Spring
2006
HBR 1103 - Beginning Biblical Hebrew II (Levenson)
The second semester of an introduction to Biblical Hebrew. In
HBR 1102 and HBR 1103, 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 (Spring 2004) and 2230
(Fall 2006) fulfills the College of Arts & Sciences language
requirement. A three-course sequence in Modern Hebrew (HBR 1120,
1130, 2230), 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. Note that Beginning Modern Hebrew
is offered every year and Biblical Hebrew every other year.
HUM
2937 (04) - Dare to Know (Kangas)
This course will be an introduction to the major thinkers
and texts in the critique of religion as it developed in the 19th
and early 20th centuries in the west. After beginning with Schleiermacher,
a critic but also a defender of religion, we will move on to consider
the so-called ‘masters of suspicion’—Feuerbach,
Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. By means of a close examination of
the central texts, we will explore the meaning of a critique of
religion, the structure of religious consciousness, the place
of religion with respect to other forms of culture, the problem
of religion and alienation, and the possibility of a ‘critical’
faith.
HUM
2937 (05) - Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity: A Multidisciplinary
Approach (Twiss and Maier-Katkin)
This
seminar examines the history and dynamics of crimes against humanity
as an introduction to the international human rights movement.
It will do this by focusing on two historical cases--the Congo
in the early 20th century and the Holocaust at mid-century--both
of which spawned a considerable literature of testimony, analysis,
resistance, and reform both at the time and subsequently. Readings
will include works of literature, drama, history, journalism,
and philosophy as well as essays, public addresses, letters, and
other creative works by prominent figures in the humanities, arts,
social sciences, learned professions, and public life.* A major
thesis of this course--to be cooperatively tested by us all--is
that by focusing on such works we not only will become familiar
with human rights thinking and practice but also be encouraged
to acquire a critical and imaginative human rights sensibility
important for being responsible citizens in the contemporary world.
Grades will be based on participation and leadership in the seminar
and a single term paper. Co-taught with Dan Maier-Katkin (Criminology
and Criminal Justice).
*Congo: Joseph
Conrad, George Washington Williams, Mark Twain, Adam Hochschild,
T.S. Eliot, Michela Wrong, and Francis Ford Coppola.
Holocaust: Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, Christopher Browning, Judge
Robert Jackson, Hannah Arendt, Paul Celan, Bernhard Schlink, and
Jacobo Timerman.
PHI
3700 - Philosophy of Religion (McNaughton)
Contact
Professor McNaughton in the philosophy
department for more information.
REL
1300 - Introduction to World Religions (Biondo and Canter)
This reading intensive course introduces students to the academic
study of religion as well as Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Latino
Religions. First we look at the history of beliefs and practices.
How do these communities address sacred-profane, male-female,
mind-body, and social-individual dichotomies? Insider accounts
of physical pilgrimages, spiritual prayer or meditation, biographical
narratives, and festival calendars complement the historical overview.
REL
2121 - Religion in the United States (Evans, 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
2350 - Chinese Religions (Duckworth)
This course examines the religious traditions
of China. We will begin by exploring classical texts that form
the parameters of religious discourse in China. Among these texts
are the Confucian Analects, the Daodejing, and
the Zhuangzi. We will read different commentaries on
these seminal texts and examine the implications of these doctrines
for religious, social, and political life in China and East Asia.
In particular, we will address popular religious expressions,
the roles of family and community, and the institutional organization
of religion and the state. In the latter half of the course, we
will discuss the doctrines and practices of Buddhism in China,
and examine the relationship between Buddhism and various forms
of indigenous cultural life. We will discuss how the advents of
Buddhism and historical change have contributed to new expressions
of indigenous beliefs and practices in the traditions of Confucianism
and Daoism. We will explore a dynamic relationship between indigenous
and foreign traditions, and discuss the relevance of the intersections
of tradition and modernity for religious life on both hemispheres
of the contemporary world.
REL
3128 (01) - American Protestant Experience (Porterfield)
Examination of classic texts
in the history of American Protestant thought focusing on their
implications for religious practice and experience.
REL
3128 (02) - American Catholic Experience (Pasquier)
This course provides an introduction
to the historical experiences of American Catholics from the colonial
period to the present. This course is not a strict institutional
history of the American Church, but rather a study of popular
manifestations of Catholicism which tries to uncover the diverse
experiences of American Catholics in different places and times
throughout the history of the United States.
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
3293 - Tree of Life (Goff)
This class
introduces students to the classic wisdom literature of the Hebrew
BibleProverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. Topics that will be
covered include the pedagogical ethos of wisdom literature, the
kinds of advice it provides for success in ordinary life, and
its social settings. We will also discuss theological topics such
as the depiction of divine wisdom as a woman, the relationship
between wisdom and creation, and theodicy. The class will also
examine wisdom texts from other ancient Near East countries, such
as Egypt and Babylon, and later Jewish wisdom literature, including
Ben Sira, the Wisdom of Solomon, material from the Dead Sea Scrolls,
and the rabbinic text Pirke Avot. New Testament documents that
are heavily influenced by the wisdom tradition, such as the Sermon
on the Mount and the Letter of James, will also be examined. (Prerequisite:
Completion of either Introduction to Old Testament or Introduction
to New Testament, or permission of instructor.)
REL
3337 - Goddesses, Women, and Power in Hinduism (Erndl)
This
course focuses on goddesses and women in Hindu cosmology, mythology,
and society. It explores ways in which the categories "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. We
will become familiar with the myths, rituals, and iconography
of the major Hindu goddesses, the social and symbolic roles of
their human counterparts, and the philosophical concept sakti
(creative female power) which is integral to the Hindu world view.
This course also provides opportunities for cross-cultural comparison
and discussion of interpretive problems concerning goddess traditions
and gender.
REL
3340 - The Buddhist Tradition (Thich)
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
3430 - Religion and its Critics (Flanagan)
This course will be an introduction to the major thinkers and
texts in the critique of religion as it developed in the 19th
and early 20th centuries in the west. After beginning with Schleiermacher,
a critic but also a defender of religion, we will move on to consider
the so-called ‘masters of suspicion’—Feuerbach,
Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. By means of a close examination of
the central texts, we will explore the meaning of a critique of
religion, the structure of religious consciousness, the place
of religion with respect to other forms of culture, the problem
of religion and alienation, and the possibility of a ‘critical’
faith.
REL
3493 - 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 Christianity 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, and Portraits of God in
17-18th Century Mechanical Philosophy.
REL
3505 - The Christian Tradition (Neal)
The purpose of the course is to allow the student to explore the
historical variety of the Christian tradition, spanning from the
New Testament to the modern era. In an effort to better understand
the complexity of the contemporary expressions of Christianity,
we will cover both Eastern and Western Christian traditions, focusing
primarily on the persons and events that gave rise to a vast diversity.
Students will read from both primary and secondary sources, and
will critically reflect on those sources in an effort to understand
the problems faced, and solutions proposed, by a variety of representatives
of the Christian tradition. The course will be taught from a perspective
that brackets the question of whether any specific Christian tradition
is the ‘right one’ or the ‘true religion.’
In the academic study of religion, the goal is to become better
acquainted with the complex of perspectives that make up a religious
tradition.
REL
3936 (1) - Islam in the United States (Biondo)
The new (post-1965) immigration is one of the
most important events of the 20th century and challenges our understanding
of U.S. History and Religion in America. But Muslims have lived
in America since 1492. This upper-division course examines the
unity and diversity of Islam in the United States historically,
and in terms of key themes, including race, ethnicity, gender,
political participation, education, law, and Jewish and Christian
relations.
REL
3936 (2) - Jerusalem: Conflict and Controversy from Antiquity
to the Present (Levenson)
This course will focus on conflicts and controversies
surrounding the city of Jerusalem and how these have shaped Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. It will begin with the Babylonian conquest
of 597-586, with special attention to the various descriptions
and responses to these events in the historical and prophetic
books of the Hebrew Bible. After a short unit discussing the Maccabean
Revolt (1 and 2 Maccabees and Daniel), there will be an extensive
section on the siege and fall of Jerusalem and the destruction
of the Temple during the Jewish war of 66-73. This will entail
a close reading of Josephus' narrative in the Jewish War, as well
as discussion of various Jewish (apocalyptic and rabbinic) and
Christian (e.g. Eusebius' Church History) theological responses
to the dramatic events. The next units will be devoted to the
creation of Jerusalem as a Christian city in the fourth century
(readings from Eusebius' Life of Constantine), the Persian and
Byzantine conflicts at the beginning of the seventh century, and
the Muslim conquest and building projects of the mid and late
seventh century, with readings from al-Tabari, al-Muqadassi, al-Baladhuri,
as well as a variety of Christian sources. Muslim-Christian conflict
over the city will continue to be explored in a unit on the Crusader
period. Finally, Jerusalem's role in the Arab-Zionist and Israeli-Palestinian
conflict will be discussed in detail with special focus on the
events of 1917, 1929, 1948, 1967, as well as discussion of the
issue of Jerusalem in Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian peace
negotiations.
REL
3936 (3) - Business Ethics and Moral Leadership (Kelsay)
Prof. Kelsay will not
be teaching this course in the Spring 2006 term. The course will
be offered by Professor Brymer of the Dedman School of Hospitality
Administration under the rubric HFT 4930. Religion majors interested
in this course may sign up under that rubric, and the course will
count as an elective for the major.
REL
4190 - 20th Century Christian Thought (Radzins)
This course examines the texts of major thinkers (Bultmann, Barth,
Tillich, Rahner, Cone) and movements (Liberation, Feminist and
Post-modernism) in 20th century Christian thought.
REL
4359 and REL 5354 - Hindu Ethics, Human Rights, and Social Justice
in India (Erndl)
This seminar will focus on the continuities and discontinuities
between traditional texts and practices in the Hindu tradition
and contemporary social justice and human rights issues in India.
