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Martin D. Yaffe

Professor

University of North Texas

Department of Philosophy and Religion

(940) 565-2266

Email: mdy0001@unt.edu

Education

  • PhD, Claremont Graduate University, 1969
    Major: Philosophy
    Dissertation: The 'New Thinking' of Franz Rosenzweig
  • BA, University of Toronto, 1963
    Major: Honours Philosophy and History

Professional Positions

  • Professor, University of North Texas. University of North Texas. (1998 - Present).
  • Associate Professor, University of North Texas. University of North Texas. (1990 - 1998).
  • Assistant Professor (Tenure granted, 1971), University of North Texas. University of North Texas. (1968 - 1990).
  • Research Director, Institute for Jewish Studies, Dallas, Texas. Institute for Jewish Studies, Dallas, Texas. (1972 - 1983).
  • Library Acquisitions, University of North Texas. University of North Texas. (1968 - 1979).
  • Adjunct Lecturer in Contemporary Jewish Thought, Southern Methodist University. Southern Methodist University. (1978 - 1978).
  • Lecturer in Philosophy, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel. Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel. (1971 - 1972).

Professional Memberships

  • Academy for Jewish Philosophy. (Present).
  • American Academy of Religion. (Present).
  • American Political Science Association. (Present).
  • Association for Jewish Studies. (Present).
  • International Hobbes Society. (Present).
  • National Association of Professors of Hebrew. (Present).
  • National Association of Scholars. (Present).
  • North American Spinoza Society. (Present).
  • North Texas [Regional] Philosophy Association. (Present).
  • Society for the Study of Ancient Greek Political Thought. (Present).
  • Society for the Study of the History of Philosophy. (Present).
  • Southwestern Philosophical Society. (Present).
  • American Academy of Religion. (1989 - 1990).

Teaching

Teaching Experience

    University of North Texas

  • PHIL 1050 - Introduction to Philosophy, 1 course.
  • PHIL 2310 - Introduction to Ancient Philosophy, 2 courses.
  • PHIL 2330 - Introduction to Modern Philosophy, 1 course.
  • PHIL 3120 - Social and Political Philosophy, 11 courses.
  • PHIL 3310 - Ancient Greek Philosophy, 15 courses.
  • PHIL 3320 - Medieval Philosophy, 7 courses.
  • PHIL 3330 - Modern Philosophy, 1 course.
  • PHIL 3510 - Hebrew Bible, 4 courses.
  • PHIL 3540 - Judaism and Philosophy, 5 courses.
  • PHIL 3570 - Hebrew Bible, 4 courses.
  • PHIL 3575 - Judaic Religion and Philosophy, 4 courses.
  • PHIL 4400 - Metaphysics, 14 courses.
  • PHIL 4900 - Special Problems, 13 courses.
  • PHIL 4910 - Special Problems, 3 courses.
  • PHIL 4951 - Honors College Capstone Thesis, 4 courses.
  • PHIL 5100 - Ancient Philosophy, 2 courses.
  • PHIL 5200 - Modern Philosophy, 8 courses.
  • PHIL 5250 - Topics in the History of Philosophy, 1 course.
  • PHIL 5335 - Topics in Modern Philosophy, 2 courses.
  • PHIL 5900 - Special Problems, 19 courses.
  • PHIL 5910 - Special Problems, 4 courses.
  • PHIL 5950 - Master's Thesis, 7 courses.
  • PHIL 5960 - Seminar in Problems of Philosophy, 1 course.
  • PHIL 6150 - Metaphysics, 1 course.
  • PHIL 6350 - Metaphysics, 2 courses.
  • PHIL 6900 - Special Problems, 19 courses.
  • PHIL 6910 - Special Problems, 5 courses.
  • PHIL 6950 - Doctoral Dissertation, 15 courses.

Directed Student Learning

  • Dissertation Committee Member, Philosophy and Religion. (March 15, 2019).
  • Dissertation Committee Member, Political Science. (April 15, 2014).
  • Dissertation Committee Member, Philosophy and Religion. (May 15, 2019).

Research

Published Intellectual Contributions

    Book

  • Martin D. Yaffe and Richard S. Ruderman, eds.. (2014). Reorientation: Leo Strauss in the 1930's. http://www.amazon.com/Reorientation-Strauss-Recovering-Political-Philosophy/dp/1137374233/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409073127&sr=8-1&keywords=reorientation+leo+strauss
  • Martin D. Yaffe. (2012). Leo Strauss on Moses Mendelssohn.
  • Eds. Alan Udoff, Sharon Portnoff and Martin D. Yaffe. (2011). The Companionship of Books: Essays in Honor of Laurence Berns.
  • Edited by Sharon Portnoff, James A Diamond and Martin D. Yaffe. (2008). 5. Emil Fackenheim: Philosopher, Theologian, Jew.
  • Spinoza, Benedict. (2004). Theologico-Political Treatise [1670]. Translated from the Latin, retaining Spinoza's original Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Syriac citations, with Glossary, Indexes, and Interpretive Essay. Focus Philosophical Library..
  • Edited and Introduced by Martin D. Yaffe. (2001). Judaism and Environmental Ethics: A Reader.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1997). Shylock and the Jewish Question.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1988). Saint Thomas Aquinas. The Literal Exposition on the Book of Job: A Scriptural Commentary concerning Providence. Translated by Anthony Damico. Interpretive Essay and Notes by Martin D. Yaffe.

