Course Offerings
As always, check BU Brain for the latest updates, course descriptions, details and registration.
FALL 2025
Hebrew | Israel Studies | Judaic Studies | Religious Studies | Yiddish
HEBREW
HEBR 101 - Hebrew I - Gen Ed: WL1
Cross listed: HEBR 501
Time: M/W 9:45 -10:40 a.m.| T/R 9:45 -10:40 a.m.
Instructor: Orly Shoer
Hebrew 101 is the first semester of Modern Hebrew. The course is designed only for
students with very little or no previous experience in the language. It offers a communicative
introduction to Modern Hebrew language and its culture. It emphasizes all facets of
the language – comprehension, speech, reading, grammar and writing. The focus of instruction
is on enabling students to develop basic vocabulary and communicative skills in Modern
Hebrew centering on the students' immediate surroundings and simple daily activities.
By the end of the course students will be able to read and write short stories, voice
their opinion, converse and use basic grammar. Prerequisites: None
HEBR 203 - Hebrew III - Gen Ed: WL3
Cross listed: HEBR 503
Time: M/W/F 12:15 p.m. -1:15 p.m.
Instructor: Orly Shoer
Hebrew 203 is the third course in the Modern Hebrew program sequence, and the last
course needed to fulfill the ’s foreign language requirement.
It focuses on increasing students' confidence in using the language in different social
settings. This course is designed to advance the Hebrew learner to the intermediate-high
level by introducing complex grammatical structure forms and sentences. Grammar teaching
covers three of the main verb structures. The course concentrates on improving speaking,
writing, as well as, working on text analysis and comprehension skills. Prerequisites:
HEBR 102 with a grade of C- or better, a placement exam, or permission of the instructor.
HEBR 311 - Texts and Conversations I - Gen Ed: WL3
Cross listed: HEBR 505
Time: M/W/F 1:30 p.m. -2:30 p.m.
Instructor: Orly Shoer
Hebrew 311 is an advanced-intermediate Hebrew language and culture course that is
intended for students who wish to further develop their vocabulary building and practice
all four language skills, with an emphasis on reading comprehension, grammar, syntax,
composition, vocabulary building and conversation. Students will advance their Hebrew
language skills through reading, discussing and writing about a variety of texts,
with some emphasis placed on short articles. Prerequisites: HEBR 204 with a grade
of C- or better, a placement exam, or permission of the instructor.
ISRAEL STUDIES
ISRL 120 - Intro to Israeli Literature – Gen Ed: G, H
Cross listed: JUST 120 / COLI 180P
Time: M/W/F 11:00 a.m - 12:00 p.m.
Instructor: Lior Libman
This survey course introduces students to texts (poems, short stories, novels) and
themes (nation-building, conflict, gender constructions, ethnic and religious tensions)
in Israeli literature from 1948 to the present. We will place literary works within
their historical, cultural and political contexts and examine them to illustrate the
main features of the time. Texts will be read in translation. No previous knowledge
is required.The course is a Core Course for the Minor in Israel Studies, a Literature
Course for the Major/Minor in Hebrew, and an Area Course in Israel Studies for the
Major/Minor in Judaic Studies.
ISRL 150 – Modern Israel - Gen Ed: N
Cross listed: JUST 150 / HIST 150 / HMRT 289B
Time: T/R 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Instructor: Shay Rabineau
This course presents an overview of the history of Israel from its origins in the
Zionist movement to the present. Key topics include: political relations and international
diplomacy leading to the establishment of the state in 1948; Israel's wars with its
neighbors; conflict with the Palestinians; religion and government; internal divisions
between Ashkenazic and Sephardi/Mizrachi Jews; and Israeli cultural life. No previous
knowledge is assumed or required. Students who had taken the course under the original
number will not receive credit for re-taking the course with the new number.
