Fall
2007
HBR 1102 - Beginning Biblical Hebrew (Levenson)
The first semester of an
introduction to Biblical Hebrew. In HBR 1102 and HBR 1103 (offered
in Spring 2008), the student will be introduced to virtually the
entire grammar and gain a good working vocabulary of Biblical
Hebrew, so that they will be able to translate any Biblical text
with the help of a dictionary. In addition to grammar and vocabulary,
selections from the Hebrew Bible will be read in the first semester
course. The sequence of HBR 1102, 1103 and 2222 fulfills the College
of Arts & Sciences language requirement. A three-course sequence
in Modern Hebrew (HBR 1120, 1121, 2220), which also fulfills the
language requirement, is offered by the Department of Modern Languages.
Students can take both Modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew concurrently,
since the focus of the former is on developing communication skills
and the focus on the later will be on learning to translate the
Bible and other Classical Hebrew texts.
HBR 2222 Intermediate Hebrew (Tigchelaar)
This course presupposes
knowledge of beginning Biblical Hebrew (I and II). In this course
we will read Genesis 25–40. The emphasis will be on acquiring
more reading experience and a more thorough understanding of the
grammar of Biblical Hebrew prose. In addition, attention shall
be given to the literary and religious understanding of the text.
REL 1300 - Introduction to World Religions (Kragh)
A survey of the major living religious traditions of
the world, with attention to their origins in the ancient world
and their classic beliefs and practices.
REL
2210 - Introduction to the Old Testament (Goff, Tigchelaar, and
Staff)
This course will introduce the student to the contents of the
Old Testament, also known as the Hebrew Bible, and examine these
individual writings within their historical contexts. Throughout
the semester, the class will learn how to recognize and analyze
the major themes and characters of the Old Testament. The purpose
of the course is to understand the OT within the broader cultural
background of the ancient Near East, the history of the people
who composed the book, and how the literary contents of the Bible
reflect, reject, or otherwise interact with the cultural and historical
circumstances of the times. This course meets the Liberal Studies
literature requirement and the "Gordon Rule" writing
requirement.
REL
2240 - Introduction to the New Testament (Staff)
To understand the writings of the New Testament in the context
of the historical development of the early Christian church. After
surveying Judaism and other religious options in the Roman world,
attention will be focused on the figure of Jesus of Nazareth and
the development of the traditions about Jesus. Next, an attempt
will be made to understand Paul and the development and spread
of the Christian movement. Emphasis throughout will fall on the
variety of interpretations of the Christian message as Christians
encountered new social circumstances and theological challenges.
This course meets the Liberal Studies literature requirement and
the "Gordon Rule" writing requirement.
REL3128-01
Catholic Experience in the U.S. (Koehlinger)
This course provides a general introduction the historical
experiences of American Catholics from the colonial period through
the present. This course focuses on popular Catholicism, trying
to uncover the diverse experiences of American Catholics through
asking what it was like to be Catholic in different places and
times throughout United States history. We will use a wide variety
of sources to answer this question, including traditional historical
monographs, novels, memoir, film, papal documents, correspondence,
essays, speeches, poetry, political writing, sermons, advertisements,
liturgy, and artwork. Over the course of the term you will learn
about the major developments, persons, institutions, and ideas
that shaped the experience of Catholics in different moments of
U.S. history. You also will learn how to how to “hear”
and understand the voices of people from the past embedded in
historical artifacts.
REL3180-01
War from the Bible to the rise of Islam (Kelsay)
The course begins with discussion of images of war presented in
the Hebrew Bible. We then trace the development of those images
in representative texts from early Judaism, early Christianity,
and early Islam. All texts will be read in English translation;
no prerequisites, though previous coursework in Religion (especially
REL2210 and/or 2243) will be helpful.
REL3180-02
Buddhist Ethics (Kragh)
The course begins with an introduction to the central ethical
principles of Buddhism in its various forms, including the doctrine
of reincarnation, the workings of actions and their consequences
(karma-phala), the practice of non-violence, kindness, compassion,
the mind of awakening, buddha-nature and the pure view. With this
theoretical knowledge in hand, we shall briefly consider Buddhist
responses to a number of current ethical issues, such as warfare,
abortion, euthanasia, vegetarianism, animal welfare and ecology.
