THEO 5358 How Israel Matters

Israel, both the people and the land, are central to Jewish theology as concrete manifestations of Gods covenants. This course will explore the evolving meanings of these concepts from the Bible to today, looking at themes like peoplehood, life in the land, exile from it, and (messianic) return. The second part of the course will focus specifically on the theologies of a range of modern Jewish thinkers, with the goal of helping students to understand aspects of contemporary Israel and its meaning to world Jewry.

Course overview

Department
Theology
School
MCAS
Credits
3
Level
Both
Offered
Periodically

Course evaluations

Response-weighted averages from Boston College’s official course evaluations (Avalanche/Blue).

Course rating
4.67 / 5 · Excellent
3 responses
Instructor rating
4.67 / 5 · Excellent
3 responses
Terms evaluated
1
Most recent: Spring 2025

Scales: overall ratings run from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent); agreement questions from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree); weekly effort from 1 (up to 1 hour) to 5 (10 or more hours).

Evaluations by term and instructor
TermInstructorCourse overallInstructor overallWell organizedClear learning objectivesIntellectually challengingHelpful assignmentsApplicable beyond courseAttendance necessaryWeekly effortResponses
Spring 2025Ruth Langer4.74.74.74.75.05.05.05.04–6 hrs/week3 of 3

Data freshness

Course and evaluation data last updated 2026-10-09. Source details and limitations are documented in Data Sources and Methodology.

Instructors