Spring 2005

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HUM 2937-06 – (Honors) Religion and its Critics (Kangas)
Consideration of the great nineteenth century critics of religion, the so-called "masters of suspicion." Included will be the following figures: Schleiermacher, Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud.

REL 1300 - Introduction to World Religions (Staff)
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 2121 - Religion in the United States (Koehlinger and Staff)
This course will introduce you to the historical study of religion in the United States, with an eye toward ways that social and cultural contexts have shaped the religious experience of Americans in different places and times. We will survey religious developments, movements, groups, and individuals, stopping to linger over representative “soundings” within each historical period. The primary goal of the course is for you to become familiar with the history of American religion both by learning about central events and trends, and by learning how to think and write historically.

REL 2210 - Introduction to the Old Testament (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.

REL 2240 - Introduction to the New Testament (Kelley and 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.

REL 2315 - Religions of South Asia (Staff)
An overview of the religions in the South Asian cultural region with emphasis on Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam. The history and cultural contexts of these traditions will be explored with particular attention to sacred stories, holy people, religious leadership, and gender issues. This course also serves as an introduction to the academic study of religion. No previous background is required.

REL 3145 - Gender and Religion (Staff)
This course has three interrelated foci: 1)The impact of gender on religious beliefs and practices cross-culturally, 2)The influence and effect of feminism, women’s studies, queer studies and gender studies on the academic study of religion, and 3)The current gender issues (such as womenís studies, feminist perspectives, gay, lesbian, and transgender issues, discussions about masculinity, and family life) within contemporary religions. Thus, readings include descriptive, analytical studies by scholars of religion and theoretical, constructive works by religious thinkers. Attention is given to both fundamentalist constructions of gender and strands of resistance to gender norms within religious traditions. Traditions emphasized will be Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Vodou and new religious movements. This is a writing intensive course, meeting Liberal Studies Humanities and Multicultural (x) requirements.

REL 3170 - Religious Ethics (Kalbian and Staff)
This course is an introduction to the study of religion and ethics. We will examine contemporary moral issues such as neighbor love, lying, capital punishment, war, sexuality, and the environment in the context of religious views about love, duty, good, and evil. We will read material describing views of different religious traditions including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.

REL 3194 – The Holocaust (Kavka)
This course is a survey of responses to the attempted extermination of European Jews between 1933–45, often called the Holocaust or the Shoah (a Hebrew word meaning “disaster”). It is not a survey of the means by which this extermination was attempted. Instead, this course is a survey of literary, theological, cinematic, and (briefly) architectural responses to the Holocaust. Its primary foci are the ways in which one represents this traumatic event, the techniques by which one bears witness to it, and the extent to which this event challenges the foundational narratives of the Jewish and Christian traditions.

REL 3335 - Hindu Texts and Contexts: Ramayana (Erndl)
This course is an introduction to the Hindu tradition through the Ramayana, one of its most popular and celebrated sacred texts. The Ramayana, also known as the Rama-katha (story of Rama), narrates the exile of Prince Rama, who is accompanied into the forest by his wife Sita and brother Laksmana. After Sita's abduction by the demon Ravana, Rama, aided by his monkey-ally Hanuman, must go to battle to rescue her. But this skeletal summary cannot begin to do justice to the many tellings of Rama-katha that have been composed, recited, sung, written, performed, danced, portrayed in art, and have influenced political events throughout India, Asia, and beyond. In this course, we focus on the most well known literary version, composed in the Sanskrit language by the ancient poet Valmiki, and on the recent televised Hindi language serial version directed by Ramanand Sagar, though we will also consider other versions. Focus on the Ramayana will lead to a consideration of broader religious, philosophical, aesthetic, and political themes in the Hindu tradition. The Ramayana has seven “books” (kandas), each of which will serve as a window to selected Hindu concepts and issues. No background in either the Ramayana or in Hinduism is presumed.

REL 3340 - The Buddhist Tradition (Cuevas and Staff)
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.

