General Information
The Gruss Scholar-in-Residence will spend a year in full-time residence at NYU School of Law while researching and writing significant and publishable scholarship in an area related to Jewish law and/or the interaction between Jewish and American law. It is expected that at least one published article will result from the Scholar's year of residence; this article will be considered for publication in a working paper series of the Law School.
In addition, the Gruss Scholar will familiarize him/herself with the Gruss Library, so as to serve as a resource on its contents for members of the Law School community. The Scholar will supervise the continual updating and enriching of the Gruss Library and will act as the resident liaison between the library, the main Law School library and the rest of the Law School community. The Scholar will become fully integrated with the intellectual community of the Law School, regularly attending events of the School of Law, including the faculty colloquia and other similar events.
2025-2026 Gruss Scholar-in-Residence
Dr. Noam Oren
Noam Oren’s research ranges across analytic philosophy of religion, modern Jewish thought—including the philosophy of Halakhah—and, above all, the points at which these fields converge. He concentrates on the rationality of religious belief and practice and on the dynamic interplay between the two.
Analytic philosophy has flourished chiefly in Anglophone contexts; not surprisingly, analytic philosophy of religion has accordingly developed within predominantly Christian and/or atheist environments. Within this landscape, there is a lack of analytic scholarship that grows out of Jewish texts, traditions, and ideas.
The study of modern Jewish thought, by contrast, devotes extensive attention to the impact of continental philosophy. Scholars trace historical influences from phenomenology, existentialism, deconstruction, and post-modernism on modern Jewish thinkers, and employ continental hermeneutical tools to analyze classical Jewish texts and rituals.
In his work, Noam seeks to bridge both research gaps: unveiling the historical and conceptual connections between analytic philosophy and Jewish thought, and employing analytic methods and insights to illuminate Jewish philosophy and Halakhah.
These aims inform his previous projects. His doctoral dissertation, The Philosophy of Prayer: A Study in the Rationality, Metaphysics, and Ethics of Petition, addresses the philosophical and theological challenges that confront prayer in general and Jewish liturgical practice in particular. His M.A. thesis examines the nature and rational warrant of religious belief across diverse settings, with special attention to Jewish contexts.
Alongside his academic research and teaching, Noam is committed to public engagement, bringing philosophy and Jewish thought to wider audiences through lectures, popular essays, and community-based learning initiatives.
Contact: no2353@nyu.edu
Research area:Philosophy of religion, Jewish thought, Jewish Law
Research Title: Religious Testimony and Expertise: What They Reveal about the Nature of Faith
Research Synopsis: This project interrogates an overlooked epistemic puzzle at the heart of religious life: why do some religious traditions exhort adherents either to defer unreservedly to ecclesial experts or, at the opposite extreme, to distrust all testimonial authority and rely only on personal understanding? Whereas secular epistemology typically treats expertise as a defeasible but indispensable source of justified belief, these religious stances appear to transgress that moderate ideal, challenging both self-descriptions of “belief” and philosophical models of rational deference.
Focusing on the anti-testimonial pole, I map three historically and conceptually distinct streams that repudiate expert authority: (i) medieval rationalists (e.g., Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, Anselm) who demand demonstrative proof rather than rabbinic or clerical hearsay; (ii) mystical and spiritual currents—from Hasidic masters to Protestant sola scriptura and Buddhist narratives—that prize inner experience over external guidance; and (iii) modern authenticity movements that counsel followers to reject authoritative dictates and “find their own path.” Each treats faith as something that cannot, or should not, be outsourced.
The core research questions are: What conception of religious commitment underwrites this recoil from expertise? Does it reveal a non-realistic understanding of the religious realm? And what does this tell us about the epistemic status of religious discourse more broadly?
Methodologically, I integrate two literatures seldom brought to bear on philosophy of religion: contemporary epistemology of testimony and expertise, and meta-ethical debates over moral realism and moral expertise. By comparing religions’ anti-expert norms with secular disputes about scientific and moral authority, the project clarifies the conditions under which deference is rational and uncovers novel analogies between religious and moral cognition.
The study promises three contributions: a typology of anti-testimonial religiosity, a philosophical appraisal of its rationality, and an expanded dialogue between epistemology, ethics, and philosophy of religion.
This inquiry is equally pertinent to Halakhah, where the two opposing attitudes toward expertise stand out in sharp relief. Most rabbinic sources demand near-total deference to recognized authorities, yet notable precedents instruct Halakhic rulers to set aside expert opinion and follow personal judgment. By applying my study to these halakhic cases, I hope to show how the tension between maximal deference and principled independence enriches current debates in the philosophy of Jewish law, especially those surrounding halakhic realism and legal naturalism.
Previous Gruss Scholars-in-Residence:
• Elad Schlesinger
• Emmanuel Bloch
• Job Y. Jindo
• Hillel Mali
• Irit Offer Stark
• Adiel Zimran
• Debra Glasberg Gail
• Tamara Morsel-Eisenberg
• Shraga Bar-On
• Shivi Greenfield
• Ruth Kaniel Kara-Ivanov
• Job Y. Jindo
• Yehuda Septimus
• Rabbi Naftali Cohn
• Rabbi David Flatto
• Rabbi Dr. Gidon Rothstein