Burnett CV | Department of Classics and Religious Studies

Field: Religious Studies / Jewish History
Position: Hymen Rosenberg Emeritus Professor of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Education

Ph.D. in Hebrew and Semitic Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1990
M.A. in Hebrew and Semitic Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1983
M.A. in Old Testament Studies, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1982
B.A. in English Literature and History, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1978 (Graduated with academic distinction)

Awards, Fellowships and Memberships

2025 Senior Research Fellowship, University of Mainz (May/June)
2024 Hymen Rosenberg Emeritus Professor of Classics and Religious Studies
2023 Thomas Rinkevich Service Award of CRS Department
2020 Hymen Rosenberg Professor in Judaic Studies (17 August 2020)
2016-17 Humboldt Research Award, University of Göttingen, Germany (June-December 2016, May-July 2017)
2015-16 Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, Elizabeth and J. Richardson Dilworth Fellowship in Historical Studies
2009 Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
2001-02 Fulbright Fellowship, University of Potsdam, Germany
1999-2000 American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship
1999 Center for Judaic Studies Fellowship, U of Pennsylvania
1994 Brewer Prize of the American Society of Church History for book From Christian Hebraism to Jewish Studies
1991-92 American Academy of Religion Research Assistance Grant

International Residency Fellowships

2004 Fellowship, Herzog August Bibliothek; Wolfenbüttel, Germany

Nationally Competitive Fellowships and Prizes

2009 Franklin Fellowship, American Philosophical Society
2000-01 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture International Fellowship
1998 Friends of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Grant-in-Aid
1995 Research Grant, American Philosophical Society

Teaching Honors and Fellowships

2011 Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students, UNL Parents Organization
2001 Exchange Professor, University of Hannover, Germany (spring semester)
1999 Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students, UNL Parents Organization
1998-99 Peer Review of Teaching Fellow
1996 Nominated Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Association of Students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Professional Experience

2020-2024 Hymen Rosenberg Professor in Judaic Studies
2013-2024 Professor in Classics and Religious Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Full Promotion effective August 19, 2013
2010- 2013: Associate Professor in Classics and Religious Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
2003- 2010: Associate Professor in Classics and Religious Studies, and History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Received tenure and promoted, August 18, 2003
2000-2003: Assistant Professor in Classics and Religious Studies, and History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Appointment began August 14, 2000.
1996-1999: Lecturer in History, Classics, and Judaic Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
1993-1996: Visiting Assistant Professor of History and Judaic Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Publications

Books

Christian Hebraism in the Reformation Era (1500-1660): Authors, Books, and the Transmission of Jewish Learning. Library of the Written Word, The Handpress World, Vol. 19. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Jews, Judaism and the Reformation in Sixteenth Century Germany. Ed. Dean P. Bell and Stephen G. Burnett. Studies in Central European Histories, Vol. 37. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2006. Paperback edition with updated bibliography, 2016.
From Christian Hebraism to Jewish Studies: Johannes Buxtorf (1564-1629) and Hebrew Learning in the Seventeenth-Century. Studies in the History of Christian Thought, Vol. 68. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996.

Luther Edition Work

Assistant Editor of Luther’s Works, vol. 66 (Concordia Press).
Co-Editor with Prof. Benjamin Mayes of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., Luther’s Works, vol. 63: Exodus 20-34 and Prophet. St. Louis: Concordia Press, 2025.
Introduction and Annotations for On the Shem Hamphorash and on the Lineage of Christ by Martin Luther. In: Luther’s Works, Vol. 61, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, 431-504. Saint Louis: Concordia Press, 2021.