    • Book Chapter

  • Yaffe, M.D., Whittrock, J., Polt, R. (2016). "Anthropogenic Effects' in Genesis 1-11 and Francis Bacon". Rethinking Nature in the Anthropocene.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2016). "Mendelssohn" Leo Strauss y otros companeros de Platon.
  • Eds., Raphael Jospi and Dov Schwartz. (2012). "Philosophy, Jewish Thought, and the American Setting in my Work." In Jewish Philosophy: Perspectives and Retrospectives..
  • Martin D. Yaffe and Joshua Parens. (2011). "Introduction" to The Companionship of Books: Essays in Honor of Laurence Berns.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2011). "Thomas Aquinas on the Book of Job," in The Fruits of Friendship: Seven Essays in Honor of Laurence Berns, ed. Joseph P. Cohem.
  • Edited by Sharon Portnoff, James A. Diamond and Martin D. Yaffe. (2008). "Historicism and Revelation in Emil Fackenheim's Self-Distancing from Leo Strauss." In Emil Fackenheim: Philosopher, Theologian, Jew.
  • Edited by Hava Samuelson and Christian Wiese. (2008). "Reason and Feeling in Hans Jonas's Existential Biology, Arne Naess's Deep Ecology, and Spinoza's Ethics." In Judaism and the Phenomenon of Life: The Legacy of Hans Jonas.
  • Edited by John Goyette et al.. (2004). 20. "Natural Law in Maimonides?" In Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law Tradition.
  • Edited by Stefano Arduini and Robert C. Hodgson, Jr.. (2004). 21. "Bible Translation and the Rhetoric of Theologico-Political Liberalism: The Case of Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670)." In Similarity and Difference in Translation..
  • Edited by Allen H. Podet. (2002). "Theological-Political Implications of Ellis Rivkin's Unity Principle." In Structural Analysis: The Historiographic Method of Ellis Rivkin..
  • Edited by Paul J. Bagley. (1999). "Body and the Body Politic in Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise." In Piety, Peace, and the Freedom to Philosophize, Piety, and Peace.
  • Edited by Douglas Kries. Foreword by Harvey C. Mansfield. (1997). "Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise—A First Inside Look." In Piety and Humanity: Essays on Religion and Early Modern Political Philosophy.
  • Edited by Robert L. Perkins. (1995). "An Unsung Appreciation of the Musical-Erotic in Mozart's Don Giovanni: Hermann Cohen's Nod Toward Kierkegaard's Either/Or." In International Kierkegaard Commentary on Either/Or I.
  • Edited by Daniel H. Frank. (1991). "Autonomy, Community, Authority: Hermann Cohen, Carl Schmitt, Leo Strauss." In Autonomy and Judaism: The Individual and Community in Jewish Philosophical Thought..

