Continuing Education Course Finder: ENGCS02-1a

Believers, Agnostics, and Atheists in Contemporary Fiction (ENGCS02-1a)

Status: Open

Fee: $187.50

Timing: 5 sessions from October 6, 2009 - November 3, 2009 on Tuesday, 10:15am-12:15pm

Course Description: Contemporary society is divided over issues of religious faith. In recent decades there has been a resurgence of religious faith, while at the same time many have been skeptical and even hostile to religious belief and practice. Others are just not sure what to believe. In this seminar, we will read and discuss contemporary short stories that explore the ways that these ongoing differences over spiritual matters affect people. The three areas on which we will focus will be (1) Religion in Society, (2) Religion in Families, (3) Clergy and Their Congregants. Writers of both Christian and Jewish backgrounds will be studied. Participants will be expected to read five short stories in preparation for each class session. We will discuss the issues raised by these works of fiction in terms of the questions they have about the role of religion and spirituality in our own lives and in society in general. In the course of these discussions participants will have an opportunity to clarify their relationship to a range of attitudes from skepticism to faith.

Participants should purchase the following anthologies (available at Amazon.com and other book sellers): C. Michael Curtis, editor, God: Stories (Houghton Mifflin) C. Michael Curtis, editor, Faith: Stories: Short Fiction on the Varieties and Vagaries of Faith (Houghton Mifflin)

Reading assignment for the first class: Brendan Gill, “The Knife” ( God , pages 78-82) John Hersey, “God’s Typhoon” ( God , pages 83-94) Joe Ashby, “Roof Work” ( God , pages 267-280) Elizabeth Spencer, “A Christian Education” (God, pages 322-326) Tova Reich, “The Third Generation” (Faith, pages 169-188)

Instructor(s): David Jacobson

Instructor(s) Bio: David C. Jacobson is Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Program in Judaic Studies at Brown. He has previously served on the faculties of University of Michigan, Ben-Gurion University, University of Pennsylvania, and Wesleyan University. He is author of Modern Midrash: The Retelling of Traditional Jewish Narratives by Twentieth-Century Hebrew Writers (State University of New York Press, 1987); Does David Still Play Before You?: Israeli Poetry and the Bible (Wayne State University Press, 1997); and Creator, Are You Listening?: Israeli Poets on God and Prayer (Indiana University Press, 2007). He is co-editor (with Kamal Abdel-Malek) of Israeli and Palestinian Identities in History and Literature (St. Martin's Press, 1999). He is also co-editor (with William Cutter) of History and Literature: New Readings of Jewish Texts in Honor of Arnold J. Band (Brown Judaic Studies, 2002). He is currently writing a book to be titled Beyond Political Messianism: The Poetry of Second Generation Religious Zionist Settlers. Professor Jacobson has extensive experience teaching courses on modern literature, the Bible, and history to adult students. In his courses he encourages active class discussion in which participants are free to offer their interpretations of the reading material and their personal connections with the topics considered.