Elizabeth Castelli

I am not a humanities major and it was the first time taking a religion class. I loved this class. It was so interesting to hear about how religion and human belief systems shape and change this world. She starts talking about the frameworks (Christianity Judaism, etc) and then goes to more modern concepts such as (space idealism/colonialism) and sci-fi imaginaries. This class opened me to new ways of thinking and seeing how these themes occur in everyday life Prof. Castelli is so energetic, fun, and interesting to talk to. She loves talking to students and asking for their opinions (every class was an open discussion forum) She is a wonderful discussion facilitator and makes us laugh in every class.

Prof. Castelli is one of the funniest, most engaging, most knowledgable professors I've ever worked with. The way she teaches is just so engaging, and her dedication to using primary sources is so enriching. She makes her topics very engaging, and always treats student opinions with genuine respect and curiosity. She's just all-around phenomenal and I can't recommend her enough.

Professor Castelli is one of the best professors I have encountered at Columbia University. I think I am not alone in this opinion given the number of students who have taken her more than once. As a person and a Professor, Castelli is more interested in teaching and you learning then getting caught up the minutia of you knowing every text and detail by heart. She understands that we have a significant workload and wants to help her students succeed in the class. This does not mean she lets us off or out of work, but that throughout the semester she works with us and is flexible. She expects a lot out of her students, however none of it is unreasonable and I probably learned more efficiently in her class than any other. I came to this class with ZERO knowledge of Christianity or religion, of the history of the period we were looking at or the cultures. In that way I was way behind my classmates, however Castelli made the subject approachable and engaging. She focused on a very palatable cross section of the period that was not overwhelming and then asked thought provoking questions that really encouraged us to bring these ideas together in a way that made sense to us. In addition Prof. Castelli is kind and very generous with her time – eager to know her students and help them. Her classes are enjoyable. The end result is that even those texts that I did not get to read entirel…

How Prof. Castelli doesn't have a gold nugget is BEYOND me. She's an amazing lecturer, and engages the class so well. She's funny, kind, interesting, and just a wonderful professor. Even boring readings she made interesting. She brings modern influences to older reading material, and always has a funny remark for class. I honestly enjoyed going to this class twice a week. On a personal note, I had a medication related issue and couldn't attend class for two weeks and she was so understanding and sympathetic, unlike my other teachers. I loved this class!

I originally did not plan to take this course, as I'm not a religion major and I was just searching for an elective to take. After I took the first class, I was a bit daunted by the amount of reading expected. But I was interested in the subject and hoped that would make it worth the time, and I think it definitely was. By the end of the class, you're questioning everything about Christianity (in a good way). You realize that all powerful things start from humble beginnings. The class goes beyond learning the tenets of Christianity and considers the lives of early Christians and how they interacted with other people. It becomes a study of history, a study of texts, and a study of people. For me, this mix made for a fascinating class. I also stayed because Castelli is a wonderful professor and person. She is incredibly knowledgable in her subject and will take the time to listen to anyone's questions or concerns, either during class or outside class. She approaches touchy subjects with caution and understanding, and, again, will listen to anything someone has to say during these touchy discussions. Personally, I came for the subject, and I stayed for Castelli. The workload is a bit daunting as there are some heavy reading days, which Castelli recognizes, and she suggested on the first day of class that the primary sources are more important than the secondary. Follow this advic…

Professor Castelli is an asset to the Columbia University community and she is one of the many reminders why we are so privledged to be at this institution. She is very knowledgable in a range of different fields such as Early Christianity and Women, Feminist and Gender Studies and expects her students to give 100%. I advise anyone who is not willing to put a 100% effort into any of her classes, to avoid taking a class with professor Castelli, because it will reflect in your grade. She is a tough (but fair)grader but like I said before, if you do the work, show a sincere interest in the topic, and have enough respect to show up to class everyday and participate, you'll appreciate Professor Castelli for the great instructor she is.

Reading check notebook (15 percent) essay (25 percent) participation (i'm not sure if she checks this) (10 percent) final essay (60 percent) Landed with an A-, and I must say, I worked on 80% of my final (which was 60 percent of my grade) in less than 12 hours (so it was not my best work). I think I attended only 2/3 of the lectures because of the workload of other classes but the times I did go I had a great experience

Throughout the course of every class meeting I slowly felt the will to live drain out of my body. The readings were terribly dull, the lectures never ending. A few classmates who thought they knew everything tended to take over the class every once in a while and yap for what felt like hours, which the professor seemed to encourahe. Not at all worth the $3000+ I paid for it. If I wanted to hear the opinions of a bunch of clueless kids trying to seem smart I'd sit in Lerner Hall at lunchtime.

I have to disagree with some of these negative reviews here. I came into this class with almost no background in Christianity other than random knowledge picked up from literature, art history, and popular culture. This was pretty much the first time I had ever read the Bible, and not only did I understand what was going on, I also found myself more and more fascinated by a text I'd always thought was irrelevant to my intellectual life. The previous poster seems to see Prof. Castelli's emphasis on historical context as some sort of a "debunking" project that works against theological interpretation. I, however, do not think her approach is nearly that reductive or simple. This culture is very much steeped in the intellectual traditions of different Christian theologies, so any reader will come to the Bible with countless unspoken assumptions about what the text is and how it is "supposed" to be interpreted. But a lot of these interpretive strategies are fairly modern inventions (like, for example, the Lutheran idea of "plain sense") and don't reflect how early Christian communities viewed these texts or how the writers of the New Testament interpreted the Hebrew Bible. I got the impression that Prof. Castelli's emphasis on historical context was not an attempt to discount the various theological readings that hold sway right now, but more of an attempt to get students to see t…

1 Essay 10 Responses (not graded) 1 Case Portfolio (basically an outline for a paper, just without writing the paper)