This course examines contemporary manifestations of antisemitism and islamophobia in Canada. It begins by providing a brief historical review of Christian anti-Jewish thought and theology as put forward by the early Church fathers, Augustine and the subsequent papal bulls. The significance of the role of the Jew as moneylender in medieval feudal Europe will be […]
This course offers an exploration of Jewish beliefs, institutions, and bodies of literature, emphasizing continuities and changes in religious expression within and across different places, circumstances, and times. Themes covered include God, the Jewish people, Torah and its interpretation, the land of Israel; the commandments (mitzvot) and their legal (halakhic) expressions; the Sabbath; daily and […]
The Dead Sea Scrolls provide an intriguing window into the development of early Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. This course examines the texts, the communities which produced them, contemporary movements within Judaism and Christianity, and the major lines of interpretive controversy. RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: Judaism
Most people take the existence of the modern English Bible for granted—they assume it sprang fully-formed from the hands of the ancient writers or even directly from God. But the Bible has been three millennia in the making. This course traces the development of the Bible beginning with discussions in the first to third centuries […]
The origins of modern antisemitism can be traced to pagan hostility toward the Jews, Christian anti-Judaism, and the popular demonization of the Jews by the Middle Ages. The emergence of ideologies supported by pseudo-science to justify the exclusion and removal of the Jews from European society and their eventual extermination is very much a result, […]
This course examines how the Holocaust is represented and taught in Canada, Germany and Poland in the context of racism and multiculturalism in these three countries. It combines aspects of cultural studies, history, religious studies and literary studies.
The New Testament Apocrypha—or better: non-canonical early Christian literature—has had a great impact on western culture despite attempts by mainstream Christianity to suppress it. Stories and ideas from these texts appear in literature, art, church doctrine, and even modern fiction such as Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code. This course is designed to introduce students to a […]
A survey of the literature of the Hebrew Bible within the context of its world. Students examine the text in translation and become familiar with a variety of literary, historical and theological approaches to the text.
This course analyzes themes and art relevant to children and youth in adolescents' and children's Holocaust literature. Participants apply cognitive and affective modes of perception-ways of knowing, perceiving, and sensing- to read through the eyes of the main characters, predominantly children and youth.
This course analyzes themes and art relevant to children and youth in adolescents’ and children’s Holocaust literature: novels, picture books and poetry. Participants apply cognitive and affective modes of perception—ways of knowing, perceiving, and sensing— to read through the eyes of the main characters, predominantly children and youth. Themes include growing up/down in ghettos and […]