ISRL 180A - Middle East, 600-Present – Gen Ed: I,N,T,W,G
Cross listed: JUST 284G / ARAB 180C / HIST 185A
Time: M/W 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Instructor: Kent Schull
This course traces the origins, development, and transformation of the Middle East
and North Africa from the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th Century
CE until the 21st Century. This course will concentrate on the historical evolution
of the Middle East and North Africa in terms of political, religious, cultural, economic,
social, institutional aspects, and its relationship with other major faith and social
traditions throughout the world. While the course is primarily chronological, the
following themes will be emphasized: religious traditions and practice; inter-cultural
exchanges through trade, diplomacy, migrations, and war; legal traditions; the arts;
popular culture; conquest; the impact of European colonization, decolonization, and
the rise of nationalism; gender constructions and the status of women; and the relationship
between religion and politics. Students are assessed through their class participation,
attendance, two-midterm examinations, and a final paper.
ISRL 227 – Cultures and Societies in Israel - Gen Ed
Cross listed:
Time: M/W/F 12:15 p.m. - 01:15 p.m.
Instructor: Talia Katz
This survey course is a study of the many religious, ethnic, political, and linguistic
dimensions of modern Israeli culture and society. It examines the forces that affect
them, the divides between them, their interactions with each other, and their manifestations
in music, film, art, and literature. Offered regularly. 4 credits
ISRL 327 - Israeli PalestinianConf in Lit - Gen Ed: H, O
Cross listed: JUST 380C / COLI 380C / HMRT 389A
Time: W 2:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Instructor: Lior Libman
The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been represented in a wide body of Israeli
and Palestinian literary works of varied genres. In this course, we will read, analyze
and discuss, side by side, poems, short stories and novels by both Israeli and Palestinian
writers exploring questions of homeland, exile and return, longing and belonging,
Self and Other. We will examine the relationships between historical, political and
literary narratives, and the ways in which images and metaphors both reflect and shape
national affinities. We will also juxtapose the geo-political conflict with other
core issues such as religion, ethnicity, gender and sexuality.
ISRL 380C - Holocaust Literature - Gen Ed: C, H
Cross listed: JUST 341 / COLI 380B / ENG 380O
Time: W 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Instructor: Paul Burch
Students in this course read literature of the Holocaust, the Churban, or the Shoah—including
diaries, journals, memoirs, fiction, poetry, and works of popular culture, informed
by the belief that literary responses to the Holocaust are, as the poet Paul Celan
has written, in themselves "material evidence of that which-occurred." The course
includes works by First Generation writers, victims and survivors of the Shoah who
bear direct witness to the horror, as well as pieces by Second Generation writers—that
is, children and “offspring” of Holocaust survivors who bear witness to the witnesses
and to events that they did not live through but that shaped their lives. Prerequisite:
Sophomore standing. Cross-listed with English and Comparative Literature. THIS COURSE
IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS.
ISRL 385Z - World War I and the Jews - Gen Ed: G,W
Crosslisted: JUST 380A / HIST 381N
Time: W 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Instructor: Allan Arkush
This course will investigate Jewish involvement in World War I, in all of the major
belligerent countries, as well as the ways in which the war altered the Jewish world.
Topics will include anti-Jewish pogroms on the Eastern Front, the rise in anti-Semitism
in the ranks of the German Army, the worldwide lobbying for the Balfour Declaration,
and the way in which the war reshaped Eastern European Jewry.
ISRL 386K - Religion & Politics in the ME
Crosslisted: PLSC 386H
Time: M/W 3:15 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Instructor: Ekrem Karakoc
This is an International Relations/International Security seminar, dealing with how
nuclear politics have shaped the Middle East. We will start by covering the history
of nuclear politics and key concepts of nuclearization in international politics –
including deterrence, proliferation, restraint – as well as their critiques. We will
proceed to apply these theories to the Middle East, looking at the emergence of military
and non-military nuclear programs and reactions to them. The course deals with nuclear
bombs, energy, and other technology through a consideration of both their material
and symbolic dimensions. In addition, we will discuss the idea of a nuclear-weapon-free-zone
in the Middle East, including the impediments facing its establishment. The course
pays special attention to the Israeli nuclear program and Israeli nuclear policies
in the Middle East and beyond.
