Spring 2007

---

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 and 2202) 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.

HFT 4930 - Business Ethics and Moral Leadership (Brymer)
Contact Professor Brymer in the College of Business for more information.

PHI 3700 - Philosophy of Religion (Mele)
Contact Professor Mele in the philosophy department for more information.

HUM 2937 (7) - Buddhism in Film (Cuevas)
In this honor’s seminar we will use the medium of film to introduce various themes and issues in the study of Buddhism. We will also assess how traditional Buddhism is imagined and represented in the contemporary global arena -- in Asia, America, and Europe. Themes to be considered include defining Buddhism, Buddhist attitudes toward the problems of the human condition, the nature of experience, the concept of the self without self, the role of myths and dreams in the quest for meaning, enlightenment, Orientalism, and film as history/fantasy. We will be screening a wide variety of international and domestic films: Hollywood blockbusters as well as small independent works. Films will be accompanied by primary and secondary readings on Buddhist history, doctrine, and practice. The course will run on a seminar format with active and in-depth discussion of the films and readings and weekly writing projects. No prerequisites.

HUM 2937 (8)/ISS 2937 (03) - Human Rights and Crimes Against Humanity: A Multi-Disciplinary 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 Belgian 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. Materials for study 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 (e.g., law), and public life. A major thesis of the 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 will be encouraged to acquire a critical and imaginative human rights sensibility important for being responsible citizens in the contemporary world.

REL 1300 - Introduction to World Religions (Staff)
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 (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 (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. Meets Liberal Studies Humanities, Gordon Rule, and Multicultural (x) requirements. Honors students will have the opportunity to write e research paper on a topic of their choice.

REL 3054 - Critics of Religion (Feddon, 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 3128 (1)- American Protestant Thought (Porterfield)
This course examines classic texts in American Protestant thought, focusing on the history of Protestant ideas and the changing social contexts in which those ideas came to expression. The course focuses on major themes in American Protestant thought, such as the centrality of individual conscience, the importance of the Bible, and Protestant investment history, politics, business, education, family life, and science. The course will explore conflicts in the interpretation of these themes as well as lines of intellectual influence that persist over generations.

REL 3128 (2) - 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 is not an institutional history of the American Church per se, but rather the 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. This course requires a significant amount of weekly reading.

REL 3142 - Religion and Psychology (Danese)
This course introduces the student to the social science approach to Religion and Religious Studies. Though the main focus is on the Psychology and Sociology of Religion, we will touch on some Cognitive Anthropology of Religion as well. The methods and tools of both Psychology and Sociology are applied to religious practices, ideas, and experiences across cultures in an attempt to both explain religious experiences as well as to interpret and understand them. Major theorists and their ideas will be covered as well as some controversial newer theorists from the fields of evolutionary psychology and cognitive sciences. Attention will also be given to coordinating and integrating the various approaches to religion and religious experience from both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

REL 3145 - Gender and Religion (Reid)
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 and Moral Problems (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 - Responses to 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; students interested in a historical approach to the material should take one of the relevant classes in the History department. 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 tradition.

REL 3293 - Prophets (Lyons)
TBA

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. This course may be repeated when taught with focus on a different sacred text.

REL 3340 - The Buddhist Tradition (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 3493 - Honors 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 Modern World (Gaiser)
This course examines Islam and its adherents from 1300 CE to the present, concentrating on the last two centuries of Islamic history: the period of reform, renewal and revolution in the wake of Western political and cultural domination. The course will investigate a basic question: What happened to different Muslim communities and intellectuals (specifically those in the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and India) as they responded to the challenges posed by “Westernization” and “modernization?” Moreover, it will explore the relatively new phenomenon of Islam in America. The class concludes with an investigation of various contemporary debates in the Islamic world, including Sufism, Democracy and American/Western responses to Islam and Muslims.

REL 3936 (2) - What Is Religion? What Is Religious Studies? (Kavka)
New course. In the first two-thirds of the course, we will look at the anthropological, sociological, psychological, and phenomenological accounts of “religion” that make up the core canon of “religious studies” -- in other words, what all faculty in the department allegedly have in common as their field of study. The last third of the course will deal with various issues in the practice of religious studies: what does it mean to study another tradition, as an outsider? To what extent are scholars allowed to evaluate, and not simply describe, religious behavior? To what extent does the postulation of “world religions” represent a Western bias? How does the study of Asian religions express the desires of the West? Authors to be read include Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Sigmund Freud, Max Müller, Rudolf Otto, Mircea Eliade, Dennis Covington, Robert Orsi, Timothy Fitzgerald, and Richard King.

REL 3936 (3)/5292 - Aramaic
An introduction to the grammar of Aramaic focusing primarily on the language of the biblical book of Daniel, but with some attention to other texts as well. (Prerequisite: 2 semesters of a Semitic language. Familiarity with the Hebrew alphabet will be assumed.)

REL 4290 - Biblical Studies Seminar: The Gospel of John (Levenson)
A close reading of the Gospel of John using the methods of contemporary Gospel studies which seek to understand the literary, historical, and sociological dimensions of the gospel text and the community from which it arose. Special attention will be given to the relationship of the gospel writer's community to the wide variety of first-century Jewish and Christian communities. The course will be organized as a seminar will regular student presentations and a research paper. Prerequisite: Introduction to New Testament.

REL 4304 (1)/5305 (1) - Seminar on Shi’ite Islam (Gaiser)
This seminar focuses on the manifold expressions of Shi’ism from its origins to the present day. The course will examine the political divisions within the early Islamic community that led to the development of the shi’a and then shift to the major juridical and theological developments within Ithna-‘Ashari (“12er”) Shi’ism (such as the doctrine of the Imamate and the occultation and return of the 12th Imam). The course will also study the establishment and elaboration of Fatimid Isma’ilism. The latter third of the course will be devoted to contemporary issues among the Shi’ites: the martyrdom of Hussayn, Khomeini’s doctrine of wilayet al-faqih, Hizbullah and the future and impact of Shi’ites on the politics of the Middle East.

