Evyatar Marienberg is Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in the history of religions with emphases on rabbinics, medieval Jewish-Christian social history, and contemporary global Catholicism. His work uniquely interweaves Jewish legal literature, gender and sexuality studies, and the religious dimensions of popular culture. Education Ph.D., École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, 1999–2002 D.E.A., École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE-Sorbonne), Paris, 1998–1999 Licence de Théologie, Institut Catholique de Paris, 1994–1998 Rabbinics, Yeshivat ha-Kibbutz ha-Dati, Ein Tzurim, 1990–1993 Research Interests Marienberg’s scholarship ranges across rabbinic legal texts, the lived religious experiences of medieval Jews and Christians, and the contemporary Catholic Church. A recurring focus is sexuality—especially laws and customs surrounding menstruation, marital relations, and sexual education—analyzed through both historical and ethnographic lenses. More recently he has turned to religion in popular music, producing groundbreaking studies on the Catholic imagination in the work of rock musician Sting. Selected Fellowships & Awards Fellow, Frankel Institute for Judaic Studies, University of Michigan (Winter 2014) Starr Fellow, Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University (Spring 2008) Carey Postdoctoral Fellow, Erasmus Institute, University of Notre Dame (2006–2007) Postdoctoral Fellow, Tel Aviv University (2004–2006) Teaching & Mentorship At UNC-Chapel Hill, Marienberg teaches undergraduate courses such as Religion and Society in Historical Novels , Catholicism Today , and Sexuality & Marriage in Jewish Tradition , as well as graduate seminars including Medieval Jewish Bible Interpretation and Advanced Seminar in Contemporary Catholicism . He actively advises graduate students working at the intersection of Jewish studies, religious history, and gender studies. Labs, Teams & Future Directions While not laboratory-based, Marienberg collaborates with interdisciplinary working groups at the Frankel Institute and Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies. Future projects include a comparative study of Jewish and Catholic sexual ethics after Vatican II and a monograph on the reception of Leviticus 20:18 in medieval Christian exegesis.
