Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Religion and Theology, and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. He is the preeminent authority on rabbinic literature and thought, and has written and edited more than nine hundred books and countless articles. He has also served as President of the American Academy of Religion, and was appointed by President Carter as Member of the National Council on the Humanities and by President Reagan as Member of the National Council on the Arts.