JUDAIC STUDIES
JUST 101 - Intro to Judaic Sudies - Gen Ed: D,H
Cross listed: RELG 180A
Time: T/R 9:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Instructor: Randy Friedman
This survey course, appropriate for first and second year students, engages sociology,
religious studies, philosophy of religion and Biblical studies. The course is broken
into four sections: 1) Race, Ethnicity, People, Nation, Religion: Are Jews and Judaism
a race? An ethnicity? What is a religion? 2) Gods, Sources, Interpretations, Traditions:
What is God? Who wrote the Bible? How does a scholar read the Bible? What is Biblical
commentary? What is Rabbinic Judaism? 3) Faith, Suffering, and Justice: We will read
through two difficult Biblical stories, the Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22), and portions
of the Book of Job. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is there suffering
in the world? 4) From Exodus to Passover. We will offer a close reading of the story
of the Israelite slavery and liberation from Egypyt, and explore how the holiday of
Passover emerges from the story and its interpretations.
JUST 180D - Roots&Routes:Sepharadic Studies - Gen Ed: CEL
Cross listed: SPAN 183A / HIST 185C
Time: T/TR 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Instructor: Dina Danon & Bryan Kirschen
This interdisciplinary course foregrounds the language and history of Sephardi Jews,
or Jews who were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492 and later dispersed across
the Mediterranean. From the perspective of language, Professor Kirschen will guide
students in learning Judeo-Spanish, commonly known as Ladino, the vernacular used
by Sephardi Jews in the lands of their dispersion until the present day. Students
will also have the opportunity to meet and interact with contemporary speakers of
the language. Professor Danon will introduce students to the historical experiences
of Sephardi Jews, covering key topics spanning from the medieval “Golden Age,” the
Expulsion, the reconstitution of Sephardi communities in Ottoman lands, the rise of
new nation states, and the Holocaust. Students will gain not only proficiency in an
endangered language that spans the Jewish and Hispanophone worlds, but also wide-ranging
exposure to a rich and often-overlooked civilization that thrived for hundreds of
years. This course will be taught in English; no prior knowledge of Hebrew or Spanish
is necessary.
JUST 180E - American Jewish History
Cross listed: HIST 185B
Time: M/W/F 9:45 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Instructor: Eliyana Adler
Learn about Jewish immigration and acculturation in the US from the colonial period
through the present. This course will focus both on interactions between Jews and
their environment and on internal Jewish developments such as religious denominations,
politics, and social trends. Examining one ethnic group among many can shed light
on the workings of American society as well as on the particular subjects.
JUST 201 - Jewish History Ancient to 1500 - Gen Ed: G,N
Cross listed: HIST 285D / RELG 280A
Time: M/W/F 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Instructor: Michael Kelly
This course offers an introduction to Jewish history from the Bible to the end of
the Middle Ages. It surveys some of the major issues that defined Judaism, including
the nature and development of biblical texts; the effort of small Jewish states in
the age of great ancient empires; the impact of (Greek culture) Hellenism on Judaism
and the rise of Christianity from it; the emergence of the Diaspora; and Jewish life
under and interaction with medieval Islam and Christendom. The course's two major
themes are: 1) the evolution and development of Judaism, and 2) the shifting character
of Jewish identity and peoplehood. No previous knowledge of Jewish history and religion
is required or assumed. This course satisfies the core and survey requirements for
Judaic Studies majors and minors.
JUST 284A - The Nazi State - Gen Ed: H,N
Cross listed: HIST 281K / GMAP 281A / GERM 281A
Time: M/W/F 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Instructor: Harald Zils
This course examines Germany between 1933 and 1939, the organization and internal
workings of the National Socialist government and administration. Topics include the
permanent crisis of the Weimar Republic, the rise of the NSDAP, the Nazi takeover
of power, party structures, the Gleichschaltung of administration, society, economy
and media, the persecution of minorities, the situation of workers and farmers, the
role of churches, etc. The course uses a broad social science approach to comprehend
instruments of domination and power and to understand "how it all could happen"; the
emphasis is on structures rather than events. Methodologically, the focus of this
course is on the interpretation of documents and other sources. The course is taught
in English. Textbook: Bendersky, A Concise History of Nazi Germany, 5th edition.