REL 4304 (2)/5305 (2) - Hindu Studies: Classic Works (Erndl)
Close reading, discussion, and analysis of selected scholarly works that have made a lasting contribution to the study of Hinduism, i.e., the “greatest hits’ of Hindu studies. Studies will be chosen to represent a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches, as well as different periods, disciplines, and topics. Students will write weekly essays on the readings and a final essay on the “state of the field” of Hindu studies. (Prerequisite: At least one previous course on Hinduism (REL 3335, 3337, 4333/5332) or permission of the instructor.)

REL 4324/5328 - Greek Religious Texts: Josephus (1 credit hour; Levenson)
Close reading of selections from the Greek text of Josephus' works. The course will meet once a week for one hour. Prerequisite: 2 semesters of Classical Greek.

REL 4359/5354 - Death & Afterlife in Buddhist Cultures (Cuevas)
Death is central to both Buddhist philosophical thought and Buddhism's traditional social roles. Buddhist teachings stress that all is impermanent; awareness of one's mortality is traditionally said to be a necessary impetus to the religious life. At the same time, performing rites for the well-being of the deceased in their postmortem state has been a chief task of Buddhist ritualists throughout Asia. Rituals and beliefs surrounding death also reflect specific cultural values. In this seminar we will study Buddhist approaches to death, dying, and the afterlife with a focus on South Asia, Tibet, China, and Japan. Topics include Buddhist cosmology and the doctrine of karmic causality; tales of exemplary deaths; accounts of journeys to hell; Buddhism, the family, and rites for ancestors; Buddhist mortuary practices; the placation of ghosts, demons, and the walking dead; and changes in contemporary Buddhist funerals. We will consider both Buddhist doctrinal teachings and social roles with respect to death and the afterlife, as well as interactions of Buddhism with local religious cultures. (Prerequisite: REL 3340 or instructor's permission.)

Rel 4564 - Religion, Sports, and Gender in the U.S. (Koehlinger)
In this seminar we will explore the role that sports have played in the formation of religious ideals of manhood and masculinity in the United states in various historical periods. This course is an introduction to issues of religion, the body, and gender as they have emerged in the American religious landscape in the past two centuries. Historians of American religion recently have focused on the phenomenon of "Muscular Christianity"-- the equation Protestant masculinity with vigorous physical exercise and equally vigorous religious evangelism--from West Point and the YMCA in the 19th century to the revivals of Billy Sunday and the Promise Keepers in the 20th century. We will evaluate this emerging model of religious gender in the U.S., reading and discussing books on the theory of sports and the relationship of the body to identity. We also will survey histories athletic and religious gender in American Catholicism and American Judaism. This course is a seminar designed primarily for advanced Religion majors and assumes that students will have a basic familiarity with the methodologies and perspectives of Religious Studies.

REL 5297 - 1 Enoch, Enochic Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Tigchelaar)
In the past decades, scholarly and public interest in the books of Enoch (1 Enoch or Ethiopic Enoch) has boomed. Some have argued that these apocalyptic books, found in multiple fragmentary copies at Qumran, represent a form of Judaism quite distinct from the Torah and covenant oriented Judaism, with its roots going back to the Babylonian exile. In this class we will read in detail parts of 1 Enoch (particularly the earlier books -- read in translation, with reference to the Aramaic and Greek fragments), examine the importance of these books among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and analyze the modern scholarly discourse on apocalyptic and Enochic Judaism.

REL 5497 - Seminar in Contemporary Catholic Moral Theology (Kalbian)
This advanced graduate seminar will focus on the development of Catholic moral theology with an emphasis on the period since Vatican II. I am especially interested in examining issues related to modes of moral reasoning: e.g. natural law, proportionalism, double effect, the principle of totality. Our readings will range from official Vatican texts (with a special emphasis on Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI) to the works of significant theologians such as Bernard Haring, Joseph Fuchs, John Courtney Murray, Richard McCormick, Charles Curran, Lisa Cahill, William May, and Germain Grisez.

REL 5937 - History of Religion and Science (Day)
Contact Professor Day for more information.

REL 6498 (1) - Religion and Colonialism in the Americas (Corrigan)
A survey of European religious encounter with American indigenes from 1492 to approximately 1830 with particular attention to intolerance, cultural mirroring, hybridity, resentment, institution-building, memory and forgetting, and commoditization, all with regard to religion.

REL 6498 (2) - Religion in American Popular Culture (Porterfield)
This course focuses on the fusion of “sacred” and “secular” in contemporary American culture and probes both the historical antecedents of that fusion and the social and intellectual implications of the breakdown of distinctions between “sacred” and “secular.” The course explores religious influences in contemporary American politics and entertainment as well as the influences of marketing, politics, and media on religion.

REL 6596 - African American Religions in the 20th Century: History & Interpretations (Evans)
This graduate seminar examines the history of African American religions alongside the work and social world of interpreters. Special emphasis is placed on sociological and anthropological monographs, since these have figured so prominently in the study of black religion. We explore the historical changes in African American life, paying close attention to urbanization, struggles with racial and economic oppression, and scholarly debates about the “function” of black religion in particular black communities and in American society. As we turn to more recent works (since the 1970s), we investigate the extent to which these studies differ from older studies and how they remain indebted to older debates that no longer occupy our attention. One central aim of the course is to ascertain why black churches have been so frequently criticized and why scholars have so burdened them with various responsibilities and duties, even in works that ostensibly claimed to be objective analyses.

 

[Back to Top]