The core course is Theories of Secularization with two secondary courses, Jewish Languages and Literatures in the Secular World and Contesting the Bible: From Sacred to Secular and Back Again.
Theories of Secularization
Professor Peter E. Gordon
What is secularization? What does it mean to describe the modern world as wholly
secular or independent of any prior religious foundations? Is modern political identity
intelligible apart from religion? Or does politics remain a translation of religious
concepts and therefore a mode of political theology? This advanced undergraduate
course surveys various debates concerning the historical process
and philosophical-political significance of secularization, most
especially the secularization of political
norms. The course concentrates on the history of European thought since 1650, with
special reference to encounter between Western monotheistic religion and the rationalist
modes of criticism that first emerged with the scientific revolution. The course is
divided into two large thematic units. In the first half of the semester, we will
investigate historical and philosophical accounts of the translation from religion to
science or philosophical naturalism in the early modern period. In the second half of the
semester, we will devote our time to trying to understand some of the most consequential
theorists of secularization, Marx, Weber, Schmitt, Löwith, and Blumenberg. We will end
the course by applying some of these theories to a synthetic treatment by the historian
David Biale concerning the status of the ‘secular’ in Judaism.
Weekly readings:
PART I: RELIGION AND ENLIGHTENMENT IN THE EARLY MODERN WORLD
Week 1: Paul Veyne, Did the Greeks Believe in their Myths? (all).
Week 2: Lucien Fevre, The Problem of Unbelief in the 16th Century: The Religion
of Rabelais (selections)
Week 3: Baruch Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise, selections.
Steven Nadler, “Baruch Spinoza and the Naturalization of Judaism”
Week 4: Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise, continued.
Week 5: Leo Strauss, Spinoza’s Critique of Religion, selections.
Week 6: Leo Strauss, Spinoza’s Critique of Religion, continued.
Week 7: Amos Funkenstein, Theology and the Scientific Imagination, selections.
PART II: RELIGION, POLITICS, AND LEGITIMACY: THEORIES OF SECULARIZATION
Week 8: Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Max Weber, “Science as a Vocation”
Week 9: Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, all.
Week 10: Carl Schmitt, Political Theology: Four Essays on the Theory of
Sovereignty, all.
Week 11: Karl Löwith, Meaning in History, all.
Week 12: Hans Blumenberg, The Legitimacy of the Modern Age, selections.
Week 13: David Biale, Secular Judaism
There will be one research-length paper (16-18pp) on a topic designed by the student in
consultation with the professor.
Jewish Languages and Literatures in the Secular World
Professor Marc Shell
What is a Jewish language? Hebrew, which is one such
language, is secular as well as liturgical and biblical. What about other
languages spoken almost exclusively by Jews? In the case of Yiddish and Ladino,
the written literatures are largely secular. But there is more to the larger
question of the place of Jewish languages and literatures in the secular world.
The main Jewish languages to be considered in the first of
three annual iterations of this course are: Biblical and Modern Israeli Hebrew,
Judeo-Malayalam, Judeo-Aramaic (Judeo-Neo-Aramaic), Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Greek
(Judeo-Yevanic), Judeo-Iranian, Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Portuguese,
Judeo-Spanish (Judezmo, Ladino), and Yiddish.
Languages to be considered in subsequent years also include
Israeli Sign Language, Judeo-Alsatian, Judeo-Berber, Judeo-Crimean Tatar
(Krimchak), Judeo-Provencal, Judeo-Chinese, Judeo-Georgian, Judeo-Slavic
(Canaanic), Judeo-Tadjik (Bukharin), Jewish English, Judeo-Tat (Juhuric),
Karaim, Jewish Dutch, Jewish Polish, Jewish Russian, and Jewish Latin American
Spanish.
Each year, the course begins with definitions of such terms
as "dialect" (versus "language") and of the relationship
between oral and written traditions. We move on to questions involving
alphabetization, transliteration, translation, and oral tradition. All affect
how these languages negotiate secularization and relations to groups other than
the Jewish one. In the case of Yiddish, for example, Polish Jewish debates in
the 1930s about whether to use Roman instead of Hebrew letters are important.
So too is the role of the YIVO institute in creating a standardized Yiddish
orthography and general dialect as well as various debates over Soviet Yiddish
orthography.
The second part of each annual course includes study of the
bi- or multi-lingual character of Jewish culture. We pay special attention to
the relationship between sacred and secular language. The worldwide dispersion
of Jews and their languages allows for study of global language difference;
and, as we shall see, it provides an opportunity to study global processes of
secularization.