Refereed Book Chapters and Journal Articles:

“Martin Luther, Kabbalah, and Jewish Magic.” Zutot. Perspectives on Jewish Culture (2024): 1-18.
“Martin Luther, Toledot Yeshu and Judaizing Christians in Vom Schem Hamphoras (1543)." In: Toledoth Yeshu in Context, 219-230. Ed. Daniel Barbu and Yaacov Deutsch. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism, n. s., 182. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020.
“Luther’s Chief Witness: Anthonius Margaritha’s Der gantz jüdisch Glaub (1530/1531),” 183-200. In: Revealing the Secrets of the Jews: Johannes Pfefferkorn and Christian Writings about Jewish Life and Literature in Early Modern Europe, ed. Jonathan Adams and Cordelia Hess. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017.
“Sebastian Münster and Jewish Interpretation of Genesis in his Hebraica Biblia (1534-35): Selection and Mediation of Jewish Insight for Christian Purposes,"393-403. In: Auslegung und Hermeneutik der Bibel in der Reformationszeit. Ed. Christine Christ-von Wedel and Sven Grosse. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017.
“Later Christian Hebraists,” 785-801. In: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: The History of its Interpretation, Vol. 2: From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Ed. Magne Saebø and Michael Fishbane. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008.
Available online: digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/109/
“Reassessing the “Basel-Wittenberg Conflict: Dimensions of the Reformation-Era Discussion of Hebrew Scholarship,” 181-201. Hebraica Veritas? Christian Hebraists and the Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe. Ed. Allison P. Coudert and Jeffrey S. Shoulsen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. Available online: digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/61
"Dialogue of the Deaf: Hebrew Pedagogy and Anti-Jewish Polemic in Sebastian Münster’s Messiahs of the Christians and the Jews (1529/39)." Archive for Reformation History 91 (2000): 168-190.
Available online: digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/45.
“The Regulation of Hebrew Printing in Germany, 1555-1630: Confessional Politics and the Limits of Jewish Toleration.” 329-348. In: Infinite Boundaries: Order, Disorder, and Reorder in Early Modern German Culture. Ed. Max Reinhart and Thomas Robisheaux. Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, no. 40. Kirksville: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, 1998. Available online: digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/49.
"Distorted Mirrors: Antonius Margaritha, Johann Buxtorf and Christian Ethnographies of Judaism." Sixteenth Century Journal 25 (1994): 275-287.
Available online: digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/63
"Hebrew Censorship in Hanau: A Mirror of Jewish-Christian Coexistence in Seventeenth Century Germany," 199-222. In: The Expulsion of the Jews: 1492 and After. Ed. Raymond B. Waddington and Arthur H. Williamson. Garland Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 2. New York: Garland, 1994.
Available online: digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/46

