Sabbath Judaism & Christianity

Catalog description

In our modern lives, it is hard to imagine 'shutting off'. However, the observance of a Sabbath is valued in Judaism and Christianity. This course considers the Sabbath as not just abstention from work but entry into sacred time. It covers the biblical period through the present, and includes diverse forms of observance and claims for its significance. We will study the Sabbath primarily in the Jewish tradition, and explore the tensions between adherence to biblical models and adaptation to new circumstances. We will focus on biblical interpretation as context within which the Sabbath evolved and was (re)defined, and consider the Sabbath as mythological time, as a marker of social identity, and as a practice governed by religious law. We will also consider the Sabbath in the Christian tradition, especially where Christian observance diverges from Jewish observance, such as the shift from Saturday to Sunday.