The Jewish philosopher of religion, Emil Fackenheim of blessed memory, was awarded the Abraham Geiger Award at the Jewish Museum, Berlin in July 2002. The laudatory speech was given by the then Governing Mayor of Berlin, Dr. Gregor Gysi. After the Shoah, Emil Fackenheim’s philosophical life’s work opened new vistas towards a possible Jewish religious faith. The award winner then founded the annual “Emil Fackenheim Lecture” at the Abraham Geiger College. Each time, a distinguished scholar should be honored, whose work stands for the connection of tradition and modernity in research and religious practice in the field of Judaism.
1st Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2003
Rabbi Dr. John D. Rayner, of blessed memory (London) – Gut und Böse im Jüdischen Denken (Good and Evil in Jewish Thought)
2nd Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2004
Professor Dr. Daniel Boyarin (Berkeley) – Why is Rabbi Yohanan a Woman – Platonic Love in the Talmud
3rd Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2005
Professor Dr. Jacob Allerhand (Vienna) – Judentum und Fin de Siècle (Judaism and Fin de Siècle)
4th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2007
Rabbi Professor Michael Marmur (Jerusalem) – Zum 100. Geburtstag von Abraham Joshua Heschel (On the 100th Birthday of Abraham Joshua Heschel)
5th Emil Fackenheim Lecture , 2008
Prof. Dr. David Sandmel (Chicago) Philosemitism and Judaizing in the Contemporary Church
6th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2009
Rabbi Professor Seth Kunin (Durham) – The Myth of Essentialism
7th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2010
Professor Dr. David Biale (Davis) – Secularism – Is it a Part of the Jewish Tradition?
8th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2011
Rabbi Professor David B. Ruderman (Philadelphia) – The Cultural Meaning of the Ghetto in Jewish History
9th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2012
Professor Dr. Hanna Liss (Heidelberg) – Hebraica Veritas? Herausforderungen an eine jüdische Bibelwissenschaft heute (Today‘s Challenges for Jewish Exegesis)
10th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2013
René Bloch (Bern) – What if the Temple of Jerusalem Had Not Been Destroyed? Counterfactual Thoughts on a Decisive Moment in Jewish History
11th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2014
Giuseppe Veltri (Hamburg) – Tochter der Zeit: Zur Geschichte der Jüdischen Theologie
12th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2016
Volker Beck MdB (Köln) – Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt und Migration – Herausforderung für Deutschland
13th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2017
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi (Los Angeles) – Sources for Survival and Transformation
14th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2018
Prof. Dr. Dr. Jean Ehret (Luxemburg) – Die Neuordnung des Verhältnisses von Staat, Kirche und Religionsgemeinschaften in Luxemburg. Fakten und Fragen
15th Emil Fackenheim Lecture, 2019
Prof. Dr. Karol Vajda (Budapest) – Gegenwärtige Entwicklungstendenzen im neologen Judentum Ungarns