Articles in Journals/Congress Volumes

“Luther and Hebrew.” In: Hebrew Between Christians and Jews. Ed. Daniel Stein Kokin. Studia Judaica, Vol. 77, 201-215. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2022.
“What Luther Could Have Known of Judaism,”133-146. In: Juden, Christen und Muslime im Zeitalter der Reformation. Ed. Matthias Pohlig. Schriften des Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte, No. 219. Heidelberg: Verein für Reformationsgeschichte, 2020.
“Hebraists and Hebrew Study at the Academic Gymnasium in Hamburg Before Reimerus (1613-1727),” 105-119. In: Das Akademische Gymnasium zu Hamburg im Kontext frühneuzeitlicher Wissenschafts- und Bildungsgeschichte. Ed. Johann Anselm Steiger. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017.
“Luther and the Jews in Twentieth Century Anglo-American Scholarship.” Die Rezeption der “Judenschriften” in der Neuzeit, 249-265. Ed. Harry Oelke/Wolfgang Kraus/Gury Schneider-Ludorff, et. al. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016.
“Schudt and German Christian Hebraism.” Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge/Frankfurt Jewish Studies Bulletin 40 (2015): 47-61 [Special edition of journal, published in 2016].
“The Targum in Christian Scholarship to 1800,” 250-265. In: A Jewish Targum in the Christian World, ed. Alberdina Houtman, Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman and Hans-Martin Kirn. Leiden: Brill, 2014.
“Luthers hebräische Bibel (Brescia, 1494)--ihre Bedeutung für die Reformation,” 62-69 Trans. Henning Jürgens. In: Meilensteine der Reformation: Schlüsseldokumente der frühen Wirksamkeit Martin Luthers, ed. Irene Dingel and Henning P. Jürgens, Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlaghaus, 2014.
“The Strange Career of the Biblia Rabbinica among Christian Hebraists, 1517-1620,” 63-83. In: Shaping the Bible in the Reformation: Books, Scholars and Readers in the Sixteenth Century. Ed. Matthew McLean and Bruce Gordon. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
“Christian Hebraism at the University of Tübingen from Reuchlin to Schickard,” 161-172. In: Tübingen: Eine Universität zwischen Scholastik und Humanismus. Ostfilden: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2012.
“Lutheran Christian Hebraism in the Time of Solomon Glassius (1593-1656).”
In: Hebraistik - Hermeneutik - Homiletik. Die 'Philologia Sacra' im frühneuzeitlichen Bibelstudium, 441-467. Ed. Christoph Bultmann and Lutz Danneberg. Historia Hermeneutica. Series Studia, 10. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011.
digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1122&context=classicsfacpub
“Jüdische Vermittler des Hebräischen und ihrer christlichen Schüler im Spätmittelalter.” 173-188. In: Wechselseitige Wahrnehmung der Religionen im Spätmittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit. I.Teil. Bericht über Kolloquien der Kommission zur Erforschung der Kultur des Spätmittelalters 2004 und 2005. Ed. Ludger Grenzmann, Thomas Haye, Nikolaus Henkel and Thomas Kaufmann. Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen. Berlin: Walter de Gruter, 2009. digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/ viewcontent.cgi?article=1109&context=classicsfacpub
“Philosemitism and Christian Hebraism in the Reformation Era (1500-1620),” 135-146. In: Geliebter Feind—Gehasster Freund. Philosemitismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Ed. Irene A. Diekmann and Elke V. Kotowski . Berlin: Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, 2009. digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/113/
“German Jewish Printing in the Reformation Era (1530-1633),” 503-527. In Jews, Judaism and the Reformation in Sixteenth Century Germany. Ed. Dean P. Bell and Stephen G. Burnett. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2006.
digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/62
“Spokesmen for Judaism: Medieval Jewish Polemicists and their Christian Readers in the Reformation Era,” 41-51. In: Reuchlin und seine Erben. Ed. Peter Schaefer and I. Wandrey. Pforzheimer Reuchlinschriften, Vol. 11. Stuttgart: Jan Thorbecke, 2005. Available online: digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/52
“Johannes Buxtorfs Charakterisierung des Judentums: Reformierte Orthodoxie und Christliche Hebraistik,” 189-210. Trans. Achim Detmers. In: Bundeseinheit und Gottesvolk. Reformierter Protestantismus und Judentum in Europa des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts. Ed. Achim Detmers and Jan Marius J. Lange van Ravensway. Emder Beitrage zum reformierten Protestantismus, no. 9. Wuppertal: Foedus-Verlag, 2005.
digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/111/
“Christian Aramaism in Reformation-Era Europe, ” 421-36. In: Seeking Out the Wisdom of the Ancients: Essays Offered to Michael V. Fox on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday. Ed. Ronald L. Troxel, Kelvin G. Friebel, and Dennis R. Magary. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2005.
digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/48/
“Christian Gerson of Recklinghausen and Johannes Buxtorf of Kamen: two Christian Interpreters of Judaism in the Reformation Era.” Vestische Zeitschrift 99 (2002): 35-46.
“Johannes Buxtorf Westphalus und die Erforschung des Judentums in der Neuzeit.”
Judaica. 58/1 (March 2002): 30-43. digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/112/
“Christian Hebrew Printing in the Sixteenth Century: Printers, Humanism, and the Impact of the Reformation.” Helmantica 51/154 (April 2000): 13-42.
digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/51.
“Buxtorf Family Papers,” 71-88. In: Die Handschriften der Universität Basel: Die hebräischen Handschriften. By Joseph Prijs. Ed. Bernhard Prijs and David Prijs. Basel: Verlag der Universitätsbibliothek, 1994.
"Calvin's Jewish Interlocutor: Christian Hebraism and Anti-Jewish Polemics during the Reformation." Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 55 (1993): 113-123.
digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1123&context=classicsfacpub
"Johannes Buxtorf I and the Circumcision Incident of 1619." Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde 89 (1989): 135-144.
digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=classicsfacpub

