16437

REL 106 Islam

Tehseen Thaver

M W 11:50 am-1:10 pm

OLIN 202

HUM DIFF

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies; Midde 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

16371

REL 108 Religions of the World

Richard Davis

T Th 10:10 am-11:30 am

OLIN 205

HUM DIFF

Cross-listed: Asian Studies; Theology This course is intended to offer an entry into the academic study of religion. We will examine the major religions of the world as they have developed over the course of world history, utilizing two approaches. The first will be comparative: we will consider the formative ideas and practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The second approach is historical: we will explore some of the roles religious ideas and institutions have played within struggles for political power, from the time of Alexander the Great up to the present. Class size: 22

16530

REL 114 Introduction to the new testament

Bruce Chilton

T Th 11:50 am-1:10 pm

OLIN 305

HUM

Cross-listed: Theology 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: 18

16372

REL 125 Jewish Thought & Practice

David Nelson

T Th 11:50 am-1:10 pm

OLIN 205

HUM

Cross-listed: Jewish Studies This is an in-depth first course in the study of Jewish religious life. We will explore in depth the process by which the historical transition period of the first few centuries of the common era produced a substantially new religious system (quite unlike that described in the Bible) that later generations think of simply as "Judaism." Throughout our comprehensive examination of Jewish ritual practice, we will pay special attention to how the absence of Temple cult led to a new system of religious practice, a new canon of Jewish literature, and a new landscape of philosophical positions that came to characterize "Rabbinic" Judaism. No prior familiarity with the topic is required. Class size: 22

16509

REL 228 devotion and poetry in hinduism

Richard Davis

M W 1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLINLC 208

FLLC DIFF

Cross-listed: Asian Studies Bhakti means "participation in" or "devotion to" God. From 700 C.E. to 1700 C.E., in every region of India, bhakti poet-saints sang songs and lived lives of intense, emotional devotion to their chosen gods. The songs, legends, and theologies of these saints and the communities they established permeate the religious life of India. This course explores the world of bhakti through its poetry. We examine issues of poetics and theology, bhakti and opposition to orthodox social conventions, bhakti and gender, the interactions of Hindu devotionalism and Islamic Sufism, the role of bhakti in Indian music, and the problem of bhakti in twentieth-century Indian literature. This is a writing intensive course. The general goals of the writing component of the course are to improve the development, composition, organization, and revision of analytical prose; the use of evidence to support an argument; strategies of interpretation and analysis of texts; and the mechanics of grammar and documentation. Regular short writing assignments will be required. Religion program category: Interpretative Class size: 16

16373

REL 230 Religion & Culture in Iran

Tehseen Thaver

M W 3:10 pm-4:30 pm

OLIN 204

HUM DIFF

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies; Midde Eastern Studies This course introduces students to the religious and cultural diversity of Iran, both historically and in the contemporary moment. The focus of this course will be on the narratives, texts, and spaces that have characterized the religious and cultural landscape of Iran. The topics we will discuss include the history of Islam in Iran, the emergence and eventual consolidation of Shi'ism and Shi'i practices, sacred spaces and rituals of shrine visitation, travel narratives and Persian poetry, the 1979 Iranian revolution, and religious institutions of education and learning in the country. We will also explore various forms of art and literature that serve as media for cultural expression, both traditionally and in contemporary transnational contexts. A central feature of this course will be the utilization of primary sources in translation and that of films drawn from the burgeoning Iranian cinema industry. The primary objective of this course is to wrestle with and explore the complexity, dynamism, and tensions that characterize the religion and culture of Iran both as an idea and as a territorial construct. Class size: 22

16375

REL 235 Liberation and Theology

Bruce Chilton

T Th 10:10 am-11:30 am

OLIN 305

HUM

Cross-listed: Theology; LAIS (Part of the Courage to Be series) Liberation became a major theme within theology, and contributed to movements of national and class revolution in several parts of the Western hemisphere after Vatican II. Despite enduring a systematic effort during the pontificate of John Paul II to silence them, liberation theologians have persisted, and there approach has been embraced on an interfaith basis. The seminar will engage both the thought and the practice of Liberation Theology. Class size: 18

16374

REL 330 A HOME IN THE WORLD: BUDDHIST CONCEPTIONS OF HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

Luke Thompson

M W 10:10 am-11:30 am

OLIN 303

HUM DIFF

Cross-listed: Asian Studies Since the death of the Buddha all Buddhist communities have been separated from the historical Buddha by the passage of time. And except for those forms of Buddhism that continued in northern India before finally disappearing around the thirteenth century, all Buddhist communities have been separated from the geographical origin of Buddhism by space. In this course we will look at how Buddhist communities have attempted to bridge this gap between themselves and the origin of their tradition by examining Buddhist conceptions of history, on the one hand, and Buddhist visions of the geographical layout of the Buddhist world, on the other. We will focus on Buddhist historiographical works and legends to better understand Buddhist historical thought, while early Buddhist maps will aid us in understanding how certain Buddhist communities understood their geographical positions vis-à-vis other communities, real or imagined. For purposes of comparison we will also be reading about historical and geographical thought as found in other religious traditions. Class size: 17

16438

REL COL Religion Colloquium

Tehseen Thaver

M 5:30 pm-6:30 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. Program category: Theoretical Class size: 22

CROSS-LISTED IN RELIGION:

16133

ARTH 194 Arts of Buddhism

Patricia Karetzky

W 1:30 pm-3:50 pm

OLIN 205

AART

16331

ANTH 243 African Diaspora Religions

Diana Brown

M W 1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLIN 203

SSCI DIFF

16345

EUS 231 Buddhist Views of Nature

Tatjana von Prittwitz und Gaffron

M W 1:30 pm -2:50 pm

101 JAMES CNTR

HUM

16187

HIST 2361 Magic, Mysteries & Cult

Carolyn Dewald

T Th 1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLIN 308

HIST DIFF