University / institution contact details
Position: Executive Director, Woolf Institute
The Woolf InstituteWesley House
Jesus Lane
Cambridge
CB5 8BJ
United Kingdom
Second university / institution contact details
Position: Senior Research Associate, Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies
University of CambridgeWest Road
Cambridge
CB3 9BS
United Kingdom
Teaches (T) and/or researches (R) in:
1. Bible and Related Literature: TR
Hebrew Bible: TR
Bible translations: TR
New Testament: TR
Modern interpretation: TR
2. History of the Jewish People: TR
Late Antiquity: TR
Modern: TR
3. Religion and Religious Movements: TR
Jewish religion - general: TR
23: Rabbinic Judaism: T
Comparative Religion: TR
5. Rabbinic Literature: TR
Early (including Talmud, Mishnah, Midrash): TR
8. Art, Architecture and Performing Arts: TR
Art (including iconography): TR
9. Contemporary Studies: TR
68: Jewish identity and assimilation: T
Anti-Semitism: TR
Holocaust Studies: TR
Interfaith studies (including Jewish-Christian relations, Jewish-Muslim relations): TR
Description
Edward Kessler is a leading thinker in interfaith relations, primarily contemporary Judaism and Jewish-Christian as well as Jewish-Muslim Relations Relations. He is Founding Director of the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths and Fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge. He is a prolific author, having written or edited 9 books and 26 articles.
Kessler’s publications include Bound by the Bible: Jews, Christians and the Sacrifice of Isaac, (Cambridge University Press, 2004) which was called a ‘landmark in Jewish-Christian Relations’ by the Chief Rabbi and A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2005) which the Archbishop of Canterbury has called “an invaluable guide to Jewish-Christian Relations”. His latest book is entitled What do Jews Believe? (Granta Publications, 2006).
Kessler also writes for the printed media and broadcasts regularly on radio. In 2005 he completed a charity cycle ride from Rome to Jerusalem, which was the subject of a BBC radio documentary, and preparations are underway for a ride from Cairo to Jerusalem via Mount Sinai in 2008.
Edward has been invited to deliver a number of prestigious lectures including the 1st Hugo Gryn Memorial lecture (1998), 30th Cardinal Bea Memorial Lecture (2000), both in London, the Shapiro Lecture in Chicago (2003), The Martin Buber Lecture (East Anglia University, 2004) and The Bishop Grossteste Lecture (Lincoln Cathedral 2005).