JPT Project People


Project Co-Directors

Yoram Hazony is President of the Herzl Institute and the Director of the John Templeton Foundation’s project in Jewish Philosophical Theology. He is founder and past President of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, now Shalem… »

Joshua I. Weinstein is Co-Director of the John Templeton Foundation's project in Jewish Philosophical Theology, and is a Senior Fellow at the Herzl Institute. His work in ethics, politics and psychology focuses on classical thought… »

Dru Johnson is Associate Director of the Templeton Foundation’s Project in Jewish Philosophical Theology, where he is responsible for liaising with Christian scholars interested in studying Hebrew scripture. Johnson is Assistant… »


Resident Scholars

Joshua Berman is on the Bible faculty at Bar-Ilan University and a Resident Scholar at the Herzl Institute. His books include Created Equal: How the Bible Broke With Ancient Political Thought and The Temple: Its Symbolism and… »

Yechiel Leiter is a member of the Law Faculty at the Kiryat Ono Academic Center. He has authored three books and numerous articles on Zionism and Israel, and lectures extensively to diverse audiences on political theory, Jewish… »

Jeremiah Unterman was Adjunct Professor of Bible at Yeshiva University and Director of the Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools in North America before becoming a Resident Scholar at the Herzl Institute.  Dr. Unterman is… »


Templeton Fellows 2015-2017

Josh Amaru teaches Tanakh and Jewish Philosophy at Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi in Jerusalem and he is also one of the scholars overseeing the translation of the Talmud and its new format for the Koren/Steinsaltz Talmud Bavli. He holds a… »

James Arcadi is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Analytic Theology Project at Fuller Theological Seminary. He recently completed his PhD in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Bristol where he focused on a… »

Craig Bartholomew is the H. Evan Runner Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Religion and Theology at Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Canada. Dr. Bartholomew is the author and editor of many books including Where Mortals… »

James A. Diamond is a full professor and the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo and former director of the university’s Friedberg Genizah Project.  His principle areas of study… »

Melis Erdur received her Ph.D. from the New York University Philosophy Department in 2013.  In her doctoral dissertation, A Moral Critique of Moral Philosophy (written under the supervision of Professor David Velleman), she… »

Lenn Goodman is a professor of philosophy and Jewish studies at Vanderbilt University where he holds the Andrew W. Mellon chair in the Humanities.  His books include On Justice: An Essay in Jewish Philosophy (Yale University… »

Berel Dov Lerner was born in Washington D.C. and is a member of Kibbutz Sheluhot in Israel’s Beit Shean Valley. He received a BA in social and behavioral sciences from Johns Hopkins University, an MA in philosophy from the… »

Alan Mittleman teaches Jewish Philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. He works in the areas of ethics, political theory, and modern Jewish thought. He is the author of six books, most recently Human Nature… »

Alex Sztuden has taught philosophy at Fordham University, where he received his M.A and was awarded a distinguished fellowship. He holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a member of the Columbia Law Review and a Harlan… »

Shmuel Trigano is Paris University Emeritus Professor of Sociology of Religion and Politics. He was Senior Fellow for 2012-2013 at the Herzl Institute where he wrote Hebrew, a Philosophy. Toward a New Jewish Thought (French,… »

Shira Weiss teaches medieval and modern Jewish Philosophy at Stern College, Yeshiva University. She holds a PhD in Medieval Jewish Philosophy and wrote her dissertation on the concept of choice in the philosophic exegesis of Joseph… »

Jacob L. Wright teaches Hebrew Bible at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He writes on the formation of Biblical literature, the political thought of the Bible and Jewish writings, and the history of the ancient Near East. His… »


Visiting Scholars, 2013-2014

Anthony Bolos, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Anthony Bolos recently completed his PhD in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, under the supervision of Duncan Pritchard and Allan Hazlett. His PhD was on the value of knowledge and its… »

Melis Erdur, Post-doctoral fellow
Melis (Miri) Erdur received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the New York University in 2013.  In her dissertation A Moral Critique of Moral Philosophy, (which she wrote under the supervision of… »

Edward Greenstein, Senior Fellow
Edward Greenstein is Professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, since 2006, and Director of the Institute for Jewish Biblical Interpretation there.  Prior to that, he was professor at… »

Aryeh Tepper, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Aryeh Tepper earned his doctorate in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His book,Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics: Leo Strauss’ Later Writings on… »

Shira Weiss, Research Fellow
Shira Weiss teaches medieval and modern Jewish Philosophy at Stern College, Yeshiva University. She holds a PhD in Medieval Jewish Philosophy and wrote her dissertation on the concept of choice in the… »


Visiting Scholars, 2012-2013

Miryam Brand, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Brand is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies and Religious Studies at Brown University, and holds a Ph.D. in Bible and Late Antiquity from New York University. Her book, Evil Within… »

Sam Lebens, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Lebens was awarded his doctorate by the University of London in 2010 for his thesis on Bertrand Russell's ill-fated Multiple Relation Theory of Judgement. His thesis research lead Lebens into… »

Shmuel Trigano, Senior Fellow
Shmuel Trigano is Professor of Sociology of Religion and Politics at the University of Paris. He has published 18 books and edited numerous others in the fields of Jewish and Jewish Political… »

Accessibility Toolbar