Dana Evan Kaplan

Dana Evan Kaplan (born October 29, 1960) is a Reform rabbi known for his writings on Reform Judaism and American Judaism. He has advocated for a theologically coherent approach to Reform Judaism rather than encouraging a pluralistic approach to belief without limits.

Kaplan was born in Manhattan and grew up in New York until the age of fourteen, when he moved to Waterbury, Connecticut. He studied at Ramaz School, Friends Seminary, and Chase Collegiate School. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Yeshiva University, received rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem in 1994 and a PhD in History from Tel Aviv University in 1997.

Kaplan is known to be an avid scuba diver with dives in Mexico, South Africa, Indonesia, Honduras, and many other countries. He has trekked in Nepal where he circled the Annapurna mountain range.

Kaplan first became known following the 2003 publication of his book American Reform Judaism: An Introduction. He has also written on other subjects, including American Jewish history and Jews in various diaspora communities. Kaplan, influenced by Rodney Stark and other sociologists of religion who apply the Rational Choice Theory to the study of American religious denominationalism, argued that the American Reform Movement needed to raise their demands in order to increase the production of "collective religious commodities," the "religious goods" essential for the continued vitality of the religious group. Kaplan argued that concept of religious autonomy, while admirable in theory, had produced a negative cycle of apathy and alienation in Reform temples throughout the United States. The book was featured as the subject of a panel discussion in Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought with responses from leaders of the various American Jewish denominations.

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