060040 SE 20th-Century Jewish Thought - An Introduction (2023S)

The 20th century is known to have been a "long" century in Jewish history and thought. Among its most significant milestones are the emergence of Jewish cultural philosophy and Zionism around 1900, the reorientation of Jewish theology and messianic thought during the interwar period, the immediate responses to the Shoah around 1945, the philosophical debates around Jewish political sovereignty in Israel/Palestine, the attempts at so-called post-Holocaust theology, as well as the beginnings of Jewish feminist critique and Jewish environmental thought. This course offers a critical survey of the most important Jewish thinkers in the context of 20th-century intellectual history with an eye to their contemporary relevance.

Format:

Lecture with Discussion. Students are required to prepare short primary texts in advance.

Objective:

Introductory survey of the historical and thematic development of 20th-century Jewish thought.