In this context, we compare Jewish bilingual cultures with
other multilingual cultures that have one or another sort of sacred language.
In some cultures, the sacred and secular language are different. For example,
there are European groups (Latin-Catholic), Thai groups (Pali-Buddhist), and
non-Arabic speaking Muslim groups. In other cultures, the secular and
essentially religious realms are, on the linguistic level, potentially the
same. Examples here would include various Arabic-speaking Muslim groups.
Thus we consider particular Jewish culture within the larger
cultures. Sometimes these cultures are basically monolingual cultures (e.g.,
nineteenth-century England). At other times they are multi-lingual (e.g.,
Quebec, Belgium, medieval Spain, nineteenth-century Galicia).
Finally, each annual course includes a section focusing on
the emergence of Israel and the idea of a homeland. The linguistic history of
the Jewish peoples includes an unparalleled revival of Hebrew as a spoken and
written secular language.
In this context, it may be useful to compare the language
difficulties in British Mandate Palestine in the 1920's (and the paramilitary
activities of the Brigade for the Defense of the Hebrew Language) with certain
Hebrew/Arabic/Russian/English controversies in modern Israel. Equally important
is the requirement to include a couple of Israeli works that stage the
confrontation between religious and secular uses of language.
Syllabus
Course Description:
What is a Jewish language? What is
Jewish literature? General topics are alphabetization, translation, oral
tradition and diaspora. Languages worldwide include Hebrew as well as
Judeo-Spanish, -Aramaic, -Arabic, -French, -Greek, -Italian, -Persian,
-Spanish, -Malayalam, Yiddish, and other secular Jewish languages. Readings
usually include love stories, medical and philosophic texts, and writings on science,
travel, and music. Guest scholars visit most weeks. No language requirement. Note: Language credit
can be arranged.
Requirements:
1. Regular
attendance and active participation, including attending at least one Monday night dinner
with one of our visiting scholars.
2.
Background reading in preparation for visiting
scholars’ presentations.
3.
Reviews of two articles that address a particular
Jewish language and its literature or a theme related to the course (see
suggested resources in this syllabus)
4.
Research paper (around 15 pages), due by the end of
reading period, Monday, January 12, 2008.
Readings:
A course reader is available at the
Coop. The reader contains articles that address historical, theoretical and
literary aspects of Jewish languages and literature. Please read the articles
within the first month of the seminar so that you begin to develop a working
knowledge of key issues and questions concerning Jewish languages.
Course Outline:
1. Introduction
What was the Language of Moses?: Marc Shell, Harvard
University
2. Judeo-Arabic:
Norman Stillman, University of Oklahoma
3. Widener Judaica Divison
4. Judeo-Spanish: Samuel Armistead, University
of California, Davis
5. Jewish Malayalam: Scaria Zacharia, Sree Sankaracharya University, Mahatma Gandhi University (visiting professor)
6. Medieval Hebrew: Jonathan Decter, Brandeis University
Israeli Hebrew: Olga Gershenson, UMass, Amherst
7. Judeo-Romance: Luis Girón-Negrón, Harvard University
8. Judeo-Persian: Vera Basch Moreen, Swarthmore College
9. Judeo-Sicilian: Laura Minervini, University of Naples, Italy
10. Yiddish: Ruth Wisse, Harvard University
11.
Judeo-Indian: Brad Sabin Hill, George Washington University
What is a Jewish Language?: Peter Fenves, Northwestern
University
12. Judeo-Greek: Steven Bowman, University of Cincinnati
Resources:
Books:
Birnbaum,
Salamo. The
Hebrew Scripts. Leiden: Brill, 1971.
Argentine Jewish Theatre:
A Critical Anthology. Ed. Nora Glickman and Gloria F. Waldman,
Lewisberg, PA: Bucknell University, 1996.
Fishman,
Joshua, ed. Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages. Leiden: E.J. Brill,
1985).
Gold,
David. Jewish
Linguistic Studies. Haifa: Association for the Study of Jewish
Languages, 1989.
Jewish Languages: Theme
and Variation. Ed. Herbert Paper. Cambridge, MA: Association
for Jewish Studies, 1978.
Judeo-Romance Languages.
Ed. Issac Benabu and Joseph Sermoneta. Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalayim, 1985.
Lowenstein,
Steven M. The
Jewish Cultural Tapestry: International Jewish Folk Traditions. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
The Multilingual
Literature of One People: Catalogue for the Exhibition Arranged by
World Jewish Congress, British Section. Jewish Book Week, London,
1955.
Myhill,
John. Language
in Jewish Society: Towards a New Understanding. Buffalo, NY: Multilingual
Matters, 2004.
Passy,
Albert Morris. Sephardic
Folk Dictionary: English to Ladino, Ladino to English: A collection of the most
used words from the everyday speech and correspondence of the American
descendants of Sephardic Jews. Los Angeles: AMPCO, 1994.
Schwarzwald,
Ora. Milon
ha-hagdarot shel Pesach be-Ladino. Jerusalem: Hotsa’at sefarim shel
Y.L. Magnes, 2008.
Seidman,
Naomi. A
Marriage Made in Heaven: The Sexual Politics of Hebrew and Yiddish. Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press, 1997.
Spiegel,
Murray and Rickey Stein. 300 Ways to Ask the Four Questions. Spiegel-Stein Publishing,
2008.
Vena Hebraica in
Judaeorum Linguis: Proceedings of the 2nd International
Conference on the Hebrew and Aramaic Elements in Jewish Languages. Ed.
Shelomo Morag, et al. Milan: Centro Studi Camito-Semitici di Milano,
1999.
Weinreich,
Max. History of
the Yiddish Language. Translated from the Yiddish by S. Noble
and J. Fishman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Wexler,
Paul. Jewish
and non-Jewish Creators of “Jewish” Languages. Wiesbaden:
Otto Harrassowitz, 2006.
Three Heirs to a
Judeo-Latin Legacy: Judeo-Ibero-Romance, Yiddish, and Rotwelsch.
Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1988.
What is Jewish
Literature? Ed. Hana Wirth-Nesher. Philadelphia: Jewish
Publication Society, 1994.
Zacharia,
Scaria. Yefefiyah:
Shira ha-nashim shel Yehude Keralah. Jerusalem: Mekhon Ben-Tsevi
le-heker kehilot Yisrael ba-Mizrach, 2005.
Articles:
Bunis,
David M. “A Comparative Linguistic Analysis of Judezmo and
Yiddish.” International Journal
of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 49-70.
Fishman,
Joshua. “Language Planning for the ‘Other Jewish Languages’ in
Israel.” Language Problems
and Language Planning 24.3 (2000): 215-231.
Harkavy,
Benjamin. “Multilingualism” in The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. New Haven,
CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
Sunshine,
Andrew. “History of Jewish Interlinguistics: A Preliminary Outline” in
K.R. Jankowsky, ed. History
of Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1993: 75-82.
Rabin,
Chaim. “What Constitutes a Jewish Language?” International Journal of the
Sociology of Language 30: 19-28.
Wexler,
Paul. “Jewish Interlinguistics: Facts and Conceptual Framework.” Language 57.1 (March
1981): 99-149.
“The Term ‘Sabbath Food’: A Challenge for Jewish Interlinguistics.” Journal of
the American Oriental Society 98.4 (1978): 461-465.
Audio Resources:
Hu tuki rav yofi!: shire
nashim Yehudiyot mi-Keralah. Barbara K. Johnson and Scaria Zacharia.
Jerusalem: Jewish Music Research Center, 2004.
Contesting the Bible: From Sacred to Secular and Back Again
Professor Jay Harris
This course will examine the emergence of the Bible as a sacred
text in Jewish and Christian tradition; the rise of Biblical criticism
and the historical approach to the biblical text; the cultural
challenges and opportunities of a secularized Bible in Europe and the
United States; the rise of neo-orthodoxy and fundamentalism brought on
by secular approaches to the Bible.
The purpose of this course will be to help students understand the
role tht the Bible has played and continues to play in Western
civilization. The course will be divided into four units. IN the first,
we will examine how the diverse collection of books that make up the
collection that came to be called the Bible eventually became "the
book" in the singular, and we will proceed to examine the various
authority claims surrounding this book in both Jewish and Christian
traditions. In the second, we will move on to examine the rise of
modern, often secular, approaches to the Bible, to be found especially
in the works of Hobbes and Spinoza, and will examine the role that this
secularized Bible played in the cultural universe of the Enlightenment,
especially in the works of Voltaire. In the third, we will examine the
academic battles surrounding the Bible in the 19th century, especially
in Germany, as well as France, England, and the United States. The
final unit will be devoted to the rise of fundamentalism and resistance
to it among Jews and Christians in Europe and especially the United
States. The goal of the course will be to provide an overview of the
battles surrounding the bible and to draw the broader cultural and
political implications of those battles, to help students understand
the rise of secular ideas and movements; to help students understand
that the path leading to cultural secularization was never straight or
simple; and, finally, to recognize the tenacity of the human religious
impulse.
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