CANCELLED Speaker Adam Cohen: Judaism, Culture or Religion?

SUNDAY, April 5, 2020 at 10:30AM
The Men of Solel are pleased to host Adam Cohen, who will speak about “Judaism, Culture
or Religion?”. Some Jews talk about being Jewish as a culture, and some as a
religion. Since the focus of Adam’s research is on culture and religion, he is interested
in the similarities and differences between these views. When is Judaism a culture, and
when is it a religion? Are the culture and religion aspects connected to each other? He
will present evidence from his research that the “religious parts”, like moral theology,
affect the “cultural parts”. He will show that people’s moral judgments and their
forgiveness (parts of culture) actually are influenced by what their religion says about
those issues.  Then we will have a discussion about Jewish culture and religion.
Professor Cohen is a fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and the
Society of Personality and Social Psychology, the 2009 recipient of the Margaret
Gorman award from the American Psychological Association, the 2013 Godin Prize
winner from the International Association for the Psychology of Religion, and the 2012
Gumby Award winner from the ASU Department of Psychology. He is associate editor
of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. He has had grant funding from the
Notre Dame Science of Generosity program, the Templeton Foundation, NSF, DARPA,
the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Army Research Institute.
Adam earned an A.M. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania,
and earned a B.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in Psychology and Judaic
Studies with departmental honors, from Dickinson College. He is currently a tenured
Professor at Arizona State University and has been an Assistant Professor of
Psychology at Philadelphia University, an Assistant Specialist, at the Institute of
Personality and Social Research, University of California, Berkeley, and a Post-doctoral
Fellow at the Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health, Duke University
Medical Center. He has won numerous honors and has written over 60 peer reviewed
publications and two books.
This provocative and interesting program is open the entire community and all are
welcome to attend. Please RSVP to Temple Solel via 480-991-7414 or by emailing menofsolel@templesolel.org.