Teaching Torah and Western Thought in Conversation

Catalog description

This course is rooted in the philosophy that a deep understanding of Western tradition in and culture informs and enhances our understanding of contemporary Jewish thought and practice. In order to live successfully as observant Jews in the modern world, young children and adolescents will need to be able to integrate their Jewish values and practices with the Western intellectual discourse that informs contemporary American society. In this course, students will develop the skills and habits of mind to create classrooms that embody this mission and to design interdisciplinary curricula and/or lessons. Readings will include core texts on religious toleration and religious freedom in the modern tradition, the political ideas of the American founding, and American-Jewish responses to progressivism, liberalism, conservatism, Zionism, and other important political movements.