91886 |
REL 103 Buddhist Thought & Practice |
Luke Thompson |
M . W
. . |
1:30 pm -2:50 pm |
RKC 103 |
HUM/DIFF |
Cross-listed: Asian Studies; Theology Taiwanese nuns who
incorporate business management classes into their traditional Buddhist
seminary curriculum, a seventh-century Chinese empress who claimed to be none
other than the buddha of the future, wandering monks
in the forests of northern Thailand: these examples are indicative of the
diversity found within Buddhism. And yet
there are also themes and recurring patterns that tie the various periods and
cultural settings of Buddhism together.
In this course we will begin by examining some of the concepts at the
heart of Buddhist psychology and philosophy; this is what Buddhism looks like
on paper, so to speak. We will then turn
to how Buddhists have practiced and to the institutions they have developed;
this is how Buddhism actually looks on the ground. In the final section of the course we will
focus more intently on some of the cultural settings in which Buddhism has
developed (including the West), asking how Buddhism changed (or did not change)
as it grew increasingly distant from its Indian origins. Students should come away from the course
with an understanding of a handful of ideas and institutions central to
Buddhist thought and practice, a rough idea as to the historical transmission
of Buddhist (e.g., it went from India to China), and a sense of why this
religion has enjoyed such a positive reputation in the West during the past
century-and-a-half. Class size: 22
91890 |
REL 106 Islam |
Tehseen Thaver |
M . W . . |
11:50 am -1:10 pm |
HEG 308 |
HUM/DIFF |
Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Middle Eastern Studies An
examination of the intellectual and lived traditions of Islam. In addition to
early Muslim political history this course will also familiarize students with
the major disciplines in Islam including the Qur’an, Hadith, theology, Islamic
law, Islamic philosophy, and Sufism. The concluding segments of this course
interrogate the interruptions of modernity in these traditions through the
study of contemporary Muslim reform movements, Muslim modernism, and Islamism.
We will utilize a variety of sources including primary sources (in
translation), historical works, anthropological and literary sources, and films
to guide our discussion. Through the study of Islam, this course will also
provide students a solid theoretical foundation in larger conceptual questions
and categories pertinent to the academic study of religion and to the
humanities more broadly.
Class
size: 22
91891 |
REL 241 HINDU MYTHOLOGY |
Richard Davis |
. T . Th . |
10:10 am -11:30 am |
OLIN 204 |
HUM |
Cross-listed:
Asian Studies, Classical Studies In their stories of the deeds of gods and
goddesses, Hindus created an endlessly variegated alternative world,
designed to delight listeners, to affirm or criticize existing Indian
society, and to offer ways for Hindu audiences to participate devotionally
in that other world. Exploring the classical Indian narratives of Indra, Siva, Rama,
92399 |
REL 261 gender and buddhism |
Luke
Thompson |
M . . . . . . W . . |
3:10 pm – 4:30 pm |
ALBEE 106 OLIN 205 |
HUM/DIFF |
As
in all religions, one finds a diversity of views of gender and sexuality in
Buddhism. There are many instances in
which Buddhist scriptures, commentaries, and teachings concerning this topic
appear to contradict one another. Furthermore,
Buddhism has incorporated views from the various cultures in which it has
developed, and Buddhist attitudes toward gender in, say, medieval Tibet can be
quite different from those found in modern Thailand, for example. In this course we explore these issues as
they have appeared and been addressed in a number of Buddhist contexts. After
spending our first week focusing on how gender and sexuality have been
approached in the modern study of religion, we will turn to early Indian
Buddhist attitudes towards gender, then to Buddhist nuns in varying cultural
settings, and finally to a number of gender-related themes that have emerged
during the course of Buddhism's development.
At the end of the course students should be able to identify early
Indian Buddhist attitudes towards gender and sexuality, and discuss how these
attitudes persisted or changed as Buddhism entered other cultures; discuss the
predicament of Buddhist nuns in the modern world; and understand the ways in
which Western categories used to understand gender and sexuality are or are not
applicable to Buddhism.
Class size: 22
91892 |
REL 269 Sacred Pursuits |
Richard Davis |
M . W . . |
1:30 pm -2:50 pm |
OLIN 303 |
HUM |
Cross-listed:
Theology This seminar is devoted to developing theoretical
self-awareness in the study of religion. In order to achieve that end, we will read
some of the key theorists in the study of religion, apply their insights to
case-studies, and refine their approaches as seems necessary. This course will be Writing Intensive. Class
size: 18
91884 |
REL 286 Science and the Sacred |
David Nelson |
. T . Th . |
11:50 am -1:10 pm |
OLIN 201 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Theology This
course will examine a number of important, contemporary issues at the
intersection between religion and science. Scientific thinking about God, religious
responses to cosmology and evolution, and the writings of both scientists on
religion and religionists on science will be included. We will focus on
attempts to learn about religion from science, and about science from religion,
and on the different methodologies, assumptions, and entailments of the two
disciplines. No significant background in either field is required. Class size: 22
91889 |
REL 332 Gandhi: Life, PhilOSOPHY, AND STRATEGIES OF Non-violence |
Richard Davis |
. T . . . |
1:30 pm -3:50 pm |
HEG 201 |
HUM |
Cross-listed:
Asian Studies, Human Rights Mohandas
Gandhi was among the most radical, revered, controversial, and influential
political and religious figures of the twentieth century. His strategies of non-violent satyagraha
were widely and successfully adopted during the Indian independence movement,
and they have since been adapted by other political leaders and movements
around the world, with varying degrees of success. In this seminar we will examine Gandhi’s life
and the development of his philosophy of svaraj and satyagraha. We will consider the colonial South African
and Indian conditions in which Gandhi acted, and we will explore the range of
Gandhi’s efforts towards personal, political, and social transformation. Finally, students in this seminar will
investigate some of the movements that have attempted to apply Gandhian methods
in new settings, in
91888 |
REL 336 Sufism |
Tehseen Thaver |
M . W . . |
3:10 pm -4:30 pm |
OLINLC 206 |
HUM/DIFF |
Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Middle Eastern Studies This
course examines the mystical tradition of Islam or Sufism. We will cover a
range of topics including Sufism and Orientalism, the intellectual and
institutional history of Sufism, Sufi textual traditions, Sufi orders and the
master-disciple relationship, gender and Sufism, Sufism and modernity, and
online Sufism. A major focus of this class will be on the close reading of
primary texts from multiple intellectual disciplines, time periods, and regions
(all in translation). Class size: 15
91887 |
REL Religion Colloquium |
Tehseen Thaver |
M . . . . |
5:30 pm -6:30 pm |
OLIN 201 |
|
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. Program
category: Theoretical Class
size: 20