Current instructor

Adam Stern

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.77/5 from 13 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

Quality 3/5Difficulty 1/5
With a dry sense of humor and a vast knowledge of the time, Stern made up for his choppy (and often silent) lectures with sharp wit that would often make you laugh. That being said, he was not the best lecturer and I often found myself bored despite the interesting topic and readings. He asks for participation, but did not know how to get it.
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JEWISH 225
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
I really like Professor Stern. I thought the lectures were very informative even though he "uhm" more times than anyone else ever. I got the just of the readings pretty well just by attending every class. If you show up and pay attention, you'll do fine. If you don't, good luck. Also, he gives you the questions ahead of the exams.
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Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Professor Stern is very knowledgeable and passionate. The lectures were interesting, though the first 15ish minutes reviewed the content of the previous lecture, which became monotonous. He does a nice job of making the sometimes dense readings understandable. Part of his grading is based on 'creativity' but still easy to score well.
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Jewish-231 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Jewish 225 - I will say that Professor Stern is a caring professor. From the first lecture I knew my Jewish 225 class was going to be an interesting one. He cares about your well being if you make an effort to improve and learn the subject. Would highly recommend to those looking to challenge themselves while learning. His vocab is off the charts.
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Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
Weekly assignments that determine most of your grade, a cumulative final but he gives the questions he's going to ask beforehand, tough grader.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Adam Stern

A comparative introduction to the history of the Sabbath from the Bible to the present, exploring textual sources from Jewish and Christian traditions.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

No recorded grade history

Philosophy of Religion analyzes religious experience and examines principal religious ideas through modern psychology, philosophy, science, and anthropology.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.68 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2025–Spring 2025 · limited sample

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027GERMAN 560Topics in German Studies
Spring 2027JEWISH/RELIGST 215The Sabbath
Spring 2027PHILOS/RELIGST 501Philosophy of Religion
Fall 2026GERMAN/RELIGST/SOC 273God & Money
Fall 2026JEWISH/PHILOS 442Moral Philosophy and the Holocaust

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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