Handbook and Dictionary Articles (13; 2 refereed)

“Pellican, Conrad.” Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, Vol. 23. New York: De Gruyter, 2024.
“Christian Hebraism”, Oxford Handbook of the Bible and the Reformation, ed. Jennifer Powell McNutt and Herman Selderhuis (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), 39-50.
doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198753186.013.3.
“Censorship and Censors: Central and Eastern Europe,” commissioned article for the Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2023.
“Münster, Sebastian” in: Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, Vol. 20, Cols. 111-112. Berlin and Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2022.
“Jews and Judaism” in: Martin Luther in Context, 179-186. Ed. David M. Whitford. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. [refereed]
“Jews,” 378-382. In: Dictionary of Luther and the Lutheran Traditions. Ed. Timothy J. Wengert, Jonathan Strom, Mark Mattes, Mary Jane Haemig, Mark Granquist, and Robert Kolb. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2017.
“Reuchlin, Johannes,” 638-640. In: Dictionary of Luther and the Lutheran Traditions. Ed. Timothy J. Wengert, Jonathan Strom, Mark Mattes, Mary Jane Haemig, Mark Granquist, and Robert Kolb. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2017.
“Christian Hebraism,” 253-266. In: Oxford Encyclopedia of Martin Luther. Ed. Derek R. Nelson and Paul R. Hinlicky. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, 253-266. [refereed]
“Western Theologies and Judaism,” in: The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theology, ed. Ulrich Lehner, Richard Muller and A. G. Roeber. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
“Christian Hebraism,” 103. In: The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture. Ed. Judith Baskin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
“Reformation and European Jews,” 516-517. In: The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture. Ed. Judith Baskin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
“Jews, Judaism,” 94. In: Westminster Handbook to Theologies of the Reformation. Ed. R. Ward Holder. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2010.
“Johannes Buxtorf I.” Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. Published online: www.dhs.ch.
“Johannes Buxtorf II.” Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. Published online: www.dhs.ch.

Other Essays

“Luther and the Jews: Making, Breaking and Maintaining Boundaries (Seminar Report).” Luther Jahrbuch 90 (2023): 289-291.
“Luther and the Jews (Seminar Report).” Luther Jahrbuch 85 (2018): 348-352.
Introduction to Sebastian Münster, Der Messias der Christen und Juden (1539),” 15-24. In: Sebastian Münster. Der Messias-Dialog. Der hebräische Text von 1539 in deutscher Übersetzung. Ed. Alfred Bodenheimer. Basel: Schwabe Verlag, 2017.

Research in Progress

Luther’s Final Foes: Anti-Semitism and Identity in Luther’s 1543 Campaign Against the Jews (Book Project)

“Controversial Theology with Judaism,” Brill Companion for Lutheran Orthodoxy, ed. Robert Kolb et al. (1831 words)

Web Publications

Coeditor, “Hebraica Veritas? An Exhibition for the Collection of the Center for Judaic Studies Library,” University of Pennsylvania, May 2000. www.library.upenn.edu/cajs/

Available in pamphlet form: digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/47/

Book Reviews

Forty-three academic books in Critical Review of Books in Religion, Hebrew Studies, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Central European History, H-Net German (online), and Sixteenth Century Journal.
"Jews and Anti-Semitism in Early Modern Germany: A Review Article." Sixteenth Century Journal, 27/4 (1996): 1057-1064 (five books).

