Modern Judaisms: Religion, Culture Or Nationality

Catalog description

TAUGHT BY GTU/CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES. The intellectual and political conditions of modernity have triggered fiery debates about the essence of Judaism. As Jews (and non-Jews) have sought to redefine Judaism as a religion, a culture, or a nationality - or sought to reject the very idea of redefining Judaism - new forms of Jewish identity, thought, and practice have emerged that illuminate why the Jewish world looks the way it does today, from Berkeley to Brooklyn and Tunis to Tel Aviv. This course will survey the diverse landscapes of Jewish modernity, with special attention to dynamics between secularism and traditionalism, individualism and nationalism, exile and homeland, and Judaism and Christianity.