Geoffrey Claussen named vice-president of the Society of Jewish Ethics

Geoffrey Claussen, Lori and Eric Sklut Emerging Scholar in Jewish Studies and Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, was named vice-president of the Society of Jewish Ethics at the organization’s annual meeting in Chicago.

The Society of Jewish Ethics is the academic organization dedicated to scholarly work in the field of Jewish ethics. Its meeting was held Jan. 3-6, 2013, in conjunction with the annual meetings of the Society of Christian Ethics and the Society for the Study of Muslims Ethics. For the second consecutive year, Claussen served as the co-chair of the Program Committee for the conference.

Claussen also presented some of his own recent research at the conference. His presentation titled “Moses’s Struggles with Empathy” examined the moral ambiguities of a biblical episode (Exodus 2:11-12) in which Moses kills an Egyptian taskmaster.

As vice-president of the Society, Claussen will serve as the conference chair of the Society’s 2013 Annual Meeting in Seattle.