Zachary Braiterman is an American
philosopher, best known for writing on the topics of
Holocaust theology,
Jewish thought,
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, Epistemology, knowledge, Ethics, values, Philosophy of ...
, and
Jewish art. He is also a professor of religion at
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
.
Education
Braiterman received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (1988), and his Ph.D. from Stanford University, Department of Religious Studies (1995).
Scholarship
Braiterman's scholarship on the role of
theodicy
Theodicy () means vindication of God. It is to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the problem of evil. Some theodicies also address the problem of evil "to make the existence of ...
in
Holocaust theology has drawn responses from other theologians. In his 1998 book ''(God) After Auschwitz: Tradition and Change in Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought'', he coined the term ''antitheodicy'' for a refusal to connect God with evil or a refusal to justify God.
Dan Garner believed this philosophy "significantly advanced" the scholarship of Holocaust theology.
Theologian and
feminist scholar Melissa Raphael suggested that it could form the basis of a theology more focused on culture and community than concerns about the existence of evil,
and
literary theorist
Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mo ...
Brendan Cooper concluded that the concept could be applied in wider contexts, employing it for analysis of
John Berryman's ''