Valley Beit Midrash

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Daniel Rynhold

ABOUT THE EVENT:

One of the most potent critiques of religion in the modern age came from the fascinating, if controversial German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The obvious response to Nietzsche is to ignore his critique as the rantings of a rabid atheist. But a more sophisticated response can be gleaned from the writings of certain modern Jewish thinkers with - maybe surprisingly - the Modern Orthodox thinker Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik as the most prominent example. In this session, we will explore the extent to Judaism has the resources to deal with Nietzsche’s critique of religion by partially absorbing it rather than rejecting it.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Born in London, England, and educated at the universities of Cambridge and London, Daniel Rynhold is Dean and Professor of Jewish philosophy at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. He arrived in the US in August 2007, following 6 years in the department of theology and religious studies at King’s College, London. He has also served as the Shoshana Shier Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto. Daniel has written extensively on Jewish philosophy, both medieval and modern, and is the author of Two Models of Jewish Philosophy: Justifying One’s Practices (Oxford University Press, 2005), An Introduction to Medieval Jewish Philosophy (I.B. Tauris, 2009), and co-author with Michael J. Harris of Nietzsche, Soloveitchik, and Contemporary Jewish Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2018), with whom he also, together with Tamra Wright, co-edited Radical Responsibility: Essays in Ethics, Religion, and Leadership Presented to Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (Maggid Books, 2012). Most recently, he was co-editor with Tyron Goldschmidt of The Routledge Companion to Jewish Philosophy (Routledge, 2025).