posted Thursday, April 4, 2024
Renowned Jewish Studies scholar Susannah Heschel, leading voice for dialogue across differences, to speak in Indianapolis on “Generosity of Spirit: Exploring Jewish Traditions and Relational Philanthropy”
How religion broadly and Jewish tradition specifically can help us better practice philanthropy as love of humanity is focus of Lake Institute on Faith & Giving’s April 18 lecture
INDIANAPOLIS—Dr. Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor and chair of the Jewish Studies Program at Dartmouth College, will deliver Lake Institute on Faith & Giving’s 19th annual Thomas H. Lake Lecture in Indianapolis and via livestream on April 18, 2024. Lake Institute is a part of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IU Indianapolis.
Our religious traditions have often demonstrated the essential nature of relationship between one another, within communities, and between the human and divine. In her remarks, “Generosity of Spirit: Exploring Jewish Traditions and Relational Philanthropy,” Heschel will focus on how we form relationships and develop a generosity of spirit in our increasingly polarized, disconnected world.
As a renowned scholar of Jewish studies and a present-day leading voice for modeling dialogue across difference, Heschel will discuss the ways in which religion broadly, and Jewish tradition specifically, can help us better practice philanthropy as the love of humanity. In her many books, Heschel has most often worked to explore topics in Jewish studies through intersections across multiple religious traditions both past and present.
“Philanthropy is built upon relationships, and religious traditions for many serve as a foundation for how we are motivated toward generosity and community. Digging deeply into any one of our particular religious traditions is vital as we learn from one another,” said David P. King, Ph.D., the Karen Lake Buttrey Director of Lake Institute. “The generosity of spirit evident in Jewish traditions of philanthropy will undoubtedly offer to each one of us new ideas to explore. As our 19th Thomas H. Lake lecturer, Dr. Heschel’s unique ability to explore these questions within the Jewish traditions but also to set them in broader contexts that speak to all of us will serve as a tremendous gift to our entire community.”
The event will be held at the Indiana Historical Society in Indianapolis and via livestream. A reception will follow the lecture. The lecture, reception and livestream are free and open to the public; registration is requested.
Heschel is the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor and chair of the Jewish Studies Program at Dartmouth College. Her scholarship focuses on the history of Jewish and Protestant religious thought in Germany during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and she has brought post-colonial theory and feminist theory to her analyses. She is the author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus; The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany; and Jüdischer Islam: Islam und jüdisch-deutsche Selbstbestimmung, as well as several edited volumes, including Insider/Outsider: American Jews and Multiculturalism and Betrayal: German Churches and the Holocaust. Forthcoming this year are a monograph written with Sarah Imhoff, Jewish Studies and the Woman Question, and a co-edited volume, New Paths: Essays in Honor of Professor Elliot Wolfson, with Glenn Dynner and Shaul Magid.
A Guggenheim Fellow, Heschel is the recipient of five honorary doctorates from universities in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. She has held fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation, at the National Humanities Center, the Maimonides Institute in Hamburg, and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin.
News media who would like to attend and cover the event may contact Adriene Davis Kalugyer, adrldavi@iupui.edu, 317-278-8972.
About Lake Institute on Faith & Giving
Lake Institute on Faith & Giving exists to serve the public good by exploring the multiple connections between philanthropy and faith within the major religious traditions. Its mission is to foster greater understanding of the ways in which faith inspires and informs giving. Lake Institute is a program of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Follow us on Twitter or “Like” us on Facebook.
About the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI is dedicated to improving philanthropy to improve the world by training and empowering students and professionals to be innovators and leaders who create positive and lasting change. The school offers a comprehensive approach to philanthropy through its undergraduate, graduate, certificate and professional development programs, its research and international programs and through The Fund Raising School, Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, the Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy and the Women’s Philanthropy Institute. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram and “Like” us on Facebook.
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