Marc B. Shapiro

Marc B. Shapiro (Hebrew: מלך שפירא, born 1966) is a professor and the author of various books and articles on Jewish history, philosophy, theology, and rabbinic literature.

Not to be confused with Mark Shapiro.
Marc B. Shapiro

Education and career

Shapiro received his BA at Brandeis University and his PhD at Harvard University, where he was the last PhD student of Professor Isadore Twersky. He received rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Ephraim Greenblatt. Shapiro's father is Edward S. Shapiro, who has published books on American history and American Jewish history.

Shapiro holds the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies at the University of Scranton. Shapiro is an on-line lecturer for Torah in Motion, for which he also leads Jewish history tours to Europe, Morocco, and Tunisia. He often writes for the Seforim Blog.

Shapiro has been a resident of West Orange, New Jersey.[1]

Writing

Shapiro's writings often challenge the bounds of the conventional Orthodox understanding of Judaism, using academic methodology while adhering to Modern Orthodox sensibilities. His publications have had mixed reception, ranging from criticism within the American publication Jewish Action,[2] to support throughout the spectrum of Modern Orthodoxy .

Shapiro's book, Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg,[3] a biography of Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, was a National Jewish Book Award finalist. His second book, The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised,[4] also a National Jewish Book Award finalist, argued against the popular Orthodox belief that Maimonides Thirteen Principles of Faith have always been regarded as unquestionable dogma.[5] Gidon Rothstein, writing in the Association for Jewish Studies Review, called the book's collection of sources "remarkable."[6]

Shapiro's 2006 book, Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox, discusses how the Orthodox world related to Saul Lieberman, who was a recognized talmudic scholar who chose to teach at the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Shapiro's 2008 book, Studies in Maimonides and His Interpreters, looks at how Maimonides has been understood in both the traditional and the academic worlds. It also deals with Maimonides' attitude towards superstition.

In 2015, Shapiro's book Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History,[7] was released, documenting the phenomenon of internal censorship in Orthodoxy; where Adam Ferziger said the book "is the outstanding product of a master of rabbinic literature and an extraordinarily sharp-eyed and meticulous scholar."[8] Yair Hoffman, writing in the Hareidi online website Yeshiva World News, criticized the book, saying that "there is a plethora of material that simply should not have been included in the book because it does not back up his thesis."[9] Ezra Glinter, writing in The Forward, praised Shapiro's "evenhanded, evidence-heavy approach" and that he was not a "polemicist," but said "his argument could also have benefited from a more critical thrust."[10]

In 2019 Shapiro published Iggerot Malkhei Rabbanan which contains more than thirty years of correspondence with some of the world's most outstanding Torah scholars.

Books, Articles, Lectures

References
  1. Ginsberg, Johanna. "Local scholar organizes conference on history of Modern Orthodoxy" Archived 2013-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, New Jersey Jewish News, June 1, 2006. Accessed June 28, 2018. "A West Orange scholar is the co-organizer of the first-ever conference in America on the history of Modern Orthodoxy, to be held June 13–15 in Scranton, Pa. Marc B. Shapiro, who holds the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of Scranton, said the conference will take a historical view of the movement in order to explore its meaning for today."
  2. Leff, Zev. "Dual Book Review: The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised by Marc B. Shapiro and Even Shisiya on the Thirteen Principles of the Rambam by Rabbi Yochanan Meir Bechhofer" (PDF). Jewish Action. Orthodox Union. Summer 67 (2007): 91–110. Retrieved September 27, 2020. I cannot recommend it to the general public, who can be easily misled by some of the questionable theses in this book. For the discerning reader who will carefully check the sources, this book will provide an interesting historical perspective as to the various opinions surrounding the Thirteen Principles.
  3. Shapiro, Marc B. (June 1, 2002). Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, 1884-1966. Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, Oxford. ISBN 978-1874774914.
  4. Shapiro, Marc B. (2004). The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised. The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, Oxford. ISBN 978-1906764234.
  5. Shapiro, Marc B. (1993). "Maimonides' Thirteen Principles: The Last Word in Jewish Theology?". The Torah U-Madda Journal. Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University. 4 (1993): 187–242. JSTOR 40914883. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  6. Rothstein, Gidon (2005-04-01). "Marc B. Shapiro. The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised. The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 221 pp". AJS Review. 29 (1): 169–171. doi:10.1017/S0364009405260099. ISSN 1475-4541. S2CID 161234673.
  7. Shapiro, Marc B. (2015). Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History. The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, Oxford. ISBN 978-1904113607.
  8. The sagacious scholar and the censor by Adam Ferziger
  9. "Book Review: Marc Shapiro's "Changing the Immutable"". Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  10. Glinter, Ezra (2015-07-13). "Orthodoxy's Inconvenient Truths". The Forward. Retrieved 2017-03-05.
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