We move on to contemplate the idealisms of Asian and American
socially engaged Buddhism, covering the anti-caste ideology of
the Indian Dalit movement, the social work of the Soka Gakkai
International based on the concept of everything's interconnectedness,
and the projects for the homeless by the Zen Peacemakers in the
USA. The course will culminate in a project workshop and essay
writing on the possibilities to implement Buddhist ethics in the
context of the predicted social consequences of global warming
in the future.
REL
3180-03 The Ethics of Early Taoism (Kong)
In
a time of extreme violence and suffering, early Taoist thinkers
wrote on some fundamental ethical issues such as what is the good
life, what is real freedom, what is virtue, how to cultivate virtues,
how to respond to social injustice and violence. This course examines
some major early Taoist works on these issues. Readings include
passages from Laozi, Zhuangzi, Guanzi, and Huainanzi as well as
recent interpretative works. Attention is also paid to other,
rival traditions such as Confucianism and Mohism in order to better
understand early Taoism’s unique approach to these issues.
REL
3180-04 Forgiveness: Stories and Ethical Analysis (Kong)
Forgiveness
is essential for restoring inter-agential relationships. It poses
important moral issues in not only day-to-day moral practice but
also religious and political practice. This course looks at three
difficult problems about forgiveness: first, what exactly is forgiveness
as a virtue and morally recommendable act; second, whether to
forgive is a moral obligation or not; third, whether forgiveness
is conditional or not. Seeking answers to these questions, this
course utilizes both literary and philosophical (including theological)
works. It begins with stories on the moral puzzlement of forgiveness,
its intense emotive associations, and its narrative character.
The philosophical readings contain ethical analyses of the concept
of forgiveness in moral, political, and religious contexts.
REL
3337-01 Goddesses, Women, and Power in Hinduism (Erndl)
This course explores ways in which the "sacred" and
"female" are interrelated in the Hindu tradition, using
sources such as narrative, philosophical, and devotional texts,
biographical and historical accounts, art, and film. Students
become familiar with the myths, rituals, and iconography of the
major Hindu goddesses, images and roles of women, and the concept
Sakti (creative female power) which is integral to the Hindu world
view. The course also serves as an introduction to the Hindu tradition.
No previous background is required.
REL
3340 - The Buddhist Tradition (Kragh)
A historical and thematic survey of the Buddhist tradition in
Asia from its beginnings through the modern period. Topics covered
include origins and history, doctrine, ethical beliefs, meditation,
ritual, and monastic and popular traditions. Some attention will
also be given to contemporary forms of Buddhism outside of Asia,
in Europe and America.
REL3363-01
Islamic Tradition (Gaiser)
A historical and topical survey of Islam as a religion and civilization
that focuses on the formative and classical periods of Islamic
history. The course is primarily concerned with: the life and
career of Muhammad the Prophet of Islam, the scriptural sources
of Islam (i.e. the Quran and the Sunna), the development of the
Muslim community and its principle institutions, schools of thought,
law, theology, cultural life and mystical traditions.
REL3493-01
Religion and Science (Day)
What is the relationship between science and religion?
Are they necessary enemies, rival perspectives fighting over a
single truth? Are they separate but equal human practices that
address fundamentally different domains of inquiry? Or is the
relationship between these cultural fields so deeply entangled
that no simple, unified answer exists? Rather than addressing
these questions in the abstract, this course grapples with key
episodes in the complex history of science and religion in the
West. Examples of topics that may be examined include: Darwin
and the Argument from Design, the Galileo Affair, Genesis and
the Rise of Modern Geology, the Cultural Meaning of the Scopes
Trial, Portraits of God in 17th & 18th Century Mechanical
Philosophy, and the Public Meaning of Scientific Discovery.
REL3936-02/5937-02
Christianity I (Kelley)
This
survey course covers major developments in the history and theology
of Christianity in the first three centuries of the common era.
Particular attention will be paid to the interaction between Christians
and non-Christians, the articulation of ideas about orthodoxy
and heresy, and the development of Christian rituals, ethics,
and church offices. Assigned readings focus primarily on ancient
Christian texts in English translation. The course format will
be part lecture and part group discussion.
REL4190-01
Catholic Social Thought (Kalbian)
This
advanced undergraduate seminar is an examination of the history
of official Catholic documents on issues related to social ethics,
such as the economy, private property, human rights, church-state
relations and others. We will read all the major papal encyclicals
on these topics beginning with Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum and ending
with Benedict’s Deus Caritas Est. We will focus on how the
Church’s thinking on these issues develops in response to
changing historical contexts.
