The Talmud is one of the richest and most complicated works of literature the world has ever known. Since being composed around 1500 years ago it has inspired not only religious reverence but significant intellectual engagement. In this course learners will be introduced to the unique characteristics of this text and the challenges that inhere in studying it while studying a chapter of the Talmud. Students of the course can expect to develop an appreciation for how the Talmud works and why it continues to inspire religious and intellectual devotion. They will be challenged to employ critical reading skills and to analyze legal and historical concepts.
Offered By
The Talmud: A Methodological Introduction
Northwestern UniversityAbout this Course
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Shareable Certificate
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Approx. 15 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: French, Portuguese (European), Russian, English, Spanish, Romanian
Flexible deadlines
Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Approx. 15 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: French, Portuguese (European), Russian, English, Spanish, Romanian
Offered by
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research and teaching university with campuses in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, and Doha, Qatar. Northwestern combines innovative teaching and pioneering research in a highly collaborative environment that transcends traditional academic boundaries.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
3 hours to complete
Introducing the Talmud
The Talmud is a canonical work of Jewish literature that collects the ideas and arguments of rabbis who lived between the first and eighth centuries CE. This module explains the basics of how the Talmud was composed, why the Talmud matters and how it is accessed today.
3 hours to complete
5 videos (Total 33 min), 9 readings, 1 quiz
2 hours to complete
False Testimony From Bible to Rabbis
The Talmud relies heavily on the authority and substance of its canonical predecessor, the Hebrew Bible. This module charts a trajectory from the biblical origins of the treatment of false testimony in Deuteronomy through its treatment within the second temple apocryphal book Susannah and the early Rabbinic law code, the Mishnah.
2 hours to complete
4 videos (Total 31 min), 5 readings, 1 quiz
2 hours to complete
Reading the Bible & Rabbinic Logic
Interpretation is a major component of Rabbinic literature and the Talmud. This module introduces the specific features of Rabbinic interpretation of the Hebrew Bible—its assumptions and its reading tools.
2 hours to complete
3 videos (Total 28 min), 4 readings, 1 quiz
2 hours to complete
Redaction & Textual Witnesses
Textual Criticism is a form of reading that looks to explain the meaning of a text by figuring out aspects of its composition history. This module will show how Talmudic passages are typically constructed and what scholars can do to figure out the original meaning of a text.
2 hours to complete
3 videos (Total 26 min), 4 readings, 1 quiz
Reviews
- 5 stars70.54%
- 4 stars20.54%
- 3 stars6.20%
- 2 stars1.93%
- 1 star0.77%
TOP REVIEWS FROM THE TALMUD: A METHODOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION
by BLJan 7, 2017
This course is both a traditional and non-traditional Talmud course. The non-traditional gives a historic prospective of the basis of Talmud with a modern view of its derivation.
by PWOct 26, 2020
Informative and deatiled. A bit more practical context for those unfamiliar with the jewish tradition would have helped put this on 5-star level :)
by HVFeb 11, 2021
Fantastic course. Dense yet extremely well organized. I finished the course in 3-4 days because the way the material was presented was extremely interesting.
by JRAug 23, 2017
Now I can read the Talmud and understand the discussions presented in light of the explanations given in the course.
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