A History of Jewish Heresy

Professor: Joshua Boettiger  

Course Number: JS 219

CRN Number: 10319

Class cap: 16

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Henderson Comp. Center 106

Distributional Area:

MBV  Meaning, Being, Value   

Crosslists: Study of Religions

Heretics are boundary-crossers. Unlike apostates, heretics cross a boundary and then return again – bringing back beliefs and practices in tension with prevailing traditions. Though there is no one "normative" Judaism against which heresy might be defined, studying what has historically been considered heretical in the Jewish world can be a useful way of looking at Judaism’s evolving understanding of itself. In this course we will look at heretics and heresies over the course of different eras – including rogue rabbi Elisha ben Abuyah (referred to as acher, the ‘other’) and the Karaite movement which opposed the methodology of Rabbinic Judaism. We will study the relationship between messianism and heresy through looking at figures such as Shabbatai Zevi, and tensions within the Lubavitch Hasidic community in recent decades. There are vital innovators like Maimonides who had to defend himself against charges of heresy in his lifetime; similarly, there are movements and individuals that appear as heresies in one historical context, but then shift over time – as with Zionism, or in a different sense, with Baruch Spinoza. 

Keywords for Our Times: Understanding Israel/Palestine

Professor: Michelle Murray and Ziad Abu-Rish

Course Number: CC 120 A

CRN Number: 10629

Class cap: 30

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Reem Kayden Center 103

Jan 29 – March 26

Distributional Area:

HA SA  Historical Analysis Social Analysis   

Crosslists: Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Jewish Studies; Middle Eastern Studies; Politics

Keywords for Our Times: Understanding Israel/Palestine

Professor: Michelle Murray and Ziad Abu-Rish  

Course Number: CC 120 B

CRN Number: 10630

Class cap: 20

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Reem Kayden Center 103

Distributional Area:

HA SA  Historical Analysis Social Analysis   

Crosslists: Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Jewish Studies; Middle Eastern Studies; Politics

Beginning Hebrew II

Course Number: HEB 102

CRN Number: 10120

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Professor:

Dror Abend

Schedule/Location:

Mon Tue Wed Thurs    10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Hegeman 300

Distributional Area:

FL  Foreign Languages and Lit   

Crosslists:

Jewish Studies

Introduction to Christianity

Course Number: REL 119

CRN Number: 10215

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Professor:

Bruce Chilton

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    3:30 PM - 4:50 PM Chapel

Distributional Area:

MBV  Meaning, Being, Value   

Crosslists:

Jewish Studies; Theology

The New Testament in Contexts

Course Number: REL 154

CRN Number: 10216

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Professor:

Bruce Chilton Mary Grace Williams

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Bard Chapel

Distributional Area:

MBV  Meaning, Being, Value   

Crosslists:

Jewish Studies; Theology

Religion and Catastrophe

Course Number: REL 210

CRN Number: 10269

Class cap: 16

Credits: 4

Professor:

Bevin Blaber

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    3:30 PM - 4:50 PM Olin 310

Distributional Area:

MBV  Meaning, Being, Value   

Crosslists:

Jewish Studies

Contemporary Talmud: History, Context, Culture

Course Number: REL 340

CRN Number: 10274

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Professor:

Shai Secunda

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      11:30 AM - 2:50 PM Olin 303

Distributional Area:

MBV  Meaning, Being, Value   

Crosslists:

Jewish Studies; Middle Eastern Studies