Winter Term 2024 Courses

JST 311 / HST 311 Introduction to New Testament  
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Loren Spielman
MODE: Face to Face
Tue/Thu 10:00am - 11:50am
LOCATION: CH 221 (Cramer Hall)
CRN: 41577 / 41410

Come learn what modern scholarship has to say about the contents, contexts and composition of the New Testament. This course focuses on what the earliest Christian writings reveal about the origins of Christianity, its early history and the varieties of its practice and belief. Special attention will be paid to identifying different perspectives on the life and role of Jesus, the relationship between faith and law, and the nature of divine salvation within (and to some extent outside of) the New Testament canon.

JST / HST 317U Jewish History I From Antiquity to the Middle Ages ​
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Loren Spielman
MODE: In person
Mon/Wed 9:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m. 
LOCATION:  CH 283 (Cramer Hall)
CRN: 41578 / 41413

When does the history of the Jews begin? How reliable is the Bible as a source for Jewish origins?  What was life like for Jews living under Greek and Roman rule, during the time of Jesus, or under the first Christian and Muslim empires?  This course will answer all these questions, covering the Jewish historical experience from its Biblical origins (circa 1000 BCE) through the end of the first millennium (1000 CE). We will examine diverse forms of Jewish life during antiquity and examine the boundaries of pre-modern Jewish cultural and religious identity. Special attention will also be paid to ancient Jewish literature, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish Apocrypha, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Talmud. This class is the first in a two semester introduction to the study of Jewish history, religion and culture (no prerequisites are required).

Fulfills a requirement for the Medieval and Early Modern Studies minor.

University studies cluster:  Interpreting the Past

ENG 330U Jewish and Israeli Literature
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Michael Weingrad
MODE: Online
CRN:  43893

This course looks at the Jewish encounter with modernity through literature. The focus will be on literature produced by Eastern European Jews in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of great upheaval reflected in the emerging modern Hebrew and Yiddish literatures of the time. We will read works such as classic modern Jewish authors as Sholem Aleichem, S.Y. Agnon, and H.N Bialik. In the second half of the course we will sample literature produced after the 1930’s, including Israeli literature and literature produced outside of Eastern Europe.

University Studies clusters: Global Perspectives, Examining Popular Culture

JST / HST 372 History of Antisemitism
Instructor: Professor Natan Meir
MODE: In person
Mon/Wed 11:30 a.m.  - 1:20 p.m.
LOCATION:  CH 283 (Cramer Hall)
CRN:  44015 / 44196

In this course we will chart the development of hostility towards Jews from antiquity to the present day. In lectures and discussion, students will gain an understanding of how anti-Jewish hostility has persisted over millennia even as it has adapted to individual historical and geographic contexts. Topics include anti-Jewish bias in the ancient world and foundational Christian sources; social and economic marginalization and expulsions in medieval Europe; the emergence of political and racial antisemitism in the nineteenth century; Nazi antisemitism; and contemporary expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment, including left- and right-wing antisemitism and conspiracy theories such as QAnon.  

Fulfills Race and Ethnic Studies Requirement (RESR)

JST / HST 379U History of Zionism 
INSTRUCTOR: Nina Spiegel
MODE: Hybrid - 1 class in person, 1 class asynchronous
Wed 11:30 a.m. - 1:20 p.m.
LOCATION: OND 202 (Ondine) - NEW LOCATION as of 1/10/2024
CRN: 41579 / 41424

Zionism is in the news, on posters, debated, fought over. But what is Zionism, anyway? This course will explore the ideas, visions, debates, and challenges that shaped Zionism and the formation of the modern Israeli state. We will investigate the Zionist movement in Europe in the 19th century, the variety and diversity of Zionist visions, and the movement’s growth in Palestine from the late 19th century up until the formation of the state of Israel in 1948. The course examines the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the society and culture the Zionist movement developed in Ottoman and British Mandate Palestine. The class includes a variety of sources, including film, photography, literature, memoirs, political philosophy, and historiography.

University Studies cluster: Global Perspectives.

HST 461/561 Topics in Jewish History: Dance 
INSTRUCTOR: Nina Spiegel
MODE: Hybrid - 1 class in person, 1 class asynchronous
Thur 12:00 p.m. - 1:50 p.m. 
LOCATION: OND 203 (Ondine) - NEW LOCATION as of 1/10/2024
CRN: 44205/44206

Dance has played an important role in Jewish religious and cultural life over the ages. This course will use dance as a window into exploring ways in which Jewish culture has developed in different regions and the variety and diversity of Jewish life. Looking at Jewish dance around the world offers a unique avenue for deepening understanding of Jewish culture, religion, and society and engaging in comparative and transnational history.  The course will focus on the twentieth century and cover Jewish dance traditions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as a range of contemporary dances in the United States and Israel. We will cover everyday dances as well as dances performed on stage. Our sources will include photography, film, first hand accounts by dancers and choreographers, and scholarly interpretations.  No previous coursework in Jewish studies or dance history is required: the course will provide an introduction to the topic and to how to view and approach dance as a window into culture.