Lives of Great Religious Books

Next Thursday, March, 24, NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge and the SSRC’s Program on Religion and the Public Sphere will host the launch of Princeton University Press’ new book series, “The Lives of Great Religious Books:”

Join three authors from the series in discussion about their new books with Jeremy Walton, Assistant Professor and Faculty Fellow of Religious Studies at NYU.

Donald Lopez will discuss The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Biography. Lopez is Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan.

Martin E. Marty will discuss Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison: A Biography. Marty is Professor Emeritus of Religious History at the University of Chicago.

Vanessa Ochs will discuss The Passover Haggadah: A Biography. Ochs is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at University of Virginia.

The Lives of Great Religious Books is a new series of short volumes by Princeton University Press that recount the complex and fascinating histories of important religious texts from around the world. Written for general readers by leading authors and experts, these books examine the historical origins of texts from the great religious traditions, and trace how their reception, interpretation, and influence have changed—often radically—over time. As these stories of translation, adaptation, appropriation, and inspiration dramatically remind us, all great religious books are living things whose careers in the world can take the most unexpected turns.

The event will take place from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Bronfman Center (7 E 10th Street). Read more about the event and rsvp here.

Jessica Polebaum is a contributing editor for The Immanent Frame and a J.D. candidate at Georgetown University. A former program and editorial associate at the Social Science Research Council, she holds a B.A. in religion from Middlebury College, where her undergraduate work culminated in a senior honors thesis on ijtihad---a concept from classical Islamic law---and its use in modern reform movements. Upon graduating in 2008, she received the Ann and Edward Meyers Religion Prize for exceptional ability in the understanding, expression, and integration of ideas in the area of religious studies.

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