JUST 311 - Faith and Reason – Gen Ed: C,H
Cross listed: PHIL 311 / RELG 311
Time: T/R 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Instructor: Randy Friedman
This reading-intensive seminar will explore some fundamental questions in philosophy
of religion, focusing on the work of Maimonides, Spinoza and Kant. Topics will include
the nature of divinity, metaphysics, the supernatural, creation, revelation, religious
experience, and feminist philosophy of religion. Some questions will include: what
is God? How does one know about God? How do we account for and understand revelation?
What is the relation between God and morality and the good. In addition to the content
of this course, students will practice the process skills of reading and writing critically.
Students will be expected to read the texts carefully and to come to class prepared
to ask and answer questions. The course will require at least 100 pages of reading
each week. This course meets Judaic Studies major/minor survey requirement.
JUST 331 - Jews and Muslims - Gen Ed: I,N,T,W
Cross listed: HIST 385G
Time: T/R 9:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Instructor: DIna Danon
This course offers a survey of Jewish-Muslim relations from the emergence of Islam
through the modern period. Beginning with the medieval period, topics covered include
the relationship between Islam and peoples of the Book, Jewish communal life and self-government,
participation in Mediterranean trade, the world of the Cairo Geniza, and intellectual
and cultural achievements of the “Golden Age of Spain.” Moving to the early modern
and modern periods, topics covered will include Jewish life in the Ottoman lands,
the rise of European imperialism, the dissolution of empire and the emergence of nationalism.
Through a rich array of primary sources, such as diplomatic documents, personal correspondence,
memoirs, as well as films and photographs, we will aim to identify the many ways in
which these Jewish communities renegotiated their cultural identities and political
affiliations through the middle of the twentieth century. We will also examine how
the changes of the modern period impacted relations between the Jewish, Christian,
and Muslim communities of these regions.
JUST 380D - Origins and Impacts on Hasidism
Cross listed: HIST 385E
Time: T/R 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Instructor: Jonathan Karp
Hasidism was one of the great spiritual movements in Jewish history-- as well as one
of the most controversial. This course explores both the rise of Hasidism in the middle
of eighteenth century and the extraordinary impact it exerted on the Jewish world
and beyond. We analyze the latest scholarly theories surrounding the movement's inception
in Poland and rapid conquest of the East European Jewish masses. We trace different
forms of opposition to Hasidism, both among traditionalists and modernizers. Finally,
we survey the many ways in which Hasidism inspired new approaches to Jewish literature,
music and culture in Europe, Israel, and the United States. No previous knowledge
of Jewish History is assumed.
JUST 386B - Pre-Modern Antisemitism
Cross listed: RELG 380I
Time: W 4:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
Instructor: Michael Kelly
This is an International Relations/International Security seminar, dealing with how
nuclear politics have shaped the Middle East. We will start by covering the history
of nuclear politics and key concepts of nuclearization in international politics –
including deterrence, proliferation, restraint – as well as their critiques. We will
proceed to apply these theories to the Middle East, looking at the emergence of military
and non-military nuclear programs and reactions to them. The course deals with nuclear
bombs, energy, and other technology through a consideration of both their material
and symbolic dimensions. In addition, we will discuss the idea of a nuclear-weapon-free-zone
in the Middle East, including the impediments facing its establishment. The course
pays special attention to the Israeli nuclear program and Israeli nuclear policies
in the Middle East and beyond.
