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Personal History

Michael Fagenblat holds a PhD in philosophy from Monash University (1998) which examined and evaluated Emmanuel Levinas' ethical critique of Heidegger's philosophy. He then pursued post-doctoral studies at Hebrew University and the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Upon graduating from the Jerusalem Fellows program of the Mandel Leadership Institute he co-founded Darsheini, an extra-mural community oriented educational program. For four years in Jerusalem he studied classical Jewish thought and literature. Currently he teaches rabbinic literature and Maimonides' philosophy. His research and writing interests concentrate on modern Jewish and Western thought.

Other Positions:

• Jerusalem Fellow, Mandel Leadership Institute, Jerusalem (2002-3)
• Golda-Meir Post-Doctoral Fellow, Hebrew University (2000-01)
• Assistance Editor, Common Knowledge

Current Research

• Secularisation
• Political theology
• Moses Maimonides
• Emmanuel Levinas
• Translation of Moshe Halbertal, Interpretative Revolutions in the Making: Values as Interpretative Considerations in Midrashei Halakhah

Major Publications

Books
Fagenblat, M., A Covenant of Creatures: Levinas' philosophy of Judaism (forthcoming)
Fagenblat, M., Landau, M. and Wolski, N., eds. New Under the Sun: Jewish Australians on Religion,Politics and Culture (Melbourne: Black Inc., 2006). Extracted in The Age, The Australian Jewish News; Reviewed in The Age, The Australian Book Review, The Australian Jewish News.

Refereed Articles
Fagenblat, M., "Maimonides: Jewish Philosophy and its Influence," in Contesting the Twelfth-Century Renaissance: Individuals and their Worlds, ed. Elizabeth Freeman and Juanita Feros Ruys (forthcoming).
----- "The Ethics of Faith: Religion and Theology in the thought of Emmanuel Levinas," On Jewish Faith, eds. Moshe Halbertal and Avi Sagi; in press.
----- "Levinas and Maimonides: From Metaphysics to Ethical Negative Theology," Journal for Jewish Thought and Philosophy 16:1 (Winter 2008)
----- "The Apology, the secular and the theological-political," Dialogue: Journal of the Social Sciences in Australia 27:2 (2008), pp. 16-32.
----- "Ethics and Halakhah in Levinas," Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 26:4 (Spring 2008), 97-119.
----- "Back to the Other Levinas: Reflections Prompted by Alain P. Toumayan's Encountering the Other" Colloquy 10 (2005), 298-313.
----- "Lacking all Interest: Levinas, Leibowitz and the Pure Practice of Religion," Harvard Theological Review, vol. 97 no. 1 (2004), 1-32.
----- "Il y a du quotidian: Levinas and Heidegger on the self," Philosophy and Social Criticism, vol. 28 no. 5 (2002), 578-604.
Fagenblat, M. and Wolski, N., "Revelation Here and Beyond: Buber and Levinas on the Bible," in Dialogue and Difference: Levinas and Buber, ed. Peter Atterton (Duquesne University Press, 2004).
Fagenblat, M., Landau, M, and Wolski, N., "Will the Centre Hold?" in New Under the Sun: Jewish Australians on Religion, Politics and Culture (Melbourne: Black Inc., 2006), eds. M. Fagenblat, M. Landau, and N. Wolski.
"Back to the Other Levinas: Reflections prompted by Alain P. Toumayan's Encountering the Other: The Artwork and the Problem of Difference in Blanchot and Levinas. Pittsburgh, Penn.: Duquesne U. P., 2004," Colloquy 10 (2005): 298-313.
"Lacking all Interest: Levinas, Leibowitz and the Pure Practice of Religion,"Harvard Theological Review, vol. 97 no. 1 (2004): 1-32.
"Il y a du quotidian: Levinas and Heidegger on the self," Philosophy and Social Criticism, vol. 28 no. 5 (2002): 578-604.
with Nathan Wolski, "Revelation Here and Beyond: Buber and Levinas on the Bible," in Dialogue and Difference: Levinas and Buber, ed. Peter Atterton (Duquesne University Press, 2003).
Fagenblat, M., Landau, M., and Wolski, N., eds., New Under the Sun: Jewish Australians on Religion, Politics and Culture (Melbourne: Black Inc., 2006)

Reviews
Maimonides on the Origins of the World, by Kenneth Seeskin,Speculum 2006
Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works, by Herbert A. Davidson,Speculum (2006)
Maimonides and the Hermeneutics of Concealment: Deciphering Scripture and Midrash in The Guide of the Perplexed, by James Arthur Diamond, in Speculum (2005) 80:2.
"Phenomenology and the "Theological Turn": The French Debate,Common Knowledge, Vol. 10, Is. 2, Spring 2004, pp. 354-355
The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, by Daniel C. Matt, in The Jerusalem Report, March 8, 2004, 41-42.
"Rage Against Order: On Recent Work by Jean-Luc Marion," in Verse, vol. 20, nos. 2 & 3, 188-196.
Living Root: A Memoir, by Michael Heller, in Verse, vol. 19, no. 4, 2002
Being Singular Plural, by Jean-Luc Nancy, Common Knowledge, vol. 8, issue 1, 2001
Phenomenological Interpretation of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, by Martin Heidegger, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 78, Issue 2: June 2000

Selected Reviews
Maimonides and Mysticism, by Menachem Kellner, in Speculum 2008, forthcoming.
Maimonides on the Origins of the World, by Kenneth Seeskin, in Speculum 82:1 (2007), 236-37.
Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works, by Herbert A. Davidson, in Speculum 81:3 (2006), 831-32.
Maimonides and the Hermeneutics of Concealment: Deciphering Scripture and Midrash in The Guide of the Perplexed, by James Arthur Diamond, in Speculum 80:4 (2005) 1263-1264.
"Phenomenology and the "Theological Turn": The French Debate, Common Knowledge, Vol. 10, Is. 2, Spring 2004, pp. 354-355.
"Rage Against Order: On Recent Work by Jean-Luc Marion," in Verse, vol. 20, nos. 2 & 3, 188-196.
Living Root: A Memoir, by Michael Heller, in Verse, vol. 19, no. 4, 2002.
Being Singular Plural, by Jean-Luc Nancy, Common Knowledge, vol. 8, issue 1, 2001.
Phenomenological Interpretation of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, by Martin Heidegger, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 78, Issue 2: June 2000.

Areas of Research & Supervision

Jewish philosophy; Midrash and Jewish hermeneutics; comparative theology and exegetical interaction (Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim); Emmanuel Levinas; Moses Maimonides; political theology; secularisation.

Teaching

Undergraduate Courses
JWC2/3280 - Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah
JWC2/3630 - Radical Rabbis: Literature, Theology and Imagination
JWC2/3280 - Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah
JWC2/3040- Judaism and Modernity

Honours and Postgraduate Courses
HSY4175 (HYM4/5175) - Interpreting the Bible: Jewish and Christian Perspectives
JWC4010 (JWM4/5010) - Reading Jewish Texts: From Antiquity to Modernity