RELIGION

CRN

13183

Distribution

A/C

Course No.

REL 104

Title

Introduction to Judaism

Professor

Jacob Neusner

Schedule

Mon Wed 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN 307

Cross-listed: Jewish Studies

Diverse Judaic religious systems ("Judaisms") have flourished in various times and places. No single Judaism traces a linear, unitary, traditional line from the beginning to the present. This course sets forth a method for describing, analyzing, and interpreting Judaic religious systems and for comparing one such system with another. It emphasizes the formative history of Rabbinic Judaism in ancient and medieval times, and the development, in modern times, of both developments out of that Judaism and Judaic systems competing with it: Reform, Orthodox, Conservative Judaisms in the 19th century, Zionism, the American Judaism of Holocaust and Redemption, in the twentieth. In both the classical and the contemporary phases of the course, analysis focuses upon the constant place of women in Judaic systems as a basis for comparison and contrast.

Religion program category: Historical

CRN

13018

Distribution

A/C

Course No.

REL 120

Title

The Future of Christianity

Professor

Paul Murray

Schedule

Tu Th 3:00 pm -4:20 pm OLIN 201

Cross-listed: Theology

Does Christianity have a future? Are contemporary social and cultural conditions such that it must "change or die," as Bishop John Shelby Spong suggests? During the final decades of the Twentieth Century, sharp questions regarding the continued viability and usefulness of Christianity were raised with increasing force and frequency not only by its external critics, but by thoughtful Christians, as well. The social contexts of such questions include developing oppositions to Western imperialism in all its forms, including attempts to proselytize non-Christian peoples, religious pluralism as an existential reality, the popular pursuit of individualized spiritualities without religious affiliation, the reconceptualization of gender and sexuality, and the emergence of technologies that extend human manipulation of the world, including the human organism, in ways that were previously unimaginable. These contexts, however, are only the immediate forms of still more deeply rooted intellectual challenges to traditional Christian beliefs and practices. Modern Biblical studies, linguistics, archeology, patristics, and historical studies have compelled Christians -- Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox -- to reexamine foundational assumptions about their respective traditions. At stake in contemporary disputes about moral issues, church polity, discipline and doctrine are the conceptual foundations of Christianity. Can they be rethought? Or, to draw on an aphorism of Jesus, will 'new wine burst the wine skins'? Course readings will consider the roots and forms

Religion program category: Interpretative

CRN

13045

Distribution

A/C

Course No.

REL 217

Title

Reading Religious Texts

Professor

Richard Davis

Schedule

Mon Wed 11:30 am - 12:50 pm HEG 300
This course offers an introduction to some of the fundamental texts of the major world religions, and to the strategies adopted in reading these texts by both believers and scholars of these traditions. We will focus on two genres of religious writing: narratives of the foundation of religious community, and lyric expressions of devotion towards a deity. Readings will include selections from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Buddhacarita, and the devotional poetry of Rumi, Mirabai, and Kabir. We will examine the commentarial and hermeneutical methods employed within each religious tradition, and the post-Enlightenment textual practices of academic historians of religion.

Religion program category: Interpretative

CRN

13046

Distribution

C/D

Course No.

REL 221

Title

History of Early India

Professor

Richard Davis

Schedule

Tu Th 11:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 101

Cross-listed: Asian Studies, History

This course offers an overview of the early history and culture of South Asia, from its earliest urban civilization in the Indus Valley (2500-1800 BCE) up to the classical period of the Gupta dynasty in northern India (300-550 CE). Within this three-millennium frame, we will look at archeological reconstructions of the Indus Valley civilization and textual reconstructions of early Indo-Aryan or Vedic culture, the period of second urbanization in the Indo-Gangetic plain and the transition from tribal organization to kingdoms, the rise of the Mauryan imperial formation, the emergence and growth of heterodox orders of Buddhists and Jains and responses to their challenge from orthodox Hindus, the post-Mauryan period of Central Asian rule, and the articulation of a classical Indian culture during the Gupta period. While tracing this chronological history, the course will pay greater attention to key issues and debates within Indian history: social hierarchy and the development of caste society, the status of women, the roles of religious specialists in the political order, and the ideology and practice of kingship.

