In Israel, as in Turkey, it is possible to find examples from the whole
spectrum of religion and theology among the many universities. Bar-Ilan
University was founded in 1955 in the city of Ramat Gan, within the district
of Tel Aviv. It reflects a dream ‘to create an institution of higher learning in
the newly-established Jewish republic in which Jewish learning and the Torah
of Israel would be studied together with all the latest findings in the fields of
human research’. The vision of integrating Jewish traditional religious learning
with all forms of modern sciences unfolded in the development of this
university, but not so obviously in its Faculty of Judaism, which lacks a variety
of courses on religions other than Judaism. The only program at Bar-Ilan that
comes close to transcending an intrareligious focus is the program of Sephardic
and Oriental Judaic Studies, which does offer a course on Islam. Bar-Ilan may,
then, reflect another possibility not yet encountered in NAWA institutions: a
modern academic study of religions approach used almost entirely on one
religion, in this case Judaism. Ben Gurion University of the Negev is similar.
Separate departments of Jewish History, Jewish Thought, and General History
exist side by side there, but no attention is given to the modern academic study
of religions in general. It would be necessary to examine syllabi carefully to
determine whether what these two universities are doing falls within the
purview of the modern academic study of religions.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem boasts the oldest and strongest department
of comparative religion in Israel, dating back to 1956 when it was first designed
as a graduate department in the faculty of the humanities. As it describes itself:
its aim has been to provide graduate students with knowledge of the major
questions, concepts, methods, and texts related to various religious systems,
as well as to equip them with rigorous academic and philosophical
methodologies for researching the historical and comparative aspects of
religions.
The curriculum within the department contains courses in the general study
of religion, religious phenomenology, and hermeneutics, with particular
emphasis on the in-depth reading of texts in their original languages. In order
to promote an interdisciplinary approach to the study of religion, the students
are encouraged to explore the philosophical, sociological, anthropological and
psychological aspects of religion by linking with relevant departments at the
university. The list of related institutes and departments is particularly rich:
archaeology, Asian and African studies, Armenian studies, cognitive science,
East Asian studies, contemporary Jewry, Jewish studies, and Islamic and
Middle Eastern studies, among others. Faculty in the department of com-
parative religion have focused their research on early Christianity and its
relationship to Judaism, Gnosticism and Manichaeism, the religious tradition
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