David Novak

David Novak holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of Religion and Philosophy in the University of Toronto, where he is a member of University College and the Joint Centre for Bioethics. During 1989-96 he was the Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia. Dr. Novak is the author of sixteen books, the last two being Tradition in the Public Square and In Defense of Religious Liberty. He received his AB from the University of Chicago in 1961, and from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America he received his MHL (Master of Hebrew Literature) in 1964 and his rabbinical diploma in 1966. Dr. Novak also gained his PhD in philosophy from Georgetown University in 1971. Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1941, Dr. Novak married Melva Ziman and they have two married children and five grandchildren.