MODERN JEWISH THOUGHT (HR-2058)

In this course, we will explore how Jews navigated the intellectual, political, and spiritual conditions of modernity, and the new forms of Jewish thought and identity that emerged from those encounters. This story of clash and confluence will begin with the excommunication of Baruch Spinoza, the so-called "first modern Jew," and our investigations will lead subsequently through pathways of Jewish "enlightenment" and existentialism, religious denominations and secular nationalisms, mysticisms and fundamentalisms. While we will certainly consider ways in which various groups and thinkers formulated their ideas strategically vis-à-vis their historical circumstances, we will also strive to appreciate the personal tones and textures of their own voices. Special attention will be paid to the German-Jewish context as one genealogy of Jewish modernity. This course satisfies the required modern suvey course for M.A. and certificate students at CJS. [Auditors with Faculty Permission]