Ph/Th 905        						 Eugene B. Borowitz

	Covenant Theology Today

Few theological themes in recent decades have evoked as much resonance as
has "covenant."  This course does not trace the history of this notion in
recent Jewish thinking or track the many thinkers who have contributed to
its relevance.  Rather, it gathers these currents together by an intensive
study of what appears to be the climactic, synthesizing work of this
development, Eugene B. Borowitz's Renewing the Covenant, a theology for the
postmodern Jew (JPS, 1991/pb 1996).  Reading this work should also give
students insight into another widely touted notion, that ours is a
postmodern time.  

Our class sessions will discuss a given chapter(s) of this book in response
to student presentations.  The presenters should strictly limit themselves
to 20 minutes.  The bulk of this should be devoted to clarifying the
central argument  of the reading -- perhaps by going over a brief critical
section of  the text.  A subsidiary section should deal critically with
problems with the author's point of view (see below).

Concurrently, students will be seeking to grow in their own Jewish faith by
pursuing two individual goals, one intellectual and the other personal.
The first involves reading and research.  Students will, independently,
read a recent book of Jewish theology that is of some interest to them, e.
g., Adler, Plaskow, Dorff, Gillman, Green, Kepnes, Levitt.  They will write
a six page response to the book highlighting what they found important in
it and what they found it lacked.  It may be useful to compare that
author's approach on given matters with that of Renewing the Covenant.  In
any case, this will give students insight into another contemporary
thinker's point of view.

Students will also work with their chevruta, see below, on a substantial,
academic term paper on a current theological topic of concern to them.
This paper should pivot around the approaches taken by the author of
Renewing as well as the books which the students have read and reported on
but it needs to be fully informed by (and cite) other points of view which
appear in our learned journals and books.  For articles, the 1997 edition
of the Bibliography of Contemporary Jewish Thought is a good place to
start.  (Sale copies in Mrs. Avery's office.)  There is now a CD ROM disk
indexing articles in various Judaica fields for about the last decade.
Please check this and other suggestions with our Librarians.  The paper
should conclude with a personal statement by each writer.  Please indicate
who is the author of each section of the paper. The paper will be judged
equally on breadth of learning and ability to reason through to a
responsible personal position.  (See below on length.) 

The second activity seeks to breach the "wall of separation" people often
set up between the mind and the heart, as if thinking is the enemy of
feeling.  Students will work in chevruta with another student, spending
some time each week discussing their reactions to the week's reading.
Finalize that in a question seeking to clarify the meaning of the reading
or to raise a problem with it.  Please submit that question in writing
(with your names, please) to the instructor at the beginning of each
session.  The major purpose of these questions is to direct students to the
issues that they wish to have raised and responded to at a given session.
While the questions will also alert the instructor to what is on the
students' minds, it is a student responsibility to raise and pursue the
issue of concern to them.  

If at all possible, your class presentation and your term paper (of twenty
pages) should be done with your chevruta. (You may limit yourself to
fifteen pages if you have received permission to do a paper singly).
Students presenting do not need to submit  the week's question, having
included their critique in the presentation.  But they will lead the class
discussion on both the meaning and difficulties of the week's reading.

Students thus have four specific responsibilities: 1) weekly reading of the
assigned material so as to be able to discuss it thoughtfully either as a
presenter or a seminar member; 2) weekly discussion with the chevruta
partner and handing in the pair's question; 3) doing a report on a recent
theological book of interest to them and 3) completing a term paper with
their chevruta on a current theological issue of personal interest.  

Since so much of the work of the course will be done in the give and take
of the discussions, reasonably constant attendance is required.  As per our
 rules on prior notice: a final examination will be required of all
students whose work has not clearly been of superior quality.

August 1998