    • Book Review

  • Green, K.H., Yaffe, M.D. (2014). Leo Strauss and the Rediscovery of Maimonides. 161-163. Chicago, Illinois, University of Chicago Press.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2003). The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, by Leon R. Kass (New York: Free Press, 2003).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2002). 38. Leo Strauss: The Early Writings (1921-1932), trans. Michael Zank (Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 2002).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1998). Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish Identity, by Steven B. Smith (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1997). Aquinas and the Jews, by John Y.B. Hood (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1992). The Legacy of Hermann Cohen, by William Kluback (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1991). The Book of Theodicy: Translation and Commentary on the Book of Job, by Saadiah ben Joseph al-Fayyumi, trans. Lenn E. Goodman (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1990). Beyond the Secular Mind: A Judaic Response to the Problems of Modernity, by Paul Eidelberg (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1989).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1990). Science, Faith, and Politics: Francis Bacon and the Utopian Roots of the Modern Age, by Jerry Weinberger (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1985).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1989). Nietzsche's Teaching, by Laurence Lampert (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1989). The Judaic State: A Study in Rabbinic Political Theory, by Martin Sicker (New York: Praeger, 1988).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1989). The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig, ed. Paul Mendes-Flohr (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1988).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1988). The Education of Desire: Plato and the Philosophy of Religion, by Michel Despland (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1988). The Philosophy of Immanuel Kant, ed. Richard Kennington (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1985).
  • Kluback , W., Yaffe, M.D. (1987). Hermann Cohen: The Challenge of a Religion of Reason. 325-330. Chico, California, Scholars Press.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1987). Self-Knowledge in Plato's 'Phaedrus', by Charles Griswold (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1987). The Idea of Humanity: Hermann Cohen's Legacy to Philosophy and Theology (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1987).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1986). Socrates and the State, by Richard Kraut (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1985). Choices in Modern Jewish Thought: A Partisan Guide, by Eugene B. Borowitz (New York: Behrman House, 1983).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1985). The Imperative of Responsibility, by Hans Jonas (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1985). The Territorial Dimension of Judaism, by W.D. Davies (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1984). Joseph Ibn Kaspi's 'Gevia' Kesef': A Study in Medieval Jewish Philosophic Bible Commentary, by Basil Herring (New York: Ktav, 1982).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1984). Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart: 'Le Nozze di Figaro' and 'Don Giovanni', by Wye Jamison Allanbrook (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1983). A Jewish Philosophy and Pattern of Life, by Simon Greenberg (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America Press, 1981).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1983). Studies in Bemidbar (Numbers), by Nehama Liebowitz (Jerusalem: World Zionist Organization, 5740/1980).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1983). The Human Way: A Dialogic Approach to Religion and Human Experience, by Maurice Friedman (Chambersburg, Penn.: Anima Books, 1982).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1982). Formulation of Policy in the Catholic and Jewish Traditions, by Eugene F. Fisher and Daniel F. Polish (Notre Dame, Ind.,: University of Notre Dame Press, 1980).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1982). Jewish Messianism and Christian Trinitarian Doctrine, by Pinchas Lapide and Jürgen Moltmann (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1982). Judaism and Psychology: Halachic Perspectives, by Moshe Halevi Spero (New York: Ktav and Yeshiva University Press, 1980).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1982). Plato's 'Apology of Socrates': An Interpretation, with a New Translation, by Thomas G. West (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1979), and Law and Obedience: The Arguments of Plato's 'Crito', by A.D. Woozley (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1979).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1982). The 'Laws' of Plato, trans. with Notes and an Interpretive Essay by Thomas L. Pangle (New York: Basic Books, 1980).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1982). The Theology of Abraham Bibago: A Defense of the Divine Will, Knowledge and Providence in Fifteenth-Century Spanish Jewish Philosophy, by Alan Lazaroff (University, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1981).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1981). George Berkeley in America, by Edwin S. Gaustad (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1981). Messianism in the Talmudic Era, ed. Leo Landman (New York: Ktav, 1979).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1981). Striking Roots: Reflections on Five Decades of Jewish Life, by Aaron Horowitz (Oakville, Ont.: Mosaic Press, 1979).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1981). The Chrysalis of Religion: A Guide to the Jewishness of Martin Buber's 'I and Thou', by Daniel S. Breslauer (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1980).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1981). The Jewish Return into History: Reflections in the Age of Auschwitz and a New Jerusalem, by Emil L. Fackenheim (New York: Schocken Books, 1979).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1981). Theology as Comedy: Critical and Theoretical Implications, by George Aichele, Jr. (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1980).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1981). What Can God Do? by Frederick Sontag (Nashville: Abingdon Press,1979).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1978). The American Movement to Aid Soviet Jews, by William W. Orbach (Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1979).

    • Encyclopedia Article

  • Edited by J. Baird Callicott and Robert Frodeman. (2008). "Judaism." In Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. 2 vols..
  • Edited by Tom Flynn. (2007). "Spinoza, Baruch or Benedict (1632-77)." The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief..

    • Journal Article

  • Yaffe, M.D. (2021). “Defending National Loyalty: Yoram Hazony on Nationalism”. Perspectives on Political Science. 50 (1)
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2017). Parens on Strauss on Recovering Maimonides.
  • Martin D. Yaffe. (2012). "?Qué significa popularizar la filosofía? El Fedón de Mendelssohn." La Torre del Virrey: Revista de Estudios Culturales.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2008). 'Exile' as a Theologico-Political Principle in Leo Strauss's Jewish Thought.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2008). Leo Strauss y la dimensión teológica de la filosofía política.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2007). Interpretación de la Ética de Spinoza como un 'sistema': las Horas matinales de Moses Mendelssohn.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2007). Leo Strauss and the Theological Dimension of Political Philosophy: Four Readings.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (2007). Remarks On Translating Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1998). Shakespeare and the Jews: A Review Essay.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1997). Kenneth Hart Green on Leo Strauss and Maimonides.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1995). 'The Histories and Successes of the Hebrews': The Demise of the Biblical Polity in Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1994). Biblical Religion and Liberal Democracy: Comments on Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise and Sacks's Commentary on the Book of Genesis.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1994). On Beginning to Translate Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus.
  • Edited by Robert Stevens et al.. (1993). "The Case Against the Great Books—And its Refutation." In The Core and the Canon: A National Debate..
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1993). Two Recent Treatments of Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise: A Review Essay.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1991). Leo Strauss as Judaic Thinker: Some First Notions.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1991). One-Sided Platonism: Hermann Cohen on the 'Social Ideal' in Plato and the Prophets.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1989). On Leo Strauss's Philosophy and Law: A Review Essay.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1979). Liturgy and Ethics: Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig on the Day of Atonement.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1979). Myth and 'Science' in Aristotle's Theology.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1979). Providence in Medieval Aristotelianism: Moses Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas on the Book of Job.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1976). Civil Disobedience and the Opinion of the Many: Plato's Crito.

