NEW COURSE
HDS 1646 – Jewish Religion and Politics in the 20th Century: Europe, America, and Israel
Semester: Fall
Offered: 2024
Instructor: Shaul Magid
Meeting Time: T 1:00pm-3:00pm
The history of Jewish politics and religion is a complex story. Since Jews lived most of their collective lives outside the normative politically sphere (empire, monarchy, nation-state etc.) there is a question whether Jews had a political tradition at all before modernity. The multi-volume The Jewish Political Tradition argues that indeed Jews thought deeply about politics and developed a variety of political traditions even though they were void of much political power. This course will begin with Political-Theological Treatise of the 17th century philosopher Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza and his notion of Judaism as a political religion, and then turn to Karl Marx’s famous essay “On the Jewish Question.” These seminal texts will be our frame to look at how later movements continued to engage the ideas raised in both Spinoza and Marx.
We will then pick up the story a bit later – in the 20th century – when Jews became embedded in the political traditions in the U.S. and began to develop a political tradition of sovereignty in a Jewish national movement known as Zionism. Religion remained part of this political story in both overt and covert ways. This course will focus on political and religious radicalism, the figures and movements that offered radical political alternatives, both left and right, progressive and reactionary, ideological and social. The movements will cover the span of the 20th century from labor unions and Jewish communism and socialism in early 20th century America, to the Hebrew Canaanites, the new Religious Post-Zionists in the 21st century and the feminist and Queer revolutions in Judaism.
For more details please visit the Harvard Course Catalog.