Religious and Social Meanings of the Holy Land Ways of Knowing 2312 Chancey and Lander JTerm 2017 [email protected] and [email protected] Jan. 6-18, 2017 Course Description The current state of Israel comprises regions that the three Abrahamic religions have regarded as holy for centuries. Although the concept of a “Holy Land” permeates ancient Jewish writings, it was early Christian pilgrims who first employed the biblical term “Holy Land” to describe the territory of the Bible. In the seventh century, Islam also forged a connection to this area, more specifically Jerusalem, regarding it as the site of the prophet Muhammed’s night-time journey (‘Isra) to heaven. Through archaeological and site fieldtrips, readings, and lectures by experts in the field, students will investigate the diverse meanings of the Holy Land to the adherents of the various traditions who have regarded the region as religiously significant for more than three millennia. Students will learn how the two disciplines of archaeology and religious studies combine to inform a deeper understanding of the Holy Land than a single disciplinary study. Students will also explore the complexity of daily life in the modern state of Israel. Student Learning Outcomes Ways of Knowing 1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of more than one disciplinary practice. 2. Students will explain how bringing more than one practice to an examination of the course topic contributes to knowing about that topic. Philosophical/Religious/Ethical Inquiry, level I 1. Students will be able to describe and explain some of the general features and principal theoretical methods of one of the fields of philosophy, religious studies, or ethics. Global Engagement 1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the material culture, underlying values, beliefs, or practices that are central to the culture(s) being visited or studied. Class Goals Students will be able to: 1. describe the development of the “Holy Land” concept; 2. explain the relationship of adherents from each Abrahamic religion to Jerusalem in particular and to Israel/Palestine more broadly; 3. give examples of how religious traditions connect to the geography of the Holy Land; 4. give examples of archaeological sites that memorialize ties to religious events and/or narratives; 5. explain how these archaeological sites continue to animate religio-national identifications; 6. identify the types of socio-political functions these sites play in today’s world; and 7. describe, in nuanced and complex terms, the socio-political dynamics of the current state of Israel. Course Requirements and Grade Calculation 1. Attendance at and preparation for the three meetings prior to the trip are mandatory. Failure to attend and prepare for these meetings is automatic grounds for removal from the course. (20%) 2. Attendance at daily events. Illness is the only reason for absence during the trip. (20%) 3. Daily journal. Students will keep a daily journal to record their notes, impressions, and reactions to each day’s activities. Journal entries should incorporate assigned readings, which are required, and demonstrate the ability to apply concepts from readings to concrete examples studied each day. Due 1/18 (30%) 4. Final project to be determined in consultation with professors. Due 2/25 (20%) The project should address the following and be illustrated with concrete examples: • How do the sites explored contribute to contemporary Jewish, Christian, and Muslim understandings of the Holy Land? What role does material culture play in each group’s self-understanding? • How do these understandings reflect the diverse values, beliefs, and practices of Holy Land residents? Give an example of how multiple and competing cultural and political claims are evident in these groups’ understandings of the Holy Land. • Explain how the disciplines of religious studies and archaeology contribute to a contemporary understanding of the Holy Land’s various meanings. Why is a multidisciplinary approach more effective than a single disciplinary one? Course Expectations: Personal Conduct: 1. When you travel abroad, you represent SMU. As an ambassador for the University, your behavior reflects the quality of SMU. With this in mind, all University rules apply when traveling abroad and will be strongly enforced. Failure to obey these rules is grounds for immediate dismissal from the course. The instructors reserve the right to send home any student failing to meet these behavioral standards at the student’s own expense. Such dismissal forfeits any course reimbursement regardless of whether the student has completed enough of the course to earn credit. 2. If you carry a cell phone when you travel, you may only use it only during private time (except in case of emergency). If you use it for course-related research during class time, you are expected to abide by the honor code and not to play video games, check email, engage in electronic chats, etc. Out of respect for your professors and classmates, please disable all sounds on your phone when using it in class. 