Ken Koltun-Fromm
Haverford College
Gest 201, Office hours: Monday, 1-2:30
610-896-1026 (office), 610-645-8324 (home)
kkoltunf@haverford.edu
Spring, 2011
Monday and Wednesday 2:30-4
Gest 101
Summary
This course will bring together students and scholars to explore active research in the field of modern Jewish thought and culture. We will analyze pivotal texts by engaging nine scholars who will visit the classroom to discuss their work. Some will actually be present in class; others will be connected via Skype. Each contemporary scholar has proposed readings for the Monday class, and most have included his/her own writings for analysis and critique for the Wednesday discussion. These scholars will be present in class (physically or via Skype) when we discuss their work in modern Jewish thought. In this way, we read the primary sources together with contemporary analysis, and discuss these materials with active scholars in the field.
The focus of this class will be American Jewish thought and culture, and it will culminate in a symposium during reading period in which all nine scholars will be present to discuss their research. Students will become familiar with this research over the course of the semester, and they will actively take part in furthering this field of scholarship. A course blog, maintained throughout the semester, will sustain and energize critical discussions between students and scholars. Furthermore, students will send drafts of their final papers to the relevant scholar who will then read, comment, and discuss these papers with students during the Symposium in May.
The distinguished scholars taking part in this course and symposium are:
Mara Benjamin (St. Olaf College)
Zachary Braiterman (Syracuse University)
Arnold Eisen (Jewish Theological Seminary)
Greg Kaplan (Rice University)
Ken Koltun-Fromm (Haverford College)
Akiba Lerner (Santa Clara University)
Noam Pianko (University of Washington)
Jessica Rosenberg (Stanford University)
Claire Sufrin (Northwestern University)
Questions for Scholars
Requirements
Two five-page double-spaced papers, the first due Friday, February 25 at 5 pm and the second due Friday, April 1 at 5 pm. Each paper will offer a close reading and analysis of one of the texts read and discussed for the Monday class, and will include critical appraisal of the interpretive paper read for the Wednesday class.
Research and class presentations of an edited book in modern Jewish thought for Monday and Wednesday, April 11 and 13. Each student, together with others in his/her group, will analyze an edited volume and discuss in class the structure, intent, focus, and quality of the book. I will set up a Google Sites webpage for each group to better enable a visual representation of your work. You can find a spreadsheet of edited volumes to research at the Haverford Magill library here.
Active participation in the ongoing course blog. Each student must either begin a discussion thread or take part in a discussion thread every week about the class readings. I will divide the class into two groups, with one group assigned to Monday blogging and the other to Wednesday blogging (and then reverse this order for the next week so that, for example, you will blog on Monday one week but Wednesday the next week). Your blogging comments may include analysis, questions, extensions of critique, relevance for contemporary issues, or other reflections about the course material. In addition, I will ask 2-3 of you to monitor discussion for the Wednesday class meetings in which we discuss the class readings with a scholar in the field.
A final 15-20 page paper due at the end of final examinations (May 7 at 5 pm for seniors: May 13 at noon for the rest), but a major draft will be due at 5 pm Monday, April 25th (this draft date is firm and there will be no extensions granted). This paper may be an extension of one of your five-page papers, and the draft will be sent to one of the participating scholars in the symposium for his/her critical review. Students will then take part in a working breakfast meeting with this scholar on the Monday morning of the Symposium. These critical appraisals and meetings should then help students to revise their final papers due at the end of the final examination period.
Each student must participate in the course Symposium on Sunday and Monday, May 1 and 2, 2011. There are no exceptions to this event. The Symposium will begin Sunday evening around 7 pm with a keynote lecture from Professor Arnold Eisen, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and will continue all-day Monday and conclude at 5 pm that day. The Monday sessions will include breakfast with one of the Symposium participants, and round-table discussions in the morning and afternoon.
Grading
Your final grade will be based on your engagement in class and blog discussions, your two five-page paper assignments, and the quality and cogency of your final paper. I do not evaluate each task with percentage accuracy (your final paper is not worth, say, 30% of your grade, for example), but instead examine all your work as a piece. I seek to provide a grade that fairly expresses the work and attention rendered to the class assignments, your peers in class, and your class participation.
Students who think they may need accommodations in this course because of the impact of a disability are encouraged to meet with me privately early in the semester. Students should also contact Rick Webb, Coordinator, Office of Disabilities Services (rwebb@haverford.edu, 610-896-1290) to verify their eligibility for reasonable accommodations as soon as possible. Early contact will help to avoid unnecessary inconvenience and delays.
Texts for Purchase
Martin Buber, I and Thou
Joseph Soloveitchik, Fate and Destiny
Joseph Soloveitchik, The Lonely Man of Faith
Michael Wyschogrod, The Body of Faith
Syllabus
Introduction to Class
Wednesday, January 19
What does Jewish thought do?