REL4290-01
Acts (Kelley)
This
undergraduate seminar will focus on careful reading of the New
Testament Acts of the Apostles in English translation and discussion
of major interpretative issues. We will look closely at the historical,
religious, and social contexts in which Acts was written, as well
as the major literary and theological tendencies of this text.
As a seminar, this reading- and writing-intensive course will
consist mainly of group discussion and student presentations.
REL4290-02
Genesis (Goff)
A close and critical reading of the Book of Genesis. The class
will address issues such as the composition of the book, the history
of its interpretation, its ancient Near Eastern context, the book's
narrative artistry and its relevance for ethics and theology.
REL4304-01/5305-01
Islamic Mysticism (Gaiser)
A survey of the development of Sufism, the mystical dimension
of Islam. The course is primarily concerned with establishing
an overview of the mystical traditions in Islam from their early
expressions to the development of the Sufi Orders and the systematization
of Sufi teachings. In examining these aspects of Islamic mysticism,
we will study the lives of outstanding Sufis such as Rumi, al-Ghazali
and Ibn al-Arabi, and investigate different geographical expressions
of Islamic mysticism.
REL4359-01/5354-01
Hinduism & Ecology (Erndl)
This seminar will explore intersections between religion
and ecology in the Hindu tradition in pre-modern and modern contexts.
Topics include concepts of forests and rivers in Hindu texts,
sacred geographies and pilgrimage, dharmic ecology and Gandhian
environmental ethics, sustainable development, dams, nuclear proliferation,
and biodiversity.
REL5035-01
Seminar: Introduction to the Study of Religion (Day)
This
seminar is explicitly designed to introduce first-year graduate
students in the Department of Religion to some of the texts, theories
and methodological considerations that make up the contemporary
field of religious studies. To a first approximation, there are
two strategies for tracing the contours of the modern academic
study of religion. One strategy assumes that there is a single,
unified subject of inquiry–something out there in the world
straightforwardly called “religion” -- that historians,
philosophers, ethicists, and theologians can all identify and
are trying their very best to understand. The second strategy
is suspicious of the Platonism (latent or explicit) of the first
approach, and identifies the field‚s conceptual borders
by observing how the category of religion has been constructed
and applied in particular times at particular places for particular
reasons. This seminar introduces students to both perspectives.
REL5297-01
Matthew (Levenson)
REL5937-01
Religion & Politics in the U.S. (Porterfield)
This
course examines the history of relationships between religion
and politics in the U.S., focusing on the era of the early republic,
when national, regional, and partisan cultures underwent significant
formation. In addition to examining the origins and implications
of the interplay of religion and politics in the early republic,
the course will explore the role of religion in American politics
prior to that era as well as important developments afterwards,
including religious involvement in the American Civil War and
the hot and cold wars of the twentieth century, and more recently,
the development of the Religious Right as a core constituent of
the Republican Party.
REL6176-01
Seminar: Ethics and Politics – Explaining Moral Evil (Twiss)
Critical examination of recent philosophical, political, and social-psychological
accounts of moral evil with special attention to the perpetration
of human rights atrocities, ranging from torture to mass murder.
REL6498-01
Religion & Region U.S. (Corrigan)
A consideration of the ways in which religious distinctiveness
is associated with region as well as analysis of interregional
influences and exchanges. We will look at the Northeast, South,
Appalachia, Midwest, Upper Midwest, Southwest, the Intermountain
region, California, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, and the Caribbean.
REL6498-02
Conflict and War in Evolutionary Biology, Philosophy, and Religion
(Kelsay, Ruse, Travis)
This seminar is co-listed with PHI 6xxx. Professors Kelsay, Ruse,
and Travis will serve as co-instructors. We will cover issues
related to animal conflict, social Darwinism, and the history
of religions with respect to war.
REL6596-01
Theory, Practice, and Historical Application of Religious Ethnography
(Koehlinger)
This seminar provides students with a general introduction to
the interpersonal anthropological method of research and writing
known as ethnography, both as it has been applied to the study
of religion and as U.S. religious historians have appropriated
it for their work. We will consider the constructive potential
and the methodological challenges inherent in scholarly attempts
to "get inside" religious worlds of meaning through
intimate examinations of culture. Topics for discussion range
from critical issues in the development of ethnography as a form
of knowledge about religion to practical considerations for the
application of these methods to archival research. Following a
brief excursion into literature on religion and culture, we will
devote the bulk of the course to reading a range of religious
ethnographies, including foundational works of religious ethnography,
contemporary ethnographic works, and hybrid studies that combine
history with ethnography.
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