Twin Cities campus

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Twin Cities Campus

Jewish Studies B.A.

CLA Dean's Office
College of Liberal Arts
  • Program Type: Baccalaureate
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2014
  • Required credits to graduate with this degree: 120
  • Required credits within the major: 28 to 38
  • Degree: Bachelor of Arts
This broad, interdisciplinary field studies the civilization of the Jewish people from its beginning in biblical antiquity to the present. The diverse quality of Jewish civilization and the unifying forces of its religion and language offer ample material for the study of continuity, adaptation, and change. The undergraduate program offers courses in the Bible, Jewish history, Jewish literature, midrash, Jewish philosophy, medieval and modern Jewish studies, Talmud, and rabbinics. The program has links with the Departments of American Studies, Sociology, History, English, German, Music, and Political Science. The University's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies offers courses related to the Nazi Holocaust and its aftermath. Study abroad in Israel or Europe is encouraged as a valuable augment to the major; consult the Learning Abroad Center at (612) 626-9000 for more information.
Program Delivery
This program is available:
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Admission Requirements
For information about University of Minnesota admission requirements, visit the Office of Admissions website.
General Requirements
All students in baccalaureate degree programs are required to complete general University and college requirements including writing and liberal education courses. For more information about University-wide requirements, see the liberal education requirements. Required courses for the major, minor or certificate in which a student receives a D grade (with or without plus or minus) do not count toward the major, minor or certificate (including transfer courses).
Program Requirements
Students are required to complete 4 semester(s) of Hebrew. with a grade of C-, or better, or S, or demonstrate proficiency in the language(s) as defined by the department or college.
A minimum of 13 upper-division credits must be completed on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus, or through sponsored study abroad programs. Students may earn a B.A. or a minor in Jewish studies, but not both. Beginning fall 2012, all incoming CLA freshman must complete the appropriate First Year Experience course sequence. Specific information about this collegiate requirement can be found at: http://class.umn.edu/degree_requirements/index.html
Introductory Course
HIST 1534 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures [HIS] (3.0 cr)
or HIST 3534 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures [HIS] (3.0 cr)
or JWST 1034 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures [HIS] (3.0 cr)
or JWST 3034 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures [HIS] (3.0 cr)
or RELS 1034 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures [HIS] (3.0 cr)
or RELS 3034 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures [HIS] (3.0 cr)
Major Language Requirement
Students are required to complete at least one course in Biblical or Modern Hebrew at the 4th semester or beyond. Students with prior knowledge of Biblical or Modern Hebrew should consult the major program adviser for appropriate placement in each sequence. (Note: these courses require prior completion of prerequisite language courses or placement by the major program adviser upon demonstrated proficiency.)
HEBR 3012 - Intermediate Hebrew II (5.0 cr)
or HEBR 3090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew (3.0 cr)
or HEBR 3102 - Intermediate Biblical Hebrew II (4.0 cr)
or HEBR 5090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew (3.0 cr)
Major Courses
Take a minimum of seven 3xxx-5xxx courses for a minimum of 21 credits. Four courses must be chosen from two emphasis areas: (1) Jewish History & Culture in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds; and (2) Jewish History, Culture, Politics and Society in the Modern World. The remaining three courses are elective.
Jewish History & Culture in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds Emphasis Area
Take at least one "Texts & Languages" course, and one additional course. Note: students who have completed the 4th semester, or beyond, of Modern Hebrew may count a maximum of two of the following courses toward this sub-requirement: HEBR 1101, 1102, 3101 or 3102.
Text & Languages
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· CNRC 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible [LITR] (3.0 cr)
· CNES 3204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls (3.0 cr)
· CNES 5513W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible [LITR] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· JWST 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls (3.0 cr)
· JWST 5513W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3201 -  The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible [LITR] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5513W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
Additional Course
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· CNRC 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible [LITR] (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 3202 - Bible: Prophecy in Ancient Israel (3.0 cr)
· CNES 3204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· CNES 3503 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 5502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· CNES 5503 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· CNES 5513W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3606 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3778 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible [LITR] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3606 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3778 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· JWST 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls (3.0 cr)
· JWST 5513W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3078 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3201 -  The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible [LITR] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3503 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3717 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5503 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5513W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
Jewish History, Culture, Politics and Society in the Modern World Emphasis Area
Take at least one "Texts & Languages" course, and one additional course. Note: students who have completed the 4th semester, or beyond, of Biblical Hebrew may count a maximum of two of the following courses toward this sub-requirement: HEBR 1001, 1002, 3011 or 3012.
