RELIGION

CRN	90410
Course No.	REL COL
Title	Religion Colloquium
Professor	Bruce Chilton
Schedule	Mon 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm OLIN 204

2 credits The religion colloquium is a two-credit course open to all students, but required of religion moderands. The purpose of the colloquium is to foster a community of scholarship among students and faculty interested in the study of religion, and to prepare public presentations of independent research. The colloquium is designed to encourage interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives on students' topics of particular interest. Weekly sessions will be devoted to discussion of new books, films, CD-roms, etc. as well as regular updates of progress on senior projects. Public sessions of the colloquium will be scheduled three or four times each semester; students who enroll for credit will shoulder the responsibility for preparing papers to present in these sessions. Outside speakers and faculty members may also be invited to present papers in these public sessions.

CRN	90409	Distribution	A/C
Course No.	REL 103
Title	Buddhist Thought and Practice
Professor	Brad Clough
Schedule	Mon Wed 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN 203

Cross-listed: Asian Studies

The main purpose of this course is to familiarize ourselves with the major categories of Buddhism, an historically pan-Asian religious tradition of remarkable philosophical and practical diversity, and expansive geographical and chronological scope. While the course will always maintain an historical perspective, to provide us with a framework for understanding Buddhist developments in their cultural and temporal contexts, the course will be structured mainly along thematic lines, according to the traditional concepts of the "Three Jewels or Refuges": Buddha (teacher, exemplar, enlightened being), Dharma (doctrine), and Sangha (community), and the "Three Trainings": Shila (ethics), Samadhi (meditation), and Prajna (wisdom). Following this structure, we will closely read primary sources (in translation) and historical and ethnographic studies, in order to explore how Buddhists, both ancient and modern, have viewed the world and lived their lives in the cultural settings of South and Southeast Asia (Theravada Buddhism), East Asia (Mahayana Buddhism), and the Tibetan and Himalayan regions of Asia (Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism).

CRN	90441	Distribution	C
Course No.	REL 117
Title	Hindu Religious Traditions
Professor	Jeffrey Lidke
Schedule	Tu Th 4:30 pm - 5:50 pm OLIN 202

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.

CRN	90246	Distribution	C
Course No.	REL 118
Title	Charisma & Religious Authority
Professor	Jonathan Brockopp
Schedule	Mon Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 101

With such a wealth of religious histories and texts, it is easy to forget that religious ideas are always communicated through persons. These individuals often have some special dispensation: they are possessed by the Divine, communicate with angels, have contact with the world of the dead, or have achieved a state of bliss. As a result, their words and deeds gain a special recognition and are deemed authoritative by a religious tradition. But a charismatic individual can also oppose the established order; therefore, religions may try to limit personal charisma. This course is designed to introduce students to the critical and comparative study of religion, taking the category of charisma as our primary example. We will examine the ways in which numerous religious traditions define personal charisma, and explore some of the theoretical literature on the subject. No previous study of religion is presumed.

CRN	90251	Distribution	B/D
Course No.	REL 133
Title	Pilgrimage
Professor	Brad Clough
Schedule	Tu Th 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 204

As religious phenomena, forms of pilgrimage, while not equally important in all spiritual traditions, are some of the most widely present kinds of activity and expression in the religious life. This course will deeply consider pilgrimage as one unifying theme in the exploration of human religiousity. As a religious arena in which multiple cultural patterns converge and shape each other, pilgrimage in its various forms has also played a very significant historical role in shaping trade and commerce, geographic consciousness, centers of political power, and artistic forms. While this course will regularly return to examinations of what religionists and anthropologists have called "ritual pilgrimages," such as the Islamic hajj to Mecca, the Hindu yatra to Benares, and the Jewish "ascent for the festival" into Jerusalem, we will also investigate pilgrimage more metaphorically, by looking at literary (John Bunyan's well-known Christian allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress), legendary (the Tibeto-Himalayan Buddhist kingdom of Shambhala), and visionary (the Huichol Indians' peyote quests) journeys. Both humanistic and social scientific interpretive and theoretical work, such as that of Victor and Edith Turner, James Preston, Barbara Aziz, and Joseph Kitagawa, will be employed as frameworks for our analyses of this subject.

CRN	90442	Distribution	C
Course No.	REL 228
Title	Devotion & Poetry in Hinduism
Professor	Jeffrey Lidke
Schedule	Tu Th 11:30 am - 12:50 pm Library 302

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.

CRN	90765	Distribution	C
Course No.	REL 241
Title	Myth and the Arts of India
Professor	Jeffrey Lidke
Schedule	Wed Fri 11:30 am - 12:50 pm Library 302

Cross-listed: Asian Studies

Stories about the legendary heroes and gods of India form the basis for much of the literature, visual art, and performing arts of southern Asia. In this course we will examine narratives from the Hindu epics, Puranas, and other literary sources relating the deeds of Visnu and his incarnations, the various manifestations of the Goddess, Siva in his multiple forms, and the Buddha Sakyamuni and his former lives. We will also explore how these myths have been represented visually in painting and temple sculpture, and how they are retold in the performative traditions of Indian drama and dance. In addition to the arts of India, we will also consider how these mythological traditions have been both preserved and transformed in the arts of Bali and Indonesia.

CRN	90254	Distribution	C
Course No.	REL 249
Title	Beliefs and Practices of Jewish Mysticism
Professor	Natan Margalit
Schedule	Mon Th 11:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 303

Cross-listed: Jewish Studies

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.

CRN	90247	Distribution	A/C
Course No.	REL 253
Title	Islamic Theology & Philosophy
Professor	Jonathan Brockopp
Schedule	Mon Wed 3:00 pm - 4:20 pm OLIN 306

Cross-listed: Medieval Studies, Theology

Related interest: Philosophy

Over the centuries, Muslim intellectuals have produced a vast corpus of writings on subjects of philosophical and theological concern: the nature of God and his relationship to the world; the source of dreams and prophecy; the ideal state; and the question of human free will. Far from being a strictly intramural discussion, these scholars were widely read inGreek and Indian texts and freely borrowed and improved on these traditions. Numerous Greek works were known to medieval Europe only

through their Arabic transmission and commentaries, and some of the greatest Muslim intellectuals (Avicenna, Averroes, etc.) had a profound impact on scholastics, such as Thomas Aquinas. Concentrating on primary sources in translation, this course will cover both the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic traditions in Islamic philosophy and the rationalistic and mystical strands of Islamic theology. Texts will be drawn from medieval and modern authors, and secondary material will

highlight comparative aspects.

CRN	90248	Distribution	A/C
Course No.	REL 320
Title	Modern Study of Religion
Professor	Jonathan Brockopp / Paul Murray
Schedule	Tu 10:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 304

The modern study of religion is an eclectic field, drawing upon many other disciplines in its attempt to circumscribe and comprehend the diversity of human religiosity. In this course we will critically examine various approaches to the study of religion in the twentieth century, including psychological, sociological, anthropological, and phenomenological. We will also consider where this field of study may be heading in its post-modern present. Particular attention will focus around the topic of sacrifice. Required for Religion majors, and open to others interested.