Papers Delivered at International Conferences

(keynote addresses*)

*“Trusting the Jews? Sebastian Münster, Martin Luther and Jewish Biblical Interpretation,” Colloque international: L’hébraïsme chrétien à Strasbourg au xvi^e siècle / Studying Hebrew in Sixteenth-Century Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, 16 June 2025.
“Luther’s ‘Sincere Advice’ on Jewish Policy and its Political Impact (1543-1560),”
Sixteenth Century Society Conference, Toronto, CA, 31 October-2 November 2024.
“Luther’s Against the Sabbatarians (1538) and Judaizing Christians in Electoral Saxony” Thirteenth Annual REFORC Conference on Early Modern Christianity, Palermo, Italy, 16 May 2024.
“Martin Luther, Kabbalah, and Jewish Magic,” a workshop paper presented at “Cabala Christiana as a Discursive Space of Transfer” in Bad Homburg [Frankfurt/Main area], October 10-12, 2023.
“The Jews and the Curses of Faith in Luther’s Theology.” Seminar Presentation at Fourteenth International Congress for Luther Research, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA, 14-19 August 2022.
“Luther, the Rabbis, and Biblical Understanding in On the Jews and Their Lies (1543).”
Invited lecture for the symposium Dynamics in the international reception of the Reformation, Theological University Kampen (Netherlands), 27 June 2019. [30 minutes].
“Jews and Judaism in Luther’s Lectures on Romans (1515-16).” Thirteenth International Congress for Luther Research, Wittenberg Germany. 30 July-4 August 2017.
*“What Could Luther Known of Judaism?” Joint Conference of the Society for Reformation Research and Verein für Reformationsgeschichte, Nuremberg Germany, 18-21 July 2017 [Plenary Lecture].
“Luther and the Rabbis in On the Ineffable Name (1543).” Sixteenth Century Society Conference, Bruges Belgium, 18-20 August 2016.
“Moving Judaizers to Repent? Luther’s Argument in On the Ineffable Name.” Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 22-25 October 2015.
“Martin Luther, Toledot Yeshu and Judaizing Christians in Vom Schem Hamphoras (1543)." The Jewish Life of Jesus (Toledoth Yeshu) in Context: Jewish-Christian Polemics in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern History, University of Bern, 29 June-1 July 2015.
“Luther and the Jews in Twentieth Century Anglo-American Scholarship.” Die Rezeption der “Judenschriften” in der Neuzeit (a conference sponsored by the University of Erlangen), 6-8 October 2014 (invited paper).
“Johann Jacob Schudt: Christian Hebraist,” Johann Jakob Schudts “Jüdische Merckwürdigkeiten” 1714-2014, Frankfurt/Main, 23-25 June 2014 (invited paper).
“Sebastian Münster and Jewish Interpretation of Genesis in his Hebraica Biblia (1534-35): Selection and Mediation of Jewish Insight for Christian Purposes".” Bibelauslegung und Bibelhermeneutik in der Reformationszeit,” Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule Basel, June 6-7, 2014 (invited paper).
“Hebraists and Hebraists at the Johanneum in Hamburg Before Reimerus (1613 - 1727).” Conference “400 Jahre Hochschulwesen in Hamburg,” 4-7 September 2013 (Plenary lecture/invited paper).
“Christian Hebraism in Czech Lands, 1500-1620.” David Gans (1541-1613) after Four Centuries: The Legacy of an Early Modern Jewish Polymath.” Charles University Prague, May 29, 2013 (invited paper).
“Luther and “Proper” Philological Interpretation in On the Last Words of David (1543).” Twelfth International Congress for Luther Research, Helsinki, Finland, August 5-11, 2012.
*“Luther and Hebrew,” keynote address for the conference “Hebrew Between Jews and Christians,” University of Greifswald (Germany), July 2-4, 2012 (invited paper).
