Minor in Jewish Studies

Jewish Studies is an interdisciplinary approach to the Jewish experience: the history, culture, religion, and philosophy of Judaism and Jewish peoples. It treats Judaism not as a fixed system but as a cluster of ideas that has shifted and continues to develop in response to historical necessities and alongside of other cultures. It also deals with issues of Jewish identity and ethnicity and the relationship between minority and majority cultures, including historic manifestations of anti-Judaism and antisemitism. Jewish Studies, then, addresses both the particularity of Jewish experience(s)–across time and space–and the general connections that this range of experience has with other cultures.

Requirements

A minor in Jewish Studies requires five courses, one of which must be REL 244: Judaism. The remaining four courses should be selected with the following principles in mind:
1. At least one course should be chosen from each of the following three areas: a.) social sciences and history or archaeology;  b.) literature and the arts; c.) religious studies or philosophy.
2. At least two courses, in addition to the required course in Judaism, should be CORE COURSES, devoted exclusively to the study of Jewish texts, history, culture, religion, philosophy, literature, identity, or relations between Jews or Judaism and other peoples or cultures. Although several of these courses occur in the regular curriculum of Religious Studies, other core courses will often appear as  topics courses and so will vary from year to year. 
3. At least one course must be taken at the 300 or 400 level.
4. Two courses may be selected from a group of non-core electives that include Jewish Studies within a broader framework of inquiry. Courses will be added to or deleted from this group by decision of the Jewish Studies Steering Committee. The committee will approve specific syllabi for proposed courses and publish a list of Jewish Studies offerings in the schedule of classes for each upcoming semester.

Note: Not any five courses from the list of offerings will count as a minor. Students are urged to seek an advisor at an early stage in their undertaking of this minor so that, with a Jewish Studies faculty member's help, they can plan a course of study that is coherent and consistent with  their interests and needs.

Core Electives
(Choose at least 2)

Group a: Social Sciences, History, and Archaeology
     Anthropology 290: Anthropological Perspectives–Biblical Ritual and Myth, 
          or Anthropology of Jews and Judaism
     Classical Studies 300: Topics–Ancient Israel
     History 197: Holocaust and History

Group b: Literature and the Arts
     English 155: Topics–Jewish American Literature
     English 155: Topics--Literature of the Holocaust
     English 355: Topics--Kafka
     German 412: Topics–Exile and Holocaust
     Religious Studies 241: Biblical Literature (Old Testament)

Group c: Religious Studies and Philosophy
     Religious Studies 141: Hebrew Scriptures
      Religious Studies 197: Adam and Eve Tradition

Non-Core Electives

The following is a list of elective courses that are likely to be approved and offered over the course of a year or two:

Group 1: Social Sciences, History, Archaeology
     Anthropology 254: Anthropology of Religion
     Anthropology 258: Race and Ethnicity in American Culture
     History 100: The Ancient World
     History 103: Twentieth Century Europe
     History 244: Germany from 1879 to 1989
     History 342: The Europe of Dictators

Group 2: Literature and the Arts
     English 197: Existentialism (in Literature)
     English 261: Modern Continental Literature
     English 461: Seminar in THE OTHER: Antisemitism, Antifeminism, and Racism
          in Early English Literature
     German 409: Nineteenth Century German Literature and Culture
     German 411: Twentieth Century German Literature and Culture
     Modern Languages 300: Russian Culture from Icons to Faberge
     Modern Languages 301: Twentieth Century Russian Culture
     Modern Languages 326: Twentieth Century Russian Literature
     Religious Studies 241: Biblical Literature (Old and New Testaments)

Group 3: Religious Studies and Philosophy
     Modern Languages 395: Religion(s) in German Culture
     Religious Studies 145: Judaism, Christianity and Islam
     Religious Studies 271: Feminist Theologies
     Religious Studies 320: Genesis and Gender
     Religious Studies 341: Women and the Bible
     Religious Studies 440: Biblical Exegesis

We have a variety of additional course proposals,  not listed above, that members of our group would like to teach as crosslisted topics courses. For example:

     Art History: Antisemitism and Visual Culture in Pre Modern Europe
     Art History: Anti-Judaism and Judeophobia in Christian Art and Culture
     Art History: Holocaust Monuments: Memory, Politics, and Anti-Aesthetics
     English Topics: Ethnic American Literature
     English Topics: Jewish Film
     German Topics: Jews and Germans
     Religious Studies or Philosophy: Post Holocaust Theology and Philosophy