The 39th Annual Erasmus Lecture: Only the Old Testament Can Restore America
Union League Club, 38 E 37th Street, New York, NY 10016
First Things invites you to join us for the thirty-ninth annual Erasmus Lecture, “Only the Old Testament Can Restore America,” to be given by Yoram Hazony. In recent decades, the Old Testament has receded from American public life, in large part because it has been neglected by American Christianity. Christians under forty-five, on the right as well as the left, are now attempting to shape the future of America without the Old Testament. This endeavor will not succeed. The Anglo-American civic project has deep roots in the Old Testament. Unless we return to these roots, the political genius of Anglo-American culture will shipwreck.
About the Lecturer
Yoram Hazony was born in Rehovot, Israel in 1964. In 1994, he founded the Shalem Institute, pioneering scholarly work for nearly two decades across philosophy, political thought, economics, archaeology, and Jewish thought. He went on to serve as a member of Israel’s Council for Higher Education commission on General Studies and Liberal Arts and was the director of the John Templeton Foundation’s project in Jewish Philosophical Theology. Hazony now serves as the president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, an educational institute he founded with Ofir Haivry in 2012. He also serves as chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation and was appointed a trustee of the Heritage Foundation in 2026. He is the author of numerous books including The Virtue of Nationalism, which was an Amazon #1 bestseller in international diplomacy and nationalism as well as the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s 2019 conservative book of the year.
Dress Code
Jackets are required for gentlemen and equivalent dress for women. Jeans and sneakers are not permitted.
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