David H. Price
Photo: Annette Hornischer

Professor of Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, Art History, and History, Vanderbilt University

Carol Kahn Strauss Fellow in Jewish Studies - Class of Fall 2023

David H. Price is a professor in the departments of Jewish studies, religious studies, art history, and history at Vanderbilt University. He earned his BA in Classics from the University of Cincinnati and PhD in German Studies from Yale University. Price has held prior appointments at Yale University, University of Texas at Austin, Southern Methodist University, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has authored and edited numerous books, including In the Beginning Was the Image: Art and the Reformation Bible (Oxford, 2021); The Works of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (Illinois, 2015); Johannes Reuchlin and the Campaign to Destroy Jewish Books (Oxford, 2011), and Albrecht Dürer’s Renaissance: Humanism, Reformation, and the Art of Faith (Michigan, 2003). His work has been supported by the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel; Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt; Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Illinois; and Beinecke Library at Yale University, among others.

Project Description

Listening to Jewish Voices: The Impact of Jewish Writing on Religious Toleration and Social Justice in Early Modern Europe

In his Academy project, Price will trace Jewish intellectual contributions to the expansion of religious toleration in Europe through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Figures such as Leon Modena (1571-1648) and Menasseh ben Israel (1604-1657), the first Jews to address Christians in their theological works, inspired many Christian publications on Judaism and toleration, including the legal toleration of Jews. The project also explores the importance of Jewish sources for the emergence of a new Christian historiography of Judaism in the work of Jacques Basnage (1653-1723), as well as the contributions of Jews themselves to the first favorable Christian visual portrayals of Jewish life in the transformative designs of Bernard Picart (1673-1733). Into the later eighteenth century, Moses Mendelsohn (1729-1786) played a pivotal role in expanding benevolent views of Judaism among educated Europeans and their political leaders. His friendships and scholarly collaborations with influential intellectuals such as philosopher and dramatist Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) and publisher Friedrich Nicolai (1733-1811) offered progressive Christians and Jews a model of Christian-Jewish sociability. Price writes, “Their interactions not only promoted respect and acceptance of the Jewish people, but also [liberalized] the meaning of toleration and social justice in European societies.” In Berlin, Price will conduct research at the Staatsbibliothek and consult with colleagues in Jewish studies at local institutions, including the Mendelssohn Zentrum in Potsdam, Jewish Museum Berlin, and Freie Universität.

Academy Activities

01 Nov 23
What Does Judaism Look Like? The Invention of Visual Toleration in the Enlightenment Jewish Studies

Carol Kahn Strauss Lecture in Jewish Studies

What Does Judaism Look Like? The Invention of Visual Toleration in the Enlightenment

Engraver Bernard Picart produced some of the most influential representations of Jews and Judaism in European history.

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02 Oct 23

Fellow Spotlight: David H. Price

David H. Price is a professor in the departments of Jewish studies, religious studies, art history, and history at Vanderbilt University. In his Academy project, Price is tracing Jewish intellectual contributions to the expansion of religious toleration in Europe through the seventeenth and eighteen ...

Read more
01 Nov 23

What Does Judaism Look Like? The Invention of Visual Toleration in the Enlightenment

In 1721-25, the Amsterdam artist Bernard Picart produced some of the most influential representations of Jews and Judaism in European history. These transformative engravings, which became the most reproduced images of Jewish life in the early modern period, supported the expansion of religious tole ...

Read more
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