Judaism and the Idea of Liberty

Religion and liberty are often depicted as diametrically opposed, or at least as existing in tension with each other. This class seeks to demonstrate how Judaism and Jewish sources made substantive, specific, and positive contributions to the idea of liberty in their own right. It will also explain how these Jewish contributions played a decisive role in how the Greco-Roman and then Christian worlds developed and rethought key concepts of human freedom.

Recommended Readings

"Freedom," Jewish Virtual Library, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/freedom

Moses Hadas, "Vergil, Hebrew Prophecy, and the Roman Ideal: Aeneas as the Roman Moses," https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/vergil-hebrew-prophecy-and-the-roman-idealaeneas-as-the-roman-moses/