15 Facts About Jacob Neusner

Jacob Neusner was an American academic scholar of Judaism.

Jacob Neusner was named as one of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 900 books.

Jacob Neusner was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Reform Jewish parents.

Jacob Neusner graduated from William H Hall High School in West Hartford.

Jacob Neusner then attended Harvard University, where he met Harry Austryn Wolfson and first encountered Jewish religious texts.

Jacob Neusner then attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was ordained as a Conservative Jewish rabbi.

In 1994, Jacob Neusner began teaching at Bard College, working there until 2014.

Jacob Neusner was a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University.

Jacob Neusner was the only scholar to have served on both the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jacob Neusner's research centered on rabbinic Judaism of the Mishnaic and Talmudic eras.

Jacob Neusner's work focused on bringing the study of rabbinical text into nonreligious educational institutions and treating them as non-religious documents.

Jacob Neusner wrote a number of works exploring the relationship of Judaism to other religions.

Some were critical of his methodology, and asserted that many of his arguments were circular or attempts to prove "negative assumptions" from a lack of evidence, while others concentrated on Jacob Neusner's reading and interpretations of Rabbinic texts, finding that his account was forced and inaccurate.

Lieberman's views were seconded by Morton Smith, another teacher who resented Jacob Neusner's criticism of his views that Jesus was a homosexual magician.

Jacob Neusner thought Lieberman's approach reflected the closed mentality of a yeshiva-based education that lacked familiarity with modern formal textual-critical techniques, and he eventually got round to replying to Lieberman's charges by writing in turn an equally scathing monograph entitled: Why There Never Was a Talmud of Caesarea: Saul Lieberman's Mistakes.