JUST 386M - Nazis after 1945
Cross listed: HIST 381M / GERM 380A / GMAP 483A
Time: M/W 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Instructor: Harald Zils
This course examines the complex afterlives of National Socialist perpetrators and
functionaries following Germany's defeat in 1945. It investigates the diverse trajectories
of former Nazis, from those who faced justice at Nuremberg to those who successfully
evaded capture through ratlines to South America. The course analyzes how intelligence
agencies, particularly in the United States and Soviet Union, recruited former Nazi
scientists and intelligence officers during the Cold War, raising profound questions
about moral compromise in the pursuit of geopolitical advantage. A central focus is
the evolution of cultural memory surrounding Nazi perpetrators in postwar Germany
and Austria. We will examine how these societies confronted – or failed to confront
– their Nazi past through denazification programs, trials and public discourse. The
course pays particular attention to generational shifts in memory culture, from the
immediate postwar period of silence to the confrontational politics of remembrance
in the 1960s and beyond. The course traces direct and indirect connections between
former Nazi networks and contemporary far-right movements. Students analyze how neo-Nazi
groups in Europe and the Americas have appropriated Nazi ideology, symbols, and organizational
strategies. Special attention is paid to how these movements have evolved in response
to changing political contexts and technological developments, particularly the role
of digital networks. The course also analyzes changing representations of Nazis in
popular culture and media, from early postwar propaganda films to contemporary artistic
engagements. Students explore how these depictions reflect broader societal attitudes
and shape public understanding of the Nazi period. Case studies range from Disney's
wartime anti-Nazi shorts to Jonathan Glazer's "Zone of Interest" (2023), examining
how aesthetic strategies for depicting perpetrators have evolved over time. . 4 credits.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES
RELG 101 - Religions of the World - Gen Ed: G, H
Cross listed: JUST 100 / AFST 180E / ANTH 180C
Time: M/W/F 2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Instructor: Douglas Jones
What does it mean to study various religions from an academic perspective? How do
we, as outsiders at a public university, discuss different traditions responsibly?
Answering questions like these and developing our skills as scholars of religion is
of no small importance in an increasingly global society. This class will take a thematic
approach to a number of traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam. Prominent themes include the history of Religious Studies as a discipline,
religion and popular culture, religion and violence, the history of utopian thought,
and the status of new and controversial movements across the globe.
RELG 180B - Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Cross listed: JUST 180F
Time: T/R 3:15 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Instructor: Michel Kelly
Topics in Religious Studies. Topics vary by semester. 4 credits
RELG 180D - Intro to African Religion - Gen Ed: H,W
Cross listed: SOC 180A / ANTH 280L / AFST 171
Time: T/R 9:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Instructor: Anthony Ephirim-Donoker
E. A. Wallis Budge defined African religion as “the worship of the souls of the dead,
commonly called Ancestor Worship.” Also, Diodorus, a Greek historian of the 1st Century
BCE, stated that blacks or Ethiopians, “were the first of all men, and the proofs
of this statement, they say, are manifest. For that they did not come into their land
as immigrants from abroad but were natives of it, and so justly bear the name of ‘autochthones’
is, they maintain, conceded by practically all men…. And they [i.e., the Greek historians
relied on by Diodorus] say that they [i.e., the black peoples] were the first to be
taught to honor the gods and to hold sacrifices and processions and festivals and
other rites by which men honor the deity; and that in consequence their piety has
been published abroad among all men, and it is generally held that the sacrifices
practiced among the Ethiopians [i.e., the black peoples] are those which are the most
pleasing to heaven.” Thus, students are introduced to the nature and phenomenon of
African religion, conceptions of God and gods and goddesses, ancestors and ancestor
worship, elders, sacrifices and symbols, and rituals that offer meaning to the lives
of Africans.
RELG 280B – Muslims Peoples of the World - Gen Ed: G,H,T,W
Cross listed: AFST 236 / HIST 285E
Time: T/R 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Instructor: Moulay Ali Bouanani
Islam as the last Abrahamic revelation appeared amongst the Arabs in Mecca with Mohammed
who would tirelessly fight for its survival at the beginning. It would have its book,
the Qur’an compiled during the Rashidun Khulafa’s time and as Muslims believe, is
a correcting force of the Abrahamic texts before it. Islam would spread across Arabia
in a very short time and cross to Persia and the Byzantine provinces between 632 and
640. Cross-disciplinary survey of selected Muslim peoples and organizations in Asia
(including “the Middle East”), Africa, Europe, Oceania and the United States and Latin
America. The course will discuss Muslims living as minorities in non-Muslim majority
states and the Modern Islamic diaspora in the West, including Australia and New Zealand.
Chronologically, the course covers the period from the 7th to the 21st century.
