Aaron S. Gross is an American historian of religions who focuses on modern Jewish ethics, the study of animals and religion, and food and religion. He serves as a professor of theology and religious studies at the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

. He has served as cochair of the

American Academy of Religion The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association, serving as a profes ...

's Animals and Religion group and as president of the Society of Jewish Ethics.

Education

Gross received his BA in Philosophy from

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-st ...

, his M.T.S from

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

, and his Ph.D. from the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

Department of Religious Studies.

Farm Forward

In 2006, Gross founded

Farm Forward Farm Forward is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to promote conscientious eating, reduce farmed animal suffering, and advance sustainable agriculture. Farm Forward aims to eliminate the most harmful practices in intensive animal agriculture, i ...

, a nonprofit organization that has promoted alternative models of poultry production. Author

Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels ''Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works ''Eatin ...

described Gross as “a visionary - his founding of Farm Forward will be looked at by future generations as a turning point in the fight to end factory farming.” Gross has been particularly active in efforts to improve kosher slaughter. According to animal welfare expert

Temple Grandin Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American academic and animal behaviorist. She is a prominent proponent for the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and the author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. Gra ...

, “Gross has played a critical role in improving kosher slaughter . . . his knowledge about both the Jewish and animal communities is invaluable.”

Written works

He collaborated closely with Jonathan Safran Foer on Foer's international bestseller, ''

Eating Animals ''Eating Animals'' is the third book by the American novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, published in 2009. A ''New York Times'' best-seller, ''Eating Animals'' provides a dense discussion of what it means to eat animals in an industrialized world. It ...

'', and is featured in the book. Writing in the ''

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * ''The New ...

'',

Elizabeth Kolbert Elizabeth Kolbert (born 1961) is an American journalist, author, and visiting fellow at Williams College. She is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book '' The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History'', and as an observer and commentator ...

described Gross as one of the heroes of ''Eating Animals'' along with

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

and

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...

. Gross is the author of ''The Question of the Animal and Religion: Theoretical Stakes, Practical Implications'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014) and co-editor of ''Animals and the Human Imagination: A Companion to Animal Studies'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012).

References

External links

Faculty Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Aaron University of San Diego faculty Grinnell College alumni University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Jewish American writers Historians of Jews and Judaism American historians of religion American veganism activists Jewish ethicists Jewish vegetarianism 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews