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Course Details

Jews, Christians & Law (Bar-Asher Siegal, M)

Fall 2025   LAW 957-001  

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Additional Information

Grading
30% Participation,
70% Exam

Satisfies Senior Writing Requirement

No

Location

Class meets in person.

Meeting Times/Location
R 4:30PM - 6:30PM
Tanenbaum Hall 320

Category
Seminar

Credits
2.0

This course explores the complex relationship between Jews, Christians, and the development of law in the first centuries CE. Starting with the period of the Second Temple, students will examine how Jews and Christians understood and interacted with legal systems, both their own and those of their neighbors, and how these interactions influenced the development of their respective legal traditions. Throughout the course, students will engage with a range of primary sources, including biblical and rabbinic texts, as well as Christian legal writings such as part of the Gospels and the writings of the Church Fathers. We will also examine how legal systems were used to establish and maintain power relationships between different groups, such as Jews, Christians, and Romans and the ways in which legal systems shaped and reflected religious identities.

Prerequisite: None Exam Type: Last Class Take-Home Grading Breakdown: Attendance & Presence: 30%, take home: 70%


Textbooks

"Early Christian Monastic Literature and the Babylonian Talmud" by Michal Bar-Asher Siegal
Edition: November 17, 2016
Publisher: Cambridge University Pres
ISBN: 9781107557109
Required

"Jewish-Christian Dialogues on Scripture in Late Antiquity" by Michal Bar-Asher Siegal
Edition: August 11, 2022
Publisher: Cambridge Univ. Press
ISBN: 9781316646816
Required