Courses

The Center for Jewish Civilization offers a variety of courses for students pursuing the minor in Jewish Civilization. These courses are also open to students who are not seeking the minor.

CJC courses are identified with both JCIV and INAF course numbers. The list of courses that count towards the minor is not limited to those courses with a JCIV or INAF course number, as some departments choose to x-list courses with the CJC rather than list the course under two different departments.

See below for a list of current courses being offered. Click the title to read a description of each course.

Current (Spring 2025)

Holocaust Studies

• Holocaust: Gender & Racial Ideology
• C-Lab: Holocaust Forensics
• The Forensics of Mass Killings
• Hitler, Putin, and Ukraine
• Bringing Nazis to Justice
• The Vatican and Nazi/Axis War Criminals

Culture and Humanities

• History of the Jewish People
• Modern Jewish History
• Re-Examining the Israel-Palestine Crisis Through Literature and Film
• God and the Goal Posts
• Global Secularisms
• Jews In Italian Culture and Theater
• Disability and the Jewish Bible
• Jews in Spain
• Intro to Jewish Civilization
• Jewish Civilization Senior Colloquium

International Affairs

• Untangling the Middle East: Religion, Politics, and Ethnicity
• Israel and World Politics
• Nationalism and Religion
• Race, Religion, and Terrorism
• Combating Terrorist Financing 20 Years After 9/11
• Ideological Controversies in Jewish History
• Muslims and Jews: Rethinking the Narrative
• Terrorism: Middle East And North Africa
• Fascism and its Legacy
• Statecraft and Negotiation
• Countering Violent Extremism: The Role We All Play
• From Resolution to Management and Prevention: The Evolution of the UN’s roles in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Hebrew

• Intensive Beginning Modern Hebrew II
• Intermediate Modern Hebrew II
• Advanced Modern Hebrew II

Upcoming (Fall 2025)

Holocaust Studies

• Theological Implications of the Holocaust
• Holocaust by Bullets
• Heroines and Forgotten Women in Mass Crimes and the Holocaust
• German Catholics in Hitler’s Army
• The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials: A Society Investigates Itself

Culture and Humanities

• Jewish Literature in the Global South
• Interfaith Marriage in Literature and Film
• Magic and Religion in the Greco-Roman World
• Jews on Trial
• Psychedelics, Spirituality, and Healing
• Arguing with God: The Bible as Art
• Introduction to Jewish Civilization
• Jewish Civilization Senior Colloquium

International Affairs and Diplomacy

• Congress and Making Middle East Foreign Policy
• The Weaponization of Hate: Antisemitism, Racism, Islamophobia, and Xenophobia in the COVID-19 Era
• Israel’s Relations with the Arab and Muslim World
• Terrorism: Middle East and North Africa
• History of Peace-Making in the Middle East
• Jewish-Muslim Coexistence in the Middle East and North Africa
• Israeli National Security Strategy, Policy and Decision Making: Primary Issues and Future Dilemmas
• Nuclear Age in the Middle East
• Memory Wars: Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe
• China-Israel and Palestine Relations
• Formal and Informal Terrorist Actors in the Contemporary Middle East
• Armed Conflict in the Middle East: Insurgency, Civil Wars, and Proxy Wars

Hebrew

• Intensive Beginning Modern Hebrew I
• Intermediate Modern Hebrew II
• Advanced Hebrew III