ANTHR 4407 - Hasidism: History, Community, Thought

(crosslisted) NES 4407, JWST 4407, RELST 4407
(HB) (ALC-AS, ETM-AS, HA-AS)

Fall or Spring. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Co-meets with ANTHR 7407/JWST 7407/NES 7407/RELST 7407.

J. Boyarin.

The modern Jewish religious movement known as Hasidism began in Eastern Europe in the eighteenth century and thrives today. We will approach Hasidism primarily through three avenues: recent critical social history; selections from Hasidic literature; and ethnographic accounts of Hasidic life today. By the end of the semester, students will be able to articulate some ways that Hasidism reflects both broader trends in European religious and moral thought of its time, and some ways that it represents distinctively Jewish developments. You will also gain a deeper appreciation of the various kinds of evidence and disciplinary approaches that need to be brought to bear on the attempt to articulate as broad, deep and varied a phenomenon as modern Hasidic Judaism.

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