Monday, January 24
Jenna Joselit, “’Merry Chanuka’: The Changing Holiday Practices of American Jews, 1880-1950,” 303-325
Arnold Eisen, “Constructing the Usable Past: The Idea of ‘Tradition’ in Twentieth-Century American Judaism,” 429-461
Wednesday, January 26
Haym Soloveitchik, “Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy,” 64-103
Culture vs. Text Spreadsheet
Mordecai Kaplan
Monday, January 31 (Group A Blog)
Mordecai Kaplan, Judaism as a Civilization, ix-xii, 227-252
David Hollinger, Postethnic America, 79-129
Wednesday, February 2 (Group B Blog)
Noam Pianko (University of Washington), Peoplehood: Kaplan’s Forgotten Act of Disloyalty; “Post Ethnic, perhaps, but not Post-Peoplehood”
Max Weber and Philip Rieff
Monday, February 7 (Group B Blog)
Max Weber, “Science as a Vocation,” 129-156
Philip Rieff, “The Jew of Culture,” xiii-xliv, 142-165
Wednesday, February 9 (Group A Blog)
Greg Kaplan (Rice University), “Self and Social Order in Rieff’s Jew of Culture”
Joseph Soloveitchik
Monday, February 14 (Group A Blog)
Joseph Soloveitchik, “A Halakhic Approach to Suffering,” 86-115
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, “The Sick Soul”
Wednesday, February 16 (Group B Blog)
Jessica Rosenberg (Stanford University)
Joseph Soloveitchik, Fate and Destiny
David Hartman, “The Third Jewish Commonwealth,” 278-299
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Monday, February 21 (Group B Blog)
Abraham Joshua Heschel, “No Religion is an Island,” 3-22
Philip Cunningham, “’No Religion is an Island’: Catholic and Jewish Theologies of Each Other,” 27-33
Wednesday, February 23 (Group A Blog)
Arnold Eisen (Jewish Theological Seminary), “Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Challenge of Religious Pluralism,” 4-15
Arnold Eisen, “In the Wilderness: Reflections on American Jewish Culture,” 25-39
Friday, February 25 – Five page paper due at 5 pm (sign-up sheet) (rubrics of evaluation)
Joseph Soloveitchik, Photography, and the Spiritual in Art
Monday, February 28 (Group A Blog)
Joseph Soloveitchik, The Lonely Man of Faith, 1-78
Wednesday, March 2 (Group B Blog)
Joseph Soloveitchik, The Lonely Man of Faith, 79-112
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” 217-242
Zachary Braiterman (Syracuse University)
Monday, March 7 – Spring Break
Wednesday, March 9 – Spring Break
Michael Wyschogrod
Monday, March 14 (Group B Blog)
Michael Wyschogrod, The Body of Faith, 1-81
Wednesday, March 16 (Group A Blog)
Ken Koltun-Fromm (Haverford College), “Authenticity, Vision, Chosenness: Michael Wyschogrod’s The Body of Faith,”
Emmanuel Levinas
Monday, March 21 (Group A Blog)
Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 187-219, 251-269
Wednesday, March 23 (Group B Blog)
Mara Benjamin (St. Olaf College), “Jewish Thought, Feminist Ethics, and the Obligated Self”
Martin Buber
Monday, March 28 (Group B Blog)
Martin Buber, I and Thou
Wednesday, March 30 (Group A Blog)
Akiba Lerner (Santa Clara University), “Otherness and the Future of Democratic Solidarity: Buber, Levinas, and Rorty’s Social Hope”
Friday, April 1 – Five page paper due at 5 pm
Gershom Scholem and Martin Buber
Monday, April 4 (Group A Blog)
Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 1-39
Martin Buber, Hasidism and Modern Man, 21-43
Gershom Scholem, “Martin Buber’s Interpretation of Hasidism,” 228-250
Martin Buber, “Interpreting Hasidism,” 218-225
Wednesday, April 6 (Group B Blog)
Claire Sufrin, (Northwestern University), “On Myth, History, and the Study of Hasidism: Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem”
Martin Buber, Kingship of God, 59-65
Martin Buber, Moses, 13-19
The Edited Book (listing of edited volumes)
Monday, April 11 (Group B Blog presentations)
Student Presentations
Wednesday, April 13 (Group A Blog presentations)
Student Presentations
Final Paper Work and Presentations
Monday, April 18
No class – work on final paper draft
Wednesday, April 20
No class (Passover) – work on final paper draft
Monday, April 25
Student Presentations
Draft of final paper due at 5 pm
Wednesday, April 27
Class visit and discussion with Professor Idith Zertal
Symposium – Sunday and Monday, May 1 and 2
Sunday, May 1 (Sharpless Auditorium)
- 7:30-9: Arnold Eisen keynote lecture: “Re-imagining American Judaism”
Monday, May 2 (Stokes 102)
- 9-10: Breakfast with Students and Scholars
- 10:30-12: Session I: Buber and Levinas: Ethics and the Other [Akiba Lerner, Claire Sufrin, Mara Benjamin, Zak Braiterman (moderator)]
- 12-1:30: Lunch hosted by Humanities Center
- 1:30-3: Session II: On Jewish Culture and Peoplehood [Greg Kaplan, Noam Pianko, Steven Cohen, Arnold Eisen, Ken Koltun-Fromm (moderator)]
- 3:15-4:45: Session III: Soloveitchik and Wyschogrod: Suffering, the Body, and Art [Ken Koltun-Fromm, Zak Braiterman, Jessica Rosenberg, Mara Benjamin (moderator)]
- 4:45-5: Closing Remarks