Tag: Bible

Books

What’s Wrong with Babel?

The American Scholar 58 (1): 41-60, Winter 1989.
Abstract: Traces the history of God’s working with the people of Israel. Book of Genesis, which teaches God as creator and authority, and man as seeking independence and… More

A Woman for All Seasons

Commentary, September 1991.
Abstract: One often hears it said, and not only by outsiders, that Judaism is a male-dominated religion that does not properly appreciate its women. The blame for this attitude, say many… More

Man and Woman: An Old Story

First Things, November 1991.
Excerpt: Man and woman. What are they, and why—each alone and both together? How are they alike and how different? How much is difference due to nature, how much to culture? What… More

Regarding Daughters and Sisters: The Rape of Dinah

Commentary, April 1992.
Abstract: Ever since I was a boy, long before I had a wife and daughters, I have always thought and keenly felt that rape is a capital offense, a crime worse even than murder. For the… More

Seeing the Nakedness of His Father

Commentary, June 1992.
Abstract: Standing in the large men’s locker room of the National Capitol YMCA, getting dressed after my swim and shower, I overheard a conversation taking place out of my sight, on the… More

Why the Dietary Laws?

Commentary, June 1994.
Abstract: A core document of Western civilization, the Torah or Pentateuch has at its center a set of dietary regulations, presented in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus. Though these now… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Wife

First Things, November 1994.
Excerpt: It is not exactly traditional to speak about the education of Abraham. Pious tales of the patriarch regard him as a precocious monotheist even before God calls him, a man who… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Fatherhood

First Things, December 1994.
Excerpt: My theme is the education of the patriarch Abraham, Father of Judaism, father of Christianity, father of Islam. God Himself undertakes Abraham’s education in order to address and… More

What’s Your Name?

– With Amy A. Kass, First Things, November 1995.
Excerpt: The authors of this essay on names have just identified themselves. Well, not quite. For the sake of full disclosure, they are willing to have it known that they have the same last… More

A Genealogy of Justice

Commentary, July 1996.
Abstract: All morally serious people care generally about justice. And when its apparent absence touches them directly, all people, serious or not, find themselves eager for justice. Even… More

Evolution and the Bible: Genesis I Revisited

Commentary, November 1988.
Abstract: These tensions between science and religion, never absent yet recently grown strong, nowadays focus mainly on the subject of evolution and its meaning for the Bible.

The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis

– Free Press, 2003.
Summary: As ardent debates over creationism fill the front pages of newspapers, Genesis has never been more timely. And as Leon R. Kass shows in The Beginning of Wisdom, it’s also… More

Leon Kass and the Genesis of Wisdom by Alan Jacobs

– Alan Jacobs, First Things, June/July 2003.
Excerpt: Leon Kass’ meditation on the wisdom of Genesis is expansive, curious, fascinatingly rich and digressive. This I claim without reservation, but my next claim begins with a… More

Interview on “NOW with Bill Moyers”

– “NOW with Bill Moyers,” PBS, July 25, 2003.
Excerpt: ANNOUNCER: Tonight on NOW WITH BILL MOYERS: Congress defies the FCC decision to give big media more power. BURR: I think we ought to err on the side of looking out for the… More

Interview on “Charlie Rose”

– "Charlie Rose," July 1, 2003.
First, a conversation with Richard A. Clarke, former National Security Council official and anti-terrorism advisor, about his report released by the Council on Foreign Relations, in which… More

Human Frailty and Human Dignity

The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).
Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More

Science, Religion, and the Human Future

Commentary (April 2007).
Excerpt: Western civilization would not be Western civilization were it not for biblical religion, which reveres and trusts in the one God, Who has made known what He wants of human beings… More

Why Even Atheists Should Applaud the Ten Commandments

– Audio lecture, Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, January 12, 2009.
Summary: ‘The Ten Commandments embody the core principles of the way of life of ancient Israel and of the Judeo-Christian ethic. Even in our increasingly secular age, their influence… More

The God-Seeking Animal by Eric Cohen

– Eric Cohen, First Things, April, 2010.
Excerpt: On the cover of Being Human, the anthology of writings collected by the President’s Council on Bioethics under Leon Kass’s stewardship, there is a picture of a ballerina… More

Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver: Honoring the Work of Leon R. Kass

– Yuval Levin, Thomas W. Merrill, and Adam Schulman, eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, May 25, 2010.
Summary: Leon R. Kass has been helping Americans better understand the human condition for over four decades—as a teacher, writer, scholar, public champion of the humanities, and defender… More

The Ten Commandments: Why the Decalogue Matters

Mosaic (June 2013).
Excerpt: The biblical book of Genesis presents the story of how God’s new way for humankind finds its first adherent in a single individual-Abraham, a man out of Mesopotamia-and how… More

A Reply to My Respondents, and My Friends

Mosaic Magazine, June 27, 2013.
Excerpt: I thank Michael Fishbane, Peter Berkowitz, Gilbert Meilaender, and Meir Soloveichik for their generous treatment of my essay, for their serious engagement with its themes,… More

Pride, Lust, Technology—and the Hebrew Bible

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
Last month, Mosaic visited Leon R. Kass, author of our June essay, “The Ten Commandments,” in his Washington, D.C. office. We spoke first about the passions, the human heart and its… More

The People Saw the Thunder

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
The revelation at Sinai was a “phantasmagoric experience” where sight became sound, sound became sight, and the people stood in awe and confusion. But what about us, today? Can we, just… More

Why Two Covenants?

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
When we last left Leon Kass, he was talking about the passions that “lurk in the hearts of men” and the guidance the Hebrew Bible can give us in learning how to channel them. Now we… More

The Ten Commandments

– "The Ten Commandments," PCG at Harvard seminar series, April 8, 2016.
Leon Kass discusses the Ten Commandments at the Program on Constitutional Government lunchtime seminar series, convened by Harvey Mansfield.

The Ten Commandments

– Leon Kass, Tikvah Podcast, May 18, 2017.
In an interview with Jonathan Silver, Leon Kass discuss the Ten Commandments.

The People-Forming Passover

– Leon Kass, "The People-Forming Passover," Mosaic, April 6, 2020.
Excerpt: The essay below is adapted from Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus by Leon R. Kass, forthcoming from Yale University Press in January 2021. The biblical book of Exodus,… More

Exodus and American Nationhood

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and American Nationhood," Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2021.
What makes a people a people? What forms their communal identity, holds them together, guides their lives? To what do they look up? For what should they strive? These questions have risen… More

Exodus and Liberal Education

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and Liberal Education," Politics and the Humanities, March 3, 2021.
Leon Kass joined the American University Politics and the Humanities podcast to discuss his recent work on the Book of Exodus.

Essays

What’s Wrong with Babel?

The American Scholar 58 (1): 41-60, Winter 1989.
Abstract: Traces the history of God’s working with the people of Israel. Book of Genesis, which teaches God as creator and authority, and man as seeking independence and… More

A Woman for All Seasons

Commentary, September 1991.
Abstract: One often hears it said, and not only by outsiders, that Judaism is a male-dominated religion that does not properly appreciate its women. The blame for this attitude, say many… More

Man and Woman: An Old Story

First Things, November 1991.
Excerpt: Man and woman. What are they, and why—each alone and both together? How are they alike and how different? How much is difference due to nature, how much to culture? What… More

Regarding Daughters and Sisters: The Rape of Dinah

Commentary, April 1992.
Abstract: Ever since I was a boy, long before I had a wife and daughters, I have always thought and keenly felt that rape is a capital offense, a crime worse even than murder. For the… More

Seeing the Nakedness of His Father

Commentary, June 1992.
Abstract: Standing in the large men’s locker room of the National Capitol YMCA, getting dressed after my swim and shower, I overheard a conversation taking place out of my sight, on the… More

Why the Dietary Laws?

Commentary, June 1994.
Abstract: A core document of Western civilization, the Torah or Pentateuch has at its center a set of dietary regulations, presented in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus. Though these now… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Wife

First Things, November 1994.
Excerpt: It is not exactly traditional to speak about the education of Abraham. Pious tales of the patriarch regard him as a precocious monotheist even before God calls him, a man who… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Fatherhood

First Things, December 1994.
Excerpt: My theme is the education of the patriarch Abraham, Father of Judaism, father of Christianity, father of Islam. God Himself undertakes Abraham’s education in order to address and… More

What’s Your Name?

