Fall 2008
TH161 Religious Quest I: Comparative Perspectives
Undergraduate Theology Core; Cultural Diversity
The Religious Quest explores the individual and communal search for wisdom about human nature, the world, ultimate realities and God, secrets of love and death, also enduring values to live by and paths to spiritual maturity. Although each section is different, likely themes include symbols, myths, doctrines, rituals, holy texts, saints, comparisons and contrasts among traditions, relevance of classical religious traditions to issues in today's world, interreligious dialogue today, and religious diversity in the Boston area. These two sections bring Judaism and Christianity into conversation.
Ruth Langer
PL, TH 828: German-Jewish Thinkers
Graduate Seminar
The brilliance and tragedy of German(+Austrian)-Jewish culture is decisive for interpreting twentieth century experience. This graduate seminar examines writings of some of its major thinkers, including Arendt, Buber, Freud, Rosenzweig, Scholem and members of the Frankfurt school.
James Bernauer
HS 26301 TH48201: Hitler, The Churches and the Holocaust
This course examines anti-Semitism, nationalism and totalitarianism in relation to Hitler and the Nazis. It explores the roots and development of Christian anti-Judaism and the role it played in helping to prepare the seedbed for the Holocaust in Europe. It analyzes and weak and inadequate response of the Churches during the Nazi era, the theological and institutional resistance that emerged in response to totalitarianism and the Holocaust, and goes on to present the currently-developing post-Holocaust paradigm shift in Christian theology.
Audrey Doetzel
Spring 2009
TH162 Religious Quest II: Comparative Perspectives
Undergraduate Theology Core; Cultural Diversity Continuation of TH161. See above.
Ruth Langer
PL 456: The Holocaust: A Moral History
The purpose of this course is to explore the issues of good and evil and how human beings succeed or fail to meet the challenge such issues pose. The Holocaust, the tragic series of events which ruptured modern western morality, are examined from a variety of perspectives (literary, cinematic, philosophical, theological, and political). We study the testimony of both its victims and its perpetrators. The special emphasis of the course is devoted to a consideration of the intellectual and moral factors which motivated resistance or excused indifference. This consideration will be performed by cooperative investigation into the ethical life-histories of representative individuals from this period. What part of themselves did they think of as primarily concerned with moral conduct? What form of obligation did they think of as specifically ethical? To what training did they commit themselves in order to develop as ethical beings? Why did they desire to be moral or why did they find it untroubling to be immoral/amoral? We conclude with an interpretation of the Holocaust for contemporary morality and of its theological significance for Christians and Jews.
James Bermauer
