Kessler, Edward 1963- (Edward David Kessler)

PERSONAL:

Born May 3, 1963. Education: Stirling University, M.B.A.; Harvard Divinity School, M.T.S.; Cambridge University, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Centre for the Study of Jewish Christian Relations, Wesley House, Jesus Lane, Cambridge CB5 8BJ, England.

CAREER:

Academic, educator, writer, editor, and radio broadcaster. Centre for the Study of Jewish Christian Relations, Cambridge, England, founder and executive director; St. Edmund's College, Cambridge, fellow. Also broadcasts regularly on radio.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, selector, and author of introduction) An English Jew: The Life and Writings of Claude Montefiore, Vallentine Mitchell (Portland, OR), 2002.

(Editor, with David J. Goldberg) Aspects of Liberal Judaism: Essays in Honour of John D. Rayner, Vallentine Mitchell (Portland, OR), 2004.

(Editor, selector, and author of introduction) A Reader of Early Liberal Judaism: The Writings of Israel Abrahams, Claude Montefiore, Lily Montagu and Israel Mattuck, Vallentine Mitchell (Portland, OR), 2004.

Bound by the Bible: Jews, Christians, and the Sacrifice of Isaac, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

(Editor, with Neil Wenborn) A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge University Press/Cambridge Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations (New York, NY), 2005.

(Editor, contributor, and author of introduction, with James K. Aitken) Challenges in Jewish-Christian Relations, Paulist Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including the Independent, Irish Times, Tablet, Church Times, and Manna. Also editor of a series of monographs titled "Themes in Jewish-Christian Relations."

SIDELIGHTS:

Edward Kessler teaches and writes on Jewish-Christian relations and is also the founder and executive director of the Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian elations, an independent self-financing educational institution dedicated to teaching, research, and dialogue in the encounter between Jews and Christians throughout the ages. In his 2004 book Bound by the Bible: Jews, Christians, and the Sacrifice of Isaac, Kessler examines the biblical story of the sacrifice of Isaac from both the Jewish and Christian perspectives. The story, found in the Old Testament in Genesis 22, is about God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. In the story, Abraham does not question God and sets out to obey God's orders. However, an angel appears and stops Abraham just before he sacrifices his son. Abraham then finds a ram nearby and sacrifices the ram to God instead.

In Bound by the Bible, the author not only takes the traditional view of how Christians were influenced in their views of the story by Judaism but also how the followers of Judaism were influenced in their outlook toward the story by Christians. The author analyzes the story verse by verse as he argues that neither Jewish nor Christian interpretations can be understood completely without reference to the other.

"Bound by the Bible is going to be debated by scholars, not on the issue of whether Jews and Christians are better off for knowing more about the exegetical traditions of the other, but rather on the extent of the actual exegetical interaction between the two in antiquity," wrote Brooks Schramm in Interpretation. "Though not intended for a popular audience, the book should prove to be broadly accessible."

Kessler served as the editor of, and selector for, A Reader of Early Liberal Judaism: The Writings of Israel Abrahams, Claude Montefiore, Lily Montagu and Israel Mattuck. He also wrote the book's introduction. The book features the writings of the founders of the liberal Judaism movement in England, with an emphasis on the writings that demonstrate their understanding of modern Judaism. In his introduction, Kessler examines the authors and their writings within the context of the Old Testament, Christianity and the New Testament, and the differences between rabbinic and liberal Judaism during the Victorian era in which the authors lived. "The book makes a unique contribution to understanding Liberal Judaism and is recommended as essential reading," commented Helen P. Fry in European Judaism.

Kessler is the editor, with Neil Wenborn, of A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations. This dictionary (with entries starting from Aaron and going all the way to Zionism) looks at the history of encounters between Judaism and Christianity over 2,000 years. The goal is to characterize the ongoing relationship between these two religious traditions by considering major events, people, institutions, movements, places, and publications. More than one hundred scholars have contributed to this volume, which includes 700 entries touching on such wide-ranging areas as theology, religious studies, history, literature, and social and political studies. "The work is unique in its attempt to take concepts such as Consecration and Dialogue and examine them as they are used in Christian and Jewish contexts, searching for common threads," wrote Barbara M. Bibel in Booklist. Library Journal contributor Michele McGraw noted the book's "unique perspective on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity," adding that "this resource makes for a good supplement to the more standard reference works."

Kessler also coedited Challenges in Jewish-Christian Relations. In this book, Kessler and coeditor James K. Aitken present fourteen essays covering a wide range of topics, including the Bible in future Jewish-Christian relations and Catholic-Jewish agendas, the effect of the holocaust on Jewish-Christian relations, and the future of discourse between the followers of the two faiths. Theological Studies contributor Jeffrey S. Siker called the book "a welcome contribution to current and future substantive discussion between Christians and Jews."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 2006, Barbara M. Bibel, review of A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, p. 74.

Choice, July-August, 2006, W. Fontaine, review of A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, p. 1964.

European Judaism, autumn, 2005, Helen P. Fry, review of A Reader of Early Liberal Judaism: The Writings of Israel Abrahams, Claude Montefiore, Lily Montagu and Israel Mattuck, p. 152.

Interpretation, January, 2007, Brooks Schramm, review of Bound by the Bible: Jews, Christians, and the Sacrifice of Isaac, p. 96.

Journal of Biblical Literature, summer, 2005, Isaac Kalimi, review of Bound by the Bible, p. 371.

Journal of Religion, January, 2008, Elizabeth Musselman, review of Bound by the Bible, p. 99.

Journal of Theological Studies, April, 2005, James Swetnam, review of Bound by the Bible, p. 186.

Library Journal, December 1, 2005, Michele McGraw, review of A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, p. 168.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 2005, review of A Reader of Early Liberal Judaism, p. 15; February, 2005, review of Aspects of Liberal Judaism: Essays in Honour of John D. Rayner, p. 15; May, 2006, review of A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations.

Religion, October, 2005, Kathryn McClymond, review of Bound by the Bible, p. 266.

Theological Studies, December, 2006, Mary Christine Athans, review of A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, p. 897; January, 2007, Jeffrey S. Siker, review of Bound by the Bible, p. 96; March, 2008, Jeffrey S. Siker, review of Challenges in Jewish-Christian Relations, p. 220.

Theology Today, January, 2006, Walter Moberly, review of Bound by the Bible, p. 556.

Times Educational Supplement, April 27, 1990, Julia Neuberger, review of An English Jew: The Life and Writings of Claude Montefiore, p. 37.

Times Higher Education Supplement, December 8, 2000, Anne Sebba, "A Meeting of Minds Is the Road to Peace," p. 17; December 9, 2005, Robert Segal, "Tied by Pain and Prejudice," review of Bound by the Bible, p. 27; December 8, 2006, Peter Cramer, "Truths in the Undergrowth," p. 23.

Times Literary Supplement, October 13, 2006, John Barton, "Disagreeing Respectfully," review of A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, p. 33.

ONLINE

Euro Association for Jewish Studies Web site,http://www.eurojewishstudies.org/ (March 26, 2008), profile of author.

Jewish-Christian Relations,http://www.jcrelations.net/ (March 26, 2008), profile of author.