– With Amy A. Kass, First Things, November 1995.
Excerpt: The authors of this essay on names have just identified themselves. Well, not quite. For the sake of full disclosure, they are willing to have it known that they have the same last… More

A Genealogy of Justice

Commentary, July 1996.
Abstract: All morally serious people care generally about justice. And when its apparent absence touches them directly, all people, serious or not, find themselves eager for justice. Even… More

Evolution and the Bible: Genesis I Revisited

Commentary, November 1988.
Abstract: These tensions between science and religion, never absent yet recently grown strong, nowadays focus mainly on the subject of evolution and its meaning for the Bible.

The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis

– Free Press, 2003.
Summary: As ardent debates over creationism fill the front pages of newspapers, Genesis has never been more timely. And as Leon R. Kass shows in The Beginning of Wisdom, it’s also… More

Leon Kass and the Genesis of Wisdom by Alan Jacobs

– Alan Jacobs, First Things, June/July 2003.
Excerpt: Leon Kass’ meditation on the wisdom of Genesis is expansive, curious, fascinatingly rich and digressive. This I claim without reservation, but my next claim begins with a… More

Interview on “NOW with Bill Moyers”

– “NOW with Bill Moyers,” PBS, July 25, 2003.
Excerpt: ANNOUNCER: Tonight on NOW WITH BILL MOYERS: Congress defies the FCC decision to give big media more power. BURR: I think we ought to err on the side of looking out for the… More

Interview on “Charlie Rose”

– "Charlie Rose," July 1, 2003.
First, a conversation with Richard A. Clarke, former National Security Council official and anti-terrorism advisor, about his report released by the Council on Foreign Relations, in which… More

Human Frailty and Human Dignity

The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).
Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More

Science, Religion, and the Human Future

Commentary (April 2007).
Excerpt: Western civilization would not be Western civilization were it not for biblical religion, which reveres and trusts in the one God, Who has made known what He wants of human beings… More

Why Even Atheists Should Applaud the Ten Commandments

– Audio lecture, Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, January 12, 2009.
Summary: ‘The Ten Commandments embody the core principles of the way of life of ancient Israel and of the Judeo-Christian ethic. Even in our increasingly secular age, their influence… More

The God-Seeking Animal by Eric Cohen

– Eric Cohen, First Things, April, 2010.
Excerpt: On the cover of Being Human, the anthology of writings collected by the President’s Council on Bioethics under Leon Kass’s stewardship, there is a picture of a ballerina… More

Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver: Honoring the Work of Leon R. Kass

– Yuval Levin, Thomas W. Merrill, and Adam Schulman, eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, May 25, 2010.
Summary: Leon R. Kass has been helping Americans better understand the human condition for over four decades—as a teacher, writer, scholar, public champion of the humanities, and defender… More

The Ten Commandments: Why the Decalogue Matters

Mosaic (June 2013).
Excerpt: The biblical book of Genesis presents the story of how God’s new way for humankind finds its first adherent in a single individual-Abraham, a man out of Mesopotamia-and how… More

A Reply to My Respondents, and My Friends

Mosaic Magazine, June 27, 2013.
Excerpt: I thank Michael Fishbane, Peter Berkowitz, Gilbert Meilaender, and Meir Soloveichik for their generous treatment of my essay, for their serious engagement with its themes,… More

Pride, Lust, Technology—and the Hebrew Bible

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
Last month, Mosaic visited Leon R. Kass, author of our June essay, “The Ten Commandments,” in his Washington, D.C. office. We spoke first about the passions, the human heart and its… More

The People Saw the Thunder

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
The revelation at Sinai was a “phantasmagoric experience” where sight became sound, sound became sight, and the people stood in awe and confusion. But what about us, today? Can we, just… More

Why Two Covenants?

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
When we last left Leon Kass, he was talking about the passions that “lurk in the hearts of men” and the guidance the Hebrew Bible can give us in learning how to channel them. Now we… More

The Ten Commandments

– "The Ten Commandments," PCG at Harvard seminar series, April 8, 2016.
Leon Kass discusses the Ten Commandments at the Program on Constitutional Government lunchtime seminar series, convened by Harvey Mansfield.

