Lessons in Intellectual Honesty and Humility: Studying Jewish Ethics with the Guidance of Louis Newman

Geoffrey D. Claussen, “Lessons in Intellectual Honesty and Humility: Studying Jewish Ethics with the Guidance of Louis Newman.” Journal of Jewish Ethics, vol. 10, no. 1–2 (2024): 170–187.

I was honored to edit this special issue of the Journal of Jewish Ethics honoring my mentor Louis Newman. My own article within the issue explores how Newman’s scholarship teaches scholars of Jewish ethics to approach their work with the virtues of intellectual honesty and humility. In particular, Newman’s work can help scholars to recognize the problems with claims about “what Judaism teaches,” claims about how certain texts or certain models of authority are essential for Jewish ethics, and efforts to whitewash the history of Jewish literature and the history of the State of Israel.

The article is online here.