REL 3936-01 - The History of Religion and Science in the West (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 historical 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 relationship between science and Christianity in the cultural history of 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 Scopes Trial, and portraits of God in 17-18th century mechanical philosophy.

REL 4190 – Seminar: Religion and Culture (Twiss and Maier-Katkin)
(cross-listed with CCJ 4938)
A critical examination of twentieth century crimes against humanity in societies and cultures across the world (e.g., Africa, Europe, the Mideast, and Latin America). Readings will coordinate humanistic expressions of crimes against humanity (e.g., fiction, testimony, and autobiography) with pertinent analytical studies of them (e.g., history, cultural and literary criticism, religious studies, and international law). An advanced seminar, requiring instructors' permission, meeting twice weekly.

REL 4290 – New Testament Passion Narrative (Levenson)
A close reading of the Passion Narratives in the four canonical gospels and related early Christian tradition, using the tools of contemporary New Testament historical and literary scholarship. In addition to a careful examination of the narratives in their first-century context, attention will also be given to the historical, artistic, and theological dimensions of Anne Catherine Emmerich's nineteenth-century narrative, The Dolorous Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of Mel Gibson's twenty-first-century film, The Passion of the Christ.

REL 4304 and REL 5305 - Buddhist Women in Tibet (Cuevas)
This course explores the role and status of women in Tibetan Buddhist society, past and present, through a close historical reading of the lives of individual Buddhist women, queens, nuns, yoginis, religious teachers, oracles, and incarnate female lamas. Drawing on both textual and ethnographic sources, the course seeks to address key social-historical issues such as Tibetan views about women’s capacities for achieving advanced spiritual goals and positions of religious authority, what is distinctive about the status of women in Tibet vis-à-vis the status of women in other Asian Buddhist cultures, what sorts of social-religious restrictions are experienced by Tibetan women, and what common religious opportunities and limitations are in place for both women and men in Tibetan society. The course examines conventional interpretations of Buddhist women and challenges polarizing discourses that tend to either romanticize or overly criticize the status of women in Tibetan religious life. Prerequisite: An introductory course on Buddhism (such as REL 3340) or religions of South Asia (REL 2315 or 3337). Graduate students in Religion will be admitted without this prerequisite. Students with no previous background in Asian studies or the study of religion should consult Prof. Cuevas.

REL 4333 and REL 5336 - Modern Hinduism (Erndl)
Is there such a thing as Hinduism? If so, what is it? How has it changed, and where is it going in the future? This course will explore selected topics on the Hindu tradition in 19th, 20th, and 21st century India, including popular religion, thinkers, reform movements, gurus, nationalism, gender issues, secularism, and pluralism. Emphasis will be on Hinduism in the social, political, and religious context of India, with some attention to the Hindu diasporas and Hindu-inspired religious movements in North America. Course objectives are: 1) to expose students to issues in modern Hinduism in more depth than is possible in an introductory course, 2) to provide students the opportunity to respond to these issues in an informed and critical fashion, and 3) to provide students with the opportunity to explore topics of interest related to the course themes and to present this research to the class, both orally and in writing. Prerequisite: An introductory course on Hinduism (such as REL 3335 or 3337) or religions of South Asia (REL 2315) or on the history or anthropology of India. Graduate students in Religion will be admitted without this prerequisite. Students with no previous background in South Asian studies or the study of religion should consult Prof. Erndl.

