J.J. Kimche

J.J. Kimche is a founding faculty member at the University of Austin, Texas (UATX), where he serves as Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy. An Englishman by upbringing and an intellectual historian by training, his work explores the fertile intersections of European philosophy, Jewish thought, and the evolving trajectory of religious ideas in the modern West. His scholarship ranges widely—from the Haskalah movement to philosophies of history, from religious mysticism to biblical exegesis—bridging multiple disciplines in an effort to trace the intricate pathways traversed by philosophical and theological traditions from the Bible to the present. His current research examines how Enlightenment thinkers across religious traditions grappled with the Problem of Evil, with particular attention to the philosophical frameworks and rhetorical strategies they employed in confronting suffering, justice, and divine absence.

Kimche earned his B.A. in Western Philosophy and Jewish Thought from Shalem College in Jerusalem and completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. His doctoral research focused on nineteenth-century religious scholarship, with particular attention to the intertwined ideational worlds of Protestant Hebraism, biblical criticism, and the Jewish Enlightenment. He spent much of his adult life in Israel, where he pursued advanced Jewish studies at Yeshivat Har Etzion and served in the 101st Division of the IDF’s Paratroopers Brigade.

A dedicated educator, Kimche has taught courses in Jewish and Western thought on three continents, including at Harvard, Brandeis, MIT, and the Shalom Hartman Institute, as well as in traditional yeshivot. His articles have appeared in leading Jewish Studies journals, including Modern Judaism, The Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, and Revue des Études Juives. His first academic book, Dialogue on Kabbalah (an annotated translation and critical introduction to a landmark text of the Jewish Enlightenment) was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2024. He also writes regularly for broader audiences, contributing essays and reviews to First Things, City Journal, and The Wall Street Journal.

Kimche is the host of The Podcast of Jewish Ideas, where he conducts in-depth conversations with leading scholars on topics spanning philosophy, theology, and Jewish intellectual history.