RELG 280C – The End! Apocalyptic Narrative - Gen Ed: H,O,W
Cross listed: ENG 200N / COLI 280S / ENVI 280B / GERM 281B / PHIL 280G
Time: M/W 3:15 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Instructor: Alexander H Sorenson (P)
“Apocalypse” is often equated with destruction and catastrophe, calling to mind familiar
images of chaos, fiery judgment, stars falling from the sky, and other ends of the
world. From ancient Mesopotamian flood stories to contemporary novels, from religious
visions of the end of the world to our contemporary moment of climate catastrophe
and global pandemic, the apocalypse has long offered a potent way of thinking about
the interconnections and fragility of social, cultural, theological, ecological, and
political orders. As such, apocalyptic narratives have been able to provide us with
“the sense of an ending.” And yet the literal meaning of “apocalypse” is “unveiling”:
that is, it can also signify re-definition, renewal, and recognition. This class explores
apocalyptic narratives across cultures and historical periods in both of those senses:
as stories not only about endings, but new beginnings as well. Together we will engage
with a variety of apocalyptic fictions and thought, including materials from multiple
cultural traditions and media, such as visual art, philosophy, theatre, music, and
film.
RELG 280J - Afro-Braz & Carib Religions - Gen Ed: D,H,W
Cross listed: AFST 203 / ANTH 280T
Time: T/R 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 a.m.
Instructor: Anthony S Ephirim-Donkor
In a journey more than geographic, Africans in the New World lost all symbolic means
of their religious expressions. Still, African religions and cultures survived to
play critical roles in forging new religions. How? For answers, students explore the
hermeneutical ways in which African descended groups contextualized their environment
and created syncretistic religions like Candomblé, Santeria, Voodoo, Obeah, and Rastafari.
RELG 320 - Protestant Christianity
Time: M/W/F 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Instructor: Douglas Jones
This course focuses on the religious origins of Protestantism, the rise of Protestantism
in the sixteenth century, and the evolution of Protestantism in America. Moving beyond
purely doctrinal formulations of the faith, we examine a dizzying variety of "protestantisms,"
from the rival confessional identities of early-modern Germany, Switzerland, England,
and Scotland to the religious pluralism that marks our modern world. Some topics include
Protestant biblical interpretation, the art of the sermon, the rise of both Protestant
denominations and sectarian movements, Evangelical politics in the 21st century, and
online religion.
RELG 380A - Race Festivals in America - Gen Ed: G.I,N,T,W
Cross listed: AFST 381B / HIST 384M / LACS 384F / AAAS 380V
Time: M/W 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Instructor: Ramaesh J Bhagirat
This course examines the racial politics of festival culture in North and South America,
with an emphasis on South Asian- and African-diasporic festivals in the Caribbean
since the nineteenth century. Festivals serve as battlegrounds for racial representation,
national inclusion, and cultural identity amongst marginalized communities who value
oral and performative traditions. At the same time, festivals reflect, challenge,
and reinforce racialized power structures, and thus serve as a lens to understanding
society as a whole. We will explore hemispheric iterations of Carnival, the most famous
festival that emerged within the slave societies of Brazil, Trinidad, and Louisiana.
Then we will analyze a range of national, religious, commemorative, folk, and popular
festivals as they have changed over time. Case studies include but are not limited
to: Latin American patron saint festivals (fiestas patronales); South Asian religious
festivals and commemorations such as Divali, Ramleela, and Hosay; race-conscious festivals
like the Caribbean Festival of Arts and the Harlem Cultural Festival; representations
of South Asians and East Asians in Carnival; and Afro- and Indo-diasporic festival
music from jazz to chutney soca.
RELG 380D - TheologicalOriginsofModLitFilm
Cross listed: ENG 380P
Time: T/R 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Instructor: Joseph E Church
RELG 380D Theological Origins of Modern Literature and Film - NOTE: I DO NOT ALLOW
STUDENTS’ USE OF LAPTOPS OR PHONES DURING CLASS. The course proposes that Western
modernity, often seen as a radical break from religion and a triumph of secularism,
in fact has deep roots in theological disputes of the late medieval and early modern
periods, primarily in the Realist-Nominalist debates that questioned the nature of
universals and their relationship to God, the world, and human beings. Realists held
that universals (Platonic-like forms) really did exist and enabled us to rationally
know God; Nominalists denied the substantive existence of such forms (they were just
names) and affirmed the ultimate unknowability of God and the primacy of human individuality.
