|
11918 |
REL 121 History of
Early India |
Richard
Davis |
. T . Th . |
11:50 -1:10 pm |
OLIN 201 |
HUM |
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. Program
Category: Historical Class size:
22
|
11917 |
REL 126 The Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism |
Alan
Avery-Peck |
M . . . . |
1:30 -3:50 pm |
HDR 101A |
HUM/DIFF |
Cross-listed: Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies Judaism as it continues to be
practiced today took shape in the first six centuries C.E., in the same period
that saw the emergence and growth of Christianity. This course describes and
interprets early Judaism, asking what happened to Jews in the first six
centuries and evaluating the literatures, beliefs, and communal practices that
they developed in response. Our goal is to understand how Judaism evolved as a
result of the interaction between inherited texts and ideas and the
contemporary experiences of the Jewish people. Class size: 22
|
11920 |
REL 133 Pilgrimage |
Kristin
Scheible |
. T . Th . |
10:10 - 11:30 am |
HEG 102 |
HUM |
Cross-listed:
Experimental Humanities As religious phenomena not
equally important in all spiritual traditions, forms of pilgrimage 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 religious identity. 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. This course will examine what religionists and anthropologists have
called “ritual pilgrimages,” such as the Catholic Santiago de Compostela, identity building tours to Poland and Israel
for Jewish youth such as the March of the Living and Birthright Israel, the
Islamic Hajj to Mecca, the Hindu Ban-yatra through Braj, and the Shikoku pilgrimage circuit in Japan. Program
category: Historical Class size: 22
|
11921 |
REL 209 Mysticism |
Bruce
Chilton |
. T . Th . |
3:10 -4:30 pm |
ALBEE 106 |
HUM |
A
canon of mystical literature from the Middle Ages has
emerged in discussion, but the purpose of mysticism was laid out before that
time, and has continued to be refined since then. In this seminar, we will locate
mysticism as the outcome of neo-Platonic and Gnostic traditions from Late
Antiquity, and analyze its revival during the twentieth century. Class
size: 20
|
11923 |
REL 212 Archaeology
of the Bible |
Bruce
Chilton |
. T . Th . |
1:30 -2:50 pm |
OLINLC 206 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Jewish Studies In two senses, the Bible has been an object of
excavation. Artifacts and archaeological
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 Class size: 20
|
11924 |
REL 226 Intermediate
Sanskrit II |
Richard
Davis |
M . W . . |
3:10 -4:30 pm |
OLIN 304 |
FLLC |
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.
Program
category: Interpretative Class size: 15
|
11922 |
REL 234 Ethical
Dilemmas in Science, Medicine and Technology from a Jewish Perspective |
David
Nelson |
. T . Th . |
11:50 -1:10 pm |
OLIN 204 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Jewish
Studies; Philosophy; Science, Technology & Society Continuing advances in science and technology
raise ethical issues that would have been wholly alien to pre-modern thinkers.
Issues surrounding the beginning and the end of life, genetic engineering, stem
cell research, environmental degradation, and others present us with
unprecedented ethical challenges. This course will examine a range of these
issues specifically through the lens of Jewish ethical texts and
traditions. No prior experience or
courses in philosophy or Jewish studies required. Class
size: 22
|
11925 |
REL 246 Gender and
Sexuality in Muslim Societies |
Irfana
Hashmi |
. . W . F |
10:10 - 11:30 am |
OLINLC 210 |
HUM/DIFF |
Cross-listed: Gender
& Sexuality Studies; Global & Int’l Studies; History; Human Rights;
Medieval Studies; Middle Eastern Studies Using
the categories of gender and sexuality, this course reconstructs the diverse
socio-cultural lives of Muslim communities from seventh-century Arabia to 21st-century
United States. These analytical categories enable us to investigate tensions
between normative texts and the everyday practices of Muslims. The course
starts by providing an overview of the formative period of Islam, focusing on
the historical processes that impacted the role and status of women, as well as
the ways in which women responded to, negotiated, and contested these processes
in the pursuit of their own interests. Introducing students to the classical
texts of Islam, the course then will examine important concepts, institutions,
practices, and themes around which gender status and identity arose
historically, such as law, ritual practice, sexuality, marriage, divorce, and
politics. We will also study modern feminist reinterpretations of Islamic
traditions, as well as strategies marshaled by Muslim women to promote
egalitarian readings of classical texts. While the course will concentrate on
the role of women in Muslim societies, it will also address issues of
masculinity and male sexuality. Class
size: 18
|
11926 |
REL 309 Apocalypse |
Bruce
Chilton |
. . W . F |
1:30 -2:50 pm |
RKC 102 |
HUM |
The
Revelation of John has shaped how people in the West see their future. Yet
readings of the Apocalypse have produced fundamentally different views of the future.
Major teachers in the Christian tradition have championed each of these views,
and they have also influenced Jewish and Muslim interpreters. Today these
radical differences remain, producing controversy in reading the Revelation. Did John of Patmos look forward to a thousand
years of eschatological festivity, or an eternal communion with God that
dissolves time as we experience it? Can the Revelation be used to predict
events, or do its references to the devil tell us how to war against evil in our
own day? Does the hope that it expresses convey a sense of progress, or warn
against any remedy for sin but God’s cataclysmic intervention? Class size: 20
|
11933 |
REL 332 Gandhi:
Life, Philosophy, and the
Strategies of Non-Violence |
Richard
Davis |
. T . . . |
1:30 -3:50 pm |
RKC 115 |
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 India, South Africa,
the United States, and elsewhere, and assess their effectiveness. The course
will include a series of films that provide different perspectives on the Gandhian legacy, from the hagiographical to the deeply
critical. Class size: 15
|
11927 |
REL 345 Legends and
Legitimacy in Buddhism |
Kristin
Scheible |
M . . . . |
1:30 -3:50 pm |
OLIN 308 |
HUM |
Cross-listed:
Asian Studies This course will explore
the genre of chronicle (vamsa) as
employed in Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhist cultures. Broadly construed, our project is to explore the
relationship between myth and history.
How are mythically-infused histories conceived, preserved, explained,
and employed? What do the “histories”
of the founding of kingdoms in Sri Lanka and Northern Thailand say about their
producers and consumers? After establishing our bearings by reviewing the
social history of Theravada Buddhism, we will focus on the earliest (4th-6th
century C.E.) (vamsa) texts from Sri Lanka,
the Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa,
where stories of three visits of the historical Buddha galvanize Sinhala
Buddhist presence and claims of authority and culminate in the heroic tale of
the second century B.C.E. Sinhalese King Dutthagamini. Topics to consider include the voice of the
chronicles themselves as products of the orthodox Mahavihara, the particularity
of view, and the complicated relationship with state authority and royal
patronage. We will examine how these
texts have been employed in current nationalist and Buddhist fundamentalist
movements. We then turn to an
informative case from fifteenth-century Northern Thailand where an orthodox
Theravada chronicle follows similar patterns and claims a preordained status
for the nascent kingdom of the seventh-century Queen Cama.
Prerequisite: REL 103 or permission of instructor. Program
Category: Historical Class size: 15
|
11928 |
REL COL Religion
Colloquium |
Kristin
Scheible |
M . . . . |
5:00 -6:00 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