The Ten Commandments

– Leon Kass, Tikvah Podcast, May 18, 2017.
In an interview with Jonathan Silver, Leon Kass discuss the Ten Commandments.

The People-Forming Passover

– Leon Kass, "The People-Forming Passover," Mosaic, April 6, 2020.
Excerpt: The essay below is adapted from Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus by Leon R. Kass, forthcoming from Yale University Press in January 2021. The biblical book of Exodus,… More

Exodus and American Nationhood

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and American Nationhood," Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2021.
What makes a people a people? What forms their communal identity, holds them together, guides their lives? To what do they look up? For what should they strive? These questions have risen… More

Exodus and Liberal Education

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and Liberal Education," Politics and the Humanities, March 3, 2021.
Leon Kass joined the American University Politics and the Humanities podcast to discuss his recent work on the Book of Exodus.

Commentary

What’s Wrong with Babel?

The American Scholar 58 (1): 41-60, Winter 1989.
Abstract: Traces the history of God’s working with the people of Israel. Book of Genesis, which teaches God as creator and authority, and man as seeking independence and… More

A Woman for All Seasons

Commentary, September 1991.
Abstract: One often hears it said, and not only by outsiders, that Judaism is a male-dominated religion that does not properly appreciate its women. The blame for this attitude, say many… More

Man and Woman: An Old Story

First Things, November 1991.
Excerpt: Man and woman. What are they, and why—each alone and both together? How are they alike and how different? How much is difference due to nature, how much to culture? What… More

Regarding Daughters and Sisters: The Rape of Dinah

Commentary, April 1992.
Abstract: Ever since I was a boy, long before I had a wife and daughters, I have always thought and keenly felt that rape is a capital offense, a crime worse even than murder. For the… More

Seeing the Nakedness of His Father

Commentary, June 1992.
Abstract: Standing in the large men’s locker room of the National Capitol YMCA, getting dressed after my swim and shower, I overheard a conversation taking place out of my sight, on the… More

Why the Dietary Laws?

Commentary, June 1994.
Abstract: A core document of Western civilization, the Torah or Pentateuch has at its center a set of dietary regulations, presented in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus. Though these now… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Wife

First Things, November 1994.
Excerpt: It is not exactly traditional to speak about the education of Abraham. Pious tales of the patriarch regard him as a precocious monotheist even before God calls him, a man who… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Fatherhood

First Things, December 1994.
Excerpt: My theme is the education of the patriarch Abraham, Father of Judaism, father of Christianity, father of Islam. God Himself undertakes Abraham’s education in order to address and… More

What’s Your Name?

– With Amy A. Kass, First Things, November 1995.
Excerpt: The authors of this essay on names have just identified themselves. Well, not quite. For the sake of full disclosure, they are willing to have it known that they have the same last… More

A Genealogy of Justice

Commentary, July 1996.
Abstract: All morally serious people care generally about justice. And when its apparent absence touches them directly, all people, serious or not, find themselves eager for justice. Even… More

Evolution and the Bible: Genesis I Revisited

Commentary, November 1988.
Abstract: These tensions between science and religion, never absent yet recently grown strong, nowadays focus mainly on the subject of evolution and its meaning for the Bible.

The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis

– Free Press, 2003.
Summary: As ardent debates over creationism fill the front pages of newspapers, Genesis has never been more timely. And as Leon R. Kass shows in The Beginning of Wisdom, it’s also… More

Leon Kass and the Genesis of Wisdom by Alan Jacobs

– Alan Jacobs, First Things, June/July 2003.
Excerpt: Leon Kass’ meditation on the wisdom of Genesis is expansive, curious, fascinatingly rich and digressive. This I claim without reservation, but my next claim begins with a… More

Interview on “NOW with Bill Moyers”

– “NOW with Bill Moyers,” PBS, July 25, 2003.
Excerpt: ANNOUNCER: Tonight on NOW WITH BILL MOYERS: Congress defies the FCC decision to give big media more power. BURR: I think we ought to err on the side of looking out for the… More

Interview on “Charlie Rose”

– "Charlie Rose," July 1, 2003.
First, a conversation with Richard A. Clarke, former National Security Council official and anti-terrorism advisor, about his report released by the Council on Foreign Relations, in which… More

