Steven Leonard Jacobs
Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Alabama
2023
Steven Leonard Jacobs returned to the Department of Religious Studies as Associate Professor and Aaron Aronov Chair of Judaic Studies on January 1, 2001 and received tenure as of August 2004. He was promoted to Full Professor as of August 2017. He received his BA from Penn State University; and his BHL, MAHL, DHL, DD, and rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
His primary research foci are in Biblical Studies, translation and interpretation, including the Dead Sea Scrolls; Jewish-Christian Relations; and Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
His books include Shirot Bialik: A New and Annotated Translation of Chaim Nachman Bialik’s Epic Poems (1987); Raphael Lemkin’s Thoughts on Nazi Genocide: Not Guilty? (1992); Contemporary Christian and Contemporary Jewish Religious Responses to the Shoah (2 volumes, 1993, editor); Rethinking Jewish Faith: The Child of a Survivor Responds (1994); The Meaning of Persons and Things Jewish: Contemporary Explorations and Interpretations (1996); The Holocaust Now: Contemporary Christian and Jewish Thought (1997, editor); The Encyclopedia of Genocide (2 volumes, 1999, Associate Editor); Pioneers of Genocide Studies (2002, Co-editor); The Biblical Masorah and the Temple Scroll: An Orthographical Inquiry (2002); Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (2003, Co-Author); Post-Shoah Dialogues: Re-Thinking Our Texts Together (2004, Co-author); The Jewish Experience: An Introduction to Jewish History and Jewish Life (2010); Fifty Key Thinkers on Holocaust and Genocide (2012, Co-author); Lemkin on Genocide (2013, co-author); The Scripture of Ancient Judaism: A Secular Introduction (2020; Co-author); Religion and Genocide: Changing the Conversation (2022). He has also authored more than fifty referred articles in a wide variety of professional publications as well as numerous book reviews.
Steven Jacobs is also co-editor of the online database “Modern Genocide: Causes and Consequences” (ABC-CLIO) and the (2014) four-volume encyclopedia Modern Genocides: The Definitive Resource and Documents (ABC-CLIO) which has received two national awards: 2015 Choice Outstanding Academic Title & 2015 Outstanding Reference Source, Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association (ALA).
The Summit was more than empty words – it made clear that a solution-driven approach is the only way to fight hate. That’s why the working group activities, which are results driven are going to be critical in defeating violent extremism. The Summit brought together the best minds in government, private sector, academia, and civil society. Being surrounded by these experts sparked new ideas – some of which I’ve already implemented or have written about.
