PHILOSOPHY SEMINAR Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson PHL 466 Rm Creation Science, Theology, Judaism This seminar is intended to introduce students to an in-depth consideration of one perennial issue in Jewish Philosophy and to extend competence in methods of philosophic research by considering a variety of methods by which one topic has been approached within the Jewish tradition namely, creation. The readings will contain historical information and will set the thinkers we look at in an historical context, but our focus will be on their ideas, their arguments, and the resonance of those ideas in our own time. We will examine a range of philosophical questions, such as: How do canonical texts present creation, and are those presentations mutually compatible? How are we to regard the authority of such accounts, particularly vis-a-vis scientific data? What is the proper role for empirical evidence and what is the role for reason? Is is possible to discern God in creation? Is creation an event or a process? Are we within creation? Are we distinct from creation or distinct within creation or not distinct at all? In asking such questions as applied to a particular philosophical issue, students will hopefully gain a sense not only of the methods of Jewish philosophy, but also the methods by which any philosophic question can be analyzed. In addition, students will emerge with a stronger sense of the methods and claims of particular Jewish thinkers and the interface of Jewish thought with general philosophy, the scientific method, and scientific data. Course Requirements: 1. Assigned readings to be done in advance of class sessions. 2. Participation in class discussions. 3. One course paper, approximately 15-25 pages, analyzing a particular thinker s approach to creation, examining methodological assumptions, ramifications, strengths, and weaknesses of their application of Jewish, general, and scientific sources to an issue in creation. Due: last day of class. Students should discuss the specific plan for their paper with me before beginning work on it. 1
4. Leading part of one session of the seminar. During our first session, we will determine who is teaching what and when. The paper, class participation, and leading a session will constitute the course grade. Readings: Students should work cooperatively to make these readings possible. Office Hours: I try to make myself available as much as possible, but one of the hazards of a teaching Dean is that my schedule is often not in my control. Please do feel free to schedule time to talk Creation philosophy through Blanca (bjensen@ajula.edu). If you need to talk more quickly and there are no times forthcoming, feel free to email me. Course Evaluation: At the end of the semester, I will ask you to fill out a formal evaluation of the course, but your comments and suggestions are welcome at any time before or after that, either orally or in writing. Pacing: As all of you know, this is a new course that is part of the new curriculum. It carries three credits. This is a graduate seminar, in which students are expected to spend significant time in preparation outside of class. I would recommend creating some kind of reading hevrutot to help you cover the work. As I write this syllabus, I am doing my best to estimate how this will work, but we may need to adjust readings and the way we analyze them as the semester progresses. 1. January 12 Introducing the Topic i. Jewish Cosmology Louis Jacobs, in Ancient Cosmologies, Carmen Blacker and Michael Loewe, eds., (London: George Allen & UNwin LTD, 1975) or in Judaism and Theology: Essays on the Jewish Religion (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2005) Jon D. Levenson, Creation and the Persistence of Evil (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), Preface - 50. i Genesis 1-3 iv. Psalm 104 v. Job 2
2. January 19 Biblical Approaches (Bring a Tanakh) i. Part I, Chapter Two: The Work of Creation and the First Generations, The Book of Legends: Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Hayim Nahman Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Ravnitsky, eds., William G. Braude, tr., (New York: Schocken Books, 1992), pp. 6-19. (If you find yourself with time and interest, check out Part VI, Chapter One: The World and All That it Holds, pp. 759-788. i Ephraim E. Urbach, Chapter IX: He Who Spoke and the World Came into Being, The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987), pp. 184-213. Alexander Altmann, A Note on the Rabbinic Doctrine of Creation, Studies in Religious Philosophy and Mysticism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1969), pp. 128-139. 3. January 26 Rabbinic Approaches i. Louis Jacobs, Eternity and Creation in A Jewish Theology (New York: Behrman House, 1973), pp. 81-113. i Arthur Hyman, From What is One and Simple only What is One and Simple Can Come to Be, Neoplatonism and Jewish Thought, Lenn E. Goodman, ed., (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992), pp. 111-135. Israel Efros, Chapter 3: Creation, Studies in Medieval Jewish Philosophy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1974), pp. 37-46. iv. Saadia Gaon, Treatise 1: Concerning that all existing things have been created, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, Samuel Rosenblatt, tr., (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1948), pp. 38-86. 4. February 2 Medieval Approaches I: Rav Saadia i. Kenneth Seeskin, Chapter 4: The Problem of Creation, in Searching for A Distant God: The Legacy of Maimonides, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 66-90. Moses Maimonides, Book II: 13-31, The Guide of the Perplexed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), pp. 281-360. 3
i Levi Ben Gershom, Book 6, Part 2: 1-8, Creation of the World, The Wars of the Lord (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1999), Volume 3,pp. 411-469. 5. February 9 Medieval Approaches II: Rambam & Ralbag i. Ian G. Barbour, Part One: Religion and the History of Science, Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997), pp. 3-74. 6. February 16 Modernity - Science & Philosophy of Newton, Galileo, & Darwin i. Franz Rosenzweig, Understanding the Sick and the Healthy: A View of World, Man, and God (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999). 7. February 23 Rosenzweig and the World - Beginnings of a Shift i. In Judaism and Environmental Ethics: A Reader, Martin D. Yaffe, ed., (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2001) 1. Steven Schwarzschild, The Unnatural Jew pp. 267-282. 2. Michael Wyschogrod, Judaism and the Sanctification of Nature, pp. 289-296 3. Eilon Schwartz, Judaism and Nature: Theological and Moral Issues to Consider While Renegotiating a Jewish Relationship to the Natural World. pp. 297-308. 8. March 16 The Beginnings of Environmental Concern - The Debate i. In Hans Jonas, Mortality and Morality: A Search for the Good After Auschwitz (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1996): 1. Prologue: The Need of Reason: Grounding an Imperative of Responsibility in the Phenomenon of Life, p 41-55 2. Evolution and Freedom 59-74 3. Tool, Image, and Grave 75-86 4. The Burden and Blessing of Mortality 87-98 5. The Concept of God after Auschwitz: A Jewish Voice 131-143 4
9. March 23 Hans Jonas i. Norbert M. Samuelson, Chapter 6: Interpreting Creation: God, the World, and the Physical Sciences, Jewish Faith and Modern Science: On the Death and Rebirth of Jewish Philosophy (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009), pp. 113-157 Lawrence Troster, The Order of Creation and the Emerging God: Evolution and Divine Action in the Natural World, Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Darwinism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), pp. 225-246. 10. April 13 Science and Creation Revisited i. Arthur Green, Seek My Face: A Jewish Mystical Theology (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2002). 11. April 20 Rabbi Arthur Green i. Artson, Me-Chadesh Be-Chol Yom: Continuous Creation 12. April 27 Modern Synthesis (A Home Game) 13. May 4 Paper s Due 5