Headshot of Geoffrey Claussen

Geoffrey Claussen

Professor of Religious Studies, Lori and Eric Sklut Professor in Jewish Studies and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies

Department: Religious Studies

Office and address: Spence Pavilion-Religion/Phil., Office 214 2340 Campus Box ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, NC 27244

Phone number: (336) 278-5253

Professional Expertise

Jewish Ethics and Theology

Brief Biography

Geoffrey Claussen joined the ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ faculty in Fall 2011. He was the founding coordinator of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ's Jewish Studies program and, since 2018, has served as chair of the Department of Religious Studies.

Prof. Claussen's courses explore the history of Jewish traditions, from the Hebrew Bible to contemporary Judaisms. His scholarship focuses on Jewish ethics and theology, especially questions related to love and justice, the ethics of war, animal ethics, musar literature, the Musar movement, and Jewish meditation. He is a past president of the  and is current co-editor of the . His books include  (SUNY Press, 2015),  (JPS/University of Nebraska Press, 2022),  (SUNY Press, 2023), and  (Routledge, 2025).

Links

News & Notes

Education

  • Ph.D. in Jewish Thought, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 2011.
  • Rabbinic Ordination, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 2007.
  • M.A. in Jewish Philosophy, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 2006.
  • B.A., summa cum laude, in Classical Languages, Carleton College, 2001.

Courses Taught

  • 1000-level: Jewish Traditions; Jewish Biblical Literature; Religion in a Global Context
  • 2000-level: Judaism and the Environment
  • 3000-level: Jewish Ethics; Modern Jewish Thought; Jewish-Christian Dialogue; Buddhist-Jewish Spiritualities and Encounters
  • 4000-level: War in Judaism(s), from the Bible to Zionism

Publications

Books:

  • (Routledge, 2025).
  • , co-edited with Alexander Green and Alan Mittleman (SUNY Press, 2023).
  •  (University of Nebraska Press and The Jewish Publication Society, 2022).
  •  (SUNY Press, 2015).

Articles and Book Chapters:

  • "," co-authored with Christian Miller. In The Routledge Companion to Jewish Philosophy, ed. Daniel Rynhold and Tyron Goldschmidt (Routledge, 2025), 269–279.
  • “What Does Jewish Tradition Say About War?” In Judaism in Five Minutes, ed. Sarah Imhoff (Equinox Publishing, 2025), 229–231.
  • "." Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, vol. 5, no. 1 (2025), 43–53.
  • “.” Journal of Jewish Ethics, vol. 10, no. 1–2 (2024), 170–187.
  • "." Journal of Jewish Ethics, vol. 10, no. 1–2 (2024): v–x.
  • "." Journal of Jewish Ethics, vol. 9, no. 2 (2023): 209–221.
  • "." In Jewish Virtue Ethics, ed. Geoffrey Claussen, Alexander Green, and Alan Mittleman (SUNY Press, 2023), 325–336.
  • "," co-authored with Alexander Green and Alan Mittleman. In Jewish Virtue Ethics, ed. Geoffrey Claussen, Alexander Green, and Alan Mittleman (SUNY Press, 2023), 1–7.
  • “.” Journal of Scriptural Reasoning, vol. 20, no. 1 (2023): 1–13.
  • “.” In No Time for Neutrality: American Rabbinic Voices from an Era of Upheaval, ed. Michael Rose Knopf and Miriam Aniel (2021), 352–368. (Selections reprinted in Modern Jewish Ethics Since 1970: Writings on Methods, Sources, & Issues, ed. Jonathan Crane, Emily Filler, and Mira Beth Wasserman [Brandeis University Press, 2025], 82–86.)
  • “.” Journal of Jewish Ethics, vol. 6, no. 1 (2020): 74–93.
  • “.” In Jewish Veganism and Vegetarianism: Studies and New Directions, ed. Jacob Labendz and Shmuly Yanklowitz (SUNY Press, 2019), 195–216.
  • “‘.” In Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, ed. David Birnbaum and Martin S. Cohen (New Paradigm Matrix Publishing, 2019), 241–264.
  • “,” co-authored with Emily Filler. In T&T Clark Handbook of Political Theology, ed. Rubén Rosario Rodriguez (T&T Clark, 2019), 301–316.
  • “.” Interreligious Studies and Interreligious Theology, vol. 2, no. 2 (2018): 216–242.
  • “.” Studies in Judaism, Humanities, and the Social Sciences vol. 2, no. 1 (2018): 46–60.
  • “,” co-authored with Amy Allocco and Brian Pennington. In Interreligious/Interfaith Studies: Defining a New Field, ed. Eboo Patel, Jennifer Peace, and Noah Silverman (Beacon Press, 2018), 36–48.
  • “." In Jewish Religious and Philosophical Ethics, ed. Curtis Hutt, Halla Kim, and Berel Dov Lerner (Routledge, 2018), 27–50.
  • “.” Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, vol. 30, no. 1 (2018): 15–41. 
  • “." Journal of Jewish Ethics, vol. 3, no. 1 (2017): 154–177.
  • “.” In Kaddish, ed. David Birnbaum and Martin S. Cohen (New Paradigm Matrix Publishing, 2016), 307–336.
  • ".” In Wealth and Poverty in Jewish Tradition, ed. Leonard J. Greenspoon (Purdue University Press, 2015), 151–184.
  • .” Journal of Scriptural Reasoning, vol. 14, no. 1 (2015): 1–15. (Also reprinted in Virtue Ethics, ed. Tom Angier [Routledge, 2018], 2:169–185.)
  • “.” In Tikkun Olam: Judaism, Humanism & Transcendence, ed. David Birnbaum and Martin S. Cohen (New Paradigm Matrix Publishing, 2015), 475–501.
  • “.” Shofar, vol. 32, no. 4 (2014): 60–75.
  • “.” In Enzyklopädie Jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur, ed. Dan Diner (Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 2013), 4:268–274. (English version printed in Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture, ed. Dan Diner [Leiden: Brill, 2021].)
  • “.” Conservative Judaism, vol. 63, no. 2 (2012): 3–26. (Also translated into Spanish and reprinted as “,” trans. Rodrigo Varscher, in Maj'shavot [Pensamientos], vol. 54 [2015]: 1–30.)
  • “.” CrossCurrents, vol. 61, no. 2 (2011): 208–216.
  • “.” Conservative Judaism, vol. 61, no. 4 (2010): 17–42.
  • “.” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, vol. 30, no. 2 (2010): 151–169.
  • “.” The Hedgehog Review, vol. 12, no. 2 (2010): 63–72.

Translations:

  • Yisrael (Lipkin) Salanter, "Light of Israel" (selections from Letter #30), in , ed. Leora Batnitzky and Yonatan Brafman (Brandeis University Press, 2018), 65–68.
  • Simhah Zissel Ziv, “,” Jewish Review of Books, vol. 4, no. 3 (2013): 46.

Awards

  • College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Scholarship Award, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ
  • Aaron Friedenwald Prize in Jewish Theology, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
  • Rabbi Jacob S. Minkin Prize in Jewish Philosophy, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
  • Isaac H. Wolfson Memorial Award, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
  • Bernard and Sydell Citron Scholastic Prize, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
  • Second Century Student Award, Carleton College
  • Jean Schmidt Prize, Carleton College