Course	JS 101 Introduction to Jewish Studies
Professor	Cecile Kuznitz
CRN	18207
Schedule	Mon Wed 3:00 -4:20 pm PRE 128
Distribution	Humanities/ Rethinking Difference

Cross-listed: History, Religion

This interdisciplinary course will introduce students to major themes in the field of Jewish Studies. The primary focus will be on the history of the Jewish people and on Judaism as a religion, but we will also examine topics in Jewish literature, society, and politics. The course will treat selected themes from the Biblical period to the present, but with a greater emphasis on the medieval and especially the modern period. Among the issues to be explored: What role has the Land of Israel played in Jewish life, and how have Jews responded to their nearly 2,000-year experience of exile and Diaspora? How have they negotiated both the “push” of antisemitism and the “pull” of assimilation to maintain distinct forms of community and identity? What role have various types of texts played in Jewish culture, and what is their relationship to lived Jewish experience? Finally, what are the implications of such momentous recent events as the Holocaust, the establishment of the State of Israel, and the rise of the American Jewish community? On-line registration

Course	REL 103 Buddhist Thought and Practice
Professor	Kristin Scheible
CRN	18253
Schedule	Mon Wed 3:00 -4:20 pm OlinLC 210
Distribution	Humanities/ Rethinking Difference

Cross-listed: Asian Studies

This course is designed to explore the “three jewels” of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teaching), and the Sangha (the Buddhist community).  We will move imaginatively through different historical periods, cultures, and what might be called “Buddhisms” in this introductory survey of Buddhist teachings and practices. Our goals are threefold: first, we must consider what tools are potentially helpful in the comparative study of religion.  We will revisit and reevaluate this objective throughout the course.  Second, and most importantly, we will explore the diversity of thought and practice within the religious tradition monolithically referred to as “Buddhism,” by acquainting ourselves with the texts and participants of various communities (or “schools”) of Buddhists including Theravada, Tibetan, Pure Land and Zen.  Finally, the “three jewels” framework will help us to organize our findings and to make sense of apparent continuities and differences among the traditions.  Religion program category: Historical On-line registration

Course	REL 106 Introduction to Islam
Professor	Ismail Acar
CRN	18159
Schedule	Mon Wed 10:30 - 11:50 am Olin 205
Distribution	Humanities/ Rethinking Difference

Cross-list: Middle Eastern Studies, Theology

Is Islam in Arabia in the seventh century the same religion as Islam in Michigan in the twenty-first century? Is a woman in fifteenth-century Iran the same kind of Muslim as a man in nineteenth-century Indonesia? Does West African Islamic mysticism differ from South Asian Islamic mysticism? This course answers these questions by introducing Islamic religious systems in world context. We will study a series of cultures in order to explore differing elements of Islamic practice and to understand some commonalities of Islamic faith. Regions we will encounter include Arabia, Iran, Africa, South Asia, Indonesia and Malay Peninsula, and America. Themes we will trace include conceptions of prophecy, ritual practice, development of Islamic theology and jurisprudence, forms of mysticism, relationship between genders, and definitions of communal identity. Textual traditions we will examine include the Quran, traditions of the prophet Muhammad, philosophical treatises, mystical guidebooks, reform literature, and contemporary educational manuals. On-line registration

Course	REL 140 Sanskrit
Professor	Richard Davis
CRN	18249
Schedule	Tu WedTh 9:20 - 10:20 am Olin 307
Distribution	FLLC

Cross-listed: Asian Studies, Classical Studies

Sanskrit is the language of ancient India, the language in which such works as the Bhagavad Gita, the great Hindu epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, and the Upanisads were written. In this course students will learn the grammar and syntax of Classical Sanskrit and acquire a working vocabulary. In the second semester students will read substantial portions of original texts in Sanskrit. Religion program category: Interpretive. On-line registration

Course	THEO / REL 212 Archaeology of the Bible
Professor	Bruce Chilton
CRN	18247
Schedule	TuTh 10:30 - 11:50 am OlinLC 120
Distribution	History

Cross-listed: Philosophy, Religion

In two senses, the Bible has been an object of excavation. Artifacts and archaelological investigations have played a major part in the reconstruction of the meanings involved, while the depth of texts -- as compositions that took shape over time -- has been increasingly appreciated. This seminar involves understanding the social histories of Israel and the early Church as they shaped the biblical texts. This approach identifies the constituencies for which the sources of the texts were produced. By “sources” we mean, not the documents as they stand (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and so on), but the traditions that fed into those documents. The final, editorial moment when traditions were crystallized in writing is a vital juncture in the literary formation of the Scriptures, but is not solely determinative of their meaning. The unfolding of meanings within texts during the whole of their development explodes the claim of a single, exclusive meaning in biblical exegesis. The seminar will attend to the variety of meanings inherent within the Scriptures -- without limitation to a particular theory of interpretation, and with constant attention to issues of historical context. Program category: Interpretive On-line registration