Human Frailty and Human Dignity

The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).
Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More

Science, Religion, and the Human Future

Commentary (April 2007).
Excerpt: Western civilization would not be Western civilization were it not for biblical religion, which reveres and trusts in the one God, Who has made known what He wants of human beings… More

Why Even Atheists Should Applaud the Ten Commandments

– Audio lecture, Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, January 12, 2009.
Summary: ‘The Ten Commandments embody the core principles of the way of life of ancient Israel and of the Judeo-Christian ethic. Even in our increasingly secular age, their influence… More

The God-Seeking Animal by Eric Cohen

– Eric Cohen, First Things, April, 2010.
Excerpt: On the cover of Being Human, the anthology of writings collected by the President’s Council on Bioethics under Leon Kass’s stewardship, there is a picture of a ballerina… More

Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver: Honoring the Work of Leon R. Kass

– Yuval Levin, Thomas W. Merrill, and Adam Schulman, eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, May 25, 2010.
Summary: Leon R. Kass has been helping Americans better understand the human condition for over four decades—as a teacher, writer, scholar, public champion of the humanities, and defender… More

The Ten Commandments: Why the Decalogue Matters

Mosaic (June 2013).
Excerpt: The biblical book of Genesis presents the story of how God’s new way for humankind finds its first adherent in a single individual-Abraham, a man out of Mesopotamia-and how… More

A Reply to My Respondents, and My Friends

Mosaic Magazine, June 27, 2013.
Excerpt: I thank Michael Fishbane, Peter Berkowitz, Gilbert Meilaender, and Meir Soloveichik for their generous treatment of my essay, for their serious engagement with its themes,… More

Pride, Lust, Technology—and the Hebrew Bible

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
Last month, Mosaic visited Leon R. Kass, author of our June essay, “The Ten Commandments,” in his Washington, D.C. office. We spoke first about the passions, the human heart and its… More

The People Saw the Thunder

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
The revelation at Sinai was a “phantasmagoric experience” where sight became sound, sound became sight, and the people stood in awe and confusion. But what about us, today? Can we, just… More

Why Two Covenants?

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
When we last left Leon Kass, he was talking about the passions that “lurk in the hearts of men” and the guidance the Hebrew Bible can give us in learning how to channel them. Now we… More

The Ten Commandments

– "The Ten Commandments," PCG at Harvard seminar series, April 8, 2016.
Leon Kass discusses the Ten Commandments at the Program on Constitutional Government lunchtime seminar series, convened by Harvey Mansfield.

The Ten Commandments

– Leon Kass, Tikvah Podcast, May 18, 2017.
In an interview with Jonathan Silver, Leon Kass discuss the Ten Commandments.

The People-Forming Passover

– Leon Kass, "The People-Forming Passover," Mosaic, April 6, 2020.
Excerpt: The essay below is adapted from Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus by Leon R. Kass, forthcoming from Yale University Press in January 2021. The biblical book of Exodus,… More

Exodus and American Nationhood

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and American Nationhood," Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2021.
What makes a people a people? What forms their communal identity, holds them together, guides their lives? To what do they look up? For what should they strive? These questions have risen… More

Exodus and Liberal Education

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and Liberal Education," Politics and the Humanities, March 3, 2021.
Leon Kass joined the American University Politics and the Humanities podcast to discuss his recent work on the Book of Exodus.

Multimedia

What’s Wrong with Babel?

The American Scholar 58 (1): 41-60, Winter 1989.
Abstract: Traces the history of God’s working with the people of Israel. Book of Genesis, which teaches God as creator and authority, and man as seeking independence and… More

A Woman for All Seasons

Commentary, September 1991.
Abstract: One often hears it said, and not only by outsiders, that Judaism is a male-dominated religion that does not properly appreciate its women. The blame for this attitude, say many… More

Man and Woman: An Old Story

First Things, November 1991.
Excerpt: Man and woman. What are they, and why—each alone and both together? How are they alike and how different? How much is difference due to nature, how much to culture? What… More

Regarding Daughters and Sisters: The Rape of Dinah

Commentary, April 1992.
Abstract: Ever since I was a boy, long before I had a wife and daughters, I have always thought and keenly felt that rape is a capital offense, a crime worse even than murder. For the… More

Seeing the Nakedness of His Father

Commentary, June 1992.
Abstract: Standing in the large men’s locker room of the National Capitol YMCA, getting dressed after my swim and shower, I overheard a conversation taking place out of my sight, on the… More

Why the Dietary Laws?

