Providence, R.I--The Providence College Department of Theology and the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies (CCDS) will host Shaye J.D. Cohen, a rabbi and a renowned professor of Jewish studies at Harvard University, on Thursday, October 22, as part of the department's Theological Exchange Between Catholics and Jews lecture and colloquium series.

Cohen's lecture, "The Sons of Aaron: Priests and Priesthood in Ancient and Modern Judaism," will be held in Room 400 in the Feinstein Academic Center at 5:00 p.m. and is open to the public.

Cohen is the Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard. His expertise is centered on relations between Jewish and gentile cultures. The Littauer Professorship is one of the oldest and most distinguished professorships of Jewish studies in the United States.

He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1974 and received his Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University. He held numerous faculty positions at the Jewish Theological Seminary, including dean of the graduate school, until 1991. For the 10 years that followed, he taught religious and Judaic studies at Brown University before going to Harvard, where he is now in his ninth year.

In addition to teaching, Cohen has written three books: From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (Westminster John Knox Press, 1987), The Beginnings of Jewishness (University of California Press, 1999), and Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised? (University of California Press, 2005).

For further information, contact Dr. Arthur Urbano, assistant professor of theology, at (401) 865-1351 or at aurbano@providence.edu.

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