SYLLABUS-IN-PROGRESS

Religious Studies 777 Topics in Philosophy and Jewish Thought (Winter 2008): Creation Revelation Redemption

This syllabus is posted at http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/danahol/777 and is also accessible by way of my home page (see below).  It will be updated periodically, and students in the class are asked to consult it regularly during the semester.

CLASS MEETINGS: Mondays, 1:15 - 3:15 p.m., University Hall B115

updated April 1, 2008

Additional Resources    


INSTRUCTORS: 

Dana Hollander 
Department of Religious Studies
, University Hall 109
(905) 525-9140, ext. 24759*  
danahol@mcmaster.ca*  
http://univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca/~danahol/

*in your phone and e-mail messages, please let me know how I can reach you by phone

OFFICE HOUR: Mondays, 3:30-4:30 p.m., or by appointment


Aaron Hughes
Herb and CeCe Schreiber Visiting Scholar in Jewish Studies, Department of Religious Studies (January-April 2008)
Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Calgary
(905) 525-9140, ext. 27459
http://www.ucalgary.ca/rels/hughes

hughesa@ucalgary.ca  

OFFICE HOURS: Mondays, 12-1; Thursdays, 1-3


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

postcard advertisement for Rosenzweig's translation of Jehuda Halevi's hymns


Course Description / Course Readings / Course Requirements   |   SCHEDULE: January / February / MarchApril


COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will explore the interconnected ideas of creation, revelation, and redemption in key works of medieval and modern Jewish thought, including Maimonides's Guide of the Perplexed, Jehuda Halevi's Kuzari, Hermann Cohen's Religion of Reason Out of the Sources of Judaism, and Franz Rosenzweig's Star of Redemption as well as some essays and his commentaries on Halevi's hymns. We will pay particular attention to how Cohen and Rosenzweig, whose works have helped define contemporary Jewish thought, relate to the medieval authors whose works were constitutive of what came to be known, as of the 19th century, as "Jewish philosophy." 


COURSE READINGS

Details for how to obtain each reading will appear beside the individual readings on the course schedule below.


COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Grades will be based on Participation/Presentation(s) 50%, Written Work 50%.


January 7, 2:30-3:30 p.m., University Hall 122 - Organizational Meeting

The time of future course meetings will be determined at this meeting, and will subsequently be posted to this syllabus.


Special Meeting Time: Tuesday, January 15, 3:00-5:00 p.m., UH B115

Religion of Reason Out of the Sources of Judaism (1919, 2nd ed. 1929) : "Introduction," chaps. 1, 3, 4, and 5. [book available for purchase/on reserve/master copy in UH 104] (Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des Judentums [book on reserve])

Hermann Cohen chronology [handout]

Introductory/Background Reading on Hermann Cohen:

Michael Zank, "Cohen, Hermann (1842-1918)," in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy [online/Mills Reference] and "Introduction" to The Idea of Atonement in the Philosophy of Hermann Cohen (2000) [book on reserve]


January 21

Maimonides on "negative attributes": Guide of the Perplexed, Book I, chaps 57-58

finish Cohen


Special Meeting Time: Thursday, January 31, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., UH 122

discuss any loose ends from Cohen

Moses Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed, trans. Shlomo Pines, 2 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963): Introduction; Book I, chaps 32-33; Book II, chaps 13, 14, 23, 32, 39

Recommended Background Reading

Kenneth Seeskin, Maimonides and the Origin of the World (2005) [book on reserve]: chaps 1, 5, 6


February 4

finish Maimonides; revisit Maimonides/Cohen

Jehuda Halevi, Kuzari, trans. Hartwig Hirschfeld (New York: Schocken, 1964), pp. 51-64


 February 10 and 25

Franz Rosenzweig, "The New Thinking" (1925) in Franz Rosenzweig's 'The New Thinking', ed. Udoff/Galli [purchase book /on reserve] ("Das neue Denken" in Zweistromland [book on reserve])

The Star of Redemption (1921), trans. Barbara E. Galli [book available for purchase/on reserve]: Part 2 Book 1: "Creation" (Der Stern der Erlösung [book available for purchase / on reserve])

Franz Rosenzweig chronology [handout]

Supplementary Material on Rosenzweig's Philosophy and Life:

Nahum Glatzer, "Introduction," Franz Rosenzweig. His Life and Thought (1953; new edition, 1998) [book on reserve]

Arnold Betz, Franz Rosenzweig. His Life and Works. (Exhibit and Essay) [Website at the Divinity Library, Vanderbilt University]

Stéphane Mosčs, System and Revelation. The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig (1982) [book on reserve]

Norbert Samuelson, A User's Guide to Franz Rosenzweig's 'Star of Redemption' (1999) [book on reserve]


March 3 

finish discussion of Rosenzweig, "Creation"


Friday, March 7 - Paper Proposals due


March 10

Jehuda Halevi, Kuzari part 2 (pp. 82-133)

 


March 17

finish Halevi, Kuzari

Rosenzweig, Star: Part 2, Book 2: "Revelation"


March 24 New Meeting Time: Thursday, March 27, 11:30-1:30, room TBA

Rosenzweig, Star: Part 2, Book 2: "Revelation," cont'd; Part 3, Book 1


March 31 and April 7

Rosenzweig, "Afterword to the Hymns and Poems of Jehuda Halevi" (1922-23), from Ninety-Two Poems and Hymns of Yehuda Halevi, trans. Eva Jospe et al. [purchase book / book on reserve] (appears as "Vorwort" (preface) in Rosenzweig, Jehuda Halevi. Fünfundneunzig Hymnen und Gedichte, Der Mensch und sein Werk. Gesammelte Schriften, vol. IV.1 [book on reserve])

Rosenzweig, "Scripture and Luther" (1926), from Scripture and Translation [book on reserve / copy to be made available] ("Die Schrift und Luther" in Zweistromland [book on reserve])

selected Halevi hymns and Rosenzweig's commentaries, from Ninety-Two Poems: "The Remote and the Near" (18); "Here I am" (25); "God Speaks" (49); "To Zion" (95)

Background Reading:  Mara Benjamin, "Building a Zion in German(y): Franz Rosenzweig on Yehudah Halevi," Jewish Social Studies n.s. 13, no. 2 (Winter 2007): 127–154

PAPERS DUE April 21, 2008