Ruth Langer is an American scholar of Jewish liturgy and Christian-Jewish relations. She is Professor of Jewish Studies in the Theology Department at Boston College and Associate Director of its Center for Christian-Jewish Learning.
Education
Langer received her Bachelor of Arts (AB) from Bryn Mawr College in 1981. She earned her Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters (MAHL, 1985), Rabbinic Ordination (1986), and Ph.D. in Jewish Liturgy (1994) from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. She is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Academic Positions
Langer serves as Professor of Jewish Studies in the Theology Department at Boston College, where she also holds the role of Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning. She has also served as chair of the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations.
Scholarship
Langer's research addresses two primary areas: the development of Jewish liturgy and ritual from antiquity to the present day, and Christian-Jewish relations.
History of Liturgy
Langer argues that Jewish liturgy developed gradually over many centuries and that during this period of development, when rabbinic authority differed from popular custom on questions of liturgy, the liturgy consistently followed popular custom. Her analysis of the development of the synagogue Torah service has been widely noted in the field.
Jewish-Christian Relations
Langer has addressed the history of Jewish prayers that were objects of Christian censorship, including the Birkat HaMinim (the twelfth benediction of the daily Amidah) and the Aleynu prayer. She has explained that while some Jewish prayers were historically understood by both Jews and Christians as anti-Christian, the Jewish liturgy does not include anti-Christian prayers in its contemporary forms. She has also criticized elements of Christian liturgy perceived as anti-Jewish.
Major Publications
Books
- Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat HaMinim (Oxford University Press, 2012) — Traces the transformations of a Jewish prayer that was, until modernity, understood as a curse of Christians.
- To Worship God Properly: Tensions between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism (Hebrew Union College Press, 1998) — Examines the interplay between liturgical law and custom in the medieval world.
- Jewish Liturgy: A Guide to Research (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) — An annotated bibliography of over 1,000 English-language studies of Jewish liturgy.
- Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue: Studies in the History of Jewish Prayer (Eisenbrauns, 2005) — Co-edited with Steven Fine.
- Enabling Dialogue About the Land: A Resource Book for Jews and Christians (Paulist Press, 2020) — Co-edited with Philip Cunningham and Jesper Svartvik.
She has also published over 100 articles in academic journals and contributed entries to reference works including the Encyclopaedia Judaica and the Encyclopedia of Religion.
Personal Life
Langer is married to Jonathan Sarna, a prominent historian of American Judaism.
