Goldenberg, David M. 1947-

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Goldenberg, David M. 1947-

PERSONAL:

Born 1947. Education: Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Religious Studies, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa.

CAREER:

University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, Isidore and Theresa Cohen Chair of Jewish Religion and Thought; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, visiting scholar; previously served as the president of Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, Philadelphia; associate director of the Annenberg Research Institute for Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, Philadelphia; and editor of the Jewish Quarterly Review.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) To Bigotry No Sanction: Documents in American Jewish History, Annenberg Research Institute (Philadelphia, PA), 1988.

The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Born in 1947, writer and educator David M. Goldenberg was educated at the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he earned his doctorate. He has worked at a number of institutions of higher learning, including his alma mater where he served as president, and the University of Pennsylvania, also in Philadelphia, where he was a visiting scholar. Goldenberg also served as the associate director of the Annenberg Research Institute for Judaic and Near Eastern Studies. He later joined the faculty at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where he holds the Isidore and Theresa Cohen Chair of Jewish Religion and Thought. His primary areas of academic and research interest include a number of facets of Jewish studies, ranging from biblical history to mysticism, art, and music, both contemporary and traditional. He has taught classes in the political, social, and intellectual development of Judaism throughout history, the bible in historical context, the evolution of monotheism, and the world of the Dead Sea Scrolls, among others. Outside of his academic endeavors, Goldenberg is the editor of the Jewish Quarterly Review. He is the editor of To Bigotry No Sanction: Documents in American Jewish History, and the author of The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In his book The Curse of Ham, Goldenberg addresses the issue of racism as it has manifested itself within the confines of the three most widespread religions in the world, Christianity, Judaism—with a focus on the earlier period in the religion—and Islam. According to Goldenberg, racism according to color does not appear in Biblical scriptures. While there was no doubt that skin tones varied, there is no reference in the Bible to anyone being set apart or discriminated against simply due to the color of their skin. This type of color-centric racism only began to catch hold and spread with the increase of the slave trade that resulted in large numbers of black Africans being introduced into society. In Jewish culture in particular, there was no prejudice against individuals of different skin color. However, after the black Africans began to arrive, and in particular those darker-skinned individuals arriving in the Middle East after the Muslims overthrew North Africa, the different skin tones in addition to the new political and cultural landscape resulted in a heavily charged atmosphere where everyone was more prone to isolate by their own race. Skin tones began to become associated with different races, and from there the situation just built. This resulted in the sudden spark of antiblack sentiment, as they were singled out in particular for their obvious differences of appearance.

The title of Goldenberg's book, however, refers to the curse Noah set upon his son, Ham, in the Book of Genesis, fating all of Ham's descendents to a life of slavery. Noah stated: "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers." In modern-day interpretations, it has been assumed that Ham was therefore the ancestor of African people, the implication being that the Africans spent so many years enslaved that this fate must have been a direct result of Ham's curse from Noah. However, nowhere in the Bible does it indicate that Ham might have been dark skinned, nor would it have been reasonable to assume that black Africans were slaves prior to their enslavement at the hands of other civilizations. Goldenberg attempts to trace back this theory to determine when it was first voiced as an assumption, and what led individuals to believe that the darker skin tones should automatically be associated with some form of servitude. Through his research into Jewish sources, Goldenberg discovered that initially all things associated with Africa were considered positive, or at the very least neutral. Yet this premise slowly changed. Not only was Ham linked to slavery and to darker, more sinister behavior, but some individuals who were firmly proslavery began to suggest that when Cain killed his brother Abel and God marked him, that the mark was actually a darkly pigmented skin tone.

Although basing his work on the concept first put forth by Frank M. Snowden, Jr., and also a book by Lloyd Thompson, Goldenberg did extensive research in order to find his own view on this issue, and determine when and how certain aspects of racism became so prevalent. Over the course of the book, he looks first at the existence and interpretation of blacks in both biblical and postbiblical Israel, paying particular attention to the Kushites, who were historically the ones identified as different in the Bible. He then looks at early Jewish literature for any and all references to skin tone or color. From there he takes a brief look at black slaves in Israel, a rarity as they were such a minority. Finally, he addresses the core issues regarding the curse on Ham, as well as the various interpretations of the meaning of his name. John Byron, in a review for Theological Studies, remarked that "while this is an exhaustive study, it does not provide much new information. Goldenberg accepts and then confirms the conclusions of Snowden and Thompson that racism was not a factor in ancient slavery and that moderns often confuse esthetic preferences with racial prejudices. … Even the suggestion that racism was a factor in the Islamic slave trade is an argument already put forth." Reuven Firestone, writing for Church History, concluded that "Goldenberg wrote his book in response to the accusation of the Jewish origin of Western racism. His work will be seen by some as fine scholarship, by others as grand apologetic. Whatever one's assessment, his documentation is encyclopedic and his writing absorbing." Yaacov Shavit, writing for Shofar, noted Goldenberg's effort "constitutes an important addition to the bookshelf of works that deal with the representation and image of the black man in the cultures of the ancient world. He offers the reader an impressive and persuasive scholarly journey through a very varied world of primary sources and their historical-cultural contexts."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Black Theology: An International Journal, July, 2005, Michael N. Jagessar, review of The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 243-246.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, June 1, 2004, L.H. Mamiya, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 1898.

Christian Century, September 7, 2004, Gay L. Byron, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 55.

Church History, December 1, 2006, Reuven Firestone, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 884.

Journal of Religion, July 1, 2004, J. Albert Harrill, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 511.

Journal of Social History, March 22, 2005, Dean A. Miller, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 831.

New York Review of Books, November 16, 2006, "Blacks: Damned by the Bible," p. 37.

Publishers Weekly, November 17, 2003, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 15.

Religion, October 1, 2004, Erin Kuhns, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 370.

Shofar, March 22, 2004, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 202; January 1, 2006, Yaacov Shavit, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 177.

Theological Studies, December 1, 2005, John Byron, review of The Curse of Ham, p. 885.

Tikkun, March 1, 2004, review of The Curse of Ham.

Times Higher Education Supplement, April 30, 2004, "Suffering Not Sanctioned by Scripture," p. 24.