Program Information
John Schroeder, Chair
Professor of Philosophy
240 895 4456
jwschroeder@smcm.edu
Sharon Newcomb, Office Assistant I
240 895 2159
Program Highlight
The department offers a major and minor in Philosophy and a major and minor in Religious Studies. As an active and energetic department, we are committed towards an intercultural, international and interdisciplinary understanding of the world. We teach across the traditional fields of philosophy and religious studies, and beyond the cultural divides of East and West. Departmental faculty likes to teach in a variety of venues (Nitze Program; Women, Gender and Sexuality; Environmental Studies; Asian Studies; African and African Diaspora Studies), to take students on study tours (Greece, Germany/Poland, India, Thailand, and, in the future, England and Israel), and to bring questions of global relevance to the campus communities through scheduling events with renowned speakers and activists.
Dr. Jay McCrensky
Visiting Professor Religious Studies
Departments: Philosophy and Religious Studies
Office: Anne Arundel Hall Room 102C
Email: jfmccrensky@smcm.edu
Phone: 240-895-2147
Bio:
Dr. Jay McCrensky holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies from Baltimore Hebrew University / Towson University. His doctoral concentration was in Kabbalah with minors in Rabbinic Literature and Sociology of Judaism. Dr. McCrensky’s dissertation, titled The Concept of Receiving in Contemporary Kabbalah, contrasts the Jewish Renewal and the Kabbalah Centre schools of contemporary Kabbalah. He is also an authority on the Sefirot of Netsach and Hod in The Zohar. Dr. McCrensky's forthcoming book, Receiving Holiness: Understanding Judaism through Kabbalah interprets the rituals and holiday observance of Judaism. Dr. McCrensky’s earlier book, Understanding Evil: Insights from Kabbalah, (2000, 2011), addresses the crisis in spirituality following the holocaust. In addition to his scholarly, speaking and teaching work in Judaism and Kabbalah, Dr. McCrensky heads Marketshare Management, Inc., a boutique investment banking and marketing advisory firm; is president of the International Private Infrastructure Association, a think tank developing solutions to enable financing of private infrastructure and economic development in undeveloped economies; directs the Machaya Klezmer Band, playing accordion and leading klezmer dancing; and is a certified ski instructor.
