Adam Sutcliffe of King's College, London, as this year's Einhorn scholar, presented a workshop and lecture entitled, "What are Jews For? the History of the idea of Jewish Chosenness" at the Lucy Ellis Lounge in the Foreign Languages Building on April 1, 2019.
Professor Sutcliffe wrote, "God chose the Jews: but why, on what terms, and to what end? The biblical 'election of Israel' - the setting apart of the Jews by God, as recipients of divine protection, and bearers of special holiness - has been the focus of fascination and repeated reappraisal by both Jews and non-Jews throughout the modern era. This theological concept lies at the the heart of a broader question: what is the particular purpose of Jews in the world?" Sutcliffe discussed this question, "...from its biblical and medieval roots, through key early modern thinkers such as Spinoza and Moses Mendelssohn, and up to the twenty-first century."