Special Topics Seminar Course includes small group discussion, research, and presentations on a variety of Judaic Studies related special topics of interest. Current research, relevant issues, historical perspectives and guest speakers may be included.
Overview of ethnic and religious minorities in the contemporary Middle East, study of ethnic and religious diversity and its origin and manifestations in the modern Middle East. Examination of how the concept of religious and ethnic minority has emerged as a key factor in state policies towards minorities as well as the cultural, economic, political, religious, and educational lives of its people.
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. |
