Jeremy is an excellent lecturer.
He is an amazing storyteller and a very nice man.
I would recommend this class to anyone who finds interest in religion or Abrahamic religions. His exams are fair and papers are straightforward.
Not all the readings are required for this class. Just read what you need for your papers.

Please take this class after taking 150 with him.
It is like a continuation of that class. If you didn't take 150 with him before, you may find the material progression to be a little jumpy.

With that being said, this was not a hard class except the final paper...
We had to do a 30-40 article research paper. Making the citations alone took me like 40 minutes. Don't procrastinate!
And be prepared to do some reading and writing. Every week or every other week, 1-2 page response for the reading is due.

I would not say this is an easy upper div. Only take this course if you like the subject.

This is a GE with a lot of work. We had 2 papers, a museum visit, weekly mandatory discussions with turned in summary, a project, midterm and final. In addition, this class was hard. Smoak is a great lecturer and the TA was awesome, but the material was still challenging due to the majority of it not being taught in any other classes. We had to memorize facts from 10+ different writing systems, and the difficulty showed on the averages of the quizzes which were quite low, despite a high midterm average. Final was quite difficult due to the need to recognize different artifacts, all which looked quite similar. Still, it was really enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this class. I had no idea about the history of writing, and Professor Smoak really changed my view of language. This class relies heavily on memorization, there isn't a ton of material to memorize, but some terms are unfamiliar and could easily be confused. The book is worth the buy and very well written, although sometimes he did post the readings online. Martin was my TA, and he was so incredibly helpful and knowledgable. There is a group project where you invent your own writing system, which requires a fair amount of creativity and effort, but its pretty fun. Tests were simple, just memorize slide information and terms.

One of the best professors I've had. Interesting and funny. He is very clear with what is expected of you and what assignments and tests will be like.

I thought some of the assignments (reading summaries in particular) were a little much, but the class was interesting and the workload wasn't too bad.

Take this class with a grain of salt. It's not an easy writing II class by any means, but it wasn't necessarily unfair. It's really up to you how you do in this class. Do not take it if you're not willing to put in a lot of effort into reading, researching, and writing for the papers. The TAs grade fairly, and they will shred poor work and reward hard work. The tests are easy enough if you know his study guides. The information in this class is not difficult to understand, but you do need to put in a lot of work to do well. If you have a decent understanding of the material and put in a lot of effort in the papers (and go to office hours to see what your TA wants with your paper) you will do fine.

This class is extremely difficult, time consuming, and dry. I regret taking this class. The essays are harshly graded, everyone got B-'s and C's on the first paper. In addition to papers, you also have a midterm and final (both of which are in class multiple choice AND free response.) This class is unfairly graded and I would not recommend.

Professor Smoak is a very intelligent and captivating lecturer. I enjoyed his class. There are two reading quizzes, a midterm and final. And a required visit to LACMA which was free and actually interesting. There is also a group project to invent a writing system. Sounds challenging and it is, but with the right group and ideas it can become fun. I’m selling the required textbook for $20. Text me if interested **********.

I am a life sciences major that took this class expecting it to be pretty hard based on other reviews. The material does not require you to have a religious background, as it is mostly about the history and architecture of Jerusalem. I honestly found it to be an interesting GE/Writing II. Make sure to cater your papers to what your TA wants. In discussion, my TA was very clear in instructing us how to organize our papers. If you struggle with writing, definitely take advantage of their office hours. The papers are not the kind that you can write the night before--be smart about how much time you spend to not only write it but also gather your information. The second paper is LONG--a minimum of 7 pages. This is my fourth class that requires essays, but my first time since high school to make outlines to organize my thoughts. This definitely helped me get A's on the papers.

Discussions are mandatory due to the quizzes. They are based on the readings, so try your best to not fall behind. Lecture attendance is not mandatory, BUT he does not post the slides online, nor is the lecture Bruincasted. I highly recommend that you attend every lecture--you will end up using a lot of Smoak's information to write the papers and answer the short answer questions on the exams.

Since the midterm and final are worth 10% each of your overall grade, it really comes down to your TA and how harshly they grade your papers. I was in the A- to A range for the papers; I got a C on the midterm and an A+ on the take-home final due to the wildfires. I ended up with an A overall.