Dr. Itamar Ben Ami

Biography

Itamar Ben Ami is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Utrecht University. His research focuses on political theology in its broadest sense, exploring the complex relationship between theology and politics in late modernity. He investigates ontological disputes surrounding religious and secular forms of life and offers a critical genealogy of the foundations of modernity through the lens of religious traditions. His work examines how Jewish Orthodoxy interacts with broader discourses surrounding theology and secularism throughout the 20th century. Itamar has published articles in various esteemed journals, including the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Modern Intellectual History, and the Harvard Theological Review. He is currently engaged in book projects concerning the emergence of Ultra-Orthodox political theology and Jewish visibility and belonging in modernity. Beginning in 2026, Itamar will also be involved in a three-year Veni grant project funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) titled “Kippah Controversies: Jewish In/Visibility in Plural Settings.” He earned his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2022, and prior to his current position at Utrecht, he worked as a research fellow and lecturer at Humboldt University’s Faculty of Theology (2020-2023) and was a Ruth Meltzer fellow at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (2022-2023).

Research Interests

Experience