*“Christian Hebraism in Eastern Europe in a time of Confessional Change (1520-1660).” Inaugural Lecture for a conference: “Christian Hebraism in Eastern Central Europe, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries.” Wittenberg, Germany; sponsored by the University of Halle-Wittenberg, March 18, 2012 (Keynote address, invited paper).
“Martin Luther and the Brescia 1494 Hebrew Bible.” Institute for European History, University of Mainz, Germany, February 17-18, 2012 (invited paper).
“Bibliographic Knowledge of Jewish Literature and the Christian Image of Judaism, 1500-1660.” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference Paper, Montreal, October 15, 2010.
“The Strange Career of The Biblia Rabbinica among Christian Hebraists, 1517-1620.” The Protestant Latin Bible of the Sixteenth Century, AHRC Project Conference, Saint Andrews University, Scotland, July 1-3, 2010 (invited paper).
“Christian Hebraism at the University of Tübingen from Reuchlin to Schickard.” “Tübingen: Eine Universitat zwischen Scholastik und Humanismus.” Weingarten, Germany. March, 12-14, 2010 (invited paper).
“Jean Plantavit de la Pause’s Bibliotheca Rabbinica (1645) and seventeenth-century Jewish Bibliography.” World Congress of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, August 6, 2009.
“Philosemitism and Christian Hebraism in the Reformation Era (1500-1620).” Beloved Enemy, Hated Friend: Philosemitism in History and in the Present. Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum. University of Potsdam (Potsdam, Germany), June 10-13, 2007 (invited paper).
“Betraying a Trust? Jewish Hebrew Teachers and their Christian Students in the Late Middle Ages.” [In German]. Invited paper for “The Situation of the Jews in the Late Middle Ages with Particular Reference to Missionary Efforts Directed Against Them.” Göttingen, Germany: Academy of Sciences, November 17-18, 2005 (invited paper).
“James Ussher in the Correspondence of the Buxtorf Circle.” James Ussher and the Republic of Letters: An International Conference, Archbishop Marsh’s Library, Dublin, Ireland, November 20, 2004. (invited paper)
“Johannes Buxtorf’s Characterization of Judaism and the Jews: Reformed Orthodoxy, Christian Hebraism and Religious Difference,” Reformierter Protestantismus und Judentum in Europa des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek, Emden, Germany. September 12-14, 2002 (invited paper).
“Spokesmen for Judaism: Medieval Jewish Polemicists and their Christian Readers in the Reformation Era.” Sixth Johannes Reuchlin Congress: Reuchlin and His Heirs: Researchers, Thinkers, Ideologists and Crackpots. Reuchlinhaus, Pforzheim, June 20-23, 2002 (invited paper).
Christian Hebrew Scholarship in Early Modern Europe: A Research Report
Interdiziplinäres “Forum Jüdische Geschichte und Kultur der Frühen Neuzeit und im Übergang zur Moderne, Mülheim/Ruhr, March 14, 2002.
“Martin Luther, Sebastian Münster and the Uses of Jewish Biblical Commentaries”
Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Toronto, Canada, October 22-25, 1998.
"The Significance of the Biblical Languages at the University of Wittenberg." Ninth International Congress for Luther Research, Heidelberg, Germany, August 18, 1997.
"Christian Printers of Judaica in Early Modern Germany: Ambrosius Froben of Basel (1578-1584) and the Hebrew Press of Hanau (1609-1630)." Twelfth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, August 3, 1997.
"Medieval Anti-Jewish Polemics and the Rhetoric of Sebastian Münster's Messiahs of the Christians and the Jews (1539)," at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Toronto, Canada, October 1994.

