RLST 114Modern Judaism

3 credits · Religious Studies · Penn State

This course will explore the developments in Judaism since the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Major changes have come to the world since 1700-changes represented by terms such as the Enlightenment, Emancipation, Industrialization, Nationalism, Urbanization, Immigration, and Egalitarianism/Feminism. These broad social changes led to the break-up of traditional communities and, among other things, reformulations of Jewish Life and Jewish Religion. The effects can be seen in a number of Jewish responses-Assimilation, Hassidism, Self-Defense and Nationalism, Denominationalism, and Egalitarianism/Feminism-which we shall study in this class. In particular, we shall look at Jewish spirituality-its historical and theological development, its many historical and modern manifestations, and how it works.