2025 Fall JEWISH 122B 001 LEC 001

2025 Fall

JEWISH 122B 001 - LEC 001

Pre-Modern Judaism: Religion and Society

The Jews Between Ancient Empires

Duncan E Macrae

Aug 27, 2025 - Dec 12, 2025
Tu, Th
02:00 pm - 03:29 pm
Class #:33819
Units: 4

Instruction Mode: In-Person Instruction

Offered through Jewish Studies Program

Current Enrollment

Total Open Seats: 13
Enrolled: 2
Waitlisted: 0
Capacity: 15
Waitlist Max: 3
No Reserved Seats

Hours & Workload

3 hours of instructor presentation of course materials per week, and 9 hours of outside work hours per week.

Other classes by Duncan E Macrae

Course Catalog Description

This course will examine the “births” of “Christianity,” “Judaism,” and “Islam,” and challenge narratives that treat these as three self-evidently separate, internally coherent entities with discrete origin points. We will explore modes of interactions between Jews, Christians and Muslims in the medieval Islamic world, and test the utility of terms like “influence,” “cross-pollination,” “symbiosis,” and family tree metaphors, as well as new conceptual frameworks like Heyden and Nirenberg’s “co-production.”

Class Description

This course is an investigation of two histories: the history of the Jewish people in Greek and Roman antiquity and the history of ancient imperialism. We will seek to understand how each of these histories can illuminate the other. From the sixth century BCE through to the fifth century CE, Jewish populations lived in the shadow of ancient empires (Persian, Hellenistic Greek, Roman). We will look at how this experience shaped Jewish identity, religion and cultural life. At the same time, the rich record for ancient Jewish history can help us understand how subject peoples experienced and shaped imperial rule. The course will involve readings from Jewish and non-Jewish ancient texts in translation (including from the Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, other apocryphal texts, Josephus, Tacitus, Roman imperial laws) and introductions to the archaeological and documentary evidence for ancient Jewish communities.

Rules & Requirements

Repeat Rules

Reserved Seats

Current Enrollment

No Reserved Seats

Textbooks & Materials

See class syllabus or https://calstudentstore.berkeley.edu/textbooks for the most current information.

Textbook Lookup

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eTextbooks

Associated Sections

None