$95.00
Instructor: Rev. Bruce Bramlett
Mondays, April 10 – May 15, 3:00 – 5:00 PM, Berger Center
6-week session, Cost: $95
Course Description:
One of our most popular classes, this 2,400-year journey shows how the hatred of Jews provides a powerful cultural mirror that former students say will “bowl you over.” Gain a greater sense of connectivity with the deeper roots of who we are as human beings.
Course Details:
Jews and Christians claim they share a common lineage which is usually felt to be an uncomfortable fact. It has also been said that there never has between a “real” Jewish-Christian dialogue because of the millennia-old struggle between them. Until our recent era, there has rarely been a comprehensive and sympathetic portrayal of these two classical religious traditions from their common core and heritage – one that could claim any sense of being “unbiased.”
While no one can claim total objectivity, this course will attempt to provide just such an overview of the growth of the Rabbinic tradition and of classical Christianity within the all-encompassing crucible of the Greco-Roman world. These six classes will attempt to provide crucial insights into that history with its threads of continuity, divergence and conflict. Our goal is to provide a firm historical basis for those of us within these two traditions to begin anew a more fruitful discussion and true “dialogue” with each other based on mutual respect and appreciation. This course will presume no previous historical knowledge of this era and will use audio-visual, textual and lecture/discussion formats to carry us through the material.
Instructor Biography:
Rev. Bruce Bramlett is an Episcopal priest and theological scholar. He has spent his academic career exploring and understanding the long, complex and often tragic history of the Jewish-Christian encounter throughout the West, exploring specifically its effects on the Holocaust and working for reconciliation and renewal between these two traditions in the Post-Shoah era. He has done interdisplininary graduate work in Historical and Theological studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. While primarily a parish priest, he has nevertheless, continued to teach at a number of regional universities and colleges including St. Mary’s College, University of San Francisco, Dominican University and San Jose State/ Sonoma State University.
