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David Novak
David Novak, FRSC (born August 19, 1941) is an American Jewish theologian, ethicist, and scholar of Jewish philosophy and law (Halakha). He is an ordained Conservative rabbi and holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto since 1997. His areas of interest are Jewish theology, Jewish ethics and biomedical ethics, political theory (with a special emphasis on natural law), and Jewish–Christian relations.
Novak has authored 16 books and more than 200 articles in scholarly journals. His book Covenantal Rights: A Study in Jewish Political Theory (Princeton University Press, 2000) won the American Academy of Religion Award for "best book in constructive religious thought" in 2000. He is a regular contributor to the ABC News' Religion and Ethics portal. He frequently addresses interfaith conferences and contributes to books and journals published by Christian theologians.
Novak was born in 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1961 and his master's degree in Hebrew literature in 1964. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Georgetown University in 1971. (Later he remarked that he chose Georgetown in part because it was a Catholic university). He received rabbinical ordination in 1966 from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he studied under Abraham Joshua Heschel. He is married to Melva Ziman since 1963; they have two children and five grandchildren.
Novak was a pulpit rabbi in several American Jewish communities from 1966 to 1989. He also served as a Jewish chaplain at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, National Institute of Mental Health, Washington, D.C., from 1966 to 1969.
In 1989 he moved to the University of Virginia as Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies, a position he held until 1997. Since 1997 he has held the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is also a member of the Joint Centre for Bioethics. From 1997 to 2002 he also directed the Jewish Studies Programme.
In 1992–1993 he was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C. He also lectured at Oxford University, Lancaster University and Drew University, and was a visiting scholar at Princeton University in 2004 and 2006. In 2017, he delivered the Gifford Lectures on Athens and Jerusalem: God, Humans, and Nature at the University of Aberdeen.
Novak has contributed to Jewish ethics by advocating a Jewish social ethics drawn from both the natural law tradition and Halakha. To this end, he interprets the rabbinic approach to the Noahide laws as a useful grounding for cross-cultural moral reasoning. His expertise includes Maimonides, John Courtney Murray, and Paul Tillich.[citation needed] In his theology, he combines Jewish rabbinical tradition and logic with Christian teachings.
Novak, together with Peter Ochs, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, and Michael Signer, drafted a full-page advertisement which appeared in the Sunday, 10 September 2000 edition of The New York Times under the title "Dabru Emet (Speak Truth): A Jewish statement on Christians and Christianity". Among the eight theological statements which the advertisement briefly laid out were: "Nazism is not a Christian phenomenon"; "Humanly irreconcilable differences between Jews and Christians will not be settled until God redeems the entire world as promised in Scripture"; and the statement which generated the most controversy in Jewish circles, "Jews and Christians worship the same God". The advertisement was signed by 160 rabbis, including many leading Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative thinkers and a handful of Orthodox rabbis known for their interfaith work. Explaining his rationale for publishing the document, Novak told J. The Jewish News of Northern California: "I want Jewish readers to clearly realize that Christians are not necessarily our enemies. Quite the contrary, they can be very good friends to Jews and Judaism". The document was subsequently translated into eight languages.
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David Novak
David Novak, FRSC (born August 19, 1941) is an American Jewish theologian, ethicist, and scholar of Jewish philosophy and law (Halakha). He is an ordained Conservative rabbi and holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto since 1997. His areas of interest are Jewish theology, Jewish ethics and biomedical ethics, political theory (with a special emphasis on natural law), and Jewish–Christian relations.
Novak has authored 16 books and more than 200 articles in scholarly journals. His book Covenantal Rights: A Study in Jewish Political Theory (Princeton University Press, 2000) won the American Academy of Religion Award for "best book in constructive religious thought" in 2000. He is a regular contributor to the ABC News' Religion and Ethics portal. He frequently addresses interfaith conferences and contributes to books and journals published by Christian theologians.
Novak was born in 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1961 and his master's degree in Hebrew literature in 1964. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Georgetown University in 1971. (Later he remarked that he chose Georgetown in part because it was a Catholic university). He received rabbinical ordination in 1966 from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he studied under Abraham Joshua Heschel. He is married to Melva Ziman since 1963; they have two children and five grandchildren.
Novak was a pulpit rabbi in several American Jewish communities from 1966 to 1989. He also served as a Jewish chaplain at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, National Institute of Mental Health, Washington, D.C., from 1966 to 1969.
In 1989 he moved to the University of Virginia as Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies, a position he held until 1997. Since 1997 he has held the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is also a member of the Joint Centre for Bioethics. From 1997 to 2002 he also directed the Jewish Studies Programme.
In 1992–1993 he was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C. He also lectured at Oxford University, Lancaster University and Drew University, and was a visiting scholar at Princeton University in 2004 and 2006. In 2017, he delivered the Gifford Lectures on Athens and Jerusalem: God, Humans, and Nature at the University of Aberdeen.
Novak has contributed to Jewish ethics by advocating a Jewish social ethics drawn from both the natural law tradition and Halakha. To this end, he interprets the rabbinic approach to the Noahide laws as a useful grounding for cross-cultural moral reasoning. His expertise includes Maimonides, John Courtney Murray, and Paul Tillich.[citation needed] In his theology, he combines Jewish rabbinical tradition and logic with Christian teachings.
Novak, together with Peter Ochs, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, and Michael Signer, drafted a full-page advertisement which appeared in the Sunday, 10 September 2000 edition of The New York Times under the title "Dabru Emet (Speak Truth): A Jewish statement on Christians and Christianity". Among the eight theological statements which the advertisement briefly laid out were: "Nazism is not a Christian phenomenon"; "Humanly irreconcilable differences between Jews and Christians will not be settled until God redeems the entire world as promised in Scripture"; and the statement which generated the most controversy in Jewish circles, "Jews and Christians worship the same God". The advertisement was signed by 160 rabbis, including many leading Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative thinkers and a handful of Orthodox rabbis known for their interfaith work. Explaining his rationale for publishing the document, Novak told J. The Jewish News of Northern California: "I want Jewish readers to clearly realize that Christians are not necessarily our enemies. Quite the contrary, they can be very good friends to Jews and Judaism". The document was subsequently translated into eight languages.
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