Aaron S. Gross is an American historian of religions who focuses on modern

Jewish ethics Jewish ethics are the ethics of the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. A type of normative ethics, Jewish ethics may involve issues in Jewish law as well as non-legal issues, and may involve the convergence of Judaism and the Western phil ...

, the study of animals and religion, and food and religion. He serves as a professor of theology and religious studies at the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in San Diego, California, United States. Chartered in 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University ...

. He has served as cochair of the

American Academy of Religion The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association, serving as a profess ...

's Animals and Religion group and as president of the Society of Jewish Ethics. Aaron Gross is a vegan.

Education

Gross received his BA in Philosophy from

Grinnell College Grinnell College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalis ...

, his M.T.S from

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...

, and his Ph.D. from the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

Department of Religious Studies.

Farm Forward

In 2006, Gross founded

Farm Forward Farm Forward is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to promote conscientious eating, reduce farmed animal suffering, and advance sustainable agriculture. Farm Forward aims to eliminate the most harmful practices in intensive animal agricultur ...

, a nonprofit organization that has promoted alternative models of poultry production. Author

Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels '' Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works '' Eat ...

described Gross as “a visionary - his founding of Farm Forward will be looked at by future generations as a turning point in the fight to end factory farming.” Gross has been particularly active in efforts to improve kosher slaughter. According to animal welfare expert

Temple Grandin Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American academic, inventor, and ethologist. She is a prominent proponent of the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and the author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. ...

, “Gross has played a critical role in improving kosher slaughter . . . his knowledge about both the Jewish and animal communities is invaluable.”

Written works

He collaborated closely with Jonathan Safran Foer on Foer's international bestseller, ''

Eating Animals ''Eating Animals'' is the third book by the American novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, published in 2009. A ''New York Times'' best-seller, ''Eating Animals'' provides a dense discussion of what it means to eat animals in an industrialized world. I ...

'', and is featured in the book. Writing in the ''

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

'',

Elizabeth Kolbert Elizabeth Kolbert (born July 6, 1961) is an American journalist, author, and visiting fellow at Williams College. She is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book '' The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History'', and as an observer and com ...

described Gross as one of the heroes of ''Eating Animals'' along with

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

and

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

. Gross is the author of ''The Question of the Animal and Religion: Theoretical Stakes, Practical Implications'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014) and co-editor of ''Animals and the Human Imagination: A Companion to Animal Studies'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012).

References

External links

Faculty Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Aaron University of San Diego faculty Grinnell College alumni University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Jewish American non-fiction writers Historians of Jews and Judaism American historians of religion American veganism activists Jewish ethicists Jewish vegetarianism 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews