Dr. Adam Sutcliffe

Biography

Adam Sutcliffe joined the department in 2005. He began his academic career in the United States at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his BA from Cambridge, MA from Sussex, and PhD from University College London in 1998. Sutcliffe has held fellowships at prestigious institutions including the University of Pennsylvania, Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, and University of Leipzig. He served as Head of the History Department from 2012 to 2016. His research interests encompass Early Modern and Modern European Jewish history, intellectual and cultural history, the European Enlightenment, and the history of Jewish/non-Jewish relations in Europe from 1600 to the present. He is particularly fascinated by the role of Jewish identity in Western thought and has published extensively on Enlightenment thinkers such as Spinoza, Bayle, Voltaire, and Lessing. He also engages with broader themes of religious diversity and toleration through historical perspectives and welcomes prospective research students interested in his areas of expertise. Sutcliffe contributes to teaching in early modern European history and has developed upper-level undergraduate modules on European Jewish history and the history of toleration and human rights.

Research Interests

Experience