KEN KOLTUN-FROMM
Department of Religion, Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041 ♦ (610) 896-1026 office / (610) 645-8324 home / (610) 896-4926 fax ♦ kkoltunf@haverford.edu


Education
Ph.D., Religious Studies, Stanford University, 1997
M.A., Stanford University, 1994
M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School, 1991
B.A., Religion, Haverford College, 1988

Current Position
Associate Professor of Religion, Haverford College, 2004


Employment
Assistant Professor of Religion, Haverford College, 1997-2004
Visiting Instructor, Tulane University, 1996-7
Adjunct Instructor, Stanford University, 1996
Adjunct Instructor, Tulane University, 1995
Lecturer, Santa Clara University, 1993

Awards
Faculty Research Grant, Haverford College, 2008-09
Faculty Support Grant, Haverford College, 2008
Haverford Hurford Humanities Symposium Grant, 2008
Haverford Hurford Humanities Working Group, 2008
Faculty Research Grant, Haverford College, 2007-08
Mellon New Directions Fellowship, 2006-2007
Haverford Teaching with Technology Grant, 2005-06
Haverford Hurford Humanities Symposium Grant, 2006
Haverford Hurford Course Enhancement Grant, 2005
Faculty Research Grant, Haverford College, 2004
Faculty Research Grant, Haverford College, 2002
Koret Foundation Book Award for Moses Hess and Modern Jewish Identity, 2001
Skirball Visiting Fellowship, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, 2000
Memorial Foundation For Jewish Culture Grant, 2000-2001
DAAD Scholarship, Language Study in Germany, 2000
Koret Jewish Studies Publications Program Grant, 2000
Faculty Research Grant, Haverford College, 2000
Faculty Research Grant, Haverford College, 1999
Newhouse Foundation Grant, Stanford University, 1997
Memorial Foundation Grant for doctoral research, 1997
Department Fellowship, Stanford University, 1996-7
Newhouse Foundation Summer Grant, Israel, 1996
Dorot Foundation Summer Grant, Israel, 1996
Fulbright Scholarship for doctoral research, Israel, 1994-95
Interuniversity Fellowship for doctoral research, Israel, 1994-95
Koret Foundation Summer Grant, Israel, 1992
Department Fellowship, Stanford University, 1991-94
Phi Beta Kappa, Haverford College, 1988
Highest honors in Religion, Haverford College, 1988

Current Book Project
Material Jewish Identity in America

Publications
“American Jewish Philosophy,” in The Cambridge History of Modern Jewish Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming, 2008)

“Performing the Material Self: Mordecai Kaplan and the Art of Writing,” AJS Review, 31/1 (2007), 109-131

“The Politics of Religion in the Thought of Samuel Holdheim,” in Re-Defining Judaism in an Age of Emancipation: Comparative Perspectives on Samuel Holdheim (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 63-79

“Abraham Geiger’s Attitude about the Place and Status of Women in Judaism,” in Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia (Jerusalem: Shalvi Publishing, 2006)

Abraham Geiger’s Liberal Judaism: Personal Meaning and Religious Authority (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006)

Moses Hess and Modern Jewish Identity (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001) -- Winner of the Koret Foundation Book Award in Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 2001

“Imagining Moses: The Burden and Blessing of Reading Freud’s Moses and Monotheism,” in Jewish Book Council, Vol. 55/56 Year 1997-1999, ed. Avi Bernstein-Nahar (New York: Jewish Book Council, 2001), pp. 62-87

Review Essay: Lenn Goodman, Judaism, Human Rights, and Human Values (New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998); David Novak, Covenantal Rights: A Study in Jewish Political Theory, (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000), Jewish Political Studies Review 13/1-2 (2001), pp. 263-278

“Historical Memory in Abraham Geiger’s Account of Modern Jewish Identity,” Jewish Social Studies 7/1 (2000), pp. 109-126

“A Narrative Reading of Moses Hess’s Return to Judaism,” Modern Judaism 19 (1999), pp. 41-65

“Public Religion in Samson Raphael Hirsch and Samuel Hirsch’s Interpretation of Religious Symbolism,” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 9 (1999), pp. 69-105

Book Reviews
David Ellenson, After Emancipation: Jewish Religious Responses to Modernity (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 2004), AJS Review 30:1 (2007)

Elliot Dorff, The Unfolding Tradition: Jewish Law After Sinai (Aviv Press, New York, 2005), Sh’ma (forthcoming in February, 2006)

Jonathan Hess, Germans, Jews and the Claims of Modernity (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002), Zeitschrift für Neuere Theologiegeschichte/Journal for the History of Modern Theology 11/2 (2004), pp. 306-308

