Jonathon Kahn

Well, Jonathan Kahn won't be here next semester, so this is more of an homage to him, but these things just need to be said. Jonathan Kahn--the man just keeps it real. There are incredible professors at Columbia, like say Janaki Bakhle, who will deliver eloquent flowing sermons that leave you gasping at how awesome and intelligent they are, and no doubt these professors are awesome. Probably the reason we all go to school here. But there is also something to be said, especially in a seminar class like CC, about a professor who can engage with his or her students, and I have never had a professor do this as well as Jonathan Kahn. No doubt part of the reason students love him is because he's very accomating; he's always willing to push back paper dates, we're having class at restaurants while the grad students strike, and I have no doubt that when it gets warmer we'll have lots of classes outside.. But the real reason students love Jonathan Kahn is because their relationship to him is not student to professor, but rather inquirer to fellow inquirer. Kahn has no problems admitting when he's not an expert on a text, but he is excellent at using rational discourse, and eliciting rational discourse from others, in order to get at some idea of what these texts are saying, which really, when you think about it, isn't that easy. He is always willing to listen to other viewpoints, no ma…

Jonathon is a zealous new teacher who is young enough to remember exactly what a good teacher is and is smart enough to do it. With that said, he grades hard (over-enthusiastic), but is more than willing to help you out. Relates well with students, truly knowledgeable. Also likes to host make-up classes at his apartment. He may be a tad arrogant.

Jon Kahn, as some students referred to this professor, understands that more work does not always equal a better education. While the course contains a fairly large amount of reading, Professor Kahn made sure to highlight the most important aspects through his detailed questioning of the works in class. Professor Kahn demands the attention and energy of his students, and class participation seems to be a fairly large factor in the grading (ie: speak up in class, or you will be marked down). While he did tend to grade the essays toughly, he was committed to improving our writing over the course of the year, and he made himself available for one-on-one discussion sessions. He weights the later essays more heavily, and I did not feel as though the final semester grades were unfair. Be prepared to spend a lot of time thinking about your essays, and actually proving your thesis. Besides the work, Professor Kahn always made class enjoyable (and sometimes comical). We had class outside and sometimes at local restaurants, in addition to taking a trip to the MET. We also had a class discussion about whether or not to have a final, and we were able to negotiate our terms for the take-home final. While some people complained that the papers were too harshly graded, i thought the standard was fair and challenging. Overall, a great class.

I'm writing a review even though I don't think this course will be offered again, as Prof. Kahn probably won't be here next year. Still, if you end up in one of his classes or he is around next year, consider yourself lucky. He is a great discussion leader, and the readings he chose for this class were (almost) across the board incredibly interesting. I myself am not a religion major nor do I wish to be, but I found the readings and the issues we discussed fascinating. I could talk about some of the students, but I won't...just be forewarned that my guess would be in any religion class that you are going to run across some people who are so firmly entrenched in their views that it limits the discussion a bit. Still, this was no fault of Kahn's....I wish he was going to be around next year, because I would take anything he was offering.

Professor Kahn is a pretty good professor. He leads the discussions in good directions, allowing the students to do most of the talking. On the other hand, I wouldn't say that he's an easy grader- far from it. His assignments are unclear, so beware of stagnating somewhere in that awful place we call the B range...

It was a true pleasure to be in his class. Interesting, stimulating, and not too difficult. He makes a tremendous effort to meet with the students at their convenience, and is genuinely interested in improving their writing.

lighter reading than almost any CC class. three papers(4-8) with lots of choices for the topics, including decide your own. Kahn is a pretty tough grader, but frankly he's just honest. He considers how well you construct your argument and whether what you're saying is interesting. That's how things should be graded. So deal with it.

Moderate. A few short 1-2 page papers, and 2 longer papers. Both semesters, one significant test was dropped from the schedule, so that we only had a take-home essay, instead of a midterm or final.

2 5-7 pagers, 2 1-2 pagers, a midterm and a final.