RELG 056. Judaism, The Jew(s), Israel

What is Judaism? Who are the Jews? And who gets to define these terms? How have the people of Israel understood their history, beliefs, bodies and practices on their own terms and how have non-Jewish authors constructed “the Jew(s),” their beliefs, bodies and practices? This course delves into these questions by juxtaposing literary sources composed by Jews and those written by non-Jews, spanning premodern Christian and Muslim law and literature to modern European philosophy and history.
It also considers what we mean when we use the terms Religion, Race, Ethnicity, Antisemitism and Nation(-state) and how these concepts have developed over time. The course pays close attention to language and power, constructions of identity by self and other, and what gets lost and gained in the translation of cultures.
Humanities
1 credit.
Spring 2025. Kessler.
Catalog chapter: Religion
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/religion

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