Jeff Kosky Delivers Lecture at Stanford University’s Taube Center for Jewish Studies The Abigail Grigsby Urquhart Professor of Religion gave his talk on the burning bush and wonder in the Bible.

By Lily Caldwell
November 2, 2026

Jeff Kosky, Abigail Grigsby Urquhart Professor of Religion and head of the Religion Department at Washington and Lee University, recently delivered a lecture at Stanford University as part of a conference titled “The Bible and Wonder: Literary, Philosophical and Visual Encounters with the Extraordinary.”

Sponsored by Stanford’s Taube Center for Jewish Studies and Department of Comparative Literature, the conference was held Oct. 8-9. The programming was aimed at extending interdisciplinary inquiry into the Bible’s role in modern thought through exploring wonder at the intersection of biblical text, literary reception, philosophy and visual art. It involved speakers working in a variety of fields, including Biblical and Talmudic studies, literature, art history and philosophy.

Kosky’s talk was titled “Signs and Wonders’ and Mere Appearances: On the Burning Bush.” After considering many of the miraculous events narrated in the Bible, the so-called “signs and wonders,” his talk settled on a more mundane, less spectacular moment: the burning bush. Kosky explains that the point of the scene is that Moses turns aside to see something, what he calls a “great sight,” something that speaks to him. Taking a little detour to attend to something small that speaks to you, Kosky said in his talk, was a kind of wonder to which he could relate.

Kosky has been a member of the W&L faculty since 2003. He previously worked at Redmoon Theater, a visual spectacle production company, in Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School.

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