This course will survey the history, textual and archaeological remains of ancient Judaism and the beginnings of Christianity in ancient Judaea from 336 BCE to 135 CE. Special emphasis will focus on how archaeology contributes to the understanding of the history and texts of Ancient Judaism and the New Testament.
The course will focus on the contributions of Jewish writers to German literature and culture. In each case, a reading of the writer’s works will include an examination of that writer’s dual identity as Jew and as German, and a questioning of how this duality is reflected in the writer’s texts. Issues of assimilation/acculturation, Jewish identification, and Jewish self-hatred will all be discussed.
This course is a Humanities Tier Two course in the University-wide General Education Curriculum; it also fulfills the “Diversity Emphasis” requirement. Like other Tier Two courses, this class will seek to help you develop your critical thinking, writing, and interpretive skills. We will examine a wide variety of texts, ranging from purely literary texts — poetry, prose, and drama — to works of philosophy, psychology and political science. The course is interdisciplinary in this sense, and also in the sense that you will be asked to consider how the work of these writers is shaped by the struggle for equal rights as Jews in the German-speaking world, and the equally difficult struggle to come to terms within themselves with their conflicted identities.
| The course introduces major trends in Israeli fiction, poetry, and literary criticism. It also provides a historical background on ideological context and cultural identity formation by learning about Israeli literary accomplishments beginning in the 1880's to the present day. |
| Throughout most of their history Jews faced Gentile (non-Jewish) majorities, and external influences have always permeated nearly every aspect of Jewish life. How did Jews view themselves and non-Jews? What were the differences between themselves and non-Jews, according to various Jewish thinkers? |
| Course traces the historical development of the many expressions of modern Jewish philosophy and theology since the seventeenth century. |
This course explores Jewish thought and culture, religious ideas and practices through multidisciplinary perspectives including biblical studies and rabbinics, theology, philosophy, history, law and medical ethics. Students learn foundational concepts of Judaism and apply them to larger philosophical questions about the evolution of religion and morality in today's world. What are Jewish understandings of virtue, of man's status, role and responsibility to the earth? What are the attributes and nature of God in Judaism and how do they differ from Christianity and Islam? How did Jewish notions of politics, social construct, and the covenant impact the structure and nature of the United States? How does Judaism view abortion, organ transplantation and genetics engineering?
