Matt Goldish

Matt Goldish is the Samuel M. and Esther Melton Chair of History, The Ohio State University. His interests have centered on the seventeenth century. His monograph, "Judaism in the Theology of Sir Isaac Newton," deals with questions about the impact of Jewish ideas and literature on European intellectuals at the dawn of the Enlightenment. Much of his writing, however, concerns the Western Sephardi Diaspora and the Portuguese Conversos of Amsterdam, London and Hamburg. Professor Goldish's book, "The Sabbatean Prophets," deals with the role of prophecy in the great messianic movement of Shabbatai Zvi, which swept the Jewish world in 1665-6. His latest book is "Jewish Questions: Responsa on Sephardic Life in the Early Modern Period" (2008). Along with Professor Daniel Frank, he is the editor of "Rabbinic Culture and Its Critics: Jewish Authority, Dissent, and Heresy in Medieval and Early Modern Times" (2008).