Strassfeld, Max | Religious Studies

mstrassfeld@arizona.edu

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Strassfeld, Max

Associate Professor

Dr. Max Strassfeld (Ph.D. in Religious Studies, Stanford University) specializes in Rabbinic Literature, Transgender Studies, and Jewish Studies. His book, Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature, was published in 2022 with the University of California Press and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. The book explores eunuchs and androgynes in Jewish law, and pairs classical Jewish texts with intersex autobiography, transgender studies, and theories of queer temporality, in order to argue that the rabbis use these figures to map the boundaries of normative masculinity.

In recognition of his work in gender and sexuality, he was awarded the Frankel Fellowship for New Perspectives on Gender and Jewish Life at the University of Michigan in 2013-2014, a CrossCurrents fellowship at Auburn Seminary, the Berlin Prize, and a Hadassah-Brandeis Institute fellowship for Fall 2022. He served on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion from 2015-2017 and currently serves on the board of the Association for Jewish Studies.

Dr. Strassfeld teaches a wide range of courses, including Jews, Christians, and the Bible; Jews in the Roman Empire; Religion and Sex; and Gender, Women, and Religion. Dr. Strassfeld is an affiliate of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, the Institute for LGBTQI Studies, and Classics.

Currently Teaching

RELI 363 – Religion and Sex

In this course, students will analyze attitudes towards sexuality in major world religions, both globally and in the context of the United States.

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In this course, students will analyze attitudes towards sexuality in major world religions, both globally and in the context of the United States.

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RELI 550 – Graduate Readings in Theories and Methods for the Study of Religion

The course provides graduate training in the theories and methods of religious studies and guides students in contextualizing their own work within this discourse. It is an opportunity to learn how religion became an object of study, to explore the approaches of key theorists, and to assess the efficacy of these approaches. Controversies surrounding ritual, canon, culture, power, translation, and "experience" will inform our conversations. Students will develop a more nuanced understanding of the relationship of religious studies and area studies, in terms of historical and continuously-evolving dynamics. Finally, this course challenges students to evaluate the broader role of religious studies in the humanities and to set goals for their professional contributions to this discourse.

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RELI 481 – Jews in the Roman Empire

This course explores Judaism from Late Antiquity through the beginning of the Middle Ages. Rather than a traditional survey format, we will cover this period through historical, literary, and cultural approaches to primary literature (including focus on rabbinic literature) organized thematically. Throughout, we will read primary and secondary sources on two levels: exploring the historical and literary narratives they weave about this period in Jewish history, while paying close attention to their rhetorical choices. We discuss rabbinic self-representation simultaneously as we analyze the ways historical narratives and primary texts have been mobilized in the contemporary Jewish clime. Finally, we will treat the question of how this body of literature came to be of such central importance in Jewish culture.

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RELI 581 – Jews in the Roman Empire

Graduate-level requirements include a 20 page research paper at the end of term. For students with skills in Hebrew and Aramaic, a separate meeting will be convened to read the texts in the original and work on linguistic skills.

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