Lecture
Professor Ken Gemes
Monday 17.11.2025
Professor Ken Gemes
When Did Judaism Begin?
Monday 17.11.2025
Summary
This talk introduces the groundbreaking work of Yonatan Adler in the context of arguing that Judaism as a set of daily practices familiar to us only came into being during the Hasmonaean dynasty in the 2nd and 1st century BC.
Professor Ken Gemes
Ken Gemes received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 1990. He came to Birkbeck in 2000 having taught for ten years at Yale University. Ken’s interests range from technical issues concerning logical content and confirmation to Nietzsche’s account of how philosophy is merely the last manifestation of the ascetic ideal.