REL 356 - Modern Jewish Thought

Hope for a future time of perfection constitutes a leading theme in modern Jewish thought. The idea of the future, whether construed in secular terms as utopia, communism, or Zionism or expressed as a traditional belief in the Messiah, whether Orthodox or Lubavitcher, is a feature shared by otherwise disparate sectors of Jewish thought, and therefore is a fruitful object of study in understanding the range of twentieth-century thinking as expressed in a Judaic idiom. Course materials will derive from Marxist, Zionist, neo-Kantian, Lubavitcher, and other sources, in addition to those of philosophers and theologians. What does this orientation to the future mean? Why is it a central feature not only of Jewish thought, but also of Jewish social organization? How do we make sense of our questions from the perspective of religious studies? What does this twentieth-century thought and action tell us about Jewish strategies for the twenty-first century, for understanding present Jewish thought in a post-9/11 world?

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): REL 201
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Not offered: 2024-25
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.