CJS - Courses & Degree Programs

To register for classes, click here: http://gtusonis.jenzabarcloud.com
 

Fall 2022

HRHS-2001  The Household & the Making of Jewish Culture
Instructor: Deena Aranoff | Thursdays, 9:40am–12:30pm

The seminar will examine the role of the household in the making of Jewish culture. We will consider household factors as both generators and enactments of Jewish custom; we will examine the ways in which household custom informed classical Jewish renderings, both Biblical and Talmudic. Our study will proceed chronologically, with a consideration of the household in the context of ancient Israel through medieval and modern times. This course will allow us to appreciate the continuities and discontinuities in Jewish history and to acquire a more nuanced sense of the overall process of cultural production in Judaism. This course satisfies the ancient-medieval survey course required for the M.A. and certificate in Jewish Studies.

PR-3300  Modern Jewish Theology
Instructor: Sam S.B. Shonkoff | Thursdays, 2:10pm–5:00pm

The intellectual, social, and political conditions known as "modernity" have transformed how people seek and think about the divine. In this survey course, we will explore major trends in modern Jewish theology, from the mid-eighteenth century through the present. Topics to be considered will include new emphases on individual autonomy and personal experience, tensions between universalism and particularism, navigations of historical relativism, theological perplexities after the Shoah, and the rise of feminism. This course is required for all MA and certificate students at CJS.

IDS-6000  Seminar on Interdisciplinarity
Instructor: Sam S.B. Shonkoff & Valerie Miles-Tribble | Wednesdays, 9:40am–12:30pm

Through collaborative-based learning projects, students and teachers will explore critical issues and develop sound criteria for doing interdisciplinary work in religious studies in an interreligious context. Students will practice skills for formulating research questions, engage in learning the present contours of the fields that will constitute their primary and secondary concentrations and outside disciplines, and begin to develop an academic plan for their studies at the GTU from course work through the comprehensive examination and eventually the dissertation. Requirements: student presentations, a draft academic plan, two short written reports, a book review, and a research prospectus. This course is required for all students in the first year of the GTU PhD program. This course will be in remote format with a mixture of asynchronous activities on Moodle, synchronous meetings online, and some concurrent hybrid sessions in the GTU Library Collaborative Learning Space that students can choose to attend either in-person or online.

BS-4680  Christian Anti-Judaism: From Antiquity to the Present (Offered by CJS Affiliated Faculty through a Newhall Fellowship)
Instructor: Leah Macinskas-Le  | Tuesdays, 9:40am–12:30pm

This course explores the history of Christian anti-Judaism and its effects. The reception history of the Bible by the Christian church has led to a persistent anti-Jewish reading of many of these texts, including ones shared by Jews and Christians alike. This course will expose students to these interpretive patterns, as well as to Jewish reactions to them. It will conclude with an examination of the effects this long-embedded pattern of thinking has had elsewhere in the world including white supremacy and imperial colonialism. This is a sensitive topic and all care will be taken to account for a variety of viewpoints and cultural contexts. This course is taught by PhD student Leah Macinskas-Le with a Newhall Award, under the supervision of Rebecca Esterson.

Spring 2023

HRIR-1500  Islamic & Jewish Mysticisms
Instructor: Sam S.B. Shonkoff & Fateme Montazeri | Mondays, 2:10pm–5:00pm

Does mysticism transcend the boundaries of particular traditions, or are even the most transcendent experiences always nonetheless culturally embedded? This classic ambiguity makes mysticism a particularly illuminating case study for interreligious study. In this course, we will explore Islamic and Jewish mysticisms. On one hand, students will gain familiarity with each distinct tradition, as it unfolds from antiquity through present times. On the other hand, there will be ample opportunity to engage in comparative reflections, appreciating both similarities and differences in the theological, cultural, political, and aesthetic aspects of Jewish and Islamic mysticisms.

HSST-2026  Introduction to Rabbinic Literature
Instructor: Deena Aranoff | Tuesdays, 9:40am–12:30pm

This class will serve as an introduction to rabbinic literature. We will examine selections from the vast rabbinic corpus, with a focus on Talmud and Midrash. Our goal will be to acquire familiarity with a variety of rabbinic styles, to think critically about rabbinic culture, and to acquire general access and familiarity with the classical rabbinic library. We will also consider the historical development of rabbinic Judaism in its late-antique context.

HR-2052  Neo-Hasidism
Instructor: Sam S.B. Shonkoff | Tuesdays, 2:10pm–5:00pm

Hasidism itself was a radical Jewish mystical movement that emerged in eighteenth-century Poland and spread like wildfire throughout Eastern Europe. Within just a few generations, contending with the allures of liberal secularism and assimilation, Hasidism became a cornerstone of ultra-Orthodoxy. However, starting in the twentieth-century, Hasidism also became an object of romantic enchantment among relatively secular Jews. Neo-Hasidism, the topic of this course, refers precisely to this phenomenon of non-Hasidic Jews drawing upon (appropriating?) Hasidism for purposes of spiritual-cultural renewal. The paths of Neo-Hasidism intersect with stories of post-liberal countercultures, orientalism, cultural Zionism, Jewish navigations of collective trauma, identity politics, psychedelics, and feminism.

This is an online GTU program that features a Jewish studies component. For more info, click here.