Papers Delivered at Conferences in US

“In the Details: Martin Luther, the Devil, and his Anti-Jewish Polemics,” Sixteenth Century Society Conference, Baltimore, MD, 25-29 October 2023.
“Teaching Anti-Jewish Preaching: Martin Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies (1543),” Sixteenth Century Society Conference, Minneapolis, MN, 27-30 October 2022
“Luther’s Polemical Use of “History” in On the Jews and Their Lies (1543)”
Sixteenth Century Society Conference, San Diego, 28-31 October 2021.
*“Luther’s Final Foes: Form and Purpose in On the Jews and their Lies (1543)”.
North American Luther Forum (via Zoom), April 17, 2021. [Keynote Address/Invited paper]. 45 minutes long.
“Luther’s Theology vs Judaism in On the Jews and their Lies (1543).” Sixteenth Century Society Conference, Albuquerque, NM, November 1-4, 2018.
*“Luther, the Rabbis and Biblical Understanding in his anti-Jewish Polemics of 1543” [Keynote Address]. Luther and anti-Judaism in Christendom and Bible Interpretation,
Boston College Conference, 24-26 March 2018.
“Stand by Your Prince: The Expulsion of the Jews from Saxony and Luther’s Shifting Position on Jews and Judaism.” Sixteenth Century Society Conference, Milwaukee Wisconsin, 26-29 October 2017.
“Luther’s Hidden Foe: The Jewish “Life of Jesus” (Toledoth Yeshu) and Luther’s Polemical Response in On the Ineffable Name (1543). Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, New Orleans, LA, 16-19 October 2014.
“Luther and the Juden Schriften (1543),” North American Luther Forum, Conrcordia Seminary, Saint Louis, MO, 25-27 April 2014.
“Luther’s Warning to the Hebraists.” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 2013.
“Jewish Teachers, Christian Hebraists and the Transmission of Jewish Learning in Sixteenth Century Europe.” Transmission of Jewish Culture Outside the Classroom, Melton Center for Jewish Studies, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. February 10, 2013 (invited paper).
Roundtable presentation: “Christian Customers and the Jewish Book Trade.” Roundtable on the Jewish Book Trade in Early Modern Europe, Association for Jewish Studies, December 16-18, 2012. Chicago, IL.
“Paying the Piper: Christian Hebrew Authors and their Patrons in the Sixteenth Century.” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Fort Worth, TX. October 27-30, 2011.
“Christian Hebraist Authors” to the Early Modern History Workshop at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, November 19, 2009.
“Half a Loaf? Conrad Gesner’s Bibliotheca Universalis (1545-1555) and
Christian Awareness of Jewish Books.” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Saint Louis, MO, October 23-26, 2008.
“Betraying a Trust? Jewish Mediators of Hebrew Language Scholarship and their Christian Pupils in Late Medieval and Reformation-Era Europe.” GTU-UC Berkeley Joint Doctoral Program Symposium: “The Spoken and Written Word: Language and Jewish Identity in Ancient, Medieval and Modern Times.” Berkeley, March 14, 2007 (invited paper).
“Solomon Hirsch’s Yudischer Theriak (Hanau, 1615): Censorship, Printing, and the Limits of Jewish Expression in Reformation Europe.” Association for Jewish Studies Annual Meeting, San Diego, December 17-19, 2006.
“Encounter with Judaism: Christian Hebraism in the Reformation Era (1500-1660).” Midwest Jewish Studies Colloquium. Omaha, Nebraska. May 21, 2006.
“Both Sides of the Street: Printers of Hebraica for Jews and Christians in the Reformation Era.” Ruth Meltzer Seminar, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Dec. 14, 2005 (invited paper).
“Hebrew Printing in Hanau: Jewish Business and Christian Confessional Conflict.” Midwest Jewish Studies Association, Madison, Wisconsin, September 18-19, 2005.
“Johannes Buxtorf and Christian Hebrew Lexicography.” Morris Jastrow and Rabbinic Lexicography: A Symposium and Celebration of the 100^th Anniversary of the Jastrow Dictionary, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, November 16, 2003. (invited paper)
“Conrad Waldkirch: A Christian Printer of Judaica in Early Modern Basel (1597-1616).” Midwest Jewish Studies Association, Omaha Nebraska, September 14-15, 2003.
“Trusting Jewish Scholarship: Sebastian Münster’s Vision for Christian Hebraism.” Fruhneuzeitliche Interdiziplinär Conference. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, April 19-22, 2001.
“Martin Luther and Judaizing Interpretation.” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Cleveland OH, November 4, 2000.
“Martin Luther’s Encounter with Jewish Bible Commentaries.” Hebraica Veritas? Christian Hebraists, Jews and the Study of Judaism in Early Modern Europe, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, May 1-3, 2000 (invited paper).
“The More Things Change: Jews and Other Germans in Eighteenth Century Germany.” Jews and Pietists in Dialogue in Enlightenment America, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, September 30-October 2, 1999 (invited paper).
“Luther and the Jews of Genesis.” Association of Jewish Studies Annual Meeting, December 20-22, 1998.
"The Regulation of Hebrew Printing in Germany, 1555-1630: Confessional Politics and the Limits of Jewish Toleration." Frühe Neuzeit Interdiziplinär, Duke University, April 1995.
"Johannes Buxtorf's Jewish Synagogue (1603): Eyewitness Account of German Jewish Life or "Halakhic Manual"?" at the Society for Jewish Studies Annual Meeting, Boston, Mass., December, 1994.
"Distorted Mirrors: Johann Buxtorf and the Jewish Ethnographic Tradition." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, October, 1992.
"Calvin's Jewish Interlocutor: A Cautionary Tale." Central Renaissance Conference, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, April 1992.
"Hebrew Censorship in Hanau: A Mirror of Jewish-Christian Coexistence in Seventeenth Century Germany." "The Expulsion of the Jews: 1492 and After," University of California- Davis, April, 1992.