    • Other

  • Yaffe, M.D. (2017). Symposium on Joshua Parens's Leo Strauss and the Recovery of Medieval Political Philosophy. Review of Politics. 79 (3) 475-93. New York, NY, Cambridge UP. http//us.cambridge/org/information/rights/

    • Popular Press Article

  • Yaffe, M.D. (1997). Shylock as Drawn by Shakespeare.

    • Translation or Transcription

  • with Ian Alexander Moore. (2013). Leo Strauss on Maimonides: The Complete Writings.
  • Yaffe, M.D. (1978). Translation from the Greek, with Anthony Damico, of Josephus, Antiquities 12.12-17, in Ellis Rivkin, A Hidden Revolution: The Pharisees' Search for the Kingdom Within.

Presentations Given

  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Judaism and Today's Environmental Crisis, (2009 - 2009).
  • The Moral Repercussions of Creation in Contemporary Jewish Bioethics, (2009 - 2009).
  • What does it Mean to Popularize? Moses Mendelssohn's Phaedo (1766), (2009 - 2009).
  • Letting the Punishment Fit the Crime: Natural Theology and Eternal Damnation in Leibniz and Mendelssohn, (2008 - 2008).
  • Remarks on Skepticism in Levinas et al, (2008 - 2008).
  • Spinoza, Environmentalism, Judaism, (2008 - 2008).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Martin Buber and Jewish Thought, (2007 - 2007).
  • Mendelssohn's Natural Theology as a Political Theology and its Practical Tests: Jerusalem (1783) vs. Cranz's Search for Right and Light (1782) and Jacobi's Spinoza Letters (1785), (2007 - 2007).
  • The Pantheism Quarrel and the Theologico-Political Predicament of the Jews during the German Enlightenment, (2007 - 2007).
  • The Prize-Essay that Beat Kant's: Moses Mendelssohn's Treatise on Evidence (1763), (2007 - 2007).
  • David Kaplan on Richard Wolin on Paul Ricoeur and Nazism, (2006 - 2006).
  • Interpreting Spinoza's Ethics as a 'System': Moses Mendelssohn's Morning Hours (1785), (2006 - 2006).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Philosophy, Jewish Thought and the American Setting in my Work, (2006 - 2006).
  • Socratic Enlightenment and German-Jewish Enlightenment: Moses Mendelssohn's Phädon, (2006 - 2006).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), 'Is God a Mathematician?' Hans Jonas on the Philosophical Implications of Biology, (2005 - 2005).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Benedict Spinoza, the Philosophical Founder of Modern Judaism, (2005 - 2005).
  • Natural History of Religion and 'Freedom of Philosophizing' in Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (2005 - 2005).
  • Philosophy and Midrash in Hans Jonas' Existential Biology, (2005 - 2005).
  • Prospero's Projector: Theology and Technology in William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1610) and John Gielgud's Prospero's Books (1991), (2005 - 2005).
  • Reason and Feeling in Hans Jonas's Existential Biology, Arne Naess's Deep Ecology, and Spinoza's Ethics, (2005 - 2005).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise: The Philosophical Founding-Document of Modern Judaism, (2005 - 2005).
  • Heroes and Love-Gods in Shakespeare's and Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing, (2004 - 2004).
  • Historicism and Revelation in Emil Fackenheim's Self-Distancing from Leo Strauss, (2004 - 2004).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Moses Maimonides on the Book of Job, (2004 - 2004).
  • The Christian-Jewish Dialogue in Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (2004 - 2004).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Thomas Aquinas on the Book of Job, (2004 - 2004).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), George Grant's Challenge to Leo Strauss: The Case of Spinoza, (2003 - 2003).
  • Leo Strauss's 'Maimonideanism' in his Interpretation of Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (2003 - 2003).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Philosophical Adventures in Translating Spinoza's Theologico-Politicual Treatise (1670), (2003 - 2003).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Remarks On Translating Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), (2003 - 2003).
  • Spinoza on Covenant and Scriptural Hermeneutics, (2003 - 2003).
  • 'Heaven Disarmed': Christian Soldiers in Shakespeare's Othello, (2002 - 2002).
  • Effeminate vs. Manly Jews: Spinoza's Proto-Zionism as a Rethinking of Machiavelli's Founding Image of Modern Enlightenment, (2002 - 2002).
  • The Roots of Spinoza's Method of Bible Interpretation in Descartes' Discourse on Method, (2002 - 2002).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Another Look at Shakespeare's Jewish Play, (2001 - 2001).
  • Antonio's War against the Jews, etc., in Plutarch, Thomas Aquinas, and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, (2001 - 2001).
  • Bible Translation and the Rhetoric of Theologico-Political Liberalism: The Case of Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (2001 - 2001).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Judaism and the Environmental Crisis, (2001 - 2001).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Judaism Faces the Environmental Crisis, (2001 - 2001).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Spinoza and the Question of Jewish Identity, (2001 - 2001).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Spinoza's Un-Theology, (2001 - 2001).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), The Shocking Character of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, (2001 - 2001).
