Title: Associate Professor and Chair
Dept: Religion
Office: Blodgett 208
Ext: 5517
Contact Marc Epstein
Dr. Marc Michael Epstein is Associate Professor of Religion and teaches in the Jewish Studies Program at Vassar College. A graduate of Oberlin College, he received the PhD at Yale University, having done much of his graduate research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His work marshalls the methodologies of art history and classical Jewish textual study as well as those of cultural studies and the histoire des mentalités. He is the author of numerous articles on various topics in Jewish art, and has authored "Dreams of Subversion in Medieval Jewish Art and Literature" (Penn State Press, 1997). He is in the process of writing a new book for the University of California Press titled "Overthrowing the Idols: A Radical Reappraisal of Jewish Visual Culture," which deals with topics ranging from rabbinic aesthetics to post-Hassidic kitsch. During the 80s, Dr. Epstein was Director of the Hebrew Books and Manuscripts division of Sotheby's Judaica department, and he continues to serve as consultant to various libraries, auction houses, museums and private collectors throughout the world, among them the Herbert C. and Eileen Bernard Museum at Temple Emanu-El for which he curated the inaugural exhibition.
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