Call for Papers: Teaching Jewish Studies: The Introductory Course
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies Special Issue: Summer 2014 Guest Editor: Alan Levenson, The University of Oklahoma

Shofar invites instructors of the introductory-level Jewish Studies course from all disciplines to submit their reflections and syllabi for a special issue dedicated to pedagogical approaches. Educational philosopher Joseph Schwab’s four-fold division (subject matter, teacher, student, milieu) can provide a basic organizational structure, which covers the questions: What do we teach? Who are we as teachers? How do we teach? What is the learning environment like? We will be happy to receive contributions which do not address all four of these areas, and we will be receptive to still other areas touching on the principal question: What means do we employ to introduce students to our Jewish Studies?

We hope that this issue will reflect diversity of age, gender, institutional type, and field of specialization. We aim to publish a wide and comprehensive collection of approaches and disciplinary orientations such as philosophy, biblical studies, religious studies, rabbinics, history, gender studies, and others.

The issue will also feature an essay on developments in Jewish Studies by Judith Baskin (University of Oregon) and a response to the articles on pedagogy by Laura Levitt (Temple University).

Submissions should be no longer than 5,000 words, excluding a sample syllabus. Please provide a syllabus without specific dates (use, e.g., Week 1, 2 or Day 1, 2, etc.) or institutional policies, but instead focus on readings, assignments, and teaching goals.

Please send all materials to shofar@purdue.edu.

The deadline for submissions is February 1, 2014.