Jean-Christophe Attias

Jean-Christophe Attias (born 1958) is a French historian and scholar. He was born to an Algerian Jewish father and a Catholic mother from the Charente.

Jean-Christophe Attias is a Professor of medieval Jewish thought at the École pratique des hautes études (PSL University, Paris).

He is married to his colleague (and occasional coauthor) Esther Benbassa.

As an intellectual, Jean-Christophe Attias takes an active part in the French public debate. Especially involved in the fight against racism and discriminations, he cofounded the "Pari(s) du Vivre-Ensemble", an annual culture festival.

Research interests

 * History of the Jewish exegesis of the Bible in the Middle Ages, especially in the XVth-XVIth Century Mediterranean (Spain and Byzantium), exegesis as a literary genre.
 * History of culture and representations : the image of the proselyte in Jewish culture, Judaism and its « margins » (such as Karaism), the place of the « Land f Israel » in Jewish memory, etc.
 * Place and function of the Bible in Jewish culture and imagination.
 * Moses in Jewish and general culture.

In English

 * Israel, the Impossible Land, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2003 (with Esther Benbassa)
 * The Jews and their Future. A Conversation on Jewish Identities, London, Zed Books, 2004 (with E. Benbassa)
 * The Jew and the Other, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2004 (with E. Benbassa)
 * The Jews and the Bible, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2014;
 * A Woman Called Moses. A Prophet for Our Time, Verso, 2020.

In French

 * Abraham Aboulafia. L'épître des sept voies, Paris, Éditions de l'Éclat, 1985 (translation and notes) ; new ed., Paris, Éditions de l'Éclat, 2008
 * Le Commentaire biblique. Mordekhai Komtino ou l'herméneutique du dialogue, Paris, Cerf, 1991
 * Isaac Abravanel, la mémoire et l'espérance, Paris, Cerf, 1992
 * Penser le judaïsme, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2010 ; new revised and enlarged ed, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2013
 * Les Juifs et la Bible, Paris, Fayard, 2012 ; new ed., Paris, Cerf, 2014
 * Moïse fragile, Paris, Alma, 2015 ; new ed., Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2016
 * Un juif de mauvaise foi, Paris, Lattès, 2017
 * Nos Conversations célestes, Paris, Alma, 2020 (novel)

With Esther Benbassa

 * Dictionnaire de civilisation juive, Paris, Larousse-Bordas, 1997 ; 2nd ed.,1998
 * Israël imaginaire, Paris, Flammarion, 1998 ; 2nd ed., 2001 (sous le titre Israël, la terre et le sacré)
 * Les Juifs ont-ils un avenir ?, Paris, Lattès, 2001 ; 2nd ed., Paris, Hachette, coll. « Pluriel », 2002
 * Le Juif et l’Autre, Gordes, Le Relié, 2002
 * Petite histoire du judaïsme, Paris, Librio, 2007
 * Dictionnaire des mondes juifs, Paris, Larousse, 2008.

Editor

 * De la Conversion, Paris, Cerf, 1998
 * Enseigner le judaïsme à l'Université, Genève, Labor et Fides, 1998 (withPierre Gisel)
 * La haine  de  soi.  Difficiles  identités, Bruxelles, Complexe, 2000 (withEsther Benbassa)
 * Messianismes. Variations autour d’une figure juive, Genève, Labor et Fides, 2000 (with Pierre Gisel and Lucie Kaennel)
 * De la Bible à la littérature, Genève, Labor et Fides, 2003 (with Pierre Gisel)
 * Juifs et musulmans. Une histoire partagée, un dialogue à construire, Paris, La Découverte, 2006 (with Esther Benbassa)
 * Les Sépharades et l’Europe. De Maïmonide à Spinoza, Paris, Presses de l’université Paris-Sorbonne, 2012
 * Encyclopédie des religions, Paris, Fayard/Pluriel, 2012 (with Esther Benbassa)
 * Dans les quartiers, l’égalité c’est maintenant ! Livre blanc, Paris, Le Pari(s) du Vivre-Ensemble, 2014 (with Esther Benbassa)
 * Juifs et musulmans. Retissons les liens!, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2015 (with Esther Benbassa)
 * Nouvelles relégations territoriales, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2017 (with Esther Benbassa)

Awards

 * Seligmann Award against Racism, Injustice and Intolérance (2006).
 * Prix Goncourt de la Biographie for Moïse fragile (2015).