Political Secularism in the United States: Reflections in Light of the Quebec Charter of Values

A lecture by Prof. Jacques Berlinerblau (Georgetown University)

• Date: October 23, 2013
• Time: 5:30 pm
• Location:聽Arts building, room W-215

鈥淧olitical secularism鈥� is the term we will use to describe a complex and diverse set of policies that governments use to monitor and regulate the activities of religious groups and individuals. It is, we shall demonstrate, a far less coherent, fixed, and battle-tested doctrine in liberal democracies, and elsewhere, than is commonly thought. By looking at the fluid, structurally unstable (and currently) besieged American model of political secularism, we will try to crack open possibilities and problems to be considered in a secular Canada, and particularly the province of Quebec currently mired in controversies about the PQ鈥檚 Charter of Values.

Among the questions facing American theorists that may be germane to our neighbors in the north, we note the following: to what degree is secularism a coherent doctrine, with mutually agreed upon policies and goals? Is 鈥渟eparation of church and state鈥� the essence of American secularism? Can a state (or provincial) secularism legitimately claim to be religiously 鈥渘eutral鈥�? Or, are these secularisms so pervaded by the assumptions of majoritarian faiths that they represent a quasi-establishment in their own right? Is secularism anti-religious and can pro-religious secularisms be envisioned? Does secularism have a coherent view on the question of expressive liberties, ranging from the right of artists and intellectuals to criticize or mock religion, to the right of public employees to choose their own workplace attire?

These are all exceedingly complicated questions, and as we shall see secularism does not necessarily have well-thought out answers, let alone consensus among theorists who study it. Ideally, the drawing of comparisons between secular thought in the United States and Canada will be of use in the continuing development of a vital political philosophy, albeit one still undergoing a period of turbulent maturation.

Jacques Berlinerblau is Associate Professor and Director of Jewish Civilization in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He specializes in secularism, secular Judaism, politics and religion, and Jewish-American literature. He has published five books, his most recent being How to Be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom (Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt, 2012).

The Making of El Iluminado: How I Turned the Plight of a Famous Converso into a Graphic Novel

A lecture by聽Prof.聽Ilan Stavans

• Date: November 4, 2013
• Time: 5:00 pm
• Location: Arts building, room W-215

In his critically-acclaimed graphic novel聽El Iluminado, cultural critic Ilan Stavans聽turns his attention to the plight of Luis de Carvajal the Younger (1539-1595), arguably the most famous victim of the Holy Inquisition in the Americas. In this lecture he explains how years of research on Jewish-Hispanic topics coalesced in a novel that is as much about anti-Semitism as it is about academia.

Ilan Stavans is Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. His books include The Hispanic Condition (1995), On Borrowed Words (2001), Spanglish (2003), Love and Language (2007), and Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez: The Early Years (2010).

Mystical Atheism, Idolatry, and the Nothingness of God in the Kabbalah

A lecture by Prof. Elliot Wolfson

• Date: November 12, 2013
• Time: 5:00 pm
• Location:聽Maass Chemistry Building, room 217

In this lecture, I will turn my attention to one the potentially subversive theological repercussions of medieval kabbalistic literature related to the routine distinction between Ein Sof, the unfathomable infinity, and the ten sefirot, the luminous emanations configured through the prism of the imagination, the names by which the nameless is proclaimed. I am particularly interested in reexamining the question of the apophatic dimension of the kabbalah as it pertains to the infinite transcendence and the possibility that what is implied thereby is a form of mystical atheism that would render all theistic portrayals of God as conceptual idolatry.聽 The lecture will grapple with the extent to which the discernment that the final iconoclastic achievement of monotheism, which one may elicit from kabbalistic literature,聽 calls for destroying the idol of the very God personified as the deity that must be worshipped without being idolized.聽 As Henri Atlan deftly expressed the paradox, 鈥渢he ultimate idol is the personal God of theology . . . the only discourse about God that is聽 not idolatrous is necessarily an atheistic discourse. Alternatively, whatever the discourse, the only God who is not an idol is a God who is not a God.鈥�

Elliot Wolfson is the Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, where he has taught since 1987. He has published extensively in the area of jewish mysticism and philosophy in the medieval and modern eras. His many books include Language, Eros, Being: Kabbalistic Hermeneutics and Poetic Imagination (2005) for which he received a National Jewish Book Award, and Through a Speculum That Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism (1994), for which he received the American Academy of Religion award for excellence in historical studies.

