Yiddish: Jewish and Christian Bible Translations

This course gives you the opportunity to explore how biblical texts have been translated and retold for Jews and Christians throughout history. You will study how Yiddish, German, and Swedish, next to various other languages have been used to make the Jewish Bible, as well as the Christian Bible accessible to people who could not understand the original texts.

You will read Yiddish texts from the Middle Ages up to today – including literal translations, didactic literature, prose and poetic retellings, as well as dramatic and film adaptations of biblical scenes. To broaden your understanding, you will also compare these with German, English, and Swedish texts, which often differ greatly from Jewish translations and highlight Christian perspectives on the biblical corpus, its interpretation, and its use.

The course also helps you understand the historical and cultural processes that have shaped biblical translation, such as multilingualism, text criticism, the history of reading and literacy, the rise of printing, humanism, and the Reformation.

In short, you gain insight into how language, culture, and history together shape the way we read and interpret biblical texts.

Course literature

The course literature listed may be updated up to eight weeks before the course begins.

The teaching is conducted through lectures, mandatory seminars and optional visits to a synagogue and churches. The assessment is carried out through a take-home exam.

The course is often offered remotely. When this is the case, you will have support through the online learning platform Canvas. The course includes in this case regular lessons via Zoom. These lessons are not recorded. You will need access to a computer with an internet connection, a webcam, and a headset throughout the entire course period.

Do you want to deepen your understanding of Yiddish culture or work with language and research? We offer additional stand-alone courses on Yiddish culture, in English.

By studying Yiddish language courses, you gain access to a rich cultural heritage and a wide range of texts that have yet to be translated or explored. It’s an opportunity to work with unique material and develop your language skills. You start with the course “Yiddish: Beginner's Course I”.

Prerequisites

General requirements

Selection criteria

Seats are allocated according to the following: The general average (GPA) of your higher secondary school leaving certificate: 34 %, The Swedish national university aptitude test: 34 %, number of previous ECTS at application deadline (up to 165): 32 %. If students have equal credentials, seats are allocated based on their results on The Swedish National University Aptitude Test. If this too is equal, seats are allocated based on a draw.

Tuition fees for non-EU/EEA citizens

Citizens of countries outside:

• The European Union (EU)
• The European Economic Area (EEA) and
• Switzerland

are required to pay tuition fees. You pay an instalment of the tuition fee in advance of each
semester.

Tuition fees, payments and exemptions

Full programme/course tuition fee: SEK 14,375
First payment: SEK 14,375

Convert currency – xe.com

Note that you may also need to pay an application fee, or provide proof of exemption.

Application fee

No tuition fees for citizens of the EU, EEA and Switzerland

There are no tuition fees for citizens of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland.