Courses For Spring 2006

REL 111.01, Non-Western Religions, W, 18:00-20:50, Gorvine
REL 111.02, Non-Western Religions, MWF, 10:00-10:50, Gorvine
REL 111.03, Non-Western Religions, MWF, 11:00-11:50, Gorvine
Credits: CNW, GN, GPR, NW

In this survey course designed as an introduction to three main religious traditions rooted in Asia, we will carefully examine a wide variety of primary and secondary sources to help us recognize and understand the many different ways in which Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese religious communities have attempted to understand the nature of the world (both this world and beyond), human society, and the individual person's place therein.  In examining religious traditions that for many may seem wholly foreign, our emphasis will be on the internal logic of each, and on the resources that each provides for the construction of meaning, value, and moral vision.

 

REL 131.01, Religion in America, TR, 12:30-1:50, Ramsey

 

REL 191.01, Biblical Hebrew II, TR, 9:30-10:50, Natkin

This course is a follow-on from the previous semester's beginners' class.  

Having studied the rudiments of the language, we continue our study of Hebrew, focusing on the elements of grammar and syntax.

At the same time, we shall be studying actual texts from the Bible and this will give you an opportunity to read, analyze and comprehend the Hebrew.  In this way you will reach an understanding of how the commentators were able to look inside the text for inner meanings.

Prerequisites:  This course requires the ability to read and write Hebrew and also a basic vocabulary.

 

REL 204.01, New Testament and Origins of Christianity, MW, 2:00-3:15, Marquis
REL 204.02, New Testament and Origins of Christianity, MW, 3:30-5:00, Marquis
Credits: CPM, GHP, GL, GPM, HP

This course examines the origins of Christianity through its earliest literature, most of which is preserved in the New Testament.  This examination will be geared toward asking historical questions about the nature of the diverse social groups which made up the earliest Jesus movement.  Through close readings of the texts, we will attempt to extract details about the beliefs, social structures and practices of these groups.  Our historical reconstructions will be illuminated by contextualizing them within their cultural milieu.  By the end of the course, students will attain a general understanding of the types of literature produced by ancient Christian groups and a variety of issues and methods involved in the modern historical study of the New Testament.

 

REL 207.01, Modern Problems of Belief, MWF, 11:00-11:50, Rogers
Credits: AE, CAE, GPR

This course examines challenges to traditional Christian thought from within and outside it during the 19th and 20th Centuries, including the social study of religion, the psychology of belief, Christian views of Judaism, Christian views of women, feminine language for God, ecumenical dialogues, historical views of scripture, revivals of trinitarian thinking, and controversies over ordination and marriage for sexual minorities. Previous students have found the reading difficult, and compared it to a philosophy course. This is not a course in ethics, and most contemporary ethical controversies will not appear. Rather, it is a course about how Christian doctrine and ritual change.

 

REL 210.01, Christianity to the Reformation, TR, 11:00-12:15, Krueger           
Credits: CPM, GHP, GL, GPM, H, HP, WI

This course is a historical survey of Christian thought and practice from the second century to the dawn of the Protestant Reformation (around 1500).   Through reading texts representative of Christian traditions, we will consider the variety and development of Christian theological teaching (on such topics as the incarnation and the Trinity), rituals and liturgy (including baptism, eucharist, and the Christian calendar), ethics, and modes of life (such as monasticism and Christian marriage). Particular attention will be given to expressions of Christianity in the ancient world, before the rise of Islam.  We will then consider Christianity both in the Eastern Mediterranean (Byzantium) and in Western Europe during the Middle Ages.  Students will learn to read and understand classic Christian literary and theological texts.

 

REL 212.01, Christianity from the Reformation to the Present, M, 6:00-8:50, McKinnon
Credits: CMO, GHP, GL, GMO, HP, WI

This course is a survey of Christian thought from the Protestant Reformation(s) to the present, focusing primarily on Protestant and Roman Catholic theology in Europe and America, but also including Eastern Orthodox and more recent “Liberation” movements.  We will read and discuss important primary texts representative of various forms of Christianity that have arisen since the sixteenth century.  While not a course on the history of the church, some attention will be given to the social context of our readings.  Our concern will be the ways in which Christianity has changed from context to context, on the conditions and ideals that have influenced these changes, and on the problems that arise within these various movements.

 

REL 215.01, Judaism, TR, 12:30-1:50, Bregman
Credits: CMO, GHP, GL, GMO, HP

This course provides an initial orientation to Judaism as a religion and as a culture. Students will be introduced to the development of basic Jewish practices, beliefs and institutions and to the major works of Jewish literature. The broad historical survey Judaism from its beginnings until modern times will be concretized by focusing selectively on a number of specific themes and topics.

 

REL 223.01, Hinduism, TR, 12:30-1:50, Grieve
REL 223.02, Hinduism, TR, 2:00-3:15, Grieve
Credits: CNW, GN, GPR, NW, WI

Through readings, lectures, discussion, and writing this course investigates Hinduism through a nonsectarian, unbiased approach that uses various methods and theories to understand the religious life of others.  The course will concentrate more on practice than philosophy, with attention to some of the myths, rituals, and images that inform the lives of Hindu women and men.  The student will become familiar with significant features that contribute to Hinduism as a religion, including basic terms and common concepts, major deities and their myths, and forms of devotional expression, and will consider the significance of the teachings of key Hindu classics, such as the Veda, Upanishads, Puranas, and the Bhagavad Gita.  An underlying but no less important objective of this course is to become familiar with a theoretical "tool box" for the academic study of religion in general, especially as it pertains to the study of South Asia.

 

REL 225.01, Islam, TR, 9:30-10:45, Sopper
REL 225.02, Islam, TR, 2:00-3:15, Sopper
Credits: CNW, GN, GPR, NW

About ¼ of the world's population (1 billion people), identify themselves as Muslims. The traditional centers of this Islamic world are currently experiencing a vibrant and sometimes violent resurgence of religious devotion, practice, and passionate reform that touches every aspect of contemporary life and that raises important questions concerning the relation of Muslims to non-Muslims and to the major institutions of the current international system. The need to understand and engage thoughtfully and constructively with Islam is a pressing one for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. To begin to meet that need, this course introduces you to the main elements of classical Sunni and Shiite Islam. We examine the main beliefs, values, sacred texts, rituals, and holy days of classical Islam. We also examine the history of Islamic civilization as it develops from the time of Muhammad to the present, with particular emphasis on the role of Islam in shaping society, law and politics. Finally we examine contemporary debates among Muslims on such important topics as the quest for a truly Islamic state and society under modern conditions, jihad, peace, tolerance of non-Muslim religions and minorities, gender roles and the place of women in Muslim society, democracy, international relations and social justice.

 

REL 232.01, American Religious Thought: Survey, Web, Levinson
Credits: AE, CAE, GPR

Online, in-depth studies of some of Jonathan Edwards's greatest essays and sermons, some of Ralph Waldo Emerson's greatest essays and addresses, and some of William James's classic essays and books proclaiming his pragmatism, his seminal work in religious studies, as well as his introduction of "radical empiricism" to the world of letters.

 

REL 250.01, Religious Traditions and Care of the Earth, TR, 11:00-12:15, Headington
Credits: CNW, ENV, GN, GPR, NW

This course introduces the student to the study of religion by focusing on the ways that various religious traditions view and treats the natural world.  Religious rituals, symbols, stories, and ethical systems generate different cultural and social responses to nature.  In our present age, when species and natural systems are threatened with extinction, we need to understand the biases of various religious traditions, especially those of the West, and offer proposals for an ethic of sustainability.  We will study indigenous people and western and eastern religions.  We will also look at current attempts in the West to fashion a more life-enhancing ethic.

Our study will take up three major themes: The Great Work, Food, and Simple Living.  Each will comprise a third of the course.

For each theme or third of the course, you will have a test on the material we've covered in class and readings, and you'll have two projects to complete on Food and Simple Living.  Thus, you'll have a theoretical and an experiential way of understanding the material.

 

REL 251.01, Topics in Religious Social Ethics: Equal Rights, TR, 11:00-12:15, Hart
Credits: AE, CAE, GPR

In this course we explore the ethics of the anti-slavery, anti-abortion, and animal rights movements.

 

REL 309.01, Spirituality and Culture in the West, T, 6:00-8:50, Ramsey
Credits: AE, CAE, WGS, WI

 

REL 313.01, Topics in Ancient Judaism:The Synagogue in Late Antiquity, R, 2:00-4:50, Bregman

From its inception, the synagogue has served as the social and religious center of Jewish life. In this course we will attempt to enter the world of the ancient synagogue through the portals of its architecture, art, and literature. Texts for preparation and study in class will include passages from rabbinic literature viewed as artifacts of synagogue sermons, piyyutim (liturgical poems) and selections from traditional liturgy in English translation. Students who wish to also study some or all of the texts in the original Hebrew will be accommodated.