Commentary, June 1994.
Abstract: A core document of Western civilization, the Torah or Pentateuch has at its center a set of dietary regulations, presented in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus. Though these now… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Wife

First Things, November 1994.
Excerpt: It is not exactly traditional to speak about the education of Abraham. Pious tales of the patriarch regard him as a precocious monotheist even before God calls him, a man who… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Fatherhood

First Things, December 1994.
Excerpt: My theme is the education of the patriarch Abraham, Father of Judaism, father of Christianity, father of Islam. God Himself undertakes Abraham’s education in order to address and… More

What’s Your Name?

– With Amy A. Kass, First Things, November 1995.
Excerpt: The authors of this essay on names have just identified themselves. Well, not quite. For the sake of full disclosure, they are willing to have it known that they have the same last… More

A Genealogy of Justice

Commentary, July 1996.
Abstract: All morally serious people care generally about justice. And when its apparent absence touches them directly, all people, serious or not, find themselves eager for justice. Even… More

Evolution and the Bible: Genesis I Revisited

Commentary, November 1988.
Abstract: These tensions between science and religion, never absent yet recently grown strong, nowadays focus mainly on the subject of evolution and its meaning for the Bible.

The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis

– Free Press, 2003.
Summary: As ardent debates over creationism fill the front pages of newspapers, Genesis has never been more timely. And as Leon R. Kass shows in The Beginning of Wisdom, it’s also… More

Leon Kass and the Genesis of Wisdom by Alan Jacobs

– Alan Jacobs, First Things, June/July 2003.
Excerpt: Leon Kass’ meditation on the wisdom of Genesis is expansive, curious, fascinatingly rich and digressive. This I claim without reservation, but my next claim begins with a… More

Interview on “NOW with Bill Moyers”

– “NOW with Bill Moyers,” PBS, July 25, 2003.
Excerpt: ANNOUNCER: Tonight on NOW WITH BILL MOYERS: Congress defies the FCC decision to give big media more power. BURR: I think we ought to err on the side of looking out for the… More

Interview on “Charlie Rose”

– "Charlie Rose," July 1, 2003.
First, a conversation with Richard A. Clarke, former National Security Council official and anti-terrorism advisor, about his report released by the Council on Foreign Relations, in which… More

Human Frailty and Human Dignity

The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).
Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More

Science, Religion, and the Human Future

Commentary (April 2007).
Excerpt: Western civilization would not be Western civilization were it not for biblical religion, which reveres and trusts in the one God, Who has made known what He wants of human beings… More

Why Even Atheists Should Applaud the Ten Commandments

– Audio lecture, Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, January 12, 2009.
Summary: ‘The Ten Commandments embody the core principles of the way of life of ancient Israel and of the Judeo-Christian ethic. Even in our increasingly secular age, their influence… More

The God-Seeking Animal by Eric Cohen

– Eric Cohen, First Things, April, 2010.
Excerpt: On the cover of Being Human, the anthology of writings collected by the President’s Council on Bioethics under Leon Kass’s stewardship, there is a picture of a ballerina… More

Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver: Honoring the Work of Leon R. Kass

– Yuval Levin, Thomas W. Merrill, and Adam Schulman, eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, May 25, 2010.
Summary: Leon R. Kass has been helping Americans better understand the human condition for over four decades—as a teacher, writer, scholar, public champion of the humanities, and defender… More

The Ten Commandments: Why the Decalogue Matters

Mosaic (June 2013).
Excerpt: The biblical book of Genesis presents the story of how God’s new way for humankind finds its first adherent in a single individual-Abraham, a man out of Mesopotamia-and how… More

A Reply to My Respondents, and My Friends

Mosaic Magazine, June 27, 2013.
Excerpt: I thank Michael Fishbane, Peter Berkowitz, Gilbert Meilaender, and Meir Soloveichik for their generous treatment of my essay, for their serious engagement with its themes,… More

Pride, Lust, Technology—and the Hebrew Bible

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
Last month, Mosaic visited Leon R. Kass, author of our June essay, “The Ten Commandments,” in his Washington, D.C. office. We spoke first about the passions, the human heart and its… More

The People Saw the Thunder

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
The revelation at Sinai was a “phantasmagoric experience” where sight became sound, sound became sight, and the people stood in awe and confusion. But what about us, today? Can we, just… More

Why Two Covenants?

