Between Cross and Crescent: Jewish Civilization from Mohammed to Spinoza

This course presents an overview of Jewish culture & society from its rabbinic foundations in late antiquity until the dawn of modernity in the 17th century. It places a special focus on Judaism's creative encounter with Christianity and Islam, providing perspectives from which to examine the three major Western religions as they interact over time, and noting especially their ability /inability to tolerate & appreciate the "other," as viewed from the vantage point of the Jewish minority.