Religious Studies | Judaism in the Making
R317 | 3879 | Satlow

R317   Judaism in the Making (Satlow) * Intensive Writing and Culture
Studies Credit (3 Cr.) TR 2:30-3:45 OP 111

making, from the end of the biblical period to the rise of Christianity
and literary forms which originated during this formative age,
considering, among other topics: the decline of the Temple and the rise of
the synagogue; the origins of the messiah idea, apocalypticism, angels,
and the afterlife; the development of Jewish life outside Israel (the
Judasim; and the emergence of the rabbis.

To explore these issues, we will examine a variety of texts composed in
this period: the so-called apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, Jewish
hellenistic authors (Josephus, Philo), the Dead Sea Scrolls, the New
Testament, early rabbinic texts, and many other sources.  We will try and
develop our skills as literary archaeologists, learning to reconstruct the
beliefs and practices of early Jews from the few literary artifacts which
they have left behind.  Through an examination of these texts, it is hoped
that the student will gain access to the religious world from which both
Christianity and rabbinic Judaism emerged.