Suchergebnisse

This article presents an overview of recent tendencies in Latin
American Jewish Studies (hereafter LAJS). Two major developments will be
surveyed. One is the growth of resources for research; these include new
publications, reissues and translations of previously difficult-to-access
texts, and scholarly associations and other means of main taining
contact between researchers with similar concerns. These developments are
especially significant since faculty researching and teaching LAJS have
often been hindered by the difficulty of gaining access to information
and teaching resources.


Beyond making material available, LAJS researchers have been bringing
their own activities more clearly into focus. Scholars have made
efforts to identify the direction LAJS is taking and to suggest future
directions.

Geoffrey Claussen provides an in-depth discussion of his Jewish Traditions course, taught at Elon University. The course begins with an experiential learning exercise in which students eat honey cake while they read a fourteenth-century account of Jewish boys consuming honey (and other sweet delicacies) while studying Torah for the first time. Claussen outlines the course's learning outcomes, which include students developing awareness of the complexity and diversity of Jewish cultures, learning diverse ways in which Jews have related to non-Jewish communities, and (as the course is a part of Elon's Women's/Gender Studies program) recognizing the importance of gender for understanding the Jewish tradition and people. The course focuses on major aspects of Jewish thought and practice, giving particular attention to influential classical Jewish texts and modern responses to those texts. An abridged syllabus is provided.

Marc Zvi Brettler examines the way the Bible is taught in Introduction to Judaism courses, and suggests that presenting the Bible in its final form as background for the development of Judaism is insufficient. Many aspects of modern Judaism are not scripturally based; moreover, Jewish scripture developed and evolved over time: canon formation was a process. Thus, teaching Judaism as if today's Bible always existed, was always authoritative, and was the only canon that existed is historically inaccurate. Among other advantages, a historical-critical approach assists students in understanding rabbinic texts, which become easier if students realize that the Torah is not a single, unified text, but a polyphonic one. The academic teaching of religion involves, or at least includes, teaching texts in their historical contexts, and each text should be open to all questions. Brettler also argues for the place of the New Testament in Introduction courses.

"The Continuum Companion to Jewish Studies is a comprehensive reference guide, providing an overview of Jewish Studies as it has developed as an academic sub-discipline. This volume will survey the development and current state of research in the broad field of Jewish Studies - focusing on methodologies, current themes, and varieties of source materials available. Significantly, the volume also includes eleven essays from internationallly renowned scholars that provide an important and useful overview of Jewish history and the development of Judaism, and explore central themes in Jewish Studies that cut across historical periods and offer important opportunities to track significant developments across Jewish experiences. In addition to an annotated bibliography to help orient students and researchers, the volume includes a series of indispensable research tools, including a chronology, maps, and an extensive glossary of key terms and concepts necessary as one engages various fields within Jewish Studies. This is the essential reference guide for anyone working in this field"--