These divisive theological arguments eventually influenced key thinkers such as Descartes,
Luther, Hobbes, Kant, and Nietzsche and thereby helped lay the groundwork for modern
philosophical and aesthetical developments. This course will thus consider these earlier
religious debates over divine authority and human nature as inseparable from our modern
emphasis on individual autonomy, human freedom, and the search for meaning. Far from
being purely secular, modernity will be seen as an ongoing reinterpretation of theological
controversies, especially regarding spiritual transcendence, skepticism, and existential
freedom. We’ll have three interrelated aims: understanding the early theological debates
and their intellectual effects, assessing their expression in modern life via fiction
and film, and determining their pertinence to our own lives. Toward that end, we’ll
read in its entirety Michael Gillespie’s THE THEOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF MODERNITY. (Available
online: BU Library. I recommend that you look at it before deciding on the course.)
Fiction and film will range from Dostoyevsky and Kafka to Bergman and Wenders. Lecture,
with the spirit of a seminar, i.e., an emphasis on discussion and an expectation of
students’ participation in the dialogue. A lot of reading and viewing. Instruction
in expository writing. Final grade based on daily writing, several quizzes and papers,
engagement in discussion, consistent attendance.
RELG 380E - Countercultural Religion - Gen Ed: H,W
Time: T/R 9:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Instructor: Douglas Jones
From the Family of Love to the Family International and from Diggers in 1640s England
to Diggers in 1960s San Francisco, this course explores countercultural and utopian
religious communities from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries in a transatlantic
context. Topics include the new age movement, the status of women in new religious
movements, Satanism and political action, progressive millennialism and socialist
religion, debates over the use of psychedelics, minority religions in Upstate New
York, and the circulation of underground religious literature.
RELG 380I - Pre-Modern Antisemitism
Cross listed: JUST 386B
Time: W 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Instructor: Michael Kelly
Topics in Religious Studies. Topics may vary by semester. 4 credits.
YIDDISH
Yiddish I - YIDD 101 - Gen Ed: G,O,WL1
Cross listed: JUST 180A/ GERM 180C / RUSS 180A / YIDD 501
Time: M/W 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Instructor: Gina Glasman
Yiddish 101 is an introductory language class: students learn simple conversational
Yiddish and how to read and write, beginning with the Yiddish alphabet. By the end
of the Fall semester students will have composed their own short stories, gained a
repertoire of Yiddish song, put together a compendium of commonly used expressions
from this famously expressive language and finally, will have learnt about aspects
of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi culture, past and present.
YIDD 351 - Jewish New York - Gen Ed: D,T,W,H
Cross listed: JUST 351 / HIST 380B
Time: T/R 4:25 - 5:50 PM
Instructor: Gina Glasman
From Pogroms to the Promised City - An exploration of why Eastern European Jews came
to New York in the era of mass migration and what they made of city life once they
arrived. Jewish New York is a study in both urban and immigrant history, examining
how a newly arrived society responded to America's signature metropolis in an urban
moment of extraordinary dynamism.
YIDD 371 - The Ghetto,The Jews,& the City - Gen Ed: A,C
Cross listed: JUST 371 / HIST 385L
Time: T/R 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Instructor: Gina Glasman
European Jewry has often been a quintessentially urban society and culture, both by
way of reputation, and as a matter of fact. Our class will explore this urban personality
across time and space, beginning with the mandated pre-modern ghettos of central and
southern Europe and ending with the ethnically rooted neighbourhoods of Vienna and
Paris, Berlin and London in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Along
the way, we will consider related themes, including civic & minority identity, the
nature of toleration, and the place of the city within broader society. When possible,
we will ground our conversation in contemporary material culture, including urban
landmarks, post-cards and various kinds of visual media.