REL 4564 - American Catholicism in the Conciliar Era (Koehlinger)
(listed as Vatican II/Cath 60s)
The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) has variously been called the "Catholic Revolution," "the great debacle," and "the most important development within Christianity since the Protestant Reformation." This course explores this controversial moment in American Catholicism by placing the Second Vatican Council in historical context and documenting the various ways that American Catholics received and interpreted Council, trying to capture the enthusiasm and confusion, the idealism and the anger that characterized the complex response of American Catholics to the Council in the 1960s and 1970s. To accomplish this the course will begin by placing the Council within the larger context of developments within the Catholic Church that preceded the Council, American culture and society in the 1960s, the actual proceedings of the Council, and the documents that the Council produced. We will spend the balance of the semester exploring specific ways that the Council internally transformed American Catholicism and altered the relationship of Catholics to American society. We will consider specific changes in liturgy and devotional practice, aesthetics and architecture, authority structures, ecumenism, religious orders, social justice and social activism, and Catholic self-perceptions that resulted from the Council. We also will attempt to capture the unique perspectives that shaped diverse responses to the Council by the magisterium, the clergy, vowed religious, and the laity. The course seeks to expand students' understandings of the Council beyond common stereotypes of guitar masses and "radical priests" toward a more nuanced appreciation of the profound ways that the Council reoriented American Catholic life in the Vietnam Era and after.

REL5497-01 - Comparative Religious Ethics: Islam (Kelsay)
Course devoted to discussions of the purposes and procedures of the comparative study of religious ethics, particularly with respect to the study of Islam. The first half of the course will focus on philosophical perspectives related to comparative study, while the second half will focus on the Muslim argument regarding political authority. Previous work in theories and methods in the study of ethics and/or Islamic tradition is required. For further information, please contact Prof. Kelsay at jkelsay@garnet.acns.fsu.edu

REL 5937-02 - Issues in the Historiography of Religion and Science (Day)
This graduate seminar is designed to introduce students to the range of contemporary scholarship on the interaction between Western religious thought and modern scientific inquiry. Rather than concentrating on a single theme or era, the class offers a general survey of the historical events, figures and periods in which the engagement between religion and science has been particularly prominent. Topics will include: the relationship between Christianity and non-Christian naturalist knowledge in Late Antiquity, the 17th century clash between the Catholic Church and Galileo over the status of Copernican heliocentrism, and the religious contexts of pre- and post-Darwinian biological thought. By the end of the semester, students should have a basic understanding of the complex roles that religion has played in the development of Western scientific thought and possess the necessary intellectual background for further research.

REL 5937-04 - Literary Tibetan (Cuevas)

REL 6176 - Aquinas and Interpreters (Kalbian)
This advanced seminar will explore the recent renewal of interest in the moral theology of Thomas Aquinas through the writings of a wide range of interpreters. We will note how these interpretations of Thomas relate to contemporary debates about virtue ethics, natural law, love, and practical reasoning. We will read from authors such as Jean Porter, John Bowlin, Daniel Westberg, John Finnis, James Keenan, Pamela Hall, and others. Students are expected to have some background in Thomas Aquinas.

REL 6298 - The Gospel of Luke (Kelley)
This advanced seminar will involve careful translation of the Gospel of Luke from the original Greek. We will consider text critical problems as students learn to use the critical apparatus of Nestle-Aland’s 27th edition. In addition, the course will survey various redactional, literary, historical, and theological issues relevant to the interpretation of the Gospel. In addition to more “traditional” modes of analysis, students will be exposed to other methods of exegesis, such as feminist hermeneutics. Students are expected to present two short papers and respond to two papers during the course of the seminar. Open only to graduate students in Religions of Western Antiquity.

REL 6498 - Religious Thought (Kavka and Kangas)
This course is a survey of major figures in the Continental phenomenological tradition and the impact of their arguments on the field of philosophy of religion. Topics to be treated include the end of metaphysics, the ability to represent God, the relationship between religion and ethics, the nature of the self, the priority of the Other, and the meaning of sacrifice. Readings will definitely come from Husserl, Heidegger, Levinas, and Nancy, with possible supplementation from Marion, Henry, and/or Agamben.

REL 6596 - Historiography of Religion in America (Porterfield)
This course is open to all graduate students, regardless of area of specialization. It surveys the range of interpretations of American religious history and serves as preparation for one of the doctoral exams required of American religious history graduate students.

 

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