Texts & Languages
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· CSCL 3123 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (3.0 cr)
· GER 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (3.0 cr)
· HEBR 3090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew (3.0 cr)
· HEBR 5090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew (3.0 cr)
· JWST 1701 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 1702 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (3.0 cr)
Additional Course
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· AMST 3632W {Inactive} [HIS, DSJ, WI] (3.0 cr)
· CSCL 3123 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (3.0 cr)
· GER 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (3.0 cr)
· HEBR 3090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew (3.0 cr)
· HEBR 5090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3511 - Muslims and Jews: Conflict and Co-existence in the Middle East and North Africa since 1700 [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3512 - History of Modern Israel/Palestine: Society, Culture, and Politics [GP] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3727 - History of the Holocaust (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3727W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3775 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 1701 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 1702 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3511 - Muslims and Jews: Conflict and Co-existence in the Middle East and North Africa since 1700 [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3512 - History of Modern Israel/Palestine: Society, Culture, and Politics [GP] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3520 - History of the Holocaust (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3521W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3522 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3601 {Inactive} [AH] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3632W {Inactive} [HIS, DSJ, WI] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3775 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3900 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· POL 4867W {Inactive} [GP, WI] (4.0 cr)
· POL 4878W {Inactive} [GP, WI] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3520 - History of the Holocaust (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3521W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
Electives
Take 3 or more course(s) from the following:
· AMST 3632W {Inactive} [HIS, DSJ, WI] (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible [LITR] (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 3202 - Bible: Prophecy in Ancient Israel (3.0 cr)
· CNES 3204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· CNES 3503 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls (3.0 cr)
· CNRC 5502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· CNES 5503 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· CNES 5513W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· CSCL 3123 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (3.0 cr)
· GER 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (3.0 cr)
· HEBR 3090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew (3.0 cr)
· HEBR 5090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3511 - Muslims and Jews: Conflict and Co-existence in the Middle East and North Africa since 1700 [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3512 - History of Modern Israel/Palestine: Society, Culture, and Politics [GP] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3606 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3727 - History of the Holocaust (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3727W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3775 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· HIST 3778 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 1701 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 1702 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible [LITR] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3511 - Muslims and Jews: Conflict and Co-existence in the Middle East and North Africa since 1700 [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3512 - History of Modern Israel/Palestine: Society, Culture, and Politics [GP] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3520 - History of the Holocaust (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3521W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3522 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3601 {Inactive} [AH] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3606 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3632W {Inactive} [HIS, DSJ, WI] (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3775 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3778 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 3900 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· JWST 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· JWST 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls (3.0 cr)
· JWST 5513W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· POL 4867W {Inactive} [GP, WI] (4.0 cr)
· POL 4878W {Inactive} [GP, WI] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3078 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3201 -  The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible [LITR] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3204 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile [WI] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3503 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3520 - History of the Holocaust (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3521W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 3717 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages [HIS, GP] (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5503 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· RELS 5513W {Inactive} [WI] (3.0 cr)
Senior Project
Choose from JWST 4000W (4 credits) or JWST 4001W (1 credit, taken concurrently with an approved upper-division course in the major).
JWST 4000W - Final Project, Writing Intensive [WI] (4.0 cr)
or JWST 4001W - Final Project, Writing Intensive [WI] (1.0 cr)
Upper-division Writing Intensive within the major
Students are required to take one upper-division Writing Intensive course within the major. If that requirement has not been satisfied within the core major requirements, students must choose one course from the following list. Some of these courses may also fulfill other major requirements.
Take 0 - 1 course(s) from the following:
· JWST 4000W - Final Project, Writing Intensive [WI] (4.0 cr)
· JWST 4001W - Final Project, Writing Intensive [WI] (1.0 cr)
 
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View college catalog(s):
· College of Liberal Arts

View future requirement(s):
· Fall 2022
· Spring 2021
· Fall 2020
· Summer 2019
· Fall 2018
· Fall 2017
· Fall 2016

View sample plan(s):
· Jewish Studies B.A. Sample Plan

View checkpoint chart:
· Jewish Studies B.A.
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HIST 1534 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures (HIS)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 1534/JwSt 1034/RelS1034
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course traces the development of Judaism and Jewish civilizations from their beginnings to the present. With over three millennia as its subject, the course must of necessity be a general survey. Together we will explore the mythic structures, significant documents, historical experiences, narratives, practices, beliefs, and worldviews of the Jewish people. The course begins by examining the roots of Judaism in the Hebrew Bible and the history of ancient Israel but quickly focuses on the creative forces that developed within Judaism as a national narrative confronted the forces of history, especially in the forms of the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. Rabbinic Judaism becomes the most dominant creative force and will receive our greatest attention, both in its formative years and as it encounters the rise of Christianity and Islam. After studying the Jewish experience in the medieval world, we will turn to Judaism?s encounter with the enlightenment and modernity. The historical survey concludes by attending to the transformations within Judaism and Jewish life of the last 150 years, including a confrontation with the experience of the Holocaust. Woven throughout this historical survey will be repeated engagements with core questions: ?Who is a Jew?? ?What do Jews believe?? ?What do Jews do?? ?What do we mean by ?religion??? ?How do Jews read texts within their tradition?? And perhaps most importantly, ?How many answers are there to a Jewish question?? Students in this course can expect to come away with some knowledge of the Bible in Judaism, rabbinic literature and law, Jewish mysticism and philosophy, Jewish nationalism and Zionism, Jewish culture, ritual, and worship in the synagogue, the home, and the community, and Jewish celebrations of life cycle events and the festivals.
HIST 3534 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures (HIS)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 1534/JwSt 1034/RelS1034
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course traces the development of Judaism and Jewish civilizations from their beginnings to the present. With over three millennia as its subject, the course must of necessity be a general survey. Together we will explore the mythic structures, significant documents, historical experiences, narratives, practices, beliefs, and worldviews of the Jewish people. The course begins by examining the roots of Judaism in the Hebrew Bible and the history of ancient Israel but quickly focuses on the creative forces that developed within Judaism as a national narrative confronted the forces of history, especially in the forms of the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. Rabbinic Judaism becomes the most dominant creative force and will receive our greatest attention, both in its formative years and as it encounters the rise of Christianity and Islam. After studying the Jewish experience in the medieval world, we will turn to Judaism?s encounter with the enlightenment and modernity. The historical survey concludes by attending to the transformations within Judaism and Jewish life of the last 150 years, including a confrontation with the experience of the Holocaust. Woven throughout this historical survey will be repeated engagements with core questions: ?Who is a Jew?? ?What do Jews believe?? ?What do Jews do?? ?What do we mean by ?religion??? ?How do Jews read texts within their tradition?? And perhaps most importantly, ?How many answers are there to a Jewish question?? Students in this course can expect to come away with some knowledge of the Bible in Judaism, rabbinic literature and law, Jewish mysticism and philosophy, Jewish nationalism and Zionism, Jewish culture, ritual, and worship in the synagogue, the home, and the community, and Jewish celebrations of life cycle events and the festivals.