To what extent is the category of Dharma compatible with contemporary
understandings of human rights? Readings include ancient scriptures
such as the Laws of Manu, early 20th century writings by reformers
such as M.K. Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar, and contemporary writings
by activists such as Amartya Sen, Madhu Kishwar, and Arundhati
Roy, as well as analytical studies by Western and Indian scholars.
In addition to common readings, students prepare and present individual
research projects. Examples of issues to be considered include
the caste system and discrimination against Dalits (ex-untouchables),
women’s family and property rights, sati (widow-burning)
and dowry-related deaths, child labor, religious communalism,
refugees, environmentalism, and globalization. This seminar is
geared toward graduate students specializing either in Asian religions
or ethics. Undergraduates will be admitted by permission of the
instructor only.
REL
4491 and REL 5497 - Meister Eckhart and Mystical Theology (Kangas)
This
course will explore main themes and figures in the mystical or
"negative" theology tradition of the West, with particular
emphasis on Meister Eckhart.
REL
4511 and REL 5515 - Christianity in Antiquity (Kelley)
This
reading intensive course is an advanced survey of important events,
movements, ideas, and people in the development of Christianity
during the fourth and fifth centuries CE. The course is organized
around a series of topics of particular significance in ancient
Christianity, including Christological controversies, the formation
of the canon, early creeds and councils, asceticism and monasticism,
and the lives of the saints. By the end of the course students
will have a working knowledge of the historical, social and theological
developments in the history of late antique Christianity, as well
as an appreciation of the diversity of ancient Christian beliefs
and practices. Particular emphasis is placed on careful reading
of relevant primary texts in English translation.
REL
5195 - Comparative Ethics and Human Rights (Twiss)
A
critical evaluation of how selected moral and cultural traditions
imbed human rights concepts (or their analogues) and respond to
representative human rights issues (especially torture, religious
intolerance, and gender discrimination). Traditions of focus will
likely be Confucianism, Islam, and (speaking broadly) the modern
West. Readings will include contemporary theoretical works relating
to ethics and human rights (e.g., Nussbaum, Taylor, Rorty, Ignatieff,
Perry). Course requirements will involve both seminar presentations
on the assigned readings and a final term paper.
REL
5565 - Modern US Catholicism (Koehlinger)
This
course uses the example of 20th century Catholicism as a lens
for interrogating the tension between continuity and change within
religious traditions. The central debate within current historical
scholarship on the Catholic experience in the U.S. hinges on contradictory
interpretations of whether Catholic subculture in the U.S. prior
to 1960 was insular and static or porous and dynamic. While some
scholars argue that changes in the Catholic church following the
Second Vatican Council (1962-65) signaled a revolutionary annihilation
of a distinctive pre-conciliar Catholic subculture (often called
“ghetto Catholicism”), other scholars contend that
post-conciliar change was the natural outgrowth of dynamic cross-fermentation
of Catholicism and American society in the early and mid 20th
century (called “compenetration” in Council documents).
We will read a range of histories of American Catholicism in the
20th century with an eye toward this larger historical debate
over the nature of change and continuity in modern American Catholicism.
Course readings will include recent historical works on contraception,
voting patterns, devotional practice, intellectual history, the
labor movement, parish ministry, popular culture, sports, Vatican
politics, popular culture, Latino/a perspectives, mysticism, and
children’s culture within American Catholicism.
REL
5937 (1) - The Historiography of Religion & Science: The Problem
of “Revolution” (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.
In Spring 2006, the course will critically examine whether the
historiographical concept of a “scientific revolution”
does more harm than good when it comes to understanding the historical
engagement between religion and science. Topics will include:
the Galileo Affair, Newton and the Rise of Mechanical Natural
Philosophy, and the Religious Contexts of Pre- and Post-Darwinian
Biological Thought.
REL
6176 - Catholic Social Thought (Kalbian and Kelsay)
This graduate-level 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, chursh-state relations and others. We will read all the
major papal encyclicals on these topics beginning with Leo XIII's
Rerum Novarum and trace the important developments in Catholic
thought on these issues.
REL
6298 - Dead Sea Scrolls (Goff)
In this class we will analyze key manuscripts
of the Qumran corpus. We will focus on matters such as the history,
beliefs, and praxis of the Jewish sectarian movement that is associated
with the scrolls, the archaeology of the Qumran site, and the
significance of the scrolls for understanding Second Temple Judaism
and the development of both rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.
The course will probably include an additional one hour meeting
per week devoted to reading Qumran texts in Hebrew.
REL
6498 - American Romanticism (Porterfield)
Examination of the writings
and influence of Ralph Waldo Emerson and other American romantics
focusing on themes of ambiguity, religious loss, and the relationship
between religious experience and democracy.
REL
6596 - Cultural Images and Interpretations of African American
Religion (Evans)
This graduate seminar introduces students to academic
or formal interpretations and broader cultural images of African
American religion. We begin with a study of texts in the early
19th century that examined "slave religion" as central
to black destiny and end the course with more recent interpretations
of black religion. We shall critically evaluate how these relate
to questions about the place of blacks, both imagined and actual,
in American society and wider debates about the meaning and significance
of religion to African Americans.
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