Louis Newman, one of the country’s leading scholars of Jewish ethics and a professor of religious studies at Carleton College in Northfield, will discuss “Sin, Repentance and Divine Forgiveness: A Jewish Approach” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2, in the 3M Auditorium of Owens Science Hall on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
Louis Newman
The lecture is sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning and is free and open to the public.
“Sin is a universal problem, and repentance for sin and divine forgiveness are central issues in many religious traditions,” according to Newman. “But each tradition has a somewhat distinctive approach to these issues.” Newman will explore classical Jewish sources dealing with these issues and will welcome an interfaith conversation about them.
Newman is the John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Professor of Religious Studies, the Humphrey Doermann Professor of Liberal Learning, and the director of the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching at Carleton College.
Born and raised in St. Paul, he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and Hebrew (1976) and master’s in philosophy (1979) from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. in Judaic studies from Brown University (1983). A prolific writer, his most recent book is Repentance: The Meaning and Practice of Teshuvah (Jewish Lights, 2010).
The Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning is co-sponsored by St. Thomas and St. John’s University in Collegeville; the goal of the center is to promote interfaith learning and friendship among people of various religions. Information about the center can be found on the center's website.
