Dr. Ronis is associate professor of theology at St. Mary’s University, Texas, where she teaches courses in the Hebrew Bible and its reception, and Jewish Studies and religious studies more broadly.
On Thursday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m., Sara Ronis, PhD, associate professor of theology at St. Mary’s University, Texas, will deliver a lecture entitled “Rabbis and Demons in Late Antiquity.” This lecture is free and open to the public, and will be delivered in-person at Fairfield’s DiMenna-Nyselius Library Auditorium (101). Please register to attend at fairfield.edu/bennettprograms.
The Babylonian Talmud is filled with stories about demons, and laws that regulate how humans and demons should interact. But what are all those demons even doing in the Talmud? During this lecture, Dr. Ronis will examine how demons are constructed in the Talmud, and explore medieval and modern resistances to the presence of demons in Judaism. Using demons as our lens, the lecture will think through what looking at the wacky and the weird tells us about late antique Jewish culture and theology.
Dr. Ronis holds a PhD in ancient Judaism specializing in the Talmud from Yale University, and a BA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. Her first book, Demons in the Details: Demonic Discourse and Rabbinic Culture in the Babylonian Talmud (August 2022), looks at demonic discourse in the Babylonian Talmud in its legal, narrative, and socio-cultural contexts.
Reservations are requested for this lecture. Please contact the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at bennettcenter@fairfield.edu or call 203-254-4000, ext. 2066. For more information about other Bennett Center events, visit fairfield.edu/bennett.
