Thierry Joshua Alcoloumbre

At once a Hellenist and Hebraist, I am particularly interested in the relations between Greek culture and Judaism in antiquity and during the Middle Ages. Their interaction – inclusive of their antagonism – has shaped the foundations of Western civilization; and studying that interaction may help to shed light on some of the major intellectual concerns of our era (as of earlier ones): Modernity and Tradition, Rationality and Imagination, Science and Religion, Orient and Occident. My research interests bear in particular upon the following topics: a) the relations between mythology, Bible and Midrash, b) the image of “the Greek” in the Talmud, c) the synthesis between the Aristotelian and Jewish traditions in Jewish thought (Maimonides, Maharal of Prague) d) “Greek” and “Jewish” influences on the poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé, Edmond Jabès and Claude Vigée.

Editorial member of the Perspectives journal of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Director of the Simon Weil Chair for Holocaust and Jewish Studies. Chairman of the Academic Committee of the Dahan Center for Culture, Society and Education in the Jewish Heritage of Spain and the Middle East.

Agrégé de Lettres Classiques, docteur en philosophie, Thierry (Joshua) Alcoloumbre est professeur à l’université de Bar-Ilan (Israël), dans le département de littérature comparée qu’il a dirigé de 2009 à 2013. Helléniste et hébraïsant, philosophe et littéraire, il s’intéresse aux relations du judaïsme et de l’hellénisme à travers l’histoire. Ses travaux portent sur la pensée juive médiévale et moderne, ainsi que sur la poésie française, en particulier Mallarmé, Edmond Jabès et Claude Vigée. Plus récemment, il a consacré sa recherche à la pensée du Maharal de Prague et à son influence sur la pensée juive française contemporaine. Il codirige la Revue Perspectives de l’Université Hébraïque de Jérusalem.