Academic Lectures

“Luther and the Jews: Colloquium Presentation,” Institut für Europäische Geschichte, Mainz, 6 June 2025.
“Martin Luther, the Devil, and his Anti-Jewish Polemics.” Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Stanford University, 10 January 2024.
“Luther, the Rabbis, and Biblical Understanding in On the Jews and their Lies (1543).”
Dynamics in the International Reception of the Reformation, Theological University Kampen (Netherlands), 27 June 2019.
“Luther’s Final Foes: Anti-Semitism and Identity in Luther’s 1543 Campaign against the Jews.” University of Dunedin, Dunedin New Zealand, 31 March 2017.
“A Jew’s Eye View of the Reformation,” University of Dunedin, Dunedin New Zealand, 29 March 2017.
“Luther and the Judenschriften” presented at the monthly Church History Faculty and Doctoral Student Colloquium, Speer Library, Princeton Theological Seminary, 3 November 2015.

Translations from German

Kaufmann, Thomas. “Luther and the Jews.” In: Jews, Judaism and the Reformation in Sixteenth Century Germany. Ed. Dean P. Bell and Stephen G. Burnett. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2006.
Wenzel, Edith. “The Representation of Jews and Judaism in Sixteenth-Century German Literature.” In: Jews, Judaism and the Reformation in Sixteenth Century Germany. In: Jews, Judaism and the Reformation in Sixteenth Century Germany. Ed. Dean P. Bell and Stephen G. Burnett. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2006.
Schilling, Heinz. "Reform and Supervision of Family Life in Germany and the Netherlands," 15-61. In: Sin and the Calvinists: Morals Control and the Consistory in the Reformed Tradition. Ed. Raymond A. Mentzer. Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, Vol 32. Kirksville: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, 1994.
Schilling, Heinz. Religion, Political Culture and the Emergence of Early Modern Society. Essays in German and Dutch History. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992.

Professional Memberships

Sixteenth Century Society
Society for Reformation Research

Stephen Burnett

Hymen Rosenberg Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies