Richard Lowell Rubenstein (born January 8, 1924 in New York City) is an educator in religion and a writer in the American Jewish community, noted particularly for his contributions to Holocaust theology. A Connecticut resident, he was married to art historian Betty Rogers Rubenstein (deceased 2013).
Rubenstein began his tertiary education at Hebrew Union College, an institution within the Reform Judaism tradition. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.A. degree. He then was awarded the Master of Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Conservative tradition) and was also ordained as a rabbi by that institution. He then studied at Harvard Divinity School and was awarded a Master of Sacred Theology degree. Finally, he pursued doctoral studies and received a Ph.D. from Harvard University, in 1960.
Rubenstein has two honorary doctorates: Doctor of Hebrew Letters (Jewish Theological Seminary) and Doctor of Humane Letters (Grand Valley State University).
Following his ordination in 1952, Rubenstein was the rabbi of two Massachusetts congregations in succession, and then in 1956 became assistant director of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation and chaplain to the Jewish students at Harvard University, Radcliffe and Wellesley, where he served until 1958. From 1958 to 1970 he was the director of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation and chaplain to the Jewish students at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie-Mellon University and Duquesne University. At the University of Pittsburgh he also taught an upper division course on French Existentialism. Rubenstein taught in religious studies at Florida State University from 1970 to 1995 and held the professorial chair. He then became president and professor of Religion at the University of Bridgeport, where he served from 1995 to 1999.