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
When we last left Leon Kass, he was talking about the passions that “lurk in the hearts of men” and the guidance the Hebrew Bible can give us in learning how to channel them. Now we… More

The Ten Commandments

– "The Ten Commandments," PCG at Harvard seminar series, April 8, 2016.
Leon Kass discusses the Ten Commandments at the Program on Constitutional Government lunchtime seminar series, convened by Harvey Mansfield.

The Ten Commandments

– Leon Kass, Tikvah Podcast, May 18, 2017.
In an interview with Jonathan Silver, Leon Kass discuss the Ten Commandments.

The People-Forming Passover

– Leon Kass, "The People-Forming Passover," Mosaic, April 6, 2020.
Excerpt: The essay below is adapted from Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus by Leon R. Kass, forthcoming from Yale University Press in January 2021. The biblical book of Exodus,… More

Exodus and American Nationhood

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and American Nationhood," Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2021.
What makes a people a people? What forms their communal identity, holds them together, guides their lives? To what do they look up? For what should they strive? These questions have risen… More

Exodus and Liberal Education

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and Liberal Education," Politics and the Humanities, March 3, 2021.
Leon Kass joined the American University Politics and the Humanities podcast to discuss his recent work on the Book of Exodus.

Teaching

What’s Wrong with Babel?

The American Scholar 58 (1): 41-60, Winter 1989.
Abstract: Traces the history of God’s working with the people of Israel. Book of Genesis, which teaches God as creator and authority, and man as seeking independence and… More

A Woman for All Seasons

Commentary, September 1991.
Abstract: One often hears it said, and not only by outsiders, that Judaism is a male-dominated religion that does not properly appreciate its women. The blame for this attitude, say many… More

Man and Woman: An Old Story

First Things, November 1991.
Excerpt: Man and woman. What are they, and why—each alone and both together? How are they alike and how different? How much is difference due to nature, how much to culture? What… More

Regarding Daughters and Sisters: The Rape of Dinah

Commentary, April 1992.
Abstract: Ever since I was a boy, long before I had a wife and daughters, I have always thought and keenly felt that rape is a capital offense, a crime worse even than murder. For the… More

Seeing the Nakedness of His Father

Commentary, June 1992.
Abstract: Standing in the large men’s locker room of the National Capitol YMCA, getting dressed after my swim and shower, I overheard a conversation taking place out of my sight, on the… More

Why the Dietary Laws?

Commentary, June 1994.
Abstract: A core document of Western civilization, the Torah or Pentateuch has at its center a set of dietary regulations, presented in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus. Though these now… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Wife

First Things, November 1994.
Excerpt: It is not exactly traditional to speak about the education of Abraham. Pious tales of the patriarch regard him as a precocious monotheist even before God calls him, a man who… More

Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Fatherhood

First Things, December 1994.
Excerpt: My theme is the education of the patriarch Abraham, Father of Judaism, father of Christianity, father of Islam. God Himself undertakes Abraham’s education in order to address and… More

What’s Your Name?

– With Amy A. Kass, First Things, November 1995.
Excerpt: The authors of this essay on names have just identified themselves. Well, not quite. For the sake of full disclosure, they are willing to have it known that they have the same last… More

A Genealogy of Justice

Commentary, July 1996.
Abstract: All morally serious people care generally about justice. And when its apparent absence touches them directly, all people, serious or not, find themselves eager for justice. Even… More

Evolution and the Bible: Genesis I Revisited

Commentary, November 1988.
Abstract: These tensions between science and religion, never absent yet recently grown strong, nowadays focus mainly on the subject of evolution and its meaning for the Bible.

