Scholar to examine Apostle’s role in Christian anti-Judaism ANN ARBOR—Was the apostle Paul the father of Christian anti-Judaism? John Gager, a scholar of early Christianity and Judaism, explores that topic in a public lecture at 8 p.m. Monday (Oct. 21) in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre at the University of Michigan. Sponsored by the U-M Department of Near Eastern Studies and the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, the lecture is the first in a series on Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World, according to Yaron Z. Eliav, the Jean and Samuel Frankel Assistant Professor for Rabbinic Literature.

Gager, the William H. Danforth Professor of Religion at Princeton University, has been teaching religion at Princeton for more than 30 years. He is an expert in the study of anti-Semitism and is the author of “The Origins of Anti-Semitism: Attitudes toward Judaism in Pagan and Christian Antiquity.” He also has written on the early Christian movement and on the study of ancient magic. His most recent book is “Reinventing Paul.”

Eliav says the lecture series was designed to promote the scholarly endeavors in the fields of ancient Judaism and early Christianity, as well as to a new program in Roman history. Undergraduate enrollment in these programs has been escalating, Eliav says.

“We believe the series will facilitate a sense of community among the various University units and people who are affiliated with the study of the Roman world, in particular its Near Eastern manifestations,” he says.

Co-sponsors are the Michigan Center for the Study of Early Christianity and the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, non-profit organizations that partnered with the University to fund the event. Nine other University units are supporting the lecture series.

EDITOR’S NOTE: John Gager will be available for interviews in Ann Arbor beginning Oct. 20. He will be on campus through Oct. 23. Call Susan Petteys to schedule an interview.

Contact: Susan Petteys