JWST 1034 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures (HIS)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 1534/JwSt 1034/RelS1034
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course traces the development of Judaism and Jewish civilizations from their beginnings to the present. With over three millennia as its subject, the course must of necessity be a general survey. Together we will explore the mythic structures, significant documents, historical experiences, narratives, practices, beliefs, and worldviews of the Jewish people. The course begins by examining the roots of Judaism in the Hebrew Bible and the history of ancient Israel but quickly focuses on the creative forces that developed within Judaism as a national narrative confronted the forces of history, especially in the forms of the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. Rabbinic Judaism becomes the most dominant creative force and will receive our greatest attention, both in its formative years and as it encounters the rise of Christianity and Islam. After studying the Jewish experience in the medieval world, we will turn to Judaism?s encounter with the enlightenment and modernity. The historical survey concludes by attending to the transformations within Judaism and Jewish life of the last 150 years, including a confrontation with the experience of the Holocaust. Woven throughout this historical survey will be repeated engagements with core questions: ?Who is a Jew?? ?What do Jews believe?? ?What do Jews do?? ?What do we mean by ?religion??? ?How do Jews read texts within their tradition?? And perhaps most importantly, ?How many answers are there to a Jewish question?? Students in this course can expect to come away with some knowledge of the Bible in Judaism, rabbinic literature and law, Jewish mysticism and philosophy, Jewish nationalism and Zionism, Jewish culture, ritual, and worship in the synagogue, the home, and the community, and Jewish celebrations of life cycle events and the festivals.
JWST 3034 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures (HIS)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 1534/JwSt 1034/RelS1034
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course traces the development of Judaism and Jewish civilizations from their beginnings to the present. With over three millennia as its subject, the course must of necessity be a general survey. Together we will explore the mythic structures, significant documents, historical experiences, narratives, practices, beliefs, and worldviews of the Jewish people. The course begins by examining the roots of Judaism in the Hebrew Bible and the history of ancient Israel but quickly focuses on the creative forces that developed within Judaism as a national narrative confronted the forces of history, especially in the forms of the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. Rabbinic Judaism becomes the most dominant creative force and will receive our greatest attention, both in its formative years and as it encounters the rise of Christianity and Islam. After studying the Jewish experience in the medieval world, we will turn to Judaism?s encounter with the enlightenment and modernity. The historical survey concludes by attending to the transformations within Judaism and Jewish life of the last 150 years, including a confrontation with the experience of the Holocaust. Woven throughout this historical survey will be repeated engagements with core questions: ?Who is a Jew?? ?What do Jews believe?? ?What do Jews do?? ?What do we mean by ?religion??? ?How do Jews read texts within their tradition?? And perhaps most importantly, ?How many answers are there to a Jewish question?? Students in this course can expect to come away with some knowledge of the Bible in Judaism, rabbinic literature and law, Jewish mysticism and philosophy, Jewish nationalism and Zionism, Jewish culture, ritual, and worship in the synagogue, the home, and the community, and Jewish celebrations of life cycle events and the festivals.
RELS 1034 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures (HIS)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 1534/JwSt 1034/RelS1034
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course traces the development of Judaism and Jewish civilizations from their beginnings to the present. With over three millennia as its subject, the course must of necessity be a general survey. Together we will explore the mythic structures, significant documents, historical experiences, narratives, practices, beliefs, and worldviews of the Jewish people. The course begins by examining the roots of Judaism in the Hebrew Bible and the history of ancient Israel but quickly focuses on the creative forces that developed within Judaism as a national narrative confronted the forces of history, especially in the forms of the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. Rabbinic Judaism becomes the most dominant creative force and will receive our greatest attention, both in its formative years and as it encounters the rise of Christianity and Islam. After studying the Jewish experience in the medieval world, we will turn to Judaism?s encounter with the enlightenment and modernity. The historical survey concludes by attending to the transformations within Judaism and Jewish life of the last 150 years, including a confrontation with the experience of the Holocaust. Woven throughout this historical survey will be repeated engagements with core questions: ?Who is a Jew?? ?What do Jews believe?? ?What do Jews do?? ?What do we mean by ?religion??? ?How do Jews read texts within their tradition?? And perhaps most importantly, ?How many answers are there to a Jewish question?? Students in this course can expect to come away with some knowledge of the Bible in Judaism, rabbinic literature and law, Jewish mysticism and philosophy, Jewish nationalism and Zionism, Jewish culture, ritual, and worship in the synagogue, the home, and the community, and Jewish celebrations of life cycle events and the festivals.
RELS 3034 - Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures (HIS)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 1534/JwSt 1034/RelS1034
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course traces the development of Judaism and Jewish civilizations from their beginnings to the present. With over three millennia as its subject, the course must of necessity be a general survey. Together we will explore the mythic structures, significant documents, historical experiences, narratives, practices, beliefs, and worldviews of the Jewish people. The course begins by examining the roots of Judaism in the Hebrew Bible and the history of ancient Israel but quickly focuses on the creative forces that developed within Judaism as a national narrative confronted the forces of history, especially in the forms of the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. Rabbinic Judaism becomes the most dominant creative force and will receive our greatest attention, both in its formative years and as it encounters the rise of Christianity and Islam. After studying the Jewish experience in the medieval world, we will turn to Judaism?s encounter with the enlightenment and modernity. The historical survey concludes by attending to the transformations within Judaism and Jewish life of the last 150 years, including a confrontation with the experience of the Holocaust. Woven throughout this historical survey will be repeated engagements with core questions: ?Who is a Jew?? ?What do Jews believe?? ?What do Jews do?? ?What do we mean by ?religion??? ?How do Jews read texts within their tradition?? And perhaps most importantly, ?How many answers are there to a Jewish question?? Students in this course can expect to come away with some knowledge of the Bible in Judaism, rabbinic literature and law, Jewish mysticism and philosophy, Jewish nationalism and Zionism, Jewish culture, ritual, and worship in the synagogue, the home, and the community, and Jewish celebrations of life cycle events and the festivals.
HEBR 3012 - Intermediate Hebrew II
Credits: 5.0 [max 5.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hebr3012/Hebr 4012
Typically offered: Every Spring
Extensive reading of simplified modern Hebrew prose selections. Students discuss poetry, newspaper, film, and TV in Hebrew. Israeli cultural experiences. Hone composition, listening comprehension, and speaking skills to prepare for proficiency exams. Biblical prose, simple poetic texts. Taught in Hebrew. Meets with 4012. prereq: Grade of at least [C- or S] in in 3011 or instr consent
HEBR 3090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew
Credits: 3.0 [max 18.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Preparation to read various kinds of authentic Hebrew texts and to develop higher levels of comprehension/speaking. Conducted entirely in Hebrew. Emphasizes Modern Israeli Hebrew. Introduction to earlier genres. Grammar, widening vocabulary. Contemporary short fiction, essays, articles on cultural topics, films, Hebrew Internet sites, TV. prereq: 3012 or instr consent
HEBR 3102 - Intermediate Biblical Hebrew II
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hebr 3102/Hebr 4107
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
Text of Hebrew Bible, basic research tools and commentaries. Close reading of narrative biblical texts. Reading fluency, methods of research in biblical studies. Meets with 4107. prereq: Grade of at least [C- or S] in 3101 or instr consent
HEBR 5090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew
Credits: 3.0 [max 18.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Various authentic Hebrew texts. Comprehension/speaking. Conducted entirely in Hebrew. Emphasizes Modern Israeli Hebrew. Grammar, widening vocabulary. Contemporary short fiction, essays, articles on cultural topics, films, Hebrew Internet sites, TV.
CNRC 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course?s study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
CNRC 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible (LITR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNRC1201/3201,JWST1201/3201,RE
Typically offered: Every Fall
The Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are literary collections that modern Jewish and Christian traditions maintain as important, but these collections were initially produced by ancient Israelite scribes who composed and/or compiled the biblical texts at particular time periods in the ancient Near East. This course will introduce the academic study of biblical texts, which demands critical analysis of the literature and an openness to reading the literature from the perspective of ancient Israelite writers (who lived in a world far different from today). The course will spend considerable time on the literary (and scribal) composition of biblical prose texts; time will also be spent on the historical circumstances of biblical prophets and other writers of the biblical texts. This course will only address the ancient setting of the biblical texts and not re-interpretations in Jewish or Christian traditions. Given the scope of the course, modern interpretations of the biblical literature will not be discussed; we will only focus on this literature in its ancient setting. prereq: Knowledge of Hebrew not required
CNRC 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
CNRC 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3204/RelS5204/JwSt 3204/
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. Contents of Dead Sea Scrolls, significance for development of Bible. Background of Judaism and Christianity. Archaeological site of Qumran. Open to graduate students across the college; knowledge of classical Hebrew will not be required. The course is open to upper level undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
JWST 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
JWST 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible (LITR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNRC1201/3201,JWST1201/3201,RE
Typically offered: Every Fall
The Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are literary collections that modern Jewish and Christian traditions maintain as important, but these collections were initially produced by ancient Israelite scribes who composed and/or compiled the biblical texts at particular time periods in the ancient Near East. This course will introduce the academic study of biblical texts, which demands critical analysis of the literature and an openness to reading the literature from the perspective of ancient Israelite writers (who lived in a world far different from today). The course will spend considerable time on the literary (and scribal) composition of biblical prose texts; time will also be spent on the historical circumstances of biblical prophets and other writers of the biblical texts. This course will only address the ancient setting of the biblical texts and not re-interpretations in Jewish or Christian traditions. Given the scope of the course, modern interpretations of the biblical literature will not be discussed; we will only focus on this literature in its ancient setting. prereq: Knowledge of Hebrew not required
JWST 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course?s study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
JWST 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3204/RelS5204/JwSt 3204/
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. Contents of Dead Sea Scrolls, significance for understanding development of the Bible. Background of Judaism and Christianity. Archaeological site of Qumran. Open to graduate students across the college; knowledge of classical Hebrew will not be required. The course is open to upper level undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
RELS 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
RELS 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible (LITR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNRC1201/3201,JWST1201/3201,RE
Typically offered: Every Fall
The Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are literary collections that modern Jewish and Christian traditions maintain as important, but these collections were initially produced by ancient Israelite scribes who composed and/or compiled the biblical texts at particular time periods in the ancient Near East. This course will introduce the academic study of biblical texts, which demands critical analysis of the literature and an openness to reading the literature from the perspective of ancient Israelite writers (who lived in a world far different from today). The course will spend considerable time on the literary (and scribal) composition of biblical prose texts; time will also be spent on the historical circumstances of biblical prophets and other writers of the biblical texts. This course will only address the ancient setting of the biblical texts and not re-interpretations in Jewish or Christian traditions. Given the scope of the course, modern interpretations of the biblical literature will not be discussed; we will only focus on this literature in its ancient setting. prereq: Knowledge of Hebrew not required
RELS 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course?s study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
RELS 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3204/RelS5204/JwSt 3204/
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. Contents of Dead Sea Scrolls, significance for development of Bible. Background of Judaism and Christianity. Archaeological site of Qumran. The course will focus on the material in translation and academic scholarship on the literature and archaeological site. Open to graduate students across the college; knowledge of classical Hebrew will not be required. The course is open to upper level undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
CNRC 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course?s study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
CNRC 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible (LITR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNRC1201/3201,JWST1201/3201,RE
Typically offered: Every Fall
The Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are literary collections that modern Jewish and Christian traditions maintain as important, but these collections were initially produced by ancient Israelite scribes who composed and/or compiled the biblical texts at particular time periods in the ancient Near East. This course will introduce the academic study of biblical texts, which demands critical analysis of the literature and an openness to reading the literature from the perspective of ancient Israelite writers (who lived in a world far different from today). The course will spend considerable time on the literary (and scribal) composition of biblical prose texts; time will also be spent on the historical circumstances of biblical prophets and other writers of the biblical texts. This course will only address the ancient setting of the biblical texts and not re-interpretations in Jewish or Christian traditions. Given the scope of the course, modern interpretations of the biblical literature will not be discussed; we will only focus on this literature in its ancient setting. prereq: Knowledge of Hebrew not required
CNRC 3202 - Bible: Prophecy in Ancient Israel
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3202/JwSt 3202/RelS 3202
Typically offered: Every Spring
Survey of Israelite prophets. Emphasizes Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Second Isaiah. Prophetic contributions to Israelite religion. Personality of prophets. Politics, prophetic reaction. Textual analysis, biblical scholarship. Prophecy viewed cross-culturally. prereq: [RelS 1001] or [CNES 1201 or JWST 1201 or RELS 1201 or CNES 3201 or JWST 3201 or RELS 3201]
CNRC 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
CNRC 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
CNRC 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3204/RelS5204/JwSt 3204/
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. Contents of Dead Sea Scrolls, significance for development of Bible. Background of Judaism and Christianity. Archaeological site of Qumran. Open to graduate students across the college; knowledge of classical Hebrew will not be required. The course is open to upper level undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
CNRC 5502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
HIST 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
HIST 3606 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist/JwSt/Mest3606/RelS3717
Typically offered: Fall Even, Spring Odd Year
A Pew Research survey of the global religious landscape in 2010 found 2.2 billion Christians (31.5% of the world?s population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23.2%), and 14 million Jews (.2%). In this class, we explore how the histories of these religious communities became deeply entangled in an age of diplomacy, trade, jihad, and crusade.
JWST 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
JWST 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible (LITR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNRC1201/3201,JWST1201/3201,RE
Typically offered: Every Fall
The Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are literary collections that modern Jewish and Christian traditions maintain as important, but these collections were initially produced by ancient Israelite scribes who composed and/or compiled the biblical texts at particular time periods in the ancient Near East. This course will introduce the academic study of biblical texts, which demands critical analysis of the literature and an openness to reading the literature from the perspective of ancient Israelite writers (who lived in a world far different from today). The course will spend considerable time on the literary (and scribal) composition of biblical prose texts; time will also be spent on the historical circumstances of biblical prophets and other writers of the biblical texts. This course will only address the ancient setting of the biblical texts and not re-interpretations in Jewish or Christian traditions. Given the scope of the course, modern interpretations of the biblical literature will not be discussed; we will only focus on this literature in its ancient setting. prereq: Knowledge of Hebrew not required
JWST 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
JWST 3606 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist/JwSt/Mest3606/RelS3717
Typically offered: Fall Even, Spring Odd Year
A Pew Research survey of the global religious landscape in 2010 found 2.2 billion Christians (31.5% of the world's population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23.2%), and 14 million Jews (.2%). In this class, we explore how the histories of these religious communities became deeply entangled in an age of diplomacy, trade, jihad, and crusade.
JWST 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course?s study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
JWST 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3204/RelS5204/JwSt 3204/
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. Contents of Dead Sea Scrolls, significance for understanding development of the Bible. Background of Judaism and Christianity. Archaeological site of Qumran. Open to graduate students across the college; knowledge of classical Hebrew will not be required. The course is open to upper level undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
RELS 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
RELS 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible (LITR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNRC1201/3201,JWST1201/3201,RE
Typically offered: Every Fall
The Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are literary collections that modern Jewish and Christian traditions maintain as important, but these collections were initially produced by ancient Israelite scribes who composed and/or compiled the biblical texts at particular time periods in the ancient Near East. This course will introduce the academic study of biblical texts, which demands critical analysis of the literature and an openness to reading the literature from the perspective of ancient Israelite writers (who lived in a world far different from today). The course will spend considerable time on the literary (and scribal) composition of biblical prose texts; time will also be spent on the historical circumstances of biblical prophets and other writers of the biblical texts. This course will only address the ancient setting of the biblical texts and not re-interpretations in Jewish or Christian traditions. Given the scope of the course, modern interpretations of the biblical literature will not be discussed; we will only focus on this literature in its ancient setting. prereq: Knowledge of Hebrew not required
RELS 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
RELS 3717 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist/JwSt/Mest3606/RelS3717
Typically offered: Fall Even, Spring Odd Year
A Pew Research survey of the global religious landscape in 2010 found 2.2 billion Christians (31.5% of the world?s population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23.2%), and 14 million Jews (.2%). In this class, we explore how the histories of these religious communities became deeply entangled in an age of diplomacy, trade, jihad, and crusade.
RELS 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course?s study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
RELS 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3204/RelS5204/JwSt 3204/
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. Contents of Dead Sea Scrolls, significance for development of Bible. Background of Judaism and Christianity. Archaeological site of Qumran. The course will focus on the material in translation and academic scholarship on the literature and archaeological site. Open to graduate students across the college; knowledge of classical Hebrew will not be required. The course is open to upper level undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
CSCL 3123 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 3123/Ger 3631/JwSt 3631
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture's language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text ? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of whiteness? Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer Senocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
GER 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 3123/Ger 3631/JwSt 3631
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture?s language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text "Jewish"? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of "whiteness." Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer ?enocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
HEBR 3090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew
Credits: 3.0 [max 18.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Preparation to read various kinds of authentic Hebrew texts and to develop higher levels of comprehension/speaking. Conducted entirely in Hebrew. Emphasizes Modern Israeli Hebrew. Introduction to earlier genres. Grammar, widening vocabulary. Contemporary short fiction, essays, articles on cultural topics, films, Hebrew Internet sites, TV. prereq: 3012 or instr consent
HEBR 5090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew
Credits: 3.0 [max 18.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Various authentic Hebrew texts. Comprehension/speaking. Conducted entirely in Hebrew. Emphasizes Modern Israeli Hebrew. Grammar, widening vocabulary. Contemporary short fiction, essays, articles on cultural topics, films, Hebrew Internet sites, TV.
