Minor

JUS 481 - Jews in the Roman Empire

This course explores Judaism from Late Antiquity through the beginning of the Middle Ages. Rather than a traditional survey format, we will cover this period through historical, literary, and cultural approaches to primary literature (including focus on rabbinic literature) organized thematically. Throughout, we will read primary and secondary sources on two levels: exploring the historical and literary narratives they weave about this period in Jewish history, while paying close attention to their rhetorical choices. We discuss rabbinic self-representation simultaneously as we analyze the ways historical narratives and primary texts have been mobilized in the contemporary Jewish clime. Finally, we will treat the question of how this body of literature came to be of such central importance in Jewish culture.

Course Credits
3

JUS 449 - Women in Ancient Israel

This course is an intensive investigation of the life of the ancient Israelite woman. It presents a multidisciplinary approach toward reconstructing the social, economic, religious and political life of women in Iron Age Israel. Through readings and class discussion, students will explore the ways in which women contributed to their society throughout the eras of the Judges and of the United and Divided Monarchies (1200-587 BCE).

Because women traditionally have been undervalued and marginalized, until recently little attention was devoted to this vitally important and stimulating topic. In consequence, students will be challenged to utilize multiple sources in their reconstruction of the lives of Israelite women. The sources used in this class will include (but not be limited to) archaeological, historical and art historical data, the witness of the Hebrew Bible and other pertinent texts, and anthropological and ethnographic studies of the roles of women in pre-industrial and Middle eastern societies.