June 12, 2023
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is pleased to announce that in Rabbi Joshua Garroway will succeed Rabbi Dan Bridge as Interim Dean of the Skirball Campus, effective July 1, 2023.
Professor Garroway is the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judaeo-Christian Studies and Professor of Early Christianity and Second Commonwealth at HUC-JIR’s Skirball Campus in Los Angeles. He was ordained at the Cincinnati campus of HUC-JIR in 2003, and then earned his doctorate from Yale University in 2008.
“As an HUC-JIR alum himself, Rabbi Garroway uniquely understands our mission,” says Vice President of Academic Resources and Associate Professor of Jewish History Joshua Holo of the appointment. “His rabbinate is dedicated to instilling in aspiring Jewish professionals an appreciation for Jewish history, texts, and ideas.”
Garroway’s first book, Paul’s Gentile-Jews: Neither Jew nor Gentile, but Both (2012), explores the ways in which Paul’s epistle to the Romans constructs Jewish identity, and the role played by this construction in the ensuing emergence of Christianity. His second book, The Beginning of the Gospel: Paul, Philippi, and the Origins of Christianity (2018), offers a revisionist understanding of the origins of the Greek term euaggelion, usually translated “gospel,” in earliest Christianity.
While his scholarly books and articles focus on the emergence of Christianity in the first and second centuries, he lectures widely about broader issues in Jewish history. Rabbi Garroway has recently served as the faculty representative to the Board of Governors, as well as the chair of the faculty on the Jack H. Skirball Campus.
“Our faculty are the heart of our institution, and their scholarly contributions are matched only by their commitment to our students,” remarks President Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D. “As one of our most noted academicians and inspiring educators, Rabbi Garroway deftly carries this commitment from the classroom to the administration and back again.”
“I look forward to shepherding the HUC-JIR’s Skirball campus in Los Angeles, whose vibrant programs and remarkable faculty, staff, and students I have come to cherish over the past 15 years,” Garroway shares.
As we welcome Rabbi Garroway to this new post, the College-Institute offers profound thanks to current Interim Dean Rabbi Dan Bridge, who will continue his exceptional service as interim dean of the Jack H. Skirball Campus through June 2023. HUC-JIR has been honored by his service and delighted with the many relationships that has developed and rekindled in his time with us.