Rutgers University Offers Springsteen Class

November 18th, 2013

Rebecca Docter

New Jersey’s Rutgers University will offer a course open to first-year students exploring the theological contexts of songs by “The Boss.”

Titled “Bruce Springsteen’s Theology,” the class will be taught by professor Azzan Yadin-Israel, a longtime Springsteen fan and scholar of ancient Rabbinic literature, and will explore the themes of all of Springsteen’s albums, from Greetings From Asbury Park all the way through Wrecking Ball.

In an interview with Rutgers Today, Yadin-Israel explained that “the most dominant motifs are redemption — crossing the desert and entering the Promised Land — and the sanctity of the everyday. Springsteen tries to drag the power of religious symbols that are usually relegated to some transcendent reality into our lived world. In his later albums, he also writes very openly about faith.”

The class will interpret “Springsteen’s reinterpretation of biblical motifs, the possibility of redemption by earthly means (women, cars, music), and his interweaving of secular and sacred elements,” according to a course description. For those who weren’t chosen for the class (it’s maxed out at 20), Yadin-Israel plans to publish his findings in an upcoming book.