Masters - Spring 2012 Course Descriptions
REL 3690. Master’s Thesis Research. [0]
Jewish Studies 289. Independent Study. A research project carried out under the supervision of a faculty mentor. [Variable credit: 1-3; may be repeated to a maximum of 3]
Jewish Studies 290. Directed Readings. Advanced readings and research on a selected topic done under the supervision of a faculty mentor. [3]
LANGUAGES
Hebrew 202W. Hebrew Grammar and Composition. Prerequisite: Hebrew 201 or instructor's permission. [3] Halachmi. (INT)
Hebrew 289B. Hebrew Independent Study. (NO AXLE CREDIT)
Religion 2501. Elementary Biblical Hebrew. A two-semester course of study leading to a reading knowledge of the Hebrew Bible. Open for credit to Undergraduate and M.A. students only. [3] Staff.
Religion 2515. Elementary Modern Hebrew. Continuation of 2514. Greater stress upon conversation and grammar. Classes meet three times a week with an additional two hours a week required in the language laboratory. SPRING. [4] Halachmi.
Religion 3103. Intermediate Modern Hebrew. Continuation of 3102. Greater emphasis on reading and writing. Classes meet three times a week with an additional three hours a week spent in independent work in the language laboratory. SPRING. [3] Halachmi.
Yiddish (by examination)
Ladino (by examination)
Judaeo-Arabic (by examination)
AREA 1: BIBLICAL STUDIES
English 282. The Bible in Literature. An examination of ways in which the Bible and biblical imagery have functioned in literature and fine arts, in both "high culture" and popular culture, from Old English poems to modern poetry, drama, fiction, cartoons, and political rhetoric. Readings include influential biblical texts and a broad selection of literary texts drawn from all genres and periods of English literature. [3] (HCA)
Jewish Studies 219. The New Testament in its Jewish Context. This course offers an introduction to the materials documenting the origins of Christianity, to the social, literary, ideological, and theological contexts in which they emerged and which they reflect, and to the various critical methodologies employed in interpreting them. [3] Levine. (P)
Religious Studies 225. Sexuality in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Through a close reading of primary texts in translations, the course will explore the ways in which various aspects of sexuality such as prostitution, homosexuality, virginity, rape, and incest are addressed in the Hebrew Bible and in the larger context of the ANE. [3] Azzoni. (HCA)
AREA 2: ANTIQUITY AND THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
Classics 213. History of the Roman Empire. The Roman world from Augustus to the collapse of the western empire in the fifth century. Political, military, social, and religious history. Special attention given to problems arising from use of the primary sources as well as to controversies in modern scholarship. [3] (INT)
History 213. Muhammad and Early Islam. Early Arabian society, Judaism and Christianity in Arabia; Muhammad and the birth of Islam, the conquests, Islamization, Arabization; Jewish influences in early Islam, the medieval Islamic world. Serves as repeat credit for students who completed 257 prior to fall 2008. [3] Halevi. (INT)
Jewish Studies 233. Issues in Rabbinic Literature. History of Rabbinic thought from its origins to the Middle Ages through the reading of central Rabbinic texts. Capital punishment, women in Rabbinic culture, sectarianism, and the power structures of Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia. May be repeated for credit more than once if there is no duplication in topic. Students may accrue up to 18 credits per semester of enrollment. [3] Lieberman (INT)
Philosophy 211. Medieval Philosophy. Comparative study of key figures in Islamic, Jewish, and Christian philosophy as they struggle with the philosophy of logic, metaphysics, language, culture, politics, ethics, and nature. [3] Goodman. (INT)
AREA 3: MODERN & CONTEMPORARY EXPERIENCE
Spring 2012: European Studies 240.02. Topics in European Studies: Religion and Politics in Modern Europe. European religious politics since the 18th century; secularization and the critique of religion; religious revivals and religious political parties; antisemitism and anti-Catholicism; religion and colonialism; the Nazis and the churches; Islam and Islamophobia in Europe. [3] Joskowicz. (NO AXLE CREDIT)
History 230. Twentieth-Century Germany. The turbulent history of Germany, as it went from authoritarian state to volatile democracy, to National Socialist dictatorship, to divided country, and to reunification. Special emphasis placed on the Nazi dictatorship, its origins and legacy. Serves as repeat credit for students who completed 231 prior to fall 2008. [3] Smith. (INT)
History 272c. Race, Power, Modernity. Historical approaches to race as a modern system of power and difference. The United States experience in comparative and transnational perspective. Race as an historical and socially-constructed ideological system. Race intersecting with nationality, region, class and gender. Race in the making of space, citizenship, and economic institutions. SPRING. [3] Kramer. (US)
History 288a. Religion, Culture, and Commerce: The World Economy in Historical Perspective. Cross-cultural trade in a broad chronological and geographical framework. Pre-modern and modern times, western and non-western locales. The role of religion in economic exchange and the movement of commodities. Offered on a graded basis only. [3] Halevi. (HCA)
Jewish Studies 280. Contemporary Jewish Issues (Service Learning in Jewish Studies). Projects will vary according to instructor. Service to community will be integral part of course. [3] (NO AXLE CREDIT)
Jewish Studies 288b. Internship Research. Under faculty supervision, students gain experience in any of a variety of settings, such as community, municipal, or government agencies. A thorough report and research paper are required. Students will write a research paper drawing on their experiences in 288a. Corequisite: 288a. [3] (No AXLE credit)
Political Science 230. Middle East Politics. Cross-national analysis of political institutions, political economies, and processes of change in the Middle East. [3] Carroll. (SBS)
Religious Studies 239. Religious Autobiography. The construction of identity in religious autobiography: motivations (personal salvation, witness, proselytism); relationships among self, God, and religious tradition; role of memory; cultural, gender, and religious differences. Readings may include Augustine, Gandhi, Malcolm X, Angelou, and Wiesel. [3] Geller. (P)
AREA 4: CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LITERATURE
Jewish Studies 235W. Hebrew Literature in Translation. Origins and development in Eastern Europe from the nineteenth century to postmodern Israeli literature. The relationship between historical transformations and literary form. [3]. Schachter. (INT)
Jewish Studies 250. Is G-d Guilty? The Problem of Evil in Judaism. The course explores the discourse of evil and suffering in Judaism with an emphasis on modern Jewish Thought, before and after the Shoah, and the larger social and cultural implications. Through philosophical and theological perspectives we will address issues of human agency, free will, responsibility, identity, collective memory, and the meaning of moral rationalization in religion. [3] Urban. (HCA)
Jewish Studies 252. Social Movements in Modern Jewish Life. How social movements shape contemporary American Jewish culture and politics. Explores movements internal to Judaism and those bringing religion into the public sphere. [3] Kelner. (SBS)
Jewish Studies 253W. Witnesses Who Were Not There: Literature of the Children of Holocaust Survivors. Fiction and non-fiction produced by children of Holocaust survivors. [3] Meyer. (HCA)
Philosophy 232. Critical Theory. Political philosophy as a materialist critique of the barbarism at the heart of civilization. The nature of immanent critique and dialectics; mass culture and ideology; the disenchantment of reason; alienation and the possibility of experience; and writing after Auschwitz. [3] Holt, J. (HCA)
Philosophy 260. Twentieth-Century Continental Philosophy. A study of selected twentieth-century philosophers such as Derrida, Foucault, and Lacan. [3] Tyson. (HCA)
Russian 234. Russian Cinema. The course begins at the golden era of the Russian cinematography—the 1920s—with the films of the great directors Sergey Eisenstein, Alexander Dovzhenko, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Lev Kuleshov. We proceed with Socialist Realism of the 1930s-1950s to the liberalization of the Thaw period with it's masterpiece The Cranes are Flying. Mature Soviet cinema of the 1970s and '80s produced films by the brilliant Andrei Tarkovsky, as well as by Andrei Konchalovsky and Georgy Daneliya. Beginning of Perestroika and abolishment of censorship were marked by sex and violence exemplified by Little Vera and Taxi Blues. Finally, we will see and discuss contemporary Russian films by Nikita Mikhalkov, Alexey Balabanov, Alexander Sokurov, and others. [3] Kustanovich. (INT)