Jonathan D. Sarna is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University and the director of the Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership.[1] He is regarded as one of the most prominent historians of American Judaism. Sarna is married to the noted Boston College theology professor, Ruth Langer.
Sarna is a prolific author,[2] including the seminal work on the 350th anniversary of the founding of the American Jewish community, American Judaism: A History.[3] The book won a number of awards, including the National Jewish Book Award for 2004 and the Publishers Weekly Best Religion Book 2004 award.[4]
Sarna received the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry's Marshall Sklare Award in 2002.[5]
Sarna is a regular contributor on religion to the Newsweek-Washingtonpost.com joint project On Faith.[6]
He is the son of Biblical scholar Nahum Sarna.
Sarna's book, "American Judaism: A History" is read by the Integrated Jewish American Studies classes at Milken Community High School. In this course, students use "American Judaism: A History" to understand how American Jews were able to balance both their traditional Jewish morals with secular and individualistic-based American values.