Jewish Sages and Sinners

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course will be taught by Julia Watts Belser, Ph.D., who formerly taught at Missouri State University. This course introduces students to early Jewish culture through the study of legends and stories from the Babylonian Talmud, arguably the most important post-biblical text in Jewish life. We will study some of the most famous characters in early Jewish thought: gripping tales of Jewish rain-makers who bargained with God to rescue their communities from crushing drought, stories of rabbinic heroism and cowardice during the destruction of Jerusalem, an ill-fated rabbinic attempt to make a mystical ascent to paradise, and the eventual redemption of Judaism’s most famous heretic. Through these stories, we will grapple with key religious controversies and theological challenges in early Jewish thought.