Spring 2023 Online Courses
Weekly Format, February-March 2023

Learn together in real time with Spertus Institute faculty members and your fellow students as you move forward in your program

These courses fulfill requirements for students enrolled in Spertus Institute's Jewish Studies MA and Doctoral programs. 

The registration period has closed for these courses.

Contact Spertus Institute Registrar Victoria Blum at vblum@spertus.edu if you have questions relating to your registration.

Spring Quarter 2023 Webconferencing Courses
Each course meets weekly online for synchronous two-hour sessions.

JUDAISM AND WORLD RELIGIONS
Taught by Dr. David N. Gottlieb

Course 3226 | 3 quarter-hour credits
MAJS 2nd-level Core, MAJS Elective, DSJS Core (Intergroup Relations), DSJS Text, and DHL Text

Meets weekly via Zoom | Wednesdays 6 to 8 pm CT
February 8 to March 29, 2023 (8 Sessions)

Explore Judaism in conversation and contestation with other religions. Together, we will examine the concept of world religions, seeking to understand which religions “qualify,” and under which historical and geographical circumstances Judaism has been included or excluded. We will consider cultural and theological connections and disjunctions through two concepts: first, whether and how the concept of “world religions” can still be useful; and second, how Judaism, in its many forms, contributes to or absents itself from this category. In the process, we will consult biblical, rabbinic, historical, theological, and critical texts.

WHAT IS JEWISH THEOLOGY
Taught by Dr. Tzvi Novick

Course 3001.1 | 3 quarter-hour credits
Fulfills MAJS Elective, DSJS Elective, DSJS Text, and DHL Core

Meets weekly via Zoom | Thursdays 6 to 8 pm CT
February 9 to March 30, 2023 (8 Sessions)

What should Jewish theology look like today? What should it take as its foundational categories? What aspects of Jewish tradition should serve as precedents? What about parallels from the writings of other religions? These methodological questions—questions concerning Jewish theology as a discipline—will inform our exploration of works in modern Jewish theology (and modern scholarship on Jewish theology). Among the authors we will examine are Mara Benjamin, Art Green, Joseph Dov Soloveitchik, Benjamin Sommer, and Michael Wyschogrod.