Michael Wyschogrod papers
Scope and Contents
The Michael Wyschogrod papers contains materials that Dr. Wyschogrod used throughout his research. Numerous religious topics are seen throughout the collection, most notably Jewish-Christian relations, World War II and Holocaust related materials, information on various Jewish groups and conferences, and pictures of various people and events that Professor Wyschogrod encountered while doing his research.
The collection is organized into three series. Series I. Research Files, holds the various materials that Michael Wyschogrod used during the course of his research. The folders in this series hold multiple magazine and newspaper articles, research papers, and information on various religious groups around the world. Some folders also contain related correspondence. The majority of the materials relate to the Jewish community and their relationship with those around them.
Series II. Correspondence contains the numerous letters that Dr. Wyschogrod sent and received. The letters are a combination of professional and personal letters. The recipients and writers of the letters are close friends, important religious individuals, and representatives of certain religious groups or schools.
Series III. Photographs contains two folders. The first folder contains a few photographs of a conference and a letter that came with photographs. The second folder contains negatives.
Dates
- 1941-2002
Conditions Governing Access
This collection includes audio-visual materials. Access copies of audiotapes, audio cassette tapes, video cassette tapes, film reels, or other audio-visual materials may need to be ordered prior to on-site research. Please contact us to inquire about access to audio-visual materials. Photographic negatives may only be viewed with the assistance of the Archivist. Otherwise, materials are available for research at the Msgr. William Noé Field Archives & Special Collections Center. Advance appointments are required for the use of archival materials.
Conditions Governing Use
All materials available in this collection (unless otherwise noted) are the property of the Monsignor William Noé Field Archives & Special Collections Center and Seton Hall University, which reserves the right to limit access to or reproduction of these materials. Reproduction of materials or content is subject to United States copyright restrictions and may be subject to federal or state privacy regulations. Permission to publish exact reproductions must be obtained from the Director of the Archives and Special Collections Center.
Biographical / Historical
Michael Wyschogrod was born in Berlin, Germany on September 28, 1928. He is the younger son of Paul and Margaret (Unger) Wyschogrod, who had moved to Berlin from Budapest, Hungary in the mid-1920s. He attended Adas Yisroel School in Berlin, an Orthodox Jewish institution that combined excellent Jewish and secular instruction. The family migrated by the way of Warsaw, Poland to New York City in 1939. They settled in Brooklyn and Michael enrolled in Yeshiva Torah Voda'ath, a Yiddish-speaking Orthodox day school. He graduated from this high school in 1945 and spent the next academic year in Talmudic studies. He entered the City College of New York in the fall of 1946. At the same time he enrolled in Yeshiva University as a student of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, with whom he studied Talmud and Jewish philosophy until 1953.
Michael Wyschogrod earned his B.S.S. degree at City College in 1949 and became a graduate student in the Philosophy Department of Columbia University. He earned his Ph.D. in 1953 with a dissertation later published under the title Kierkegaard and Heidegger: The Ontology of Existence (London: Rutledge and Kegan Paul; New York: Humanities Press, 1954. Reprinted in 1970). From 1953 - 1992 Dr. Wyschogrod taught philosophy at City College, Hunter College and Baruch College; he achieved the rank of Professor of Philosophy and was chairperson of Baruch College's Philosophy Department for many years. In 1992 he was appointed Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Houston; he retired in 2002, and at that time donated his library and papers relating to Jewish-Christian Studies to the Institute of Judeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University.
Dr. Wyschogrod also taught at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, the New School in New York, Dropsie University in Philadelphia, Heidelberg College for Jewish Studies and the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal in Germany, the Theological Faculty of Luzern and the University of Berne, Switzerland, Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey and Rice University in Houston.
Dr. Wyschogrod published his first book review in Judaism (April 1953): the book, by John M. Oesterreicher, was Walls are Crumbling. So, long before Christian Jewish dialogue became popular, Dr. Wyschogrod was equipped by his studies and personal commitment to become a significant contributor to interfaith discussions. Eventually he became involved on the national and international levels, especially in the United States and German-speaking areas of Europe. His interest in both Catholic and Protestant intellectual pursuits is well-documented. Seton Hall University recognized the contributions to Jewish-Christian Studies made by Dr. Wyschogrod by granting him the Doctorate in Hebrew Literature, honoris causa, in 1983.
Dr. Wyschogrod is married, with two children and five grandchildren. His wife, Edith is a well known philosopher in religion.
The major source for this biography is the sketch by R. Kendall Soulen found in the collection of Dr. Wyschogrod's writings, Abraham's Promise: Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004) p. xi-xiii.
Extent
10 Linear Feet (, Approximately 4,000 items.)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Professional papers of Dr. Michael Wyschogrod relating to his work in Jewish Christian studies.
Arrangement
The papers are arranged into 3 series:
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Dr. Michael Wyschogrod, 2002.
Processing Information
Collection processed and finding aid created by Diego Salas, Summer 2007. Finding aid encoded by Maura Kenny, 2008. Minor editing and creation of html finding aid by Bridgette Frank and Tracy M. Jackson, October 2012.
- Title
- Michael Wyschogrod papers, 1941-2002
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Diego Salas.
- Date
- 2008
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
- Box: 1 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 2 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: P-1 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 5 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 6 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 3 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 4 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 8 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 7 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 10 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 9 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 11 (Mixed Materials)
Repository Details
Part of the The Monsignor Field Archives & Special Collection Center Repository
Archives, Walsh Library
400 South Orange Ave
South Orange NJ 07079 US
973-761-9476
archives@shu.edu