JWST 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 3123/Ger 3631/JwSt 3631
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture's language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text "Jewish"? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of "whiteness." Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer Senocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
CSCL 3123 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 3123/Ger 3631/JwSt 3631
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture's language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text ? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of whiteness? Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer Senocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
GER 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 3123/Ger 3631/JwSt 3631
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture?s language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text "Jewish"? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of "whiteness." Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer ?enocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
HEBR 3090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew
Credits: 3.0 [max 18.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Preparation to read various kinds of authentic Hebrew texts and to develop higher levels of comprehension/speaking. Conducted entirely in Hebrew. Emphasizes Modern Israeli Hebrew. Introduction to earlier genres. Grammar, widening vocabulary. Contemporary short fiction, essays, articles on cultural topics, films, Hebrew Internet sites, TV. prereq: 3012 or instr consent
HEBR 5090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew
Credits: 3.0 [max 18.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Various authentic Hebrew texts. Comprehension/speaking. Conducted entirely in Hebrew. Emphasizes Modern Israeli Hebrew. Grammar, widening vocabulary. Contemporary short fiction, essays, articles on cultural topics, films, Hebrew Internet sites, TV.
HIST 3511 - Muslims and Jews: Conflict and Co-existence in the Middle East and North Africa since 1700 (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3511/JwSt 3511/RelS 3079
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
Diversity of social/cultural interactions between Muslims and Jews and between Islam and Judaism since 1700. What enabled the two religious communities to peacefully coexist? What were causes of conflict? Why is history of Muslim-Jewish relations such a contested issue?
HIST 3512 - History of Modern Israel/Palestine: Society, Culture, and Politics (GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: GloS 3942/Jwst 3512/RelS 3113
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
History of Zionism/Israel. Arab-Jewish conflict, tensions between religious/secular Jews. Relationships between Mizrahi, Ashkenazi, Russian, Ethiopian, Arab citizens. Israeli cultural imagery. Newsreels, political posters, television shows, films, popular music.
HIST 3727 - History of the Holocaust
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3727/JwSt 3520/RelS 3520
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of 1933-1945 extermination of six million Jews and others by Nazi Germany on basis of race. European anti-Semitism. Implications of social Darwinism and race theory. Perpetrators, victims, onlookers, resistance. Theological responses of Jews and Christians.
JWST 3511 - Muslims and Jews: Conflict and Co-existence in the Middle East and North Africa since 1700 (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3511/JwSt 3511/RelS 3079
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
Diversity of social/cultural interactions between Muslims and Jews and between Islam and Judaism since 1700. What enabled the two religious communities to peacefully coexist? What were causes of conflict? Why is history of Muslim-Jewish relations such a contested issue?
JWST 3512 - History of Modern Israel/Palestine: Society, Culture, and Politics (GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: GloS 3942/Jwst 3512/RelS 3113
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
History of Zionism/Israel. Arab-Jewish conflict, tensions between religious/Jews. Relationships between Mizrahi, Ashkenazi, Russian, Ethiopian, Arab citizens. Israeli cultural imagery. Newsreels, political posters, television shows, films, popular music.
JWST 3520 - History of the Holocaust
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3727/JwSt 3520/RelS 3520
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of 1933-1945 extermination of six million Jews and others by Nazi Germany on basis of race. European anti-Semitism. Implications of social Darwinism and race theory. Perpetrators, victims, onlookers, resistance. Theological responses of Jews and Christians.
JWST 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 3123/Ger 3631/JwSt 3631
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture's language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text "Jewish"? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of "whiteness." Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer Senocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
RELS 3520 - History of the Holocaust
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3727/JwSt 3520/RelS 3520
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of 1933-1945 extermination of six million Jews and others by Nazi Germany on basis of race. European anti-Semitism. Implications of social Darwinism and race theory. Perpetrators, victims, onlookers, resistance. Theological responses of Jews and Christians.
CNRC 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course?s study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
CNRC 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible (LITR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNRC1201/3201,JWST1201/3201,RE
Typically offered: Every Fall
The Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are literary collections that modern Jewish and Christian traditions maintain as important, but these collections were initially produced by ancient Israelite scribes who composed and/or compiled the biblical texts at particular time periods in the ancient Near East. This course will introduce the academic study of biblical texts, which demands critical analysis of the literature and an openness to reading the literature from the perspective of ancient Israelite writers (who lived in a world far different from today). The course will spend considerable time on the literary (and scribal) composition of biblical prose texts; time will also be spent on the historical circumstances of biblical prophets and other writers of the biblical texts. This course will only address the ancient setting of the biblical texts and not re-interpretations in Jewish or Christian traditions. Given the scope of the course, modern interpretations of the biblical literature will not be discussed; we will only focus on this literature in its ancient setting. prereq: Knowledge of Hebrew not required
CNRC 3202 - Bible: Prophecy in Ancient Israel
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3202/JwSt 3202/RelS 3202
Typically offered: Every Spring
Survey of Israelite prophets. Emphasizes Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Second Isaiah. Prophetic contributions to Israelite religion. Personality of prophets. Politics, prophetic reaction. Textual analysis, biblical scholarship. Prophecy viewed cross-culturally. prereq: [RelS 1001] or [CNES 1201 or JWST 1201 or RELS 1201 or CNES 3201 or JWST 3201 or RELS 3201]
CNRC 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
CNRC 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
CNRC 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3204/RelS5204/JwSt 3204/
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. Contents of Dead Sea Scrolls, significance for development of Bible. Background of Judaism and Christianity. Archaeological site of Qumran. Open to graduate students across the college; knowledge of classical Hebrew will not be required. The course is open to upper level undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
CNRC 5502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
CSCL 3123 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 3123/Ger 3631/JwSt 3631
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture's language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text ? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of whiteness? Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer Senocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
GER 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 3123/Ger 3631/JwSt 3631
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture?s language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text "Jewish"? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of "whiteness." Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer ?enocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
HEBR 3090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew
Credits: 3.0 [max 18.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Preparation to read various kinds of authentic Hebrew texts and to develop higher levels of comprehension/speaking. Conducted entirely in Hebrew. Emphasizes Modern Israeli Hebrew. Introduction to earlier genres. Grammar, widening vocabulary. Contemporary short fiction, essays, articles on cultural topics, films, Hebrew Internet sites, TV. prereq: 3012 or instr consent
HEBR 5090 - Advanced Modern Hebrew
Credits: 3.0 [max 18.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Various authentic Hebrew texts. Comprehension/speaking. Conducted entirely in Hebrew. Emphasizes Modern Israeli Hebrew. Grammar, widening vocabulary. Contemporary short fiction, essays, articles on cultural topics, films, Hebrew Internet sites, TV.
HIST 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
HIST 3511 - Muslims and Jews: Conflict and Co-existence in the Middle East and North Africa since 1700 (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3511/JwSt 3511/RelS 3079
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
Diversity of social/cultural interactions between Muslims and Jews and between Islam and Judaism since 1700. What enabled the two religious communities to peacefully coexist? What were causes of conflict? Why is history of Muslim-Jewish relations such a contested issue?
HIST 3512 - History of Modern Israel/Palestine: Society, Culture, and Politics (GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: GloS 3942/Jwst 3512/RelS 3113
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
History of Zionism/Israel. Arab-Jewish conflict, tensions between religious/secular Jews. Relationships between Mizrahi, Ashkenazi, Russian, Ethiopian, Arab citizens. Israeli cultural imagery. Newsreels, political posters, television shows, films, popular music.
HIST 3606 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist/JwSt/Mest3606/RelS3717
Typically offered: Fall Even, Spring Odd Year
A Pew Research survey of the global religious landscape in 2010 found 2.2 billion Christians (31.5% of the world?s population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23.2%), and 14 million Jews (.2%). In this class, we explore how the histories of these religious communities became deeply entangled in an age of diplomacy, trade, jihad, and crusade.
HIST 3727 - History of the Holocaust
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3727/JwSt 3520/RelS 3520
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of 1933-1945 extermination of six million Jews and others by Nazi Germany on basis of race. European anti-Semitism. Implications of social Darwinism and race theory. Perpetrators, victims, onlookers, resistance. Theological responses of Jews and Christians.
JWST 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
JWST 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible (LITR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNRC1201/3201,JWST1201/3201,RE
Typically offered: Every Fall
The Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are literary collections that modern Jewish and Christian traditions maintain as important, but these collections were initially produced by ancient Israelite scribes who composed and/or compiled the biblical texts at particular time periods in the ancient Near East. This course will introduce the academic study of biblical texts, which demands critical analysis of the literature and an openness to reading the literature from the perspective of ancient Israelite writers (who lived in a world far different from today). The course will spend considerable time on the literary (and scribal) composition of biblical prose texts; time will also be spent on the historical circumstances of biblical prophets and other writers of the biblical texts. This course will only address the ancient setting of the biblical texts and not re-interpretations in Jewish or Christian traditions. Given the scope of the course, modern interpretations of the biblical literature will not be discussed; we will only focus on this literature in its ancient setting. prereq: Knowledge of Hebrew not required
JWST 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
JWST 3511 - Muslims and Jews: Conflict and Co-existence in the Middle East and North Africa since 1700 (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3511/JwSt 3511/RelS 3079
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
Diversity of social/cultural interactions between Muslims and Jews and between Islam and Judaism since 1700. What enabled the two religious communities to peacefully coexist? What were causes of conflict? Why is history of Muslim-Jewish relations such a contested issue?
JWST 3512 - History of Modern Israel/Palestine: Society, Culture, and Politics (GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: GloS 3942/Jwst 3512/RelS 3113
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
History of Zionism/Israel. Arab-Jewish conflict, tensions between religious/Jews. Relationships between Mizrahi, Ashkenazi, Russian, Ethiopian, Arab citizens. Israeli cultural imagery. Newsreels, political posters, television shows, films, popular music.
JWST 3520 - History of the Holocaust
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3727/JwSt 3520/RelS 3520
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of 1933-1945 extermination of six million Jews and others by Nazi Germany on basis of race. European anti-Semitism. Implications of social Darwinism and race theory. Perpetrators, victims, onlookers, resistance. Theological responses of Jews and Christians.
JWST 3606 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist/JwSt/Mest3606/RelS3717
Typically offered: Fall Even, Spring Odd Year
A Pew Research survey of the global religious landscape in 2010 found 2.2 billion Christians (31.5% of the world's population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23.2%), and 14 million Jews (.2%). In this class, we explore how the histories of these religious communities became deeply entangled in an age of diplomacy, trade, jihad, and crusade.
