Jewish Studies Courses - Spring 2026

Philosophical and social dimensions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Humanism. Emphasizes the diversity of religious experience and traditions.

A philosophical analysis of the meaning of race and the problem of racism. Examines the origins, concepts, and nature of race; the nature of racism, systematic racism, and racial oppression; and how racial justice and anti-racism can be achieved.

Examines the concepts, belief systems and practices of religions. Topics include religious experience, faith and reason, arguments for God’s existence, the problem of evil, religious language, life after death, miracles, religion and science, and the conflicting claims of different religions.Jewish Studies Courses - Spring 2026

Explores major historical elements of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the broader Arab-Israeli conflict. Foundations of Israeli and Palestinian national identities, major historical moments that have intensified the conflict, changing patterns of U.S. foreign policy toward the region, and ways in which religious commitments inform approaches to ongoing conflict.

History of the Jewish people from Alexander the Great to the spread of Islam; covers the Maccabean revolt, the Herodian dynasty, life in the diaspora, sects of Judaism, the ministries of Jesus and Paul, the Jewish revolts, early Rabbinic Judaism, and the development of Christian anti-Semitism. Readings include the Hebrew Bible, intertestamental literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the New Testament, Flavius Josephus and other historians, and Talmudic excerpts, as well as documentary sources.

The modern history of imperialism in the Middle East. Historical foundation concerning classic Islamic styles of empire and the history of European and Ottoman imperialism, as well as anti-imperial and post-colonial movements, in the past 200-plus years. Includes many contrasting arguments about empire and postcolonialism to give students a wider sense of the variety of issues, ideas and historical conclusions concerning this dynamic and influential region.

Economic recovery and subsequent stagnation, retreat from empire, popular culture, revolution of 1968, domestic politics, diplomacy, collapse of socialism and disintegration of the eastern bloc, European integration.

European Jews and their destruction during Nazi Germany’s ascendancy; Jewish communities and anti-Semitism before the Nazis; institutions and processes of extermination; victims, including non-Jews; perpetrators; historical background.

Study of literary responses to the Holocaust. “Canonical” Holocaust authors such as Primo Levi, Eli Wiesel and Anne Frank are read alongside criticism, theory, graphic novels, film and the works of lesser-known authors. Topics of discussion include the relationship between Holocaust literature and film, language and trauma, literature and genocide, storytelling and history, art and ethics.

Overview of the cultural life and artistic output during the Weimar Republic, the German state between 1918-1933. Taught entirely in German.

Introduces students to international relations and politics of the Middle East, with focus on critical security issues. Surveys rise of the state system in the Middle East and crises of authority and identity. Examines Middle East regional relations and role of Middle East in international affairs. 

Examines how the Holocaust has been portrayed in feature films and documentaries. 

This course is taught in English.