Politics, Religion, Jewish Law and Philosophy: An Evening in Memory of David Hartman

• Date: March 13, 2014
• Time: 5:00-8:00 pm
• Location:聽Bronfman Building, room 423

Rabbi Professor聽David Hartman, who died聽a year ago, was聽a major contemporary聽Jewish philosopher and educator, and the founder聽of the influential Shalom聽Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.聽Though Hartman聽 became world famous in聽Israel, his career began in Montreal where he served as Rabbi of Congrgegation Tifereth Beth David聽Jerusalem from 1960-1971 and was the founder of Montreal's Akiva School. Hartman had a special聽relationship with McGill, serving as the first聽teacher聽of Jewish philosophy in the then fledgling Jewish聽Studies聽Program聽 and receiving his PhD from聽McGill's聽聽Department of Philosophy in 1973.聽The聽Department of聽Jewish聽Studies聽therefore feels honored to聽sponsor this evening聽in聽tribute to聽Hartman's聽 memory聽and his life work, where聽leading scholars, all of whom knew Hartman聽personally, will be speaking聽on topics of pressing relevance聽that were close to his聽heart.

Do Religion and Conscience Limit Political Authority

Presenter: William A. Galston

Religious conscience, invoked by individuals and institutions on issues from military service to health care benefits, raises deep issues about the nature of political authority.聽 The emergence of the revealed religions raised the possibility that non-political sources of authority could challenge and limit the competence of political rulers.聽 James Madison鈥檚 鈥淢emorial and Remonstrance鈥� advanced precisely that idea, which also made its way into his draft of what became the First Amendment to the US Constitution.聽 In his talk, William A. Galston will explore two questions: first, whether Christianity鈥檚 鈥渢wo swords鈥� concept has a counterpart in Jewish political thought; and second, how this concept influences the theory and practice of liberal democracy.

William A. Galston holds the Ezra Zilkha Chair in the Brookings Institution鈥檚 Governance Studies Program, where he serves as a Senior Fellow.聽聽 He is also College Park Professor at the University of Maryland.聽 Prior to January 2006 he was Saul Stern Professor and Acting Dean at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, founding director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), and executive director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal, co-chaired by William Bennett and Sam Nunn.聽 聽A participant in six presidential campaigns, he served from 1993 to 1995 as Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Domestic Policy.

Galston is the author of eight books and more than 100 articles in the fields of political theory, public policy, and American politics.聽 His most recent books are聽Liberal Pluralism聽(Cambridge, 2002),聽The Practice of Liberal Pluralism聽(Cambridge, 2004), and聽Public Matters聽(Rowman & Littlefield, 2005).聽 A winner of the American Political Science Association鈥檚 Hubert H. Humphrey Award, he was elected a Fellow of the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.

Galston has appeared on all the principal television networks and is frequently interviewed on NPR.聽 He writes a weekly column for the聽Wall Street Journal.

Response by Professor Charles Taylor

One of the most important thinkers Canada has produced,聽Charles Taylor taught at 51吃瓜网from 1961 to 1997, and is now a professor emeritus. A聽rare philosopher who attempts to put his ideas into practice, his writings have covered a range of subjects that include artificial intelligence, language, social behavior, morality, and multiculturalism. His聽magisterial works聽聽Sources of the Self聽(1989) and聽A Secular Age (2007)聽have been hailed聽for their depth, breadth, and erudition.聽 A winner of the聽prestigious Templeton Prize聽and聽Japan鈥檚 Kyoto Prize for arts and philosophy,聽Taylor is聽also a member of the Order of Canada.

Rabbi David Hartman: Subject to The Law without Being Trapped by The Law

Presenter: Rabbi Asher Lopatin

Rabbi Asher Lopatin is the president of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, the leading modern and open Orthodox rabbinical school in America, with nearly 100 alumni and 40 current students in a full-time, four-year course of study.

For 18 years he served as the spiritual leader of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation, a modern Orthodox synagogue in Chicago.聽 He received his ordination from Rav Ahron Soloveichik and Yeshivas Brisk in Chicago, and from Yeshiva University in New York as a Wexner Graduate Fellow.聽 Rabbi Lopatin holds an M. Phil. in Medieval Arabic Thought from Oxford University where he also did doctoral work on Islamic Fundamentalist attitudes toward Jews. He won both Rhodes and Truman Scholarships.聽 He is the author of numerous scholarly and popular articles in several books and journals and has been the co-chair of the Muslim-Jewish Community Building Initiative of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs.

Response by Professor Lawrence Kaplan

Lawrence J. Kaplan received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and his rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He has taught Rabbinics and Jewish Philosophy in the Department of Jewish Studies of 51吃瓜网 since 1972.聽 In the spring of聽聽2013 he held a聽Polonsky Fellowship at the聽 Oxford Centre for Hebrew and 聽Jewish Studies.聽

Kaplan is聽a leading 聽scholar of the聽thought of聽 David Hartman's teacher, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. His overview of Soloveitchik's thought 聽appeared in the聽Cambridge Companion to Modern Jewish Philosophy聽and his essay "Ethical聽Theories of Abraham Isaac Kook and Joseph聽 B. Soloveitchik," in聽The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality. His essay "Rabbi Soloveitchik's聽Lonely Man of Faith聽in Contemporary聽Modern聽聽Orthodox聽 Jewish Thought,"聽deals 聽extensively with Hartman's聽multiple 聽readings聽 of聽Soloveitchik's classic essay.聽