Religion program category: Historical

CRN

13047

Distribution

D

Course No.

REL 225

Title

Intermediate Readings in Sanskrit

Professor

Brad Clough

Schedule

Tu Th 4:30 pm - 5:50 pm LC 208

Cross-listed: Asian Studies, Classical Studies

The course combines intermediate-level readings in Sanskrit with the study of Indian society and religion. Beginning with a review of basic grammatical structures of Sanskrit, students will quickly move on to read Sanskrit texts such as the animal fables of the Hitopadesa, the religious philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, and the classic poetic rendition of the Buddha's life, the Buddhacarita of Asvaghosa.

Prerequisite: Sanskrit 101-102 or equivalent.

Religion program category: Interpretative

CRN

13048

Distribution

C

Course No.

REL 255

Title

Islam in Asia

Professor

Jonathan Brockopp

Schedule

Mon Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 101

Cross-listed: Asian Studies

Technically, Islam has been in Asia since its beginnings, but this course will be specifically interested in the eastward expansion of Islam. After covering the initial conquests of the Persian empire, the course will concentrate on the spread of Islam into India, China and Southeast Asia over the last 1,000 years. Our focus will be historical, covering the development of Muslim populations in Asia over time. But we will also explore an issue of more general importance to the study of religion: the local authority of diasporic, and often syncretic, communities versus central, orthodox authority. Readings will include primary source material and recent ethnographic studies.

Religion program category: Historical

CRN

13430

Distribution

A, D

Course No.

REL 266

Title

Jewish Mysticism: From Medieval Kabbalah to the Present

Professor

Natan Margalit

Schedule

Tu Th 11:30 am - 12:50 pm LC 206
In this course we will trace the development of Jewish mysticism

from its classic form in the Kabbalah of the 13th through 16th centuries to its present day "neo-Kabbalist" and "Neo-Hassidic" practitioners. The flowing narratives of the Zohar, the ecstatic meditations of Abulafia and the radical thought of Lurianic Kabbalah will be the central foci of the classical period. Basic ideas such as the sefirotic tree, breaking of the vessels and the theory of the four worlds will be explored. The Sabbatian heresies and the psychological turn of the Hassidic movement

will then be examined. Discussion of these early forms set the stage for posing the question of whether the new 20th and 21st century forms of Neo-Kabbalah and Neo-Hassidism may be considered the latest trends in Jewish mysticism. Both primary texts in English translation and secondary sources will be read. Students will also have the opportunity to attend a major conference on Neo-Hassidism to take place in Manhattan, March 26-29.

Religion program category: Historical

CRN

13470

Distribution

A/C

Course No.

REL 270

Title

Hearts of Wisdom: Great Works of Indian Buddhist Philosophy

Professor

Bradley Clough

Schedule

Tu Th 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm OLIN 309

Cross-listed: Asian Studies, Philosophy

Although Buddhism has been a pan-Asian religion for roughly 1500 years, with major developments taking place in the cultural areas of Southeast, East, and Central Asia, the foundational philosophical teachings which have had the most enduring influence in the religion are found in the works of the great practitioner-thinkers of India, the land of Buddhism's origins. Beginning with an overview of basic doctrines, the course will turn to critical examination of great works of Indian Buddhist philosophy. Emphasis will be on close readings of primary

materials, but we will also look at important secondary scholarship. In this way, we will endeavor to understand Buddhist philosophical concepts on their own terms, as well as in terms of the categories of Western philosophy. Thus, epistemological, ontological, metaphysical, hermeneutical, cosmological, psychological, and soteriological themes,

as well as approached to logic and language and theories of

consciousness, will be explored. Works from a variety of Indian

Buddhist schools will be investigated, so as to bring us to an

appreciation of the range of positions taken on subjects central to the religion. With some works, selections from commentaries by both Indian and non-Indian thinkers will be considered. Debates with other Indian philosophical systems, especially Hindu ones, will also be touched upon, so as to place Buddhism within the broader context of Indian religious thought. Finally, philosophy is held to be wedded to the ultimate principle of Buddhist life, the liberative enlightenment of people, and

so connections with ethics and meditation will be examined throughout the course.

