This course is an introductory survey of Islamic religious thought and practices. Its purpose is to introduce students to the essential aspects of the religion of Islam as well as presenting the most significant sectarian and intellectual developments in their historical contexts. Topics covered are the Quran, Muhammad, law, theology, mysticism, sectarianism and fundamentalism. Attitudes towards women, sexuality, and non-Muslims are also dealt with as well as the status of Islam in the contemporary world and in America.

This course offers a historical introduction to the major Hindu religious traditions of India (as well as to Indian Buddhism) and readings from many of the significant texts of Indian religions. We will cover the ancient, classical, and early medieval periods, from roughly 1200 B.C.E. to 1000 C.E. Many of the classic works of Hindu religious thought were composed during this period of over two millennia. In the course we will explore various forms of Indian religious discourse--philosophical speculation, oral and literary narrative, devotional poetry, prescriptive codes of conduct, ritual, and artistic representations--to discover how differing Hindu schools and sects have dealt with questions of fundamental religious concern, and with each other.

This is a course in the study of a particular religion, meaning to exemplify an important trait of religion in general. It concerns how writing serves as a medium for preserving and handing on religious experience in the life of an on-going religious community (a community formed principally by shared convictions about God and how God is made manifest to humanity). Judaism is the religion that knows God through the Torah, the self-manifestation of God to a particular group of people, who called and now call themselves "Israel," through the prophet, Moses. Other religions know God in other ways, through different media, in the person of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, for Christianity; in the Quran revealed through the prophet Muhammed, for Islam, to name two others. In this book we read writings that are part of the Torah of Sinai. Specifically, Judaism maintains that when God was made known at Sinai, the Torah was formulated and transmitted for Moses in two media. One was in the medium of writing, and the written Torah corresponds to the Five Books of Moses as we know them, also known as the Pentateuch; these form the beginning books of what Christianity calls the Old Testament, and Judaism, the written Torah. The other medium was through a process of oral formulation and oral transmission, that is, a process of memory. This other part of the one Torah of Sinai, the oral part, called in Judaism "the memorized Torah," encompasses all of the documents that are presented in this course, but the Torah extends far beyond those particular documents. We deal with the first writings beyond Scripture that the Judaism of the Dual Torah treats as part of the Torah, the Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, and related writings, Every classical writing in this book forms part of the oral Torah, that is to say, the oral part of the one whole Torah that God revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai. And the first thing you learn is that, in Judaism, a classical, authoritative writing -- a document accepted by the consensus of the faithful as normative and true -- finds a place in the revealed will of God that the Torah comprises. Each of these writings, therefore, represents a moment at which, as at Sinai, in the conviction of the community of the faithful, the Torah encompassed still more truth, in an ever-growing and never-ending transaction of revelation.

The two most fundamental religious phenomena of Islam are its holy book and its prophet. This course will study the texts of the Qur'an and of The Life of Muhammad to come to a clearer understanding of the Islamic religious tradition specifically, and of religious writing in general. The class will engage both traditional methods of commentary and modern textual criticism; students will also be urged to develop their own skills of interpretation and insight. Prerequisite: familiarity with Islamic religious history or other religious scripture.

Contemporary reappraisals of the domains of sexuality and spirituality have shed new light on the boundaries placed between them in Christian traditions. This course examines the historical, social, cultural and theological roots and significance of these boundaries, as well as the numerous tensions and movements that cluster around them within contemporary Christianity, for example, regarding sexual ethics, sexual orientation and gender. Theological attempts to move beyond the presumed opposition of sexuality and spirituality will be examined in detail. Extra-Christian religious perspectives, including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and the cultic beliefs and practices of indigenous populations, will be drawn into the discussion for comparison. (Limited to 15 students)

Bhakti means "participation in" or "devotion to" God. From 700 C.E. to 1700 C.E., in every region of India, bhakti poet-saints sang songs and lived lives of intense, emotional devotion to their chosen gods. The songs, legends, and theologies of these saints and the communities they established permeate the religious life of India. This course explores the world of bhakti through its poetry. We examine issues of poetics and theology, bhakti and opposition to orthodox social conventions, bhakti and gender, the interactions of Hindu devotionalism and Islamic Sufism, the role of bhakti in Indian music, and the problem of bhakti in twentieth-century Indian literature.

This course is an intensive study of the culture of Bali, a Hindu society in modern Indonesia. Bali has long served as a favorite site for anthropologists and tourists, and its many performative traditions have inspired artists and musicians from the time of Debussy up to the present. We will investigate the colonial and post-colonial history of Bali, ethnographic studies of Balinese society and religious practices, and the impact of the modern tourist industry. The course will also introduce important genres of Balinese musical performance, including gamelan gong kebyar, wayang (shadow puppetry), and kecak (monkey chant). Some hands-on work with Balinese instruments. (If possible, this course will be co-taught with a visiting instructor from Bali.)

Until recently, mysticism was generally seen in American Jewish circles as a marginal part of Judaism. In the last few years, however, there has been an explosion of interest in various forms of Jewish mysticism such as Kabbalah, neo-Hassidism, and Jewish meditation. What is the place of mysticism in Judaism? What are the concepts and practices that have historically constituted Jewish mysticism, and how have they developed? In this course we will examine some of the sources of Jewish mysticism, relying on primary texts (in translation) as well as secondary readings. Concepts such as devekut (union with God), sefirot (emanations) and others will be explored along with various meditation, prayer, and other practices. Biblical and Talmudic sources will be examined along with classic mystical texts such as sefer yetzirah (The Book of Formation), sefer hazohar (The Book of Splendor) and others.

The oldest living tradition of Buddhism, the Theravada ("Teaching of the Elders"), has flourished from the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE up to today. In post-colonial modern times, Buddhism in this large region has undergone a number of very significant and quite fascinating changes on many fronts, and has produced major new movements and reforms. This course will closely examine how the religious developments of this century have altered the way Theravada Buddhists see themselves, this world, and the ultimate reality of nirvana. After investigating the tenets of Theravada Buddhist thought and practice, and surveying the history of this region through the 19th century, the main focus of the course will be on religious issues that have come to the fore in recent decades. Topics such as socially-engaged Buddhist movements (which have strongly raised opposition to environmental degradation and economic and political oppression), meditation revivalism among lay Buddhists (a development that has profoundly influenced how many Americans practice Buddhism), increasing roles for women in the religious life, monks participation in ethnic conflict, and popular syncretism, will be the major subjects covered. This course has no prerequisite, and is thus open to all interested students.