Job at Jessup: What I Learned Teaching the Bible Behind Bars

By:  Jerome E. Copulsky

In the spring of 2014, I had the opportunity to teach two sections of “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament” with the Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP) at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup. It turned out to be an experience that powerfully altered what I thought of the criminal justice system, of the purposes and possibilities of liberal education, and of myself as a teacher and as a student.  

The AAR has awarded Jerome E. Copulsky an AAR-Luce Fellowship in Religion and International Affairs. The fellowship will fund Dr. Copulsky to work in the Office of Religion and Global Affairs as a Franklin Fellow at the US Department of State. Most recently, he has served as Director of Judaic Studies and Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Goucher College. His work focuses on modern Judaism, political theology, and religion/state issues.