Student Prizes, 2023-24

Undergraduate excellence in Religions & Theology. Congratulations to Edie McGregor for the Philip Alexander Prize in Jewish Studies for the highest undergraduate grade in Jewish studies (dissertation title: ‘Revelations of Marginalised Matriarchs: An Intersectional Rereading of Sexual Violence in the Hebrew Bible’); to Athur Chughtai for The Brandon Memorial Prize (Undergraduate) for the best work in Comparative Religious Studies (dissertation title: ‘Educating Islam: An Investigation into the Nurturing of Secure Social Identity within Secular and Islamic Secondary Schools in Britain and its Effect on the Academic  Performance of British Muslim Students, Using Islamic Secondary Schools in Bradford as a Comparative Example’); to Maya Okorodudu for the Undergraduate Dissertation Prize for Religious Studies (dissertation title: ‘Divine Femininity: Empowering Discourse or Insidiously Sexist Content’); to Luke Hankins for the Dastur Kutar Prize for best undergraduate dissertation in Non-Western religious studies (dissertation title: ‘Terms of Marxist and Economic Anthropology, why has Hezbollah emerged as a political and economic anti-imperialist organisation?’); to Zachary Allen for the Religion and Social Responsibility Dissertation Prize for the best undergraduate dissertation that explores a social or ethical challenge at the intersection of religion and social responsibility (dissertation title: ‘"The Light Shining in the Dark": Youth Groups, Structural Violence and Meaning’); to Kira Sharaz for the Bishop Lee Junior Greek Testament Prize for the best examination result in New Testament Greek; and to Matthew Mace for the award of the Wellington scholarship for Hellenistic Greek or Greek Testament studies.

End of year report for Centre for Jewish Studies, 2024

Jewish Studies at Manchester. The Centre draws together staff related to Jewish Studies from across the University of Manchester and was formally established in 1996, although Jewish studies of one sort or another has been taught at Manchester since 1866. The co-directors are Alex Samely (Jewish Thought), Jean-Marc Dreyfus (Holocaust Studies), and Daniel Langton (Jewish History), and it is administered by PhD student Kerry McCall.
    Over the last year, the Centre’s candidate Rabbi Aaron Lipsey was successful in winning an AHRC PhD studentship for a project entitled 'The Responses of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to the Holocaust: A Study of His Letters, Talks and Teachings’. Two Rothschild Foundation postdoc fellowships were awarded, starting in 2024 and 2025 respectively, namely, Nina Valbousquet on ‘Jewish-Catholic Odysseys: “Non-Aryan” Refugees, the Holocaust, and Pius XII’s Vatican (1938-1950)’, and Hannah Wilson on ‘"These things are part of us, almost like limbs of our body”: The Material Memory of the Holocaust in Domestic Spaces, Private Memories and Public Spheres’.
    In additional to many individual staff publications, there were two major collaborative achievements. The first was the completion of the Hebrew Manuscripts catalogue of holdings at the Rylands Library of the University of Manchester; this project began in 1992 and includes over 400 manuscripts dating back to the 14th century. The second was a ten-part podcast series entitled 'What Would Jesus the Jew Do?', which explored the Jewish background to the New Testament.
    The Centre’s event programme over the last year included the Bogdanow Lectures in Holocaust Studies 2024, which featured Prof. Omer Bartov (Brown University) on 'The Return of the Repressed: Ukraine's Unresolved Pasts’, and the Sherman Community Lecture 2024 which was presented by Prof. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson (Arizona State University) on 'Judaism and Climate Change: Religious Responses to the Eco-Crisis.’  The Sherman Conversation day-conference was entitled ‘Encountering Others, Encountering Ourselves: Reflexivity and the Jewish Studies Researcher’ and organised by Dr Katja Stuerzenhofecker and Rabba Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz. There was the normal programme of the Biblical Hebrew Reading group and the Scriptural Encounters seminar series for discussion of difficult scriptural texts. In addition to papers given by various staff members, there were, among our other events and activities, public lectures (eg to the Muslim-Jewish forum) and workshops (eg at the Washington Holocaust Memorial Museum).

Business engagement, BBC Radio 4

Online education. Departmental representatives Daniel Langton, Holly Morse and Scott Midson met at Broadcasting House in London with executives at the BBC to discuss the future development of the joint project 'Going Beyond Belief'. 27 June 2024.

Manchester Graduate Talent Programme

For students. Our Manchester Graduate Talent (MGT) scheme sources paid graduate-level opportunities for 2023 and upcoming 2024 graduates across Greater Manchester, including within the University itself. Further information.

Class of 2024 Graduate Careers Support

For graduating students. UoM career mentoring programme for summer 2024 graduates, to help them to connect with an industry professional for invaluable career coaching and support, is now open for applications. Applications Closing date: Wednesday 26th July. Further information. For all those finishing your course, don't forget that UoM Careers are still able to support you for another two years.

New Publication

Biblical studies. HRF Dwight D. Swanson 'Bringing the Kingdom: The Beatitudes as the Mathean Jubilee', in The Holy People of God: Identity, Contexts, Challenges, eds Svetlana Khobnya, Arseny Ermakov, Deirdre Brower Latz, Peter Rae, Mija Wi. (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2024), 69-78. Further information.

New Publication

Philosophy and Religious Studies. Alex Samely has published a major new study of the way readers read texts in everyday life and professional contexts. Using philosophical, psychological and literary approaches, Samely provides a new theory of text meaning, which has important implications also for the study of religious texts and their reception. Further information.

Conference Papers

Biblical studies. At the European Association of Biblical Studies in Sofia, 15-18th July, HRF Mary Mills will present "Emotions of the Prophet" and HRF Helen R. Jacobus will present "The Textual Context of 1 Enoch in Akhmim and Oxyrhynchus". Further information.

Jewish Studies Conference

Centre for Jewish Studies. The annual conference of the British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies takes place from 8 – 10 July in Bristol. Katja Stuerzenhofecker will deliver a paper entitled ‘The Jew who was there too: Orthodox women claiming mainstream ritual’. She will also participate in a panel discussion ‘Where is the contemporary in Jewish studies?’ together with Centre for Jewish Studies Fellow Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz.

Manchester Museum Panel

Science and Religion. On 12th June, Peter Scott joined a panel discussing present extinctions as part of the Extinction and Biodiversity conference held at Manchester Museum. The conference was organized by the Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science project.

New Publication

Christian History. Peter Nockles recently published a review of 'Samuel Wesley and the Crisis of Tory Piety, 1685-1720 by William Gibson (OUP 2021)' in the 'English Historical Review' (volume 139 issue 596, pages 254-257) and online. Further information.

Stephen Smalley, 1931-2024

New Testament Studies. We are sorry to learn of the death of Stephen Smalley who was Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer, in New Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Manchester from 1970-1977 in the era of F.F. Bruce, and Dean of Chester 1987-2001. Stephen wrote several books and articles on the Johannine Literature, some of which remain in print and are much used, including John Evangelist and Interpreter (1984), Thunder and Love: John's Revelation and John's Community (1994), The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek text of the Apocalypse (2005), and Hope for Ever: The Christian View of Life and Death (2005). Philip Alexander will represent informally the University and the Department at the funeral.

New Publication

Jewish Studies. Congratulations to MA student Yehudis Fletcher on the publication of 'Indecent Jewish theology, post October 7: the G-d of the bathroom floor', in Freedman, R and Hirsh, D (eds.) Responses to 7 October: Law and Society. London, UK. Routledge, 2024. Further information.