 

REL 316.01, Topics in Christian Thought: The Holy Spirit, MW, 2:00-3:15, Rogers
Credits: WI

An upper-level, advanced course in Christian thought. The topic this time is the Trinity and the Holy Spirit. Christian liturgy and thought practice a belief in a Trinity, that is, a God who is a community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. An index of Christian commitment to that practice is whether a text or image has much interesting to say about the Holy Spirit. Or is there nothing the Spirit can do, that Jesus can't do better? The Spirit, supposed to "make all things new," has in 20th C. Western theology too often became boring, because separated from the bodies (Christ, church, sacraments, the faithful), on which the Spirit has traditionally been said to rest. The Holy Spirit also provides a lens to see how trinitarian doctrine is used to articulate other aspects of Christian thought and practice, such as revelation, creation, redemption, Israel and the church, theosis, natural law and virtue-theory ethics. This course offers an analysis and critique of Christian doctrine in its internal relationships, the logic indigenous to a community practice. The Spirit is also a site where Christian thinkers developed indigenous accounts of matters crucial elsewhere in the humanities: experience, value, embodiment. This course will be writing intensive.

 

REL 323.01, Religious Movements and Communities: Tibetan Religion, MW, 3:30-4:45, Gorvine
Credits: WI

This upper-level course serves as an introduction to the religious culture of Tibet as seen through its cultural history, Buddhist philosophy, and religious communities. The course will proceed by examining the core doctrines, practices, institutions and key historical developments shaping the Buddhist tradition, with special emphasis on how these were interpreted and assimilated by Tibetans. We will also consider major developments in Tibetan intellectual and political history, such as the emergence of sects and the rise of the institution of reincarnate lamas that culminated in the Dalai Lama. A major focus of the course centers on the dynamic relationship between the Buddhist tradition transmitted from India and the existing cultural patterns of Tibet, centering on several different historical and contemporary arenas in which an ongoing process of cultural ‘dialogue' can be productively explored. Examples include literary accounts of Buddhist conversion of the Tibetan landscape, elite and popular approaches to religious practices such as pilgrimage, and the ritual, social and doctrinal treatment of exorcism and death.

 

REL 326W.01, American Religious Thought I,  W, 18:00-20:50, Levinson
Credits: AE/CAE, WI

Close reading and interpretation of Jonathan Edwards's greatest essays and sermons, including "The Spider Letter," "A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God," Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God, A Divine and Supernatural Light, "God Glorified," "The Pleasantness of Religion," "The Way of Holiness," "A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections," "Freedom of the Will," "The Nature of True Virtue," and samples of his personal writings.

 

REL 351.01, Religions in Traditional Societies:  Native American Religions, R, 7:00-9:50, Loftin
Credits: CNW, GN, NW

American Indian Religions is a course about the religious lives of the people who inhabited the North American continent prior to the arrival of Europeans and their descendants. Traditional Native American religious phenomena such as creation mythology, trickster stories, hunting, farming and fishing, architecture and housing, family and kinship, the ceremonial calendar, warfare and world view will all be examined in detail. By looking at all significant aspects of their humanity we shall come to understand how life was, and is, a prayer for American Indians.

Attention will also be given to Native American religious history, particularly those events following contact with European Americans. One cannot understand American Indian religious experience today without examining the impact of European American political dominance since the nineteenth century. Important changes in Native America religious understanding paralleled contact with Europeans and we will want to look very closely at those developments.

We will certainly want to look at the Ghost Dance, the Peyote Cult, and a number of American Indian sacred revolutions and rebellions which emerged with the arrival of and contact with European Americans. These discussions will raise a number of important theoretical issues, including some fundamental questions about the nature of religion and the definition of American Indians.

Required Texts:

Lee Irwin, The Dream Seekers: Native American Visionary Traditions of the Great Plains
John D. Loftin, Religion and Hopi Life in the Twentieth Century
Vine Deloria, Jr., For This Land: Writings on Religion in America
Walter Holden Capps, Ed., Seeing with a Native Eye: Essays on Native American Religions

 

REL 410.01, Senior Seminar, M, 18:00-20:50, Grieve

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