About
I’m a researcher and teacher, in the broad area of philosophy and religion. Slightly narrower, my specialism is Judaism, and narrower still I focus on Black Judaism, Jewish mysticism and modern Jewish thought (from Soloveitchik to Benjamin, Rosenzweig, Levinas, et al). However I’m stubbornly interdisciplinary and usually try to cross the boundaries between different aspects of philosophy and speculative thought as well as trying to keep up with current research in scientific, linguistic and psychological fields which connect with my interests. Keeping it broad helps to revitalise intellectual disciplines and keep them exciting.
I’m also very interested in experimenting with the forms of research, writing and teaching – making these practices more accessible, more artistic, more willing to think outside the usual boxes. Education
Certificate, Bridging the Great Divide. The Jewish-Muslim Encounter: The Woolf Institute (Cambridge)
PhD, Jewish Studies (Theology): University of Nottingham
Diploma, Messianism: Jewish and Christian Perspectives: CEU Summer University (Budapest)
MA, Religious Studies (Distinction): Lancaster University
BA, Philosophy: University of Hertfordshire Work Shared in CORE
Articles
Book chapters
Other
Other Publications
Books
2015 The Name of God in Jewish Thought: A Philosophical Analysis of Mystical Traditions from Apocalyptic to Kabbalah (Routledge)
Refereed Journal Articles
2022 (Forthcoming) “Bishop Allan Wilson Cook (Rabbi Haling Hank Lenht), Queen Malinda Morris, and the Independent Church of God: A Missing Piece in the History of Hebrew Israelite Black Judaism” Black Theology
2021 “Ben Ammi’s Adaptation of Veganism in the Theology of the African Hebrew Israelites” Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society 7.2 (2021)
2020 “The Name of God and the Name of the Messiah: Jewish and Christian parallels in Late Antiquity” (with Mariano Troiano) Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 15 (2019): 148-72
2020 “The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem and Ben Ammi’s Theology of Marginalisation and Reorientation” Religions 11.2 (2020): 87
2019 “Black Judaism(s) and the Hebrew Israelites” Religion Compass 13.11
2018 “Allowing the Fly to Leave: The Chance Meeting of Wittgenstein and Bunuel at a Mexican Dinner Table (with James Batcho) Film-Philosophy 22.3
2016 “Kaplan and Wittgenstein: Atheism, Phenomenology, and the Use of Language” Melilah 12 (2015): 70-83
2016 “The Evolution of the Patriarch Enoch in Jewish Tradition” Distant Worlds 1.1 (2016): 128-141
2015 “Abraham Abulafia’s Mystical Theology of the Divine Name and its Philosophical Revision in Walter Benjamin” Medieval Mystical Theology 24.1 (2015): 80-94
2013 “Folk Etymology and its Influence on Metatron Traditions” Journal for the Study of Judaism 44.3 (2013): 339-355.
2012 “Chaos and Identity: Onomatology in the Hekhalot Literature” Bamidbar 3.1 (2012): 36-51.
Book Chapters
2021 “The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem: A Borderline Case” in The Stranger in Early Modern and Modern Jewish Tradition, ed. Catherine Bartlett & Joachim Schlor (Brill) pp.28-46.
2020 “Jewish Practices and Traditions in the Medieval World” and “Journeys to the Other World: Medieval Jewish Traditions” in Prognostication in the Medieval World: A Handbook, ed. Matthias Heiduk et al (Walter de Gruyter, 2021) pp.342-355; pp.818-820.
2014 “The Name of the Beast: Monstrosity and Self in Michael Gira and Nietzsche” in Monstrous Reflections, ed. Petra Rehling & Elsa Bouet (Inter-Disciplinary Press) pp.63-70. Projects
“The Evolution of a Black Jewish ‘Hebrew Israelite’ Group from Messianic Revolutionaries to State Sponsors, 1969-1990” Oct 2020 – Sep 2021 (Polish Academy of Sciences: Gerda Henkel Stiftung Research Grant).
“Verbal and Visual Vistas: Differentiating modes of Prophetic Revelation and Prognostication in Medieval Jewish Mysticism” (IKGF, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg, Fate, Freedom and Prognostication: Strategies for Coping with the Future in East Asia and Europe.) Memberships
2011 British Association for Jewish Studies
2012 Society for Biblical Literature
2012 World Union of Jewish Studies
2013 European Association for Jewish Studies
2016 Mystical Theology Network
2016 Association for the Continental Philosophy of Religion
2019 Jewish-Muslim Research Network
2021 Afro-Jewish Studies