Julia Epstein and Lori Hope Lefkovitz, eds. Shaping Losses: Cultural Memory and the Holocaust (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2001), Biography 26/1 (2003), 151-153

Michael Meyer, Judaism within Modernity: Essays on Jewish History and Religion (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001), Religious Studies Review,

Louis Newman, Past Imperatives: Studies in the History and Theory of Jewish Ethics (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998), Religious Studies Review,

Steven Nadler, Spinoza: A Life (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), Religious Studies Review, 26/4 (2000), p. 390

Lenn Goodman, Judaism, Human Rights, and Human Values (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), Religious Studies Review, 26/1 (2000), p. 99

Rachel Adler, Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics (Philadelphia and Jerusalem: The Jewish Publication Society, 1998), Religious Studies Review, 25/2 (1999), p. 203

Papers Presented
“Visualizing Heritage: The Pictorial Covers of Lilith Magazine,” Association for Jewish Studies, Toronto, Canada, December 16, 2007

“The Material Art of Writing: The Diaries of Mordecai Kaplan,” American Studies Association, Oakland, CA, October 12, 2006

“Mordecai Kaplan’s Civilization as Aesthetic Performance,” Association for Jewish Studies, Washington, D.C, December 20, 2005

“The Art of Writing: The Diaries of Mordecai Kaplan,” American Academy of Religion, Philadelphia, November 22, 2005

“Reading Practices and Religious Authority: Abraham Geiger's Biblical Criticism and the Study of Judaism,” American Academy of Religion Conference, San Antonio, November 22, 2004

“Writing Nineteenth Century Wrongs: A Response,” Association of Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, December 23, 2003

“What Traditions Do: Abraham Geiger, George Lindbeck and the Meaning of Liberalism,” Association of Jewish Studies Conference, Washington, December 16, 2001

“The Bible as Struggle: Abraham Geiger's Reading of Origins, Traditions, and Sacred Texts,” Southampton University, Southampton, England, April 24, 2001

“The Politics of Religion in the Thought of Samuel Holdheim,” Samuel Holdheim (1806-1860): Reformer oder Häretiker? Leben, Werk und Wirken, Nettetal, Germany, April 17-20, 2001

“Gendered Identities and the Public Sphere in Abraham Geiger’s Biblical Exegesis,” Association of Jewish Studies Conference, Chicago, December 21, 1999

“Identity, Religion, and Election in Abraham Geiger’s Judaism and its History," Association of Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, December 20, 1998

“Identity in Modern Jewish Thought,” Beth Hillel/Beth El, October 31, 1998

“The Roots of Modern Jewish Identity,” Main Line Reform Temple, March 22, 1998

“Transcendental Argument, Narrative Identity, and Hess’s Rome and Jerusalem,” Association of Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, December 22, 1997

“Moses Hess’s ‘Return’ to Judaism: Problems in Jewish National and Religious Identity,” Political Dimensions in Modern Jewish Thought: Conference of the Center for Judaic Studies, Boston University, October 26-27, 1997

“Identity, Tradition, and Lost Innocence in Hess’s Rome and Jerusalem,” Graduate Student Conference on Modern Jewish Thought, History, and Literature; Harvard Center for Jewish Studies, April 7, 1997

“Emotive Responses and Religious Goods: Moses Hess’s critique of Jewish Identity,” Association of Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, December 18, 1995

Professional Assignments
Founder and Chair, Working Group in Modern Jewish Studies, Association of Jewish Studies Conference, 2001 - present (Chair, 2001-04)
Division Chair, Modern Jewish Thought and Theology, Association of Jewish Studies, 2008 -
Reviewer, Judaism Section, American Academy of Religion, 2006 - present

Committee Assignments
Chair, Ad Hoc Search Committee, Philosophy, 2007-2008
Humanities Center Steering Committee, 2004-2005
Ad Hoc Search Committee, Director of Facilities Management, 2003-2004
Administrative Advisory Committee, 2001-2005
College Planning Committee, 2001-2003, 2004-2005
Ad Hoc Search Committee, History, 1998-99

Courses
101b - Introduction to the Study of Religion
120a - Introduction to Jewish Thought
120a – Jewish Thought and Identity
128b – Reading Sacred Texts
130b - Material Religion in America
246b - Contemporary Jewish Thought
250b - Jewish Images, Imagining Jews
280a - Ethics and the Good Life
281a - Modern Jewish Thought
284a – American Judaism
305a – Concentration Seminar
349a – Seminar in Modern Jewish Thought
398a – Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion
399b – Senior Seminar and Thesis
648 – Topics in Modern Jewish Thought (Temple University)