  • Un-Christian Husbands in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, (2001 - 2001).
  • Natural Law in Maimonides?, (2000 - 2000).
  • Spinoza's First Steps Toward Religious (and Political) Liberalism in the Theologico-Political Treatise (1670), (2000 - 2000).
  • The Oracle and the Action in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, (2000 - 2000).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Leo Strauss as Judaic Thinker, (1999 - 1999).
  • Spinoza's Critique of Maimonides' Appeal to Aristotle, (1999 - 1999).
  • The Insufficiency of Spinoza's Ingenium in Bahrdt, Mendelssohn, Schiller and Schelling, (1999 - 1999).
  • The Sun and the Cave: Gulliver's Relationship to the Divine, (1999 - 1999).
  • Shylock and the Jewish Question: A Rejoinder, (1998 - 1998).
  • The Scholar, the Poet, and Education to the Political Art, (1998 - 1998).
  • 'Covenant' in Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (1997 - 1997).
  • 'Idolatrous Fancy' in Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well, (1997 - 1997).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), A Renewed Look at Shakespeare's Shylock, (1997 - 1997).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Maimonides' Theology, (1997 - 1997).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Old Thoughts on Franz Rosenzweig's 'New Thinking, (1997 - 1997).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Readings from Shakespeare's Jewish Play, (1997 - 1997).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Shakespeare and the Jews, (1997 - 1997).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Spinoza and Modern Judaic Studies—Why Study the Theologico-Political Treatise?, (1997 - 1997).
  • Spinoza's Hermeneutics: Some Critical Comments, (1997 - 1997).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise—A First Inside Look, (1997 - 1997).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), The Founding-Document of Modern Judaism—Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (1997 - 1997).
  • Business as Usual in Spinoza's Amsterdam? Or: What's Wrong with this Picture?, (1996 - 1996).
  • Martin Heidegger: Dwelling at the Intersection of Philosophy and Architecture, (1996 - 1996).
  • Moses as Political Leader: The Machiavellianism of Spinoza'sTheologico-Political Treatise, (1996 - 1996).
  • Shylock, Antonio, and Friends: Theology and the Social Bond in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, (1996 - 1996).
  • The Beginning and the End of the Biblical Imperium: Freedom (Libertas) in Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (1996 - 1996).
  • The Jewish Element in Hermann Cohen's Gloss on Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, (1996 - 1996).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), The Mistreatment of Shakespeare's Shylock, (1996 - 1996).
  • The Statesmanlike Rehabilitation of Jewish and Christian Theology in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, (1996 - 1996).
  • 'The Histories and Successes of the Hebrews': The Demise of the Biblical Polity in Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (1995 - 1995).
  • Leo Strauss as Jew and Philosopher: Remarks on Kenneth Hart Green's Jew and Philosopher: The Return to Maimonides in the Jewish Thought of Leo Strauss, (1995 - 1995).
  • The Mistreatment of Shakespeare's Shylock, (1995 - 1995).
  • Why Teach (or Study) Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise?, (1995 - 1995).
  • An Unsung Appreciation of the Musical-Erotic in Mozart's Don Giovanni: Hermann Cohen's Nod to Kierkegaard's Either/Or, (1994 - 1994).
  • Body and the Body Politic in Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (1994 - 1994).
  • Heroes in War and in Love: Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, (1993 - 1993).
  • The Literary Presuppositions of Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (1993 - 1993).
  • The Un-Baconian Character of Genesis 1:26ff, (1993 - 1993).
  • Theologico-Political Implications of Ellis Rivkin's Unity Concept, (1993 - 1993).
  • Freud on Moses, (1992 - 1992).
  • Hermann Cohen on the 'Social Ideal' in Plato and the Prophets, (1992 - 1992).
  • Hermann Cohen on the Connection between Platonic Philosophy and the Bible, (1992 - 1992).
  • Remarks on Joseph in the Genesis Narrative, (1992 - 1992).
  • Remarks on the Jew in Marlowe's The Jew of Malta and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, (1992 - 1992).
  • Thomas Aquinas' Letter on the Jews: A Preliminary Reading, (1992 - 1992).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), 'The Highest Religiosity Without Book-Religion': Hermann Cohen on Mozart's The Magic Flute, (1991 - 1991).
  • Hermann Cohen on the Divine Attributes, (1991 - 1991).
  • Joabin's Silence: Public and Private Life in Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, (1991 - 1991).
