“Messianism and Its Discontents" an Evening with Gershom Gorenberg

February 11, 2009 |

Gershom Gorenberg—the compelling Middle Eastern political expert and historian and Jerusalem-based journalist—will discuss “Messianism and Its Discontents” at Goucher College on Wednesday, February 11, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. in Buchner Hall of the Alumnae/i House. Due to widespread interest in this event, no more tickets are available.

Questions about the lecture should be sent to Jerome Copulsky, director of Judaic studies, at jerome.copulsky@goucher.edu.

This lecture will focus on messianism, an important force in the world’s religions and modern politics that some believe is essential to progress—and specifically to the Jews’ return to their land. Gorenberg will discuss the power of messianism and how it has fueled the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Gorenberg is a frequent commentator on Middle East affairs and the connection between religion and politics; he has appeared on “Sixty Minutes,” “Nightline,” “Dateline,” NPR’s “Fresh Air” and on CNN and the BBC.

After working many years as an associate editor of The Jerusalem Report, an Israeli biweekly news magazine, Gorenberg is now a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, a monthly American political magazine. He has written for The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and Mother Jones.

Gorenberg is also the author of The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977, in which he used previously unpublished documents and extensive interviews to present a new picture of Israel’s post-1967 history, of major Israeli leaders, and of Israel-U.S. relations.

He also wrote The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount about the role of religious radicalism in the Middle East conflict. He co-authored The Jerusalem Report’s 1996 biography of Yitzhak Rabin, Shalom Friend, which won the National Jewish Book Award, and he edited Seventy Facets: A Commentary on the Torah from the Pages from the Jerusalem Report, a selected collection of Jerusalem Report essays.

Gorenberg has lectured at the Council on Foreign Relations; the Carnegie Council; the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; the Middle East Institute; and for universities, congregations, and other organizations about politics, Middle East affairs, and religion.

After graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Gorenberg moved to Israel in 1977 and earned a master’s in education at the Hebrew University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife, journalist Myra Noveck, and their three children.

Gorenberg’s lecture at Goucher is sponsored by the college’s Judaic Studies Program and the Celeste Bachove Grynberg '57 and Jack Grynberg Fund, which was established to fund guest lecturers and other initiatives of the Judaic Studies Program.

Click here to listen to lecture or download the podcast.