Jonathan Kaplan

This seminar involves a close examination of the biblical book Song of Songs. Students will employ a wide range of methods in our study of these works including, but not limited to, history, philology, literary theory, poetics, history of interpretation, linguistics, and art history.

Textbooks 

Exum, J. Cheryl. Song of Songs. OTL. Louisville, Ky.: WJKP.Murphy, Roland.

The Song of Songs. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.Pope, Marvin H.

Song of Songs. Anchor Bible 7C. New Haven: Yale University Press.

The biblical character Abraham is considered to be the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by each religion's adherents. How did Abraham become  Father Abraham?  Why does each of these three communities claim to be the people of Abraham exclusively? The primary aims of this course are to explore how Abraham is presented in the book of Genesis and how each of these religions transforms Abraham into a key figure of their tradition. After examining the figures of Abraham, his wife Sarah, and his sons Ishmael and Isaac in Genesis 12–25, the remainder of the course will consist of exploring how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each retell the story of Abraham and his family. We will take note of the interpretive strategies employed by each tradition as it utilizes the story of Abraham in constructing a communal narrative of chosenness. Some attention will be paid to how participants in contemporary inter-religious dialogue approach the figure of Abraham. This course requires no prior exposure to biblical literature or Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Texts

Coogan, Michael D. et al., eds. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with theApocrypha, Augmented Fourth Edition, New Revised Standard Version, College Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Levenson, Jon D. Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2012.

Grading

Class attendance and participation - 15%,One-page class responses - 15%, Four-to-five-page textual analysis - 20%, Midterm Exam - 20%, Final Exam - 30%

For almost seventy years, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has influenced significantly our understanding of Second Temple Judaism, the formation of the Bible, and the origins of the religious movements of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. This course presents an in-depth study of the Dead Sea Scrolls in order to understand better the development of law, interpretation, ritual, messianism, apocalypticism, and prayer in the late Second Temple period. This course will include discussion of the archaeology of the Qumran community, textual production and transmission in antiquity, scribal practices in antiquity, and pseudonymous authorship.

Texts

VanderKam, James C. The Dead Sea Scrolls Today. Revised Edition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010. Vermes, Geza. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. London: Penguin, 1998.

Grading: 

Class attendance and participation 10%; Quality of midterm examination 20%; Quality of final examination 30%; Quality of two “5 page papers“ 40%.

Jerusalem has been described famously as a golden bowl full of scorpions. As this proverb suggests, Jerusalem not only has been regarded as a treasure but also as something that is difficult to possess. This course surveys the often-tumultuous religious, political, and cultural history of Jerusalem over three millennia and examines the city's role as a symbolic focus for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The course examines literary evidence, artifacts, architecture, geography, and iconography to explore the development of the city and how its sacred space and symbolic significance has been shaped by history.

Texts/Readings

Coogan, Michael D. et al., eds. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Fourth Edition, New Revised Standard Version, College Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

The Qur'an. Any modern edition with English translation.

Bahat, Dan & Chaim T. Rubenstein. The Carta Jerusalme Atlas. Third Edition. Carta, 2011.

Cline, Eric H. Jerusalem Besieged: From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel. Ann Arbor, Mich., 2005.

Montefiore, Simon Sebag. Jerusalem: The Biography. New York: Knopf, 2011.

Grading Policy

Three in-class, one-hour examinationas (60%)

One Cumulative, final examination (30%)

Class attendance (10%)