The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis

– Free Press, 2003.
Summary: As ardent debates over creationism fill the front pages of newspapers, Genesis has never been more timely. And as Leon R. Kass shows in The Beginning of Wisdom, it’s also… More

Leon Kass and the Genesis of Wisdom by Alan Jacobs

– Alan Jacobs, First Things, June/July 2003.
Excerpt: Leon Kass’ meditation on the wisdom of Genesis is expansive, curious, fascinatingly rich and digressive. This I claim without reservation, but my next claim begins with a… More

Interview on “NOW with Bill Moyers”

– “NOW with Bill Moyers,” PBS, July 25, 2003.
Excerpt: ANNOUNCER: Tonight on NOW WITH BILL MOYERS: Congress defies the FCC decision to give big media more power. BURR: I think we ought to err on the side of looking out for the… More

Interview on “Charlie Rose”

– "Charlie Rose," July 1, 2003.
First, a conversation with Richard A. Clarke, former National Security Council official and anti-terrorism advisor, about his report released by the Council on Foreign Relations, in which… More

Human Frailty and Human Dignity

The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).
Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More

Science, Religion, and the Human Future

Commentary (April 2007).
Excerpt: Western civilization would not be Western civilization were it not for biblical religion, which reveres and trusts in the one God, Who has made known what He wants of human beings… More

Why Even Atheists Should Applaud the Ten Commandments

– Audio lecture, Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, January 12, 2009.
Summary: ‘The Ten Commandments embody the core principles of the way of life of ancient Israel and of the Judeo-Christian ethic. Even in our increasingly secular age, their influence… More

The God-Seeking Animal by Eric Cohen

– Eric Cohen, First Things, April, 2010.
Excerpt: On the cover of Being Human, the anthology of writings collected by the President’s Council on Bioethics under Leon Kass’s stewardship, there is a picture of a ballerina… More

Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver: Honoring the Work of Leon R. Kass

– Yuval Levin, Thomas W. Merrill, and Adam Schulman, eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, May 25, 2010.
Summary: Leon R. Kass has been helping Americans better understand the human condition for over four decades—as a teacher, writer, scholar, public champion of the humanities, and defender… More

The Ten Commandments: Why the Decalogue Matters

Mosaic (June 2013).
Excerpt: The biblical book of Genesis presents the story of how God’s new way for humankind finds its first adherent in a single individual-Abraham, a man out of Mesopotamia-and how… More

A Reply to My Respondents, and My Friends

Mosaic Magazine, June 27, 2013.
Excerpt: I thank Michael Fishbane, Peter Berkowitz, Gilbert Meilaender, and Meir Soloveichik for their generous treatment of my essay, for their serious engagement with its themes,… More

Pride, Lust, Technology—and the Hebrew Bible

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
Last month, Mosaic visited Leon R. Kass, author of our June essay, “The Ten Commandments,” in his Washington, D.C. office. We spoke first about the passions, the human heart and its… More

The People Saw the Thunder

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
The revelation at Sinai was a “phantasmagoric experience” where sight became sound, sound became sight, and the people stood in awe and confusion. But what about us, today? Can we, just… More

Why Two Covenants?

– Video conversation with Leon R. Kass, Mosaic, July 2013.
When we last left Leon Kass, he was talking about the passions that “lurk in the hearts of men” and the guidance the Hebrew Bible can give us in learning how to channel them. Now we… More

The Ten Commandments

– "The Ten Commandments," PCG at Harvard seminar series, April 8, 2016.
Leon Kass discusses the Ten Commandments at the Program on Constitutional Government lunchtime seminar series, convened by Harvey Mansfield.

The Ten Commandments

– Leon Kass, Tikvah Podcast, May 18, 2017.
In an interview with Jonathan Silver, Leon Kass discuss the Ten Commandments.

The People-Forming Passover

– Leon Kass, "The People-Forming Passover," Mosaic, April 6, 2020.
Excerpt: The essay below is adapted from Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus by Leon R. Kass, forthcoming from Yale University Press in January 2021. The biblical book of Exodus,… More

Exodus and American Nationhood

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and American Nationhood," Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2021.
What makes a people a people? What forms their communal identity, holds them together, guides their lives? To what do they look up? For what should they strive? These questions have risen… More

Exodus and Liberal Education

– Leon Kass, "Exodus and Liberal Education," Politics and the Humanities, March 3, 2021.
Leon Kass joined the American University Politics and the Humanities podcast to discuss his recent work on the Book of Exodus.