Joseph Leon Blau

Joseph Leon Blau (May 6, 1909 – December 28, 1986) was an American scholar of Jewish history and philosophy.

Biography Blau was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Columbia University, where he studied under Salo Wittmayer Baron. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1931, his master's in 1933, and his Ph.D. in 1944, all from Columbia. Blau taught at Columbia from 1944 to 1977 and was chair of its Department of Religion from 1968 to 1977. He was a foreign member of the British Academy.

He died in 1986 in Riverdale, New York.

Writings His notable writings include his PhD Christian Interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance (1944); Men and Movements in American Philosophy (1952); The Story of Jewish Philosophy (1962), The Jews of the United States, 1790–1840 (co-edited with Salo Baron, 1963), Modern Varieties of Judaism (1966), and Judaism in America (1976).