12 courses with the subject PHI, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
PHI 300Judaism, Science, and Ethics
Rabbi Jonathan Crane, PhD The relationship between Judaism and science has received much attention, especially in the last century or so. Embedded in these discussions are concerns about values and ethics: what constitute the good life, who or what is a human, what is the nature and extent of our responsibilities, which excellences should we pursue, and more. This short course investigates some of these ongoing deliberations, including discussions about personhood, disease, “unwanted life” and environmentalism through diverse Judaic sources. This course will cover different material than our Bioethics class and counts towards the science requirement.
Rabbi Jill Hackell, MD Technological advancements in medicine have brought with them bioethical issues of increasing complexity. This course will examine issues pertinent to today’s bioethical dialogue from a Jewish point of view, including issues such as organ donation, end-of-life, assisted reproduction, genetic screening and gene therapy, disease prevention, physician-assisted death, and transgender issues. How does the Jewish way of looking at these issues compare and contrast with the general societal discussion? What are the governing principles of bioethical argument in each of these across the spectrum of Jewish thought? How are ancient Jewish sources reconciled with modern technology in guiding thinking about these issues? This course will run the first half of the trimester, for six weeks. Last offered Spring 2025; typically offered every 4 terms Required Textbooks: None Recommended: Dorff, Elliot N., Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical Ethics, (1998), The Jewish Publication Society. ISBN: 0827607687 $14.70
Rabbi Len Levin PhD, Rabbi Cantor Michael McCloskey The classics of medieval Jewish philosophy will be considered as efforts in the ongoing project to articulate a coherent Jewish world-outlook. How did they seek to integrate the value-orientation of the Bible with the best (Greek) “science” of their age? How might their attempts at integration serve as models for us? Texts to be studied will include: Bible, Plato, Aristotle, Philo, Saadia, Halevi, and Maimonides (with intensive attention devoted to the Guide for the Perplexed). last offered Summer 2024; typically offered every 4 terms Required Textbooks: 3 Jewish Philosophers: Philo, Saadia, Halevi (Toby Press, 2006, ISBN 1592641475 or earlier JPS/Athenaeum edition Three Jewish Philosophers with different pagination) Maimonides, Moses; The Guide for the Perplexed (any edition you have is OK but we will be using the Barnes & Noble edition ISBN 0760757574 as standard) Amazon $19.99 Recommended textbooks: Schweid, Eliezer, The Classic Jewish Philosophers: From Saadia Through The Renaissance (Supplements to the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy) ISBN: 9004162135 Amazon $194.61 Colette, Sirat, A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages ISBN: 0521397278 Amazon $39.99 Guttmann, Julius, Philosophies of Judaism ISBN: 0805204024 Amazon $2.79 Frank, Daniel H. Frank & Leaman, Oliver, History of Jewish Philosophy (Routledge History of World Philosophies) ISBN: 0415324696 Amazon $140.00
PHI 312Modern Philosophy - 2 sessions, see course schedule2
Rabbi Len Levin, PhD Issues of modern Jewish thought will be studied through familiarization with principal works of the major modern Jewish philosophers-including Spinoza, Mendelssohn, Buber, Rosenzweig, Kaplan, Heschel, and Soloveitchik-as well as representative thinkers of the 5 major modern and contemporary movements. The focus will be on how all of these thinkers and movements adapted Jewish tradition-each in their own way-to the intellectual, cultural and political challenges of modernity. Required Texts: I and Thou, Martin Buber and Walter Kaufmann, Amazon $14.19 ISBN 0684717255 God In Search of Man , Abraham Joshua Heschel, Amazon $16.99 ISBN 0374513317 Optional Books: 1. Franz Rosenzweig, The Star of Redemption and On Jewish Learning, Amazon $17.48 ISBN 0274724065 2. Franz Rosenzweig and Nahum Glatzer, His Life and Thought, Amazon $19.00 ISBN 0872204286. 3. Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan,Judaism As A Civilization : Toward a Reconstruction of American Jewish Life , Amazon $35.49 ISBN 0827609183 4. Joseph Soloveitchik, Halakhic Man: The Lonely Man of Faith, Amazon $17.99 ISBN 0827603975 5. Eugene Borowitz, Choices in Modern Jewish Thought: A Partisan Guide, Amazon $16.40 ISBN 0874415810