3. Listen actively to lectures and classmates. Active Listening. Listening to another person speak is not a passive enterprise. To truly understand another person requires paying attention to his or her words, taking notes on what the other person says, making associations with what you already know, asking questions when you don’t understand. This is true when you listen to your classmates in small or large group discussions or to lectures. Rather than interrupting a lecturer mid-sentence as soon as a question pops into your head, jot down your question as you take notes and ask it at a pause in the lecture or when the lecturer invites questions. Questions that seek to clarify points you did not understand, either in the reading or the lecture, are an excellent use of class time. More often than not, if you didn’t understand something, some of your classmates didn’t as well. There is no such thing as a stupid question if it is genuinely asked from a position of wanting to know more or filling in a knowledge gap. Factual questions that can be answered with a quick Google search might be better answered using your smartphone than by taking up class time. 4. Show respect for all points of view. Respect. The discipline of religious studies is premised on the supposition that all religions are worthy of the same degree of consideration and respect. The objective of religious studies is to understand, not judge. This means that when the professors or a classmate expresses a point of view different from your own, you listen to that perspective with an open mind and generosity of spirit rather than a judgmental, dismissive, or disparaging attitude. At the same time you are expected and encouraged to express alternative points of view in a civil manner and to engage in calm and reasoned debate. The goal is to disagree without being disagreeable. In the course of discussion you may encounter perspectives that directly contradict and challenge deeply-held convictions or perhaps central tenets of your own belief-system. This course requires that you learn how scholars in the academy and various religious traditions study the Holy Land; it does not expect or require that you accept these approaches for yourself. Assigned Readings Book for purchase to bring on trip: 1. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700 (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 5th ed. 2008) ISBN-13: 978-0199236664 [Hereafter “Murphy-O'Connor”] 2. Hershel Shanks, ed. Where Christianity Was Born (Biblical Archaeology Society, 2006) ISBN-13: 978-1880317853 [Hereafter “Shanks] before Jan. 6—all available on CANVAS: 1. Maja Gori, “The Stones of Contention: The Role of Archaeological Heritage in Israeli–Palestinian Conflict. Archaeologies. The Journal of the World Archaeological Congress,” Archaeologies. Journal of the World Archaeological Congress 9.1 (2013): 213-229 2. Rachel S. Hallote and Alexander H. Joffe, “The Politics of Israeli Archaeology: Between ‘Nationalism’ and ‘Science’ in the Age of the Second Republic,” Israel Studies 7.3 (Fall 2002): pp. 84-116 3. David C. Jacobson, “Review of Homeland of Holy Land? The “Caananite Critique of Israel” AJS Review 12:2 (1987): 292-298 4. J. Lassner and S. Ilan Troen, “Jews Arabs and Modern Biblical Scholarship,” in Jews and Muslims in Arab Lands; Haunted by Pasts Real and Imagined, pp. 217-246 5. Eric M. Meyers and Carol Meyers, “Holy Land Archaeology: Where the Past Meets the Present,” Buried History 50 (2014): pp. 3-16 6. Yitzhak Reiter, “Narratives of Jerusalem and its Sacred Compound,” Israel Studies 18:2 (Summer 2013) Special Issue: Shared Narratives – A Palestinian-Israeli Dialogue, ed. Paul Scham, Benjamin Pogrund, and As’ad Ghanem, pp. 111-132 7. Yaakov Shavit, “Hebrews and Phoenicians: An Ancient historical image and its Usage,” Studies in Zionism 5:2 (1984): 157-180 8. G. Ziadeh-Seely, “An Archaeology of Palestine,” in Selective Remembrances. Archaeology in the Construction, Commemoration, and Consecration of National Past, ed. P.L. Kohl, M Kozelsky, and N. Ben-Yehuda (The University of Chicago Press, 2007), pp. 326–345 • Students should prepare a series of three questions for each article, due at our second pre-trip session Day 1 Saturday January 7: Morning arrival in Israel. Transport from Airport to Ben Gurion University of the Negev; Afternoon free (short nap suggested) Students not on KESHET-provided bus are expected to take their own transportation from the airport to the Mashabim Guest House, Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh Dinner: 6:00 pm Orientation: 7:15-8:00 pm Reading for Jan. 8 1. Murphy-O'Connor, “Tel Arad,” pp. 489-91 2. Wayne Stiles, “Sights and Insights: Tel Arad—An oasis of archaeology,” The Jerusalem Post (Travel News) 05/16/2011 Day 2 Sunday Jan.