  • Machiavellian Theology in Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, (1991 - 1991).
  • Moderating Christian Anti-Judaism: Thomas Aquinas' De regimine Judaeorum and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, (1991 - 1991).
  • Moral Vision and Moral Limits: A Commentary on Professors Peak and Pool, (1991 - 1991).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Shylock's Bond: Toward an Understanding of the Jew in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, (1991 - 1991).
  • Is Martin Buber's I-Thou Relation Biblical?, (1990 - 1990).
  • Leo Strauss on Medieval Jewish Philosophy: The Example of Maimonides' Guide, (1990 - 1990).
  • Professor Mitchell on the Fiction of Human Power, (1990 - 1990).
  • Professors Elazar and Shulman on the Book of Deuteronomy, (1990 - 1990).
  • The Literary Character of the Creation Accounts in Genesis, (1990 - 1990).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Other), Thomas Aquinas and the Debate over the Meaning of Job's Suffering, (1990 - 1990).
  • Autonomy, Community, Authority: Hermann Cohen, Carl Schmitt, Leo Strauss, (1989 - 1989).
  • Death, YHWH, and Israel: The Political Regime in Moses' Farewell Speech, (1989 - 1989).
  • Great Books Programs--No Royal Road!, (1989 - 1989).
  • Hebraism and Hellenism in Medieval Aristotelianism: Maimonides and Aquinas on Genesis 1, (1989 - 1989).
  • On the Merit of Hermann Cohen's Critique of Spinoza: Franz Rosenzweig and Leo Strauss, (1989 - 1989).
  • The Ethics of Performance in Literature and Medicine, (1989 - 1989).
  • Anti-Historicism in Interpreting Jewish Sources: Leo Strauss versus Hermann Cohen on Maimonides, (1988 - 1988).
  • Heidegger on Aristotle's Concept of Nature (Physics B.1), (1988 - 1988).
  • Liberal Education versus Necessary Education: Mutually Incompatible or Mutually Indispensable?, (1988 - 1988).
  • Remarks on Nancy J. Duff, 'Prolegomena to Conversation [between Christian Bible-Sermonizers and Jews]', (1988 - 1988).
  • Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice: Not Anti-Jewish But (If Anti-Anything) Anti-Christian, (1988 - 1988).
  • The Twofold Legacy of the Emerging Modern Jew: Joabin in Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, (1988 - 1988).
  • Does the Bible Render its Revealed Character Evident to Literary Reason?, (1987 - 1987).
  • Lectio, Disputatio, and the Critique of Scholastic Pedagogy in Thomas Aquinas' Literal Exposition on Job, (1987 - 1987).
  • Socrates' Final Proof of Immortality in Plato's Phaedo, (1987 - 1987).
  • Socrates' Swan Song: Pythagorean Misinterpretations of Immortality in Plato's Phaedo, (1987 - 1987).
  • 1984: Orwellian Images of Evil in Print and on Screen, (1986 - 1986).
  • Leo Strauss on Athens versus Jerusalem, (1986 - 1986).
  • 'The Highest Religiosity Without Book-Religion': Hermann Cohen on Mozart's The Magic Flute, (1985 - 1985).
  • Job's Integrity--Intellectual or Prophetic? Immanuel Kant versus Hermann Cohen, (1985 - 1985).
  • Post-Holocaust Optimism?, (1985 - 1985).
  • Repairing the Fact-Value Distinction in Understanding the Holocaust: Leo Strauss and Ellis Rivkin, (1985 - 1985).
  • The Architectural Design of Thomas Aquinas' Literal Exposition on the Book of Job, (1985 - 1985).
  • Don Juan as Faust Figure: Hermann Cohen's Interpretation of Mozart's Don Giovanni, (1984 - 1984).
  • Donna Anna, Rape Victim or Infatuation Casuality? E.T.A. Hoffmann and Hermann Cohen on Mozart's Don Giovanni, (1984 - 1984).
  • I-Thou in Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig, (1983 - 1983).
  • Love and Suffering in Religion and Opera: Hermann Cohen on Mozart's The Magic Flute, (1983 - 1983).
  • Luther on Abraham's Binding of Isaac, (1983 - 1983).
  • Socratic Justice and Messianic Peace: Exhortation in Plato's Republic and Hermann Cohen's Religion of Reason, (1982 - 1982).
  • The Architectonic Design of Thomas Aquinas' Literal Exposition on Job, (1982 - 1982).
  • The Devil and the Philosopher in Thomas Aquinas' Literal Exposition on Job, (1982 - 1982).
  • Amoral versus Immoral Love: Kierkegaard and Hermann Cohen on Mozart's Don Giovanni, (1981 - 1981).
  • Love as a Dramatic and a Religious Idea: Hermann Cohen on Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, (1981 - 1981).
  • Preface to Modern Religiosity: Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, (1981 - 1981).
  • Judaism and Messianic Politics: Hermann Cohen and Martin Buber's Dialogue on Zionism, (1980 - 1980).
  • Love as an Operatic Idea: Hermann Cohen on Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, (1980 - 1980).
  • Natural Science and Theology: A Critique of Stephen Toulmin, (1980 - 1980).
  • Hermann Cohen on Reconciliation, (1979 - 1979).
  • Liturgy and Ethics, (1979 - 1979).
  • Providence in Medieval Aristotelianism: Moses Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas on the Book of Job, (1979 - 1979).
  • Liturgy and Ethics: Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig on the Day of Atonement, (1978 - 1978).
  • Civil Disobedience and the Opinion of the Many: Plato's Crito, (1973 - 1973).
  • On Philosophizing in Plato's Apology of Socrates, (1969 - 1969).

