One of the most familiar features of Jewish practice is the use of the term “Amen” after a prayer. The goal of this class is to make this very familiar practice seem strange. After examining text which outlines various of the rules governing the use of this expression in Jewish practice, I raise two questions. First, why is the use of this apparently simple term so highly regulated? Second, how did the use of “Amen” come to be popular in highly secular settings as well (as in “Amen to that!”)? I will be approaching these questions from the vantage point of Speech Act Theory, that branch of philosophy of language that explores the nature of the acts we perform in speech. After introducing Speech Act Theory with some simple examples, I will employ it to illuminate the unexpectedly complicated nature of the act we perform when we say “Amen!”

Sandy Goldberg is Chester D. Tripp Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University (Evanston IL), and he holds Visiting Professorships at the University of St Andrews (Scotland) and the University of Johannesburg (South Africa). He works primarily in the areas of Philosophy of Language and Theory of Knowledge. Although his published work is exclusively in philosophy, he has lectured widely at synagogues and other Jewish venues on topics including the nature of religious language, the real lessons of Ecclesiastes, the value of disagreement in Judaism, Chelm and Jewish humor, Jewish joy, and Jewish ethics.