JWST 3631 - Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CSCL 3123/Ger 3631/JwSt 3631
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture's language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text "Jewish"? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of "whiteness." Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer Senocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
JWST 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course?s study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
JWST 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3204/RelS5204/JwSt 3204/
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. Contents of Dead Sea Scrolls, significance for understanding development of the Bible. Background of Judaism and Christianity. Archaeological site of Qumran. Open to graduate students across the college; knowledge of classical Hebrew will not be required. The course is open to upper level undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
RELS 3115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
RELS 3201 - The Bible: Context and Interpretation, World of the Hebrew Bible (LITR)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNRC1201/3201,JWST1201/3201,RE
Typically offered: Every Fall
The Hebrew Bible and Old Testament are literary collections that modern Jewish and Christian traditions maintain as important, but these collections were initially produced by ancient Israelite scribes who composed and/or compiled the biblical texts at particular time periods in the ancient Near East. This course will introduce the academic study of biblical texts, which demands critical analysis of the literature and an openness to reading the literature from the perspective of ancient Israelite writers (who lived in a world far different from today). The course will spend considerable time on the literary (and scribal) composition of biblical prose texts; time will also be spent on the historical circumstances of biblical prophets and other writers of the biblical texts. This course will only address the ancient setting of the biblical texts and not re-interpretations in Jewish or Christian traditions. Given the scope of the course, modern interpretations of the biblical literature will not be discussed; we will only focus on this literature in its ancient setting. prereq: Knowledge of Hebrew not required
RELS 3502W - Ancient Israel: From Conquest to Exile (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3502W/Hist 3502/RelS 3502
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Israel and Judah were not states of great importance in the ancient Near East. Their population and territory were small, and they could not resist conquest by larger, more powerful states like Assyria and Rome. Yet their ancient history matters greatly today, out of proportion to its insignificance during the periods in which it transpired. The historical experiences of the people of Israel and Judah were accorded religious meaning and literary articulation in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which became a foundational text for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Essential features of Western as well as Islamic civilization are predicated on some element of Israel?s ancient past, as mediated through the Bible; therefore it behooves us to understand that past. But the Bible is a religious work, not a transcript of events, and the history of ancient Israel is not derived merely from reading the biblical accounts of it. Archaeological excavations have revealed the physical remains of the cultures of Israel and neighboring lands, as well as bringing to light inscriptions, documents, and literary works produced by those cultures. These sources, which complement and sometimes contradict the accounts conveyed in the Bible, provide the basis for reconstructing a comprehensive history of ancient Israel. This course covers the history of Israel and Judah from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 BCE), by the end of which Israel had emerged as a distinct ethnic entity, to the period of Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE), which saw the final extinction of ancient Israel, represented by the kingdom of Judea, as a political entity. Knowledge of this history is based on archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, including the Hebrew Bible. N.B.: Students should be aware that the study of history, like all the human and natural sciences, is predicated on inquiry, not a priori judgments. Accordingly, the Bible is not privileged as an intrinsically true or authoritative record. No text is presumed inerrant, and all sources are subject to scrutiny, in the context of scholarly discourse. Biblical texts are treated just like all other texts, as the products of human beings embedded in a historical context, and as the subject of analysis and interpretation. Persons of all faiths and of no faith are equally welcome to participate in such scholarly discourse. However, students who feel that their own religious beliefs require an understanding of the Bible that is antithetical to the foregoing statements are cautioned that they may find themselves uncomfortable with this course.
RELS 3520 - History of the Holocaust
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3727/JwSt 3520/RelS 3520
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of 1933-1945 extermination of six million Jews and others by Nazi Germany on basis of race. European anti-Semitism. Implications of social Darwinism and race theory. Perpetrators, victims, onlookers, resistance. Theological responses of Jews and Christians.
RELS 3717 - Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages (HIS, GP)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist/JwSt/Mest3606/RelS3717
Typically offered: Fall Even, Spring Odd Year
A Pew Research survey of the global religious landscape in 2010 found 2.2 billion Christians (31.5% of the world?s population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23.2%), and 14 million Jews (.2%). In this class, we explore how the histories of these religious communities became deeply entangled in an age of diplomacy, trade, jihad, and crusade.
RELS 5115 - Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3115/JwSt 3115/RelS 3115
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course?s study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
RELS 5204 - The Dead Sea Scrolls
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: CNES 3204/RelS5204/JwSt 3204/
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. Contents of Dead Sea Scrolls, significance for development of Bible. Background of Judaism and Christianity. Archaeological site of Qumran. The course will focus on the material in translation and academic scholarship on the literature and archaeological site. Open to graduate students across the college; knowledge of classical Hebrew will not be required. The course is open to upper level undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
JWST 4000W - Final Project, Writing Intensive (WI)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Independent research/writing under supervision of a faculty sponsor. A student may approach any JwSt faculty member to develop a program of independent research/writing in an area of student's choosing. prereq: JwSt major, permission of dir of undergrad studies
JWST 4001W - Final Project, Writing Intensive (WI)
Credits: 1.0 [max 1.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Independent research and writing, under supervision of a faculty sponsor. Student makes a contract with instructor to write an in-depth research paper, or comparable project, to be completed in conjunction with a JwSt 5xxx course. prereq: concurrent registration is required (or allowed) in 5xxx, JwSt major, permission of dir of undergrad studies
JWST 4000W - Final Project, Writing Intensive (WI)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Independent research/writing under supervision of a faculty sponsor. A student may approach any JwSt faculty member to develop a program of independent research/writing in an area of student's choosing. prereq: JwSt major, permission of dir of undergrad studies
JWST 4001W - Final Project, Writing Intensive (WI)
Credits: 1.0 [max 1.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Independent research and writing, under supervision of a faculty sponsor. Student makes a contract with instructor to write an in-depth research paper, or comparable project, to be completed in conjunction with a JwSt 5xxx course. prereq: concurrent registration is required (or allowed) in 5xxx, JwSt major, permission of dir of undergrad studies