Julia Watts Belser

Prof. Julia Watts Belser

Assistant Professor, Department of Theology, Georgetown University

Title: "Fasting, Prayer, and Protest: Rabbinic Responses to Drought and Environmental Crisis"

Date: 7:00 pm Monday, November 2, 2015

Location: Taft Center, 1 Edwards, UC Uptown Campus

About the Speaker: Professor Julia Watts Belser works in Jewish Studies, with a focus in Talmud, rabbinic literature, and Jewish ethics. She received her Ph.D. in 2008 from UC Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union, Joint Program in Jewish Studies.  Her research brings ancient texts into conversation with disability studies, queer theory, feminist thought, and environmental ethics. Her work focuses on classical Jewish responses to drought and disaster, portrayals of sexual violence in rabbinic responses to enslavement and empire, as well as gender, disability, and the dissident body in late antiquity.  An ordained rabbi, Professor Belser also writes queer feminist Jewish theology and brings disability culture into conversation with Jewish tradition. Before joining the Theology Department at Georgetown, Professor Belser held a research fellowship in Women’s Studies and Religion at Harvard Divinity School and taught in the Religious Studies Department at Missouri State University. She serves on the board of the Society for Jewish Ethics and holds leadership positions in the American Academy of Religion. She is also a board member of Nehirim, a national community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Jews and allies.