculty Member, Department of Religion, Dartmouth College.
Gerard Weinstock Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies, Harvard University (2025–2026).
Visiting Professor at Princeton University, the University of Frankfurt, the University of Cape Town, the University of Lucerne, and the University of Hamburg.
Member of the American Academy for Jewish Research.
Member of the American Society for the Study of Religion.
RESEARCH
Professor Heschel’s research focuses on modern Jewish intellectual history and the interaction of Judaism with Christianity and Islam. She investigates the history of biblical scholarship, the development of modern Jewish theology, German Protestant scholarship, and the origins and evolution of antisemitism in modern Europe.
A major area of her scholarship concerns Abraham Geiger and the emergence of modern Jewish scholarship. Her influential work has reshaped understanding of the relationship between biblical studies, religious identity, race theory, and nationalism in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe. She also studies Jewish feminism, Holocaust studies, and the intellectual legacy of her father, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Jewish Studies
Modern Jewish Thought
History of Biblical Scholarship
Hebrew Bible Reception History
Jewish-Christian Relations
Jewish-Muslim Relations
History of Antisemitism
Holocaust Studies
Jewish Feminism
Abraham Geiger
Modern European Intellectual History
German Jewish History
PRIZES AND AWARDS
Guggenheim Fellowship.
National Jewish Book Award.
Abraham Geiger Prize.
Moses Mendelssohn Prize of the Leo Baeck Institute.
Five Honorary Doctorates from universities in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, and Germany.
Numerous grants from the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.
PUBLICATIONS
Selected Publications
Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus. University of Chicago Press.
The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany. Princeton University Press.
Jüdischer Islam: Islam und jüdisch-deutsche Selbstbestimmung.
The Woman Question in Jewish Studies. (with Sarah Imhoff).
Muslim Responses to European Orientalism. (co-edited with Umar Ryad).
Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays of Abraham Joshua Heschel. (Editor).
Author and editor of numerous books, scholarly articles, and edited volumes on Jewish Studies, biblical scholarship, antisemitism, Holocaust studies, Jewish feminism, and modern European intellectual history.