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
The Path Not Taken: Assimilation versus Separation, by Aaron Wildavsky
– Commentary, September 1993.Abstract: To assimilate or to stay apart? That is the question which for centuries has confronted Jews living in the Diaspora. How much may the children of Israel become like their host… 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
The Akedah as Final Examination: Abraham, Summa cum Laude
– Sources: The Chicago Journal of Jewish Studies Number II, Spring 1996, 24-31.Farmers, Founders, and Fratricide: The Story of Cain and Abel
– First Things, April 1996.Excerpt: Once one gets right down to it, the difference between liberals and conservatives traces home to a disagreement about the basic source of human troubles. Liberals are inclined to… 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.
Love of Woman and Love of God: The Case of Jacob
– Commentary, March 1999.Abstract: The biblical patriarch’s romance with Rachel tells us much about the power of eros–but even more about divine purpose.
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
The Follies of Freedom and Reason: An Old Story
– In Richard Velkley, ed., Freedom and the Human Person (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2007).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
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
The Path Not Taken: Assimilation versus Separation, by Aaron Wildavsky
– Commentary, September 1993.Abstract: To assimilate or to stay apart? That is the question which for centuries has confronted Jews living in the Diaspora. How much may the children of Israel become like their host… 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
The Akedah as Final Examination: Abraham, Summa cum Laude
– Sources: The Chicago Journal of Jewish Studies Number II, Spring 1996, 24-31.Farmers, Founders, and Fratricide: The Story of Cain and Abel
– First Things, April 1996.Excerpt: Once one gets right down to it, the difference between liberals and conservatives traces home to a disagreement about the basic source of human troubles. Liberals are inclined to… 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.
Love of Woman and Love of God: The Case of Jacob
– Commentary, March 1999.Abstract: The biblical patriarch’s romance with Rachel tells us much about the power of eros–but even more about divine purpose.
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
The Follies of Freedom and Reason: An Old Story
– In Richard Velkley, ed., Freedom and the Human Person (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2007).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
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
The Path Not Taken: Assimilation versus Separation, by Aaron Wildavsky
– Commentary, September 1993.Abstract: To assimilate or to stay apart? That is the question which for centuries has confronted Jews living in the Diaspora. How much may the children of Israel become like their host… 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
The Akedah as Final Examination: Abraham, Summa cum Laude
– Sources: The Chicago Journal of Jewish Studies Number II, Spring 1996, 24-31.Farmers, Founders, and Fratricide: The Story of Cain and Abel
– First Things, April 1996.Excerpt: Once one gets right down to it, the difference between liberals and conservatives traces home to a disagreement about the basic source of human troubles. Liberals are inclined to… 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.
Love of Woman and Love of God: The Case of Jacob
– Commentary, March 1999.Abstract: The biblical patriarch’s romance with Rachel tells us much about the power of eros–but even more about divine purpose.
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
The Follies of Freedom and Reason: An Old Story
– In Richard Velkley, ed., Freedom and the Human Person (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2007).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
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
The Path Not Taken: Assimilation versus Separation, by Aaron Wildavsky
– Commentary, September 1993.Abstract: To assimilate or to stay apart? That is the question which for centuries has confronted Jews living in the Diaspora. How much may the children of Israel become like their host… 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
The Akedah as Final Examination: Abraham, Summa cum Laude
– Sources: The Chicago Journal of Jewish Studies Number II, Spring 1996, 24-31.Farmers, Founders, and Fratricide: The Story of Cain and Abel
– First Things, April 1996.Excerpt: Once one gets right down to it, the difference between liberals and conservatives traces home to a disagreement about the basic source of human troubles. Liberals are inclined to… 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.
Love of Woman and Love of God: The Case of Jacob
– Commentary, March 1999.Abstract: The biblical patriarch’s romance with Rachel tells us much about the power of eros–but even more about divine purpose.
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
The Follies of Freedom and Reason: An Old Story
– In Richard Velkley, ed., Freedom and the Human Person (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2007).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
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
The Path Not Taken: Assimilation versus Separation, by Aaron Wildavsky
– Commentary, September 1993.Abstract: To assimilate or to stay apart? That is the question which for centuries has confronted Jews living in the Diaspora. How much may the children of Israel become like their host… 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
The Akedah as Final Examination: Abraham, Summa cum Laude
– Sources: The Chicago Journal of Jewish Studies Number II, Spring 1996, 24-31.Farmers, Founders, and Fratricide: The Story of Cain and Abel
– First Things, April 1996.Excerpt: Once one gets right down to it, the difference between liberals and conservatives traces home to a disagreement about the basic source of human troubles. Liberals are inclined to… 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.
Love of Woman and Love of God: The Case of Jacob
– Commentary, March 1999.Abstract: The biblical patriarch’s romance with Rachel tells us much about the power of eros–but even more about divine purpose.
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
The Follies of Freedom and Reason: An Old Story
– In Richard Velkley, ed., Freedom and the Human Person (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2007).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