Courses

JS1500/REL1240: Jews and Judaisms

The course presents an overview of Judaism as a religion, a history of Judaism, and a history of the academic field of Jewish Studies. The course provides a foundation for the Jewish Studies minor, as well as for courses in Religious Studies, Middle East Studies, and History. The course will present broad, general knowledge, but also address questions of the intersection of religion, ethnicity, and race; the importance of narrative and community in religious persistence, particularly in the face of persecution; and modes of creativity in religious thought and practice.

REL 1250: What is the Bible?

This course is premised on the notion that a full understanding of the Bible requires an in-depth consideration of how, why, and when it was written. To that end, the course focuses on the development of Israelite / Jewish culture in its relation both to the rise and fall of the nation-state of Israel and to the biblical notion of the covenant as this at once inflected and was inflected by cultural and political affairs. Roughly the first two-thirds of the course will be devoted to writings of the Hebrew Bible; the last third will focus on the writings of the New Testament with special attention to the emergence of Christianity—and in particular to the Jewish concept of the Messiah as applied to Jesus of Nazareth—as one line of evolution within first-century Jewish culture.

HST 2790: The Holocaust

This course will confront the background, events, and consequences of the extermination of European Jews during World War II. Students will be introduced to traditions of European racism and anti-Semitism, as well as the cultural, political, diplomatic, and social conditions in Germany and elsewhere that helped to make the Holocaust possible. We will then turn to a study of the rise of National Socialism, its vision for a new Europe, and the role of anti-Semitism in Nazi ideology and practice, culminating in an analysis of both the politics and the machinery of mass murder.

REL 2245. Topics in Jewish Traditions

Focus on the diversity of Jewish Traditions in the US and elsewhere, exploring subjects such as lived Jewish traditions, stories told in Jewish communities, and the diversity of Jewish experiences. May repeat for credit with different content. Catamount Core: AH3.

JS 1610. Contemporary Israel

Addresses the modern nation-state of Israel through such topics as media, demographics, politics, religion, immigration, popular culture, and/or urban planning and systems.

HST 2792. Jews in Modern Europe

The history of the Jewish people from the eighteenth century to the present, focusing on Europe and the United States. Catamount Core: D2.