    • Invited Talk

  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Temple Shalom, Three Images of the Emerging Modern Jew, Dallas, United States of America. (2016).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Jewish Learning Fest, The Role of the Jew in Founding Modern High-Tech Society: Joabin in Francis Bacon's New Atlantis (1626), Dallas, United States of America. (2015).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Temple Beth-El, Shylock and the Jewish Question, Fort Worth, United States of America. (2015).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Jewish Learning Fest, The Torah's Sabbatical and Jubilee Laws--their Social, Political, Economic, Agricultural and Environmental Advantages, Dallas, United States of America. (2014).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Temple Shalom, Shakespeare's Pro-Jewish Intent in The Merchant of Venice (1596), Dallas, United States of America. (2014).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), University of Dallas, Yet Another Look at Shakespeare's 'Jewish' Play, University of Dallas, United States of America. (2014).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies, What does it Mean to Popularize Philosophy? Moses Mendelssohn's Phaedo, University of North Texas, United States of America. (2011).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Wolensky Lecture, Can a Jew be a Skeptical Environmentalist?, Canada. (2010).

    • Lecture

  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, After 50 Years: Emil Fackenheim on Hermann Cohen, Canada. (2015).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Jews' Fidelity to Jewish Law in the Nation State: Hermann Cohen's 'Idealizing' Vindication of Moses Mendelssohn, United States of America. (2014).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), North Texas [Regional] Philosophical Association, Religion, Ecology, and Biography in George James's Ecology in Permanent Economy: The Activism and Environmental Philosophy of Sunderlal Bahuguna (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2013), University of North Texas, United States of America. (2014).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), North Texas [Regional] Philosophical Association, To Hell with Leibniz: G. E. Lessing and Moses Mendelssohn on Eternal Punishments, University of North Texas, United States of America. (2013).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Northeastern Political Science Association, Romans in Shakespeare's Venice: Comments on Timothy W. Burns, Shakespeare's Political Wisdom (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), United States of America. (2013).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Association for Jewish Studies, Does Maimonides have a Philosophical 'System'? Moses Mendelssohn on the Justification for Maimonides' Logic, United States of America. (2012).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), American Academy of Religion Southwest Region, How Spinoza Got Us to Identify tolerance with Charity, United States of America. (2011).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Northeastern Political Science Association, Leo Strauss's Discovery of F. H. Jacobi's Problematic Liberalism in his Critique of the Enlightenment, United States of America. (2011).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Parens, J. (Other), Macfarland , J.C. (Other), Northeastern Political Science Association, Teaching Maimonides: Remarks on a New Sourcebook, United States of America. (2011).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), American Academy of Religion Southwest Region, Why Couldn't Shylock Forgive Antonio--and Vice Versa? Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice as a Platonic Dialogue on the Jewish-Christian Question, United States of America. (2010).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Association for Jewish Studies, Leo Strauss on Hermann Cohen's 'Idealizing' Appropriation of Maimonides as a Platonist, United States of America. (2010).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Presenter), Association of Jewish Studies, Why Mendolssohn Couldn't Fathom Lessing's Political Theology, United States of America. (2009).

    • Panel Presentation

  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author & Presenter), Northeastern Political Science Association, Comments on T. Burns's Bacon on 'Miracles' and N. Behnegar's Locke on the 'State of Nature', Northeastern Political Science Association, Montreal, Canada, Canada. (2018).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author & Presenter), Northeastern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, How Francis Bacon's New Organon Co-opts Biblical Theology for his New Atlantis, Northeastern Political Science Association, Philadelphia, United States of America. (2017).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author & Presenter), Association for Jewish Studies Annual Meeting, Emil Fackenheim's Jewish Correction of Kant's Quasi-Christian Eschatology, Association for Jewish Studies, San Diego, United States of America. (2016).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Panelist), Leo Strauss on How to Study Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, Leo Strauss's 'How to Study Spinoza's Theologic-Political Treatise, Henry Salvatori Center, Claremont McKenna College, United States of America. (2015).

