The course will address the eternal question, "Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?" If God is a compassionate and loving God, why do people suffer? In an attempt to answer these questions, we will look at the Biblical books of Deuteronomy, Job, and Ecclesiastes, as well as looking at modern theologians. Bring a Bible.

For over half a century Jewish intermarriage was understood as the next step before assimilation. Using the new Pew 2020 survey, Bruce Phillips will argue that the current discourses about Jewish intermarriage are outdated. For example, asking why Jewish intermarry is backwards. When the dynamics of intermarriage for other groups are considered along with the place of Jews in American society, that Jews marry other Jews is the exceptional finding. Instead of assimilating, the children of intermarriage are maintaining a Jewish identification, and the American Jewish population is changing dramatically as a result.

Many of the creators of early German cinema (1918 - 1933) were Jewish immigrants to Berlin from Eastern Europe.  German Expressionist cinema, a revolutionary innovation, found Jews both in front of or behind the camera. The class features cinematic masterpieces that foreshadow the coming political storms. Femmes fatales and monsters abound in: THE BLUE ANGEL, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, THE GOLEM, and M.