Monash University Handbook 2010 Undergraduate - Unit

Synopsis

This unit deals with the social, cultural, political and economic interactions of Jews with Christians and Muslims from antiquity to the present. In a contemporary world that frames these relations as a 'clash of civilisations', the course retraces the shifting relationships between the three monotheistic traditions, emphasising Jewish life in the medieval period under Christian and Islamic rule. The course will consider the legacy of this history in the modern period by reflecting on the post-Holocaust re-evaluation of Christian-Jewish relations and the way the Arab-Israel conflict has impacted on the place of Jews in the Middle East from the collapse of the Ottoman empire to the present.

Objectives

Students completing this unit will have the ability to:

1. Trace the way Jews, Christians and Muslims have defined their identities against each other.
2. Understand the interaction between Jews, Muslims and Christians in medieval Europe.
3. Compare the Jewish experience of medieval Christian and Islamic rule respectively.
4. Analyse the material, social, cultural and religious life of Jewish communities in Europe and the Mahgreb.
5. Analyse the impact of modern nationalism and the collapse of the Ottoman empire on the relations between Jews, Christians and Muslims.
6. Analyse the impact of the Holocaust on Jewish-Christian relations.

Assessment

Written work: 55% (2500 words)
2 hour exam: 45%

Chief examiner(s)

Paul Forgasz

Contact hours

3 hours (2 lectures and 1 tutorial) per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Religion and theology
Jewish civilisation
History

Prohibitions

JWC1040