Rabbi Jill Hackell, M.D. Technological advancements in medicine have brought with them bioethical issues of increasing complexity. This course will examine issues pertinent to today’s bioethical dialogue from a Jewish point of view, including issues such as organ donation, end-oflife, assisted reproduction, genetic screening and gene therapy, disease prevention, physician-assisted death, and the many issues raised by COVID. How does the Jewish way of looking at these issues compare and contrast with the general societal discussion? What are the governing principles of bioethical argument in each of these, across the spectrum of Jewish thought? How are ancient Jewish sources reconciled with modern technology in guiding thinking about these issues? This course will meet Novem
Rabbi Len Levin, PhD and Rabbi Cantor Michael McCloskey Through taking this course students will be able to: clarify their own theological agenda-the questions and core-concepts that are most central to their own Jewish theological vision; develop a statement of their personal theological visions, through a combination of drawing on previous paradigms and creating their own; and specifically be able to address the issues of revelation/authority/practice, God, Israel/Jewish peoplehood, suffering/evil, and eschatology in a way that will be meaningful to themselves and to their future audiences. Last offered Spring 2025; typically offered every 3-4 terms Required Textbooks: One of the following: Borowitz, Eugene, Renewing the Covenant, ISBN: 0827606273, Amazon $13.50 Gillman, Neil, Sacred Fragments, ISBN: 0827604033, Amazon $14.06 Green, Arthur, Radical Judaism, ISBN: 0300152329, Amazon $27.00 Hartman, David, A Living Covenant, ISBN: 1580230113, Amazon $17.10 Plaskow, Judith, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective, ISBN: 0060666846, Amazon $9.32 Recommended: Greenberg, Irving, The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism, ISBN: 0827615213, Amazon $11.79 Held, Shai, Judaism Is About Love, ISBN: 1250371791, Amazon $15.46 Brous, Sharon, The Amen Effect, ISBN: 0593543319, Amazon $15.49 Fishbane, Michael, Sacred Attunement: A Jewish Theology, ISBN: 0226251721, Amazon $32.00 Aglar, Richard & Rifat Sonsino, eds. A God We Can Believe In, ISBN: 978-1666793376, Amazon $9.99
Rabbi Len Levin, PhD What is pluralism? What are its core value commitments, and how does it differ from relativism? In this class we will endeavor to clarify our core convictions regarding truth and pluralism; to determine to what extent pluralism is an authentic Jewish value; to extend and deepen our knowledge base concerning pluralism in general and the discussion over pluralism within classical and modern Judaism; to cultivate the virtues of pluralism in dealing with each other, with Jews of persuasions different from our own, and with fellow human beings of different faith communities or no faith community. We will use Studies in Judaism and Pluralism: Honoring the 60th Anniversary of the Academy for Jewish Religion as a study guide. Textbooks: Leonard Levin, ed. Studies in Judaism and Pluralism (Ben Yehuda Press, ISBN: 1934730610, $7.34 http://benyehudapress.com/books/studies-judaism-pluralism/ Moshe Halbertal. People of the Book: Canon, Meaning, and Authority Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0674661125, $38.50 Donniel Hartman. The Boundaries of Judaism . New York: Continuum, 2007. ISBN: 0826496644, $47.45 Avi Sagi . The Open Canon. New York: Continuum, 2007. ISBN: 0826496709, $50
Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD Sefer Yetzirah is one of the earliest works of Jewish mysticism. This brief and cryptic ancient book imagines letters as the building blocks of the universe, introduces us to the sefirot or divine realms, and focuses our attention on the components of space, time, and soul. Its goal is to allow adepts to contemplate, and even partake in, the Divine creative process interwoven with the details of the physical universe. We will be reading the work in its entirety, plus secondary literature, to understand the meaning of Sefer Yetzirah and its potential role in contemporary Jewish belief and contemplative practice. We will also be exploring the book’s meditative approach through our own exploration of its methods. This course will count as the Mysticism Textbooks: Jill Hammer. Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah. New Jersey: Ben Yehuda Press, 2020. ISBN: 978-1934730065, $24.95. Aryeh, Kaplan. Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation . York Beach, ME: Weiser Books, 1997. ISBN: 978-0877286905, $31.49
