Dr. Kenneth W. Harl, Professor Emeritus of Tulane University, will join Congregation Ner Tamid for two free Zoom lectures about Judaea under Roman Rule and Flavius Josephus and the Jewish War against Rome. Josephus was an observant eye-witness to events that proved a turning point in the history of Judaism.

         On Wednesday, April 3, at 7:00 p.m., Dr. Harl will examine the causes of war in his lecture entitled “The Roots of Conflict: Roman Oppression and Jewish Defiance.” In his second lecture, on Wednesday, April 10, at 7:00 p.m., Dr. Harl will discuss the course of the war and its consequences in “The Great Jewish War against Rome (66-73 A.D.).”

         A native of New York, Dr. Harl obtained his BA in History and Classics, summa cum laude, at Trinity College and his PhD in History at Yale University. Since 1978, he was a Professor of Classical and Byzantine history at Tulane University until his retirement in 2022 after 43 years of teaching.

         Dr. Harl, who taught classes in Roman, Greek, Byzantine, Viking, and Crusader history, received many teaching awards at Tulane including the Sheldon H. Hackney Award and Tulane’s annual Student Body Award for Excellence in Teaching for which he was honored nine times in appreciation for his outstanding teaching and advising. Additionally, Dr. Harl is the recipient of Baylor University's nationwide Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teachers.

         Dr. Harl recorded 11 courses with The Great Courses; he published scholarly books and articles on Roman coinage, ancient military history, and the cities of Roman Asia Minor; and, he spent 25 years working on archaeological sites.