Redemptive Hope in the Age of Trump with Akiba Lerner

Akiba J. Lerner, Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University

In his book Akiba Lerner argues that redemptive narratives, from the Biblical tradition to our modern day, are essential for warding off despair, but these very same narratives can create quasi-messianic expectations that are seldom fulfilled. By tracing the tension between theistic thinkers, for whom redemptive hope is transcendental, and more secular oriented thinkers like Richard Rorty who pragmatically linked social hopes to the solidarity we create with others, Lerner explores the narrative strategies Jewish and non-Jewish thinkers have developed for sustaining hope in an age increasing skeptical of utopian ideologies and messianic enthusiasm.

Akiba received his B.A. from The University of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Stanford University in 2007. He taught at Stanford from 2007-2009 and joined the Santa Clara faculty in 2009. His research focuses on modern Jewish thought, theologies of hope, Jewish social ethics, political theology, American pragmatism and contemporary liberal thought.

This will be a book talk and the Stanford Bookstore will be there to sell his books.