Tikvah

Fall

 

REL 502 : Philosophy and the Study of Religion

Professor: Leora F. Batnitzky

JDS 202 / REL 202 : Great Books of the Jewish Tradition

This course introduces students to key themes and trends of the classical, medieval, and modern Jewish tradition through a close reading of some of its most influential literature. Our readings will include portions of the Bible, classical rabbinic literature, medieval Jewish poetry, philosophy, and mysticism, and modern Jewish writers from Moses Mendelssohn to Sholem Aleichem and from Abraham Isaac Kook to Abraham Joshua Heschel. We will pay special attention to the multiple approaches to tradition and change over the centuries and to the struggle over the meaning of Judaism in its engagement with an ever-changing world.
Professor: Elisha R. Russ-Fishbane

In this course we will develop a reading of Spinoza's philosophy by working through his Ethics. We will consider Spinoza's conceptions of ontology, focusing on the relation of ontology to human existence, politics and religion.
Professor: Oded Schechter

Spring

REL 242/JDS 242: Jewish Thought and Modern Society
What is Judaism’s and the individual Jew’s relation to the modern world? Is Judaism a religion, a nationality, an ethnicity, or a combination of these? This course explores various answers to these questions by examining various historical and cultural formations of Jewish identity in Europe, America, and Israel from the eighteenth century to the present, as well as by engaging particular issues, such as Judaism’s relation to technology, the environment, bioethics, feminism, and democracy.
Professor: Leora Batnitzky

REL 399: God and Human Nature
This course considers the question of what it means to be human from the perspectives of Jewish and Christian theology. Among the questions we will ask are: what does God have to do with understanding human nature? Who is the human being? What are the differences and overlaps between contemporary secular and theological accounts of human nature? What are the differences and overlaps between Jewish and Christian theology?
Professor: Robert W. Jenson

REL 396/PHI 396/GER 304: Genealogy of Secularism
This course explores the philosophical development of the concept of secularism, its philosophical and religious sources, as well as its critiques. Among the questions we will consider are: what is universal about secularism? Is critical thought necessarily secular? What is the relation between secularism and readings of the Bible? Our method will be genealogical, meaning that our focus will be on the philosophical aspects of secularism, rather than on the history of secularism.
Professor: Oded Schechter

NES 398/JDS 398/REL 398: Clash of Civilizations? Perceptions of East and West from the Medieval Period to the Contemporary World
Among the pressing issues of our time is the perceived divide between the Islamic "East" and the European and American "West." As this course explores, the meeting if Islamicate and western civilizations has a long, complicated history. Examine the roots of this tension and ways in which the two perceived one another from the Middle Ages to modernity through classic works of literature and art. Likewise, examine the experience of "eastern" Judaism and Christianity, including how they viewed their western counterparts, and the complex relationship between religion and culture in the formation of identity.
Professor: Elisha Russ-Fishbane

Fall

ECS 392 / POL 414 / REL 392: God and Politics
Focusing on select primary texts from antiquity to the present, this seminar considers various attempts to delineate God's relation to politics from within the history of western political thought, the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the American Founding. Prominent politicians, public intellectuals, and religious leaders will also visit and offer lectures outside of the course.
Professors: Leora F. Batnitzky and Eric S. Gregory

FRS 173: Tolerance and its Discontents: the Origins and Limits of Virtue
This course traces the development of the quintessentially modern virtue of tolerance in Jewish history and thought. We will explore the complexity of the problem by contrasting civic and religious tolerance and the inherent, sometimes unexpected tensions that lurk behind both. We will look closely at several case studies of how tolerance functioned in the charged climate of medieval society and political religion. The Jewish experience as tolerated minority sheds crucial light on the origins and limits of medieval toleration. We will next explore the question of tolerance and dissent and the religious problem of “heresy.” The course will conclude with an analysis of the arguments for political and religious toleration in the west and the emergence of a Jewish and American discourse of the separation of church and state.
Professor: Elisha Russ-Fishbane
 

REL 393/ PHI 393/ JDS 393: Spinoza: Philosophy, Religion, and Politics
The first goal of this seminar is to develop a reading of Spinoza’s philosophy by working through his Ethics. In our reading of the Ethics we will discuss Spinoza’s conceptions of ontology, focusing on the relation of ontology to human existence, politics and religion. This will require that we first discuss the fundamental notions of Spinoza’s ontology, such as existence and essence, substance and attribute, substance and modes, causa sui, immanent cause, expression, freedom and eternity. We will then be equipped to elaborate on human existence, politics and religion. In this part we will discuss concepts such as, freedom of will, affection, action and passion, and the sense in which the human always exists in a certain kind of temporality. In order to get a complete view of Spinoza’s philosophy, we will also read passages from Spinoza’s other texts, including the Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, Short Treatise on God, Man and His Well-Being, The Theological-Political Treatise, the Political Treatise, and the Letters.
Professor: Oded Schechter