Prerequisites: Since the subject matter of this course is often

difficult, students with college-level background in Buddhism or

philosophy will be best prepared. Students without such experience are also invited to register, but not without a pre-registration meeting with the instructor.

Religion program category: Interpretative

CRN

13429

Distribution

A/C

Course No.

REL 304

Title

Contemplative Traditions of Asia

Professor

Bradley Clough

Schedule

Mon 10:30 am - 12:50 pm LC 208

Cross-listed: Asian Studies

A survey of the literature of the major meditational traditions of Asia, covering the origin and evolution of such systems as Indian yoga (Hindi, Jain and Buddhist), subsequent Buddhist developments (Tibetan, Tantric and East Asian Zen schools), and forms of Taoist and neo-Confucian contemplation in China. Readings are drawn from canonical scriptures, scholastic treatises, poetic writings, and spiritual biographies of contemplatives. The readings treat theories, practices, and experiences of meditation.

Prerequisite: college-level course work in at least one of the above mentioned religious traditions.

Religion program category: Theoretical

CRN

13017

Distribution

A/C

Course No.

REL 314

Title

Imagination in Religion

Professor

Paul Murray

Schedule

Mon 7:00 pm -9:20 pm OLIN 203

Cross-listed: Theology

Dreams, visions, metaphors and myths, the generative sources of religion, draw from the imagination to create, structure and restructure "worlds." From shamanic journeys into mythic worlds to prophetic cries for reform, the roots of religious systems in imagination are evident. But what is "imagination" and how do societies and individuals conceptualize, utilize, manipulate, and attempt to regulate or contain its expressions and effects? Why is trance mediumship welcome in one society and dreaded in another? What is the relationship of imagination to conscious thought? How do highly structured, hierarchically regulated churches respond to the emergence in their midst of alternative visions of the world? What are the implications of human imagination for metaphysical assertions about God? Can there be a theopoetics? Readings will introduce the works of several contemporary theologians who are engaging these questions, including Gordon Kaufman, Scott Holland, and Letty Russell. Readings will also draw from anthropological and psychological literature on imagination, including William James, Gregory Bateson, and Michele Stephens. In addition to weekly seminar meetings, students will meet one hour each week in small group tutorials with the instructor. Enrollment limited to twelve. Prerequisite: moderation in the Social Studies Division or permission of the instructor.

Religion program category: Theoretical

CRN

13184

Distribution

A

Course No.

REL 324

Title

St. Paul: From Antioch to Rome

Professor

Bruce Chilton

Schedule

Wed 12:00 pm -1:30 pm OLIN 201

Cross-listed: Theology

2 credits The last years of Paul's life (between 50 and 64 CE) were the period of his most explosive literary activity. His letters, as incorporated within the New Testament, attest how his theology interacted and contended with those of other Christian teachers. At the same time, they are the only sources that are contemporaneous with the ancient congregations they refer to, and offer unique insight into their practices and beliefs. From the perspective both of Paul's development and Christianity's evolution, those letters open the way to understanding how by the end of the first century a loosely knit body of believers called "the Church" was acknowledged to be a religion independent of Judaism. Religion program category: Historical

CRN

13043

Distribution

n/a

Course No.

REL COL

Title

Religion Colloquium

Professor

Richard Davis

Schedule

Mon 4:30 pm -6:00 pm OLIN 107

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.

Religion program category: Theoretical