Advancing Scholarship in Judaism at HDS: A Conversation with Shaul Magid
In a recent conversation, Shaul Magid, Professor of Modern Jewish Studies in Residence at HDS, reflects on teaching Judaism at a multireligious divinity school and the future of religious studies.
Since arriving as a visiting professor in the summer of 2023 and as recently announced as a member of the faculty of divinity, Shaul Magid, Professor of Modern Jewish Studies in Residence, has made an extraordinary impact at Harvard Divinity School (HDS).
A distinguished scholar with a career that spans the academy and rabbinical seminaries alike, Magid brings a blend of traditional Jewish learning and innovative critical scholarship to HDS. After spending time in various yeshivot in Israel, where he lived for a decade, and receiving rabbinical ordination in 1984, he went on to complete a master’s degree in Jewish thought from the Hebrew University and a PhD in near eastern and Judaic studies from Brandeis University.
As Professor Shaul Magid steps into a new role as co-editor of Harvard Theological Review (HTR), he reflects on the future of scholarship in religious studies, the challenges facing academic publishing, and what it means to teach Judaism at a multireligious divinity school.
You recently joined the editorial team of Harvard Theological Review. What led to that invitation, and what has stood out to you since stepping into the role?
I was invited to join the editorial team by Professor Giovanni Bazzana, in part because I had already been reading and evaluating many submissions for HTR. One of the biggest differences between being an outside reader and being an editor is seeing the full scope of what comes through the journal, which I find fascinating and very informative in terms of the state of the field. It is kind of “raw data.”
As the volume of work became clearer to us, we noticed that an increasing number of submissions engage Judaism—sometimes directly, sometimes comparatively, and sometimes through philosophy of religion or biblical studies. Giovanni felt it was important to have a scholar of Jewish studies involved in vetting that material.
What trends—and gaps—are you noticing in the submissions Harvard Theological Review is receiving?
Judaism and Christianity continue to dominate submissions, reflecting HTR’s history as a theological journal, and many of the pieces engaging Judaism do so comparatively, drawing on philosophy, theology, biblical studies, and religious thought. One of our goals as editors is to broaden the journal’s scope by encouraging more submissions from scholars working in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other traditions.
One noticeable gap is the relative absence of medieval material. Submissions tend to cluster in the ancient, early modern, or modern periods, even though medieval religious thought—particularly in Jewish studies—was once central to the field and to this University. I would like to see greater engagement with that period and a wider chronological range represented in the journal.
How are broader shifts—like open access, AI, and changing publishing models—shaping academic journals such as Harvard Theological Review?
Academic journals are undergoing significant change, and HTR is no exception. Questions around open access, online publishing, and sustainability affect nearly every scholarly publication, along with increased competition from online platforms and a shrinking pool of scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers.
I believe open access is ultimately the future of academic publishing, even though it raises real challenges around cost and responsibility—who pays, whether scholars, institutions, or presses. AI adds another layer of complexity. Once work becomes open access, it is quickly absorbed into AI systems, raising concerns about authorship, reliability, and evaluation.
As editors and teachers, we are still figuring out how to respond, and we are very much at the beginning of a conversation that will continue long beyond our time in the academy. I think we are in the midst of a radical transition in terms of the written word, the production of knowledge, and its relation to society.
Turning to teaching, what do you hope students take away from your course “Modern Jewish Thought”?
This year, I am co-teaching this course with Susannah Heschel, who is visiting at Harvard, and rather than offering a purely canonical survey, we take a thematic approach. We begin with figures like Spinoza, Kant, and Mendelssohn to establish the intellectual and religious challenges of modernity, but we quickly move into broader questions.
We examine how modern Jewish thought engages issues such as democracy, communism, socialism, gender, messianism, law, piety, race, Orientalism, and nationalism. The goal is not simply to trace ideas historically, but to show how the Jewish experience refracts the complexity of modern life—intellectually, theologically, religiously, and socially.
Exposure and knowledge replace stereotypes with complexity, and that kind of learning enriches the multireligious classroom and hopefully, by extension, the world."
Your course on Jewish mysticism traces Kabbalah from the Spanish Expulsion to the New Age. What continues to draw students—and scholars—toward mysticism as a lens for understanding religion today?
Jewish mysticism continues to draw students because it sits at the intersection of experience, history, and theology. I begin the course with the Spanish Expulsion because it marks a profound rupture in Jewish life and, in many ways, the beginning of Jewish modernity. Mysticism intensifies in moments like that, when inherited structures no longer fully explain lived experience.
From there, the course follows how mystical traditions grapple with messianism, redemption, and historical crisis, not as abstract ideas, but as lived religious questions. It also takes the relationship between mysticism and heresy seriously, and we explore various mystical heresies to interrogate that relationship. I also take the course into the present, looking at contemporary forms of Jewish mysticism and renewal.
You’re closely involved in forming the new Jewish Leadership Initiative at HDS, which integrates academic study, spiritual formation, and leadership preparation. What is distinctive about developing Jewish leadership at HDS?
The Jewish Leadership Initiative at HDS aims to create sustained Jewish study within a multireligious divinity school context. Students can study Judaism in rabbinical schools or PhD programs, but studying Judaism alongside Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism offers a different and valuable perspective. This program also allows Judaism to be studied as part of the broader landscape of American religious life and larger global challenges.
You’re also launching ASHERAH, a Jewish liturgy journal. What do you hope this journal offers students and to the wider Jewish and academic communities?
ASHERAH is an annual journal devoted to Jewish liturgy as both a scholarly and creative practice. It will feature contributions from HDS students and alumni, as well as voices from outside the School, and will include writing, visual art, and musical interpretation.
The journal grew out of a course I taught on Jewish liturgy, and it reflects a broader interest in using liturgy as a lens for understanding Jewish experience in the twenty-first century. Each volume will be co-edited by students, reinforcing the journal’s pedagogical mission.
From your perspective, what lessons resonate most with students in your classroom, particularly within a multireligious divinity school setting?
Many of my courses include a significant number of non-Jewish students, including an increasing number of non-Christian students. Their perspectives often introduce new ways of thinking about religious questions through the lens of Judaism.
Students frequently tell me that studying Judaism in this way deepens their understanding not only of Jewish history and thought, but also traditions with which they identify or the study of religion more generally. Exposure and knowledge replace stereotypes with complexity, and that kind of learning enriches the multireligious classroom and hopefully, by extension, the world.
Banner photo: Shaul Magid in his office in Divinity Hall. Photo by Kristie Welsh. Story photo: Shaul Magid at home in Thetford, Vermont. Banjo and books. Photo by Annette Yoshiko Reed.