11650

REL 103 Buddhist Thought and Practice

Kristin Scheible

M . W . .

1:30 pm -2:50 pm

OLIN 204

HUM/DIFF

Cross-listed: Asian Studies; Theology 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 Class size: 22

11651

REL 106 Introduction to Islam

Mairaj Syed

M . W . .

3:10 pm -4:30 pm

HEG 204

HUM/DIFF

Cross-listed: Middle East Studies; Theology This course seeks to provide an introduction to pre-modern and contemporary Islam. We will study the central beliefs, institutions, and practices that constitute Islam. We will start with Muhammad’s message in seventh century Arabia. We will then examine the intellectual traditions of Islamic law, theology, and mysticism in medieval Muslim societies. Starting in the 19^th century, these same societies underwent massive structural change with the advent of colonial occupations. We will study the impact of Western colonialism on the structure of religious authority in Islam. We will study themes that have figured prominently in popular media portrayals of Muslims in the last few decades, notably gender and Islamic politics, including the radical variety. We will conclude the course by analyzing competing theories about the relationship between the “West” and “Islam.” Class size: 22

11846

REL/THEO 114 Introduction to the New Testament

Bruce Chilton

M . W . .

10:10 am -11:50 am

OLIN 107

HUM

This theology course is open to students without prior knowledge of the Bible. It will provide an overview of the New Testament as a whole. Topics to be covered will include the historical and political issues of the New Testament. Special attention will be given to the major themes of the New Testament. The diversity of the different books will also be considered. The presentation of the topics will be by discussion. Class size: 22

11653

REL 124 Reading Religious Texts

Kristin Scheible

M . W . .

8:30 am -9:50 am

OLIN 202

HUM/DIFF

Cross-listed: Asian Studies, Theology This course offers an introduction to some of the fundamental primary texts of the major world religions, and to the strategies adopted in reading these texts by both believers and scholars of these traditions. What work does a religious text perform for its textual community? We will focus on two genres of religious writing: narratives of the foundation of a religious community, and lyric expressions of devotion towards a deity that offer a glimpse into devotional practices. Readings will include selections from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Qu’ran, the Buddhacarita, Mahavamsa, and Jatakas, the Tao te Ching, the Gita Govinda, various Puranas, and the devotional poetry of Rumi, Mirabai, and Kabir. We will examine traditional commentarial and hermeneutical methods employed within each religious tradition, as well as the current methods of academic historians of religion. Class size: 22

11437

BIO 128 Science and Religion: The Case of Evolution

John Ferguson / Bruce Chilton

M . . . . . T . . .

4:40 pm -6:00 pm 1:30 pm -4:30 pm

RKC 111 RKC 111/112

SCI

Cross-listed: Biology, Environmental & Urban Studies, Science, Technology & Society This team-taught course will examine the long-standing tension between Christian fundamentalism and scientific theories about the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and biological evolution. Wherever possible, readings will be taken from primary sources and early examples will include the Book of Genesis, Philo of Alexandria, Archbishop Ussher, Malthus, Lamarck, and Darwin. Contemporary reactions to the publication of the Origin of Species will be discussed, as well as the birth of American fundamentalism in 1911 and its influence on the controversy in America, including the Scopes trial. The “modern synthesis” of genetics and evolutionary theory will be described, along with scientific theories about the origin of life. More modern critiques of Darwinian evolution will be discussed, including the writings of Sir Fred Hoyle and the creationists. Laboratory experiences may include examinations of fossils, microbial evolution under selective pressure, homeotic mutations in Drosophila, and analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences. No prior experience in biology or religion is assumed. Class size: 20

11656

REL 140 Sanskrit

Richard Davis

. T W Th .

9:00 am - 10:00 am

OLIN 309

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. Class size: 20

11454

ANTH 251 Death and Dying in Anthropological Perspective

Abou Farman Farmaian

M . W . .

11:50 am -1:10 pm

OLIN 201

SSCI/DIFF

Cross-listed: Religion See Anthropology section for description.

11658

REL 257 Gender and Sexuality in Judaism

David Nelson

. T . Th .

11:50 am -1:10 pm

OLIN 203

HUM/DIFF

Cross-listed: Gender & Sexuality Studies, Jewish Studies Traditional Judaism is often seen as a highly patriarchal system in which women have little access to public ritual roles or community leadership. It enforces a strict separation between men and women in many social situations, and prohibits even casual physical contact between husband and wife during the wife’s menstrual period. It defines some sexual acts between two men as an “abomination” for which capital punishment is prescribed. What are the origins of these practices, and the social, theological, and psychological attitudes that they reflect? This course will examine a broad sweep of issues relating to gender and sexuality in the earliest strata of Jewish historical development, that is, the biblical and rabbinic periods. Topics to be covered will include public and private gender roles; power dynamics between men and women; views of sexuality, marriage and its variants; homosexuality; etc. We will read both narrative and legal primary texts, as well as current scholarship on the development of these issues in the ancient world. Our goal will be to gain an understanding of some of the beliefs and values that drove the development of early Judaism. Class size: 22

11654

REL 338 Religions in the Hudson Valley

Kristin Scheible

. . . Th .

1:30 pm -3:50 pm

OLIN 304

HUM

Cross-listed: Asian Studies The first unit of our course will consist of a historical overview of the religious movements that have shaped the religious diversity of the Hudson Valley. As we conclude the first unit we will take excursions to local sites of interest. In the second unit, we take the influx of Buddhism into the Hudson Valley (resulting both from immigration of Asian Buddhist communities as well as the rapid spread of various schools of Buddhist thought and practice in the West) as a case study. Our focus will be on the major and still evolving Buddhist presence from the Wappingers Falls stupa, to the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra and Zen Mountain Monastery of the Woodstock area, to the first Tendai institution in America in Chatham. Finally, in the third unit students will devote their attention to a location and religious tradition of their choice and produce both a contribution to our collective research on area institutions as well as a critical paper about religious pluralism and diversity around us. Students will begin to map area establishments, and use methods devised and modeled by the Pluralism Project; we may web-publish our contribution as this sector of New York has yet to be mapped. Class size: 12

11657

REL 343 Popular Arts in Modern India

Richard Davis

M . W . .

3:10 pm -4:30 pm

OLINLC 210

HUM

Cross-listed: Art History, Asian Studies, Global & Int’l Studies In India one sees them everywhere: bright wide-eyed Hindu deities, in poster form, perched above cash registers in restaurants and clothing shops, glued to the dashboards of taxis and buses, and framed on the walls of temples and home shrines. These mass-produced chromolithographs or “god-posters” occupy a central place in the visual landscape of modern India, but until recently they have remained far on the periphery of scholarly attention. In this seminar we will explore the world of Indian god-posters. The course will consider iconographic features, stylistic developments, political and religious significations, and devotional responses to these popular commercial prints. We will look at the ways the artists have adapted their visual practices within commercial structures of production, and how they have directed their arts towards devotional needs. We will also situate this pervasive genre in “interocular” relation to other modern forms of South Asian visual arts, such as tribal and folk arts (Warli and Mithila painting), pilgrimage paintings (Kalighat, Nathadvara), Parsi theater, photography in India, and especially Bollywood cinema. Class size: 18

11660

REL COL Religion Colloquium

Mairaj Syed

M . . . .

6:00 pm -7:00 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. Religion program category: Theoretical Class size: 22