Course	REL 276 Imagination in Religion
Professor	Paul Murray
CRN	18251
Schedule	TuTh 4:00 -5:20 pm Olin 205
Distribution	Humanities

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 theopetics? Readings will introduce the works of several contemporary theologians who engage these questions, including Scott Holland, Matthew Fox, and Letty Russell. Readings will also draw from anthropological and psychological literature, including works by William James, Clifford Geertz, A.F.C. Wallace, Gregory Bateson, and Michele Stephen. On-line registration

Course	REL / CLAS / HIST 277 EMPIRES, Ancient and Modern
Professor	Richard Davis / Carolyn Dewald
CRN	18011
Schedule	Mon Wed 3:00 -4:20 pm OlinLC 115
Distribution	History

See History section for description.

Course	REL 285 Golden Rule in the Religions of the World
Professor	Bruce Chilton / Jacob Neusner
CRN	18252
Schedule	Tues 1:00 – 2:20 pm RKC 101
Distribution	Humanities

Cross-listed : Jewish Studies, Theology

The Golden Rule figures in the ethical teachings of all the important religions in the world. This seminar investigates the roles of the Golden Rule in the various religious systems and compares them. The seminar studies papers by scholars who specialize in the several world religions and by those who analyze the golden rule as an ethical norm. A conference on

April 13-15 2008 will bring together these specialists for discussion of their papers. On-line registration

Course	REL / THEO 310 Gnostics, Neoplatonists, and Catholics: The First Christian Philosophers
Professor	Bruce Chilton
CRN	18248
Schedule	Th 4:00 -6:20 pm Olin 201
Distribution	History

Between the second and the fourth centuries C.E., Christianity spread through the Roman Empire, largely through the medium of philosophical dialogue. The first Christian philosophers did not work with a predetermined system of thought, but forged new ways of thinking during the course of prolonged interaction with their diverse environments. By the end of the period, Gnositicism, Neoplatonism, and Catholicism emerged as well defined positions, and yet continued in dedicated debate, dialogue, and dispute. On-line registration

Course	REL 321 Seminar in Islamic Law: Jihad
Professor	Ismail Acar
CRN	18160
Schedule	Tu 9:30 - 11:50 am RKC 200
Distribution	Humanities/ Rethinking Difference

Cross-listed: Human Rights

In its root meaning of "struggle," jihad is one of the key generative categories for Islam and Islamic law; it refers to the believers' struggle against evil inclinations, the jurists' struggle to make sense out of the sacred texts, and the struggle against unbelief in warfare. Taking jihad as its primarily lens, this course will trace the history and development of Islamic Law from its Qur'anic roots to its modern applications, looking

at the place of jihad alongside rules of ritual, prayer, business transactions, and inheritance. A strong emphasis will be placed on the classical texts of the early centuries in order to understand the interpretive strategies employed by later generations. Students will work primarily with Arabic sources in English translation. An Arabic tutorial is available for students who have completed two years (or the equivalent) of Arabic language study. Program category: Interpretive On-line registration

Course	REL 323 Belief within a Religiously Plural World
Professor	Paul Murray
CRN	18250
Schedule	Mon 3:00 -5:20 pm Olin 305
Distribution	Humanities

Religious traditions hold various understandings about the beliefs and practices of other traditions. By means of doctrine, discipline and social structures they have employed various strategies to maintain boundaries and between their own tradition and others and to convey attitudes regarding other traditions that range from tolerance and dialogue to repudiation. Conditions of life in today’s intensely globalized society bring persons and organizations of differing religious traditions and philosophical orientations into close contact in every facet of social life. Political and cultural conflicts of recent years focus attention on the problems associated with an absolutism of truth claims, especially in the realm of religion. What are the alternatives? This seminar will examine contemporary theological and practical approaches that foster an appreciation for religious pluralism, as well as their scriptural and historical antecedents. Course readings will include works by Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, John Cobb, John Hick, Masao Abe, Hans Küng, Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), and Diana Eck. On-line registration

Course	REL COL Religion Colloquium
Professor	Kristin Scheible
CRN	18254
Schedule	Wed 6:00 -7:20 pm Olin 202

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

On-line registration