GROUP ISP

The End of the Time: As Seen through Early Jewish Eyes

Susan Marks

Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies

Preferred method to be contacted:

E-mail: smarks@ncf.edu

Office: PME 221

Fall 2003 Office Hours:

Tuesday 2:30-3:30 p.m.,

Friday 10:00-11:00a.m.

And by appointment

John Marshall of the University of Toronto has recently argued that the Apocalypse of John, or Revelation, has been misunderstood as a Christian document and is in fact a Jewish text responding to the War in Palestine. In advance of John Marshall’s visit to New College on January 15^th and 16^th this group will:

• Explore the book of Revelation
• Consider general ideas concerning apocalyptic literature
• Investigate criteria for determining whether a text is Jewish or Christian
• Read and evaluate John Marshall’s argument
• Research one aspect of these ideas

The activities of this group will culminate first in a seminar with John Marshall and then in presentation of research by members of the group.

Meeting times: We will meet twice a week for discussion of group readings and to share the preliminary findings of individual research projects. In addition, all in the ISP group should plan to attend John Marshall’s Thursday night public lecture, “Reading Judaism while Reading Revelation: New Perspectives on the Ancient Diaspora,” as well as his advanced seminar Friday morning.

Requirements: Student will read assigned texts in a timely fashion and come to our meetings ready to engage in discussions. Each student will turn in one thesis-driven paper of around 10-15 pages, the highlights of which he/she will present to the group.