The Center for Judaic Studies is a vibrant source of in-depth Jewish learning on campus and across Colorado. In addition to being home to our own faculty experts, CJS hosts annual visiting scholars from around the world.
The Judaic Studies program combines courses in Judaic studies, English, Hebrew, history, philosophy and religious studies to give students a well-rounded perspective on Jewish culture, thought and history.
A University of Denver space dedicated to inclusivity and diversity, the mission of the Holocaust Memorial Social Action Site is to honor and remember those who lost their lives in the Holocaust by dedicating ourselves to acts of learning, dialogue, and bridge-building aimed at making the world a better place.
The Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society is one of the premier local Jewish historical societies in the United States. It is the largest and most exhaustive historical society of its kind in the region.
The Holocaust Awareness Institute is a campus and community resource for coursework, teacher trainings, education materials and programming. HAI is the region's leading agent for promoting education about the Holocaust and related ethical and social justice issues.
CJS works with campus and community partners on a number of global projects. In addition to our curricular emphasis on internationalization, CJS faculty members travel around the world to present their research findings and to pursue their work at international archives, museums, and archaeological sites.
The Center for Judaic Studies (CJS) is a vibrant source of in-depth Jewish learning on campus and across Colorado.
Our faculty are research and teaching experts in a wide range of interdisciplinary areas of Judaic Studies. Their work is internationally recognized, and they offer an impressive annual lineup of undergraduate and graduate courses in fields of Jewish history, religion, language, literature, philosophy, film, and culture.
In addition to being home to our own faculty experts, CJS hosts annual visiting scholars, performing artists, authors, poets and filmmakers from around the world.
We offer a minor in Judaic studies, and a number of joint MA and PhD degrees with programs across campus. We are home to the Holocaust Awareness Institute, the Holocaust Memorial Social Action Site and The Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society. We also serve the broader community through many annual events and co-sponsored activities across Colorado.
Congratulations to Prof. Sarah Pessin on her brand new book, Ibn Gabirol’s Theology of Desire (Cambridge University Press, 2013). The first full-length treatment of Ibn Gabirol's philosophy in English, this study completely reinvents the medieval author of the Fountain of Life or Fons Vitae (known to many in the history of philosophy by his Latinized name, Avicebron). Developing Ibn Gabirol's vision in terms of a "Theology of Desire," the book rescues the voice of the eleventh-century Jewish poet-philosopher from centuries of misreadings as it sets out to examine the role of love, desire, and ethical self-transformation in medieval Jewish Neoplatonism. Find this book on Amazon.
Read CJS Affiliated Faculty, Prof. Beth Karlsgodt's blog about her recent research travel to Europe. Elizabeth Campbell Karlsgodt is an Associate Professor of History at DU, currently on sabbatical and doing research for a book on the recovery and restitution of art looted by the Nazis in World War II. The book will focus on case studies in France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Karlsgodt published a book in 2011 which examined lasting preservation policies created during the Nazi occupation, as well as the effort by French curators to acquire works of art from Jewish collections for the Louvre and other museums. Read more about this book in DU Today or find the book on Amazon.
Prof. Jeanne Abrams recently published a book with NYU Press--Revolutionary Medicine:The Founding Fathers and Mothers in Sickness and in Health. "For the founders, republican ideals fostered a reciprocal connection between individual health and the "health" of the nation. Studying the encounters of these American founders with illness and disease, as well as their viewpoints about good health, not only provides us with a richer and more nuanced insight into their lives, but also opens a window into the practice of medicine in the eighteenth century, which is at once intimate, personal, and first hand. Perhaps most importantly, today's American public health initiatives had their roots in the work of America's founders, for they recognized early on that government had compelling reasons to shoulder some new responsibilities with respect to ensuring the health and well-being of its citizenry. The state of medicine and public healthcare today is still a work in progress, but these founders played a significant role in beginning the conversation that shaped the contours of its development." Find this book on Amazon.
