RELG 065. Modern Judaism

This course explores how Jews and Jewish communities have confronted, negotiated, and reshaped their traditions from the eighteenth century to the present day. Students are introduced both to what Jews do (Jewish rituals and holidays) and why they do them (or why not). The course also considers that “Judaism” is itself a modern category-reimagined through encounters with Enlightenment thought, nationalism, colonialism, racism, antisemitism, secularism, feminism, and contemporary debates about statehood and diaspora.

By the end of the course, students will understand modern Judaism not as a single, static “religion,” but as a thriving field of debate that takes place within a minority culture that spans the globe. Key areas of these debates revolve around notions of race, nation, peoplehood, politics, religion, gender, sexuality, and embodiment, as Jews and Jewish communities participate in ongoing negotiations between the past and present to imagine Jewish futures.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Eligible for GSST, GLBL-core
Fall 2026. Kessler.
Catalog chapter: Religion
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/religion

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