    • Paper

  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author), Association for Jewish Studies, “The Bible Made Us Do It?—Genesis 1:28, Francis Bacon and the Environmental Crisis”, San Diego, United States of America. (2019).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author), Northeastern Political Science Association, “Three Conspicuous Features of Yoram Hazony’s Argument about Nationalism—and Three Questions about Them”, Philadelphia, United States of America. (2019).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author), North Texas Philosophy Association, “What is a Thing? Bacon and Heidegger (and Kant)”, University of Texas at Dallas, United States of America. (2019).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author), North Texas Council of Jewish Studies Professors Annual Meeting, “Kantian Philosophy vis-à-vis the Evil of the Holocaust: Emil Fackenheim’s Second-Thoughts”, United States of America. (2019).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author), Southern Political Science Association, “The Book of Job and the Limitations of Human Knowledge (Maimonides, Guide 3.22–23)”, Austin, TX, United States of America. (2019).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author & Presenter), Northeastern Political science Association, Political Philosophy as Handmaid: George Grant's Political Theology, Northeastern Political Science Association, Montreal, Canada, Canada. (2018).
  • Yaffe, M.D. (Author & Presenter), North Texas [area] Philosophical Association, Genetic vs. Eidetic causes: Francis Bacon's Critique of Aristotle in the new Organon (1670), North Texas [area] Philosophical Association, University of Texas at Dallas, United States of America. (2018).

Contracts, Grants, Sponsored Research

    Grant - Research

  • Yaffe, M.D., "Subvention for book, Emil Fackenheim's Post-Holocaust Thought and its Philosophical Sources," sponsored by University of Toronto Centre for Jewish Studies, Other, $8000 Funded. (2020 - 2020).
  • Yaffe, M.D., "Yoram Hazony on Nationalism," sponsored by Philosophy and Religion Department, UNT, University of North Texas, $1000 Funded. (2019 - 2019).
  • Yaffe, M.D., "Subvention for book, Emil Fackenheim's Post-Holocaust Thought and its Philosophical Sources," sponsored by University of Toronto Centre for Jewish Studies, Other, Funded. (2020 - 2020).

Service

University Service

  • Committee Chair, Search committee--Principal Lecturer. (September 1, 2023 - Present).
  • Chairperson, Search Committee--Jewish Studies Program Director. (September 1, 2021 - Present).
  • Member, UGAC. (2021 - Present).
  • Member, PhD Committees. (2022).
  • Committee Chair, Executive, Personnel, Qualifying Exam, Scholarship Committees; plus 6 ad hoc committees: Appeals, Promotion, Searches,. (2018 - 2022).
  • Other (Recommending Acquisitions in Philosophy and Religion for UNT Library), Library Liaison. (2018 - 2022).
  • Member, PhD Qualifying Exam Committee. (2016 - 2022).
  • Co-Chair, Scholarship Committee. (August 15, 2019 - August 14, 2022).
  • Member, Jewish and Israel Studies Program Committee. (2000 - 2020).
  • Chairperson, Executive Committee. (August 15, 2019 - August 14, 2020).
  • Committee Member, PhD Qualifying Exam Committee. (August 15, 2019 - August 14, 2020).
  • Committee Member, Search Committee. (August 15, 2019 - August 14, 2020).
  • Member, Search Committee. (2017 - 2018).
  • Chairperson, Executive Committee. (August 2016 - 2018).
  • Member, Scholarship Committee. (2016 - 2018).
  • Co-Chair, Search Committee. (2016 - 2017).
  • Member, Bylaws revision committee. (2016).

Public Service

  • Other (Interviewee on 50 years' service), UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS. DENTON, TX. (2019).
  • Other (2 public lectures), OLLI. (June 8, 2018 - July 19, 2018).
  • Other (public lecture), Jewish LearningFest, Dallas. (November 6, 2016).
  • Other (3 public lectures), Temple Shalom, Dallas. (March 30, 2016 - April 13, 2016).
  • Other (Co-taught), Department of Philosophy, University of Dallas. Dallas, Texas. (1990 - 2009).
  • Other (Curriculum Consultant and Bar/Bat Mitzvah Director), Temple Emanu-El. Dallas, Texas. (1973 - 2003).

Professional Service

  • Editorial Review Board Member, Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy. (1997 - 2020).
  • Other (Panel Organizer), North Texas Council of Jewish Studies Professors. (2019).
  • Other (Dust jacket blurb), SUNY Press. (2019).
  • Reviewer, Book, University of Pennsylvania Press. (2019).
  • Reviewer, Grant Proposal, Israel Science Foundation. (2018).
  • Other (Panel Organizer for November 2018 conference), Northeastern Political Science Association. (2018).
  • External T&P Letter Writer, Roosevelt University. (2018).
  • External T&P Letter Writer, College of the Holy Cross. (2017).
  • Reviewer, Journal Article, Environmental Ethics (journal). (2017).
  • Other (Panel Organizer for November 2017 conference), Northeastern Political Science Association. (2017).
  • Reviewer, Journal Article, Review of Politics (journal). (2017 - 2017).
  • Reviewer, Book, SUNY Press. (2016 - 2017).
  • Other (Panel Organizer for December 2016 conference), Association for Jewish Studies. San Diego, (2016).
  • External T&P Letter Writer, Duquesne University. (2016).
  • Other (Letter recommending grant for colleague at Connecticut College), ISGAP (Scholarly foundation on antisemitism). (2016).
  • Other (Panel Organizer for November 2016 conference), Northeastern Political Science Association. Boston, (2015 - 2016).