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  • RELS 006: Religious Violence and Cults

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    Society Sector. All classes. Staff. Since September 11, 2001, America has become more aware than ever that there is a connection between religion and violence. But what is it Why do religious people embrace violence Are all cults prone to violence And do terrorists tend to belong to cults This course will introduce students to representative terrorist groups from five different religious traditions and to cults that have taken the path of group suicide. We will examine a number of ways to understand religious terrorism, religious suicide, and cult affiliation in general.
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  • RELS 007: Introduction to Africana Studies

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    Humanities & Social Science Sector. Class of 2010 & beyond. Staff. The aim of this course is to provide an interdisciplinary examination of the complex array of African American and other African Diaspora social practices and experiences. This class will focus on both classic texts and modern works that provide an introduction to the dynamics of African American and African Diaspora thought and practice. Topics include: What is Afro-American Studies ; The History Before 1492; Creating the African Diaspora After 1500; The Challenge of Freedom; Race, Gender and Class in the 20th Century; From Black Studies to Africana Studies: The Future of Afro-American Studies.
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  • RELS 010: Religion in Public Life

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    Staff. This seminar is an introduction to several aspects of the hotly debated relation between religion and public life in America. In the first half of the course we will study two books by law professors, one Jewish and the other Christian. Their debate will introduce us to the legal and historical background, and to the continuing challenges of church-state separation in America. The second half of the course will examine the claim that we now live in a "new religious America," one in which the increasing presence of Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims has created a new pluralism and a new set of challenges. We will then consider the argument of one historian that diversity and difference have characterized religious groups in America since at least the l9th century, and that this has resulted in a number of paradoxical social situaitons. Finally, we will close with a brief look at the claim that there exists in America a "civil religion," one that unites all citizens despite their other religious differences.
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  • RELS 012: India in the Traveller's Eye

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    Behl. Historically, India has held a prominent yet paradoxical place in the Western imagination - as a land of ancient glories, a land of spiritual profundity, a land of poverty, social injustice and unreason. In this course, we examine these and other images of India as presented in European and American fiction, travel literature, news reportage, and film. We will consider the power and resonance of these images, how they have served Western interests, and how they may have affected Indian self-understanding.
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  • RELS 014: Myths and Religions of the Ancient World

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Tinney. This course will survey the religions of the ancient Middle East, situating each in its historical and socio-cultural context and focussing on the key issues of concern to humanity: creation, birth, the place of humans in the order of the universe, death and destruction. The course will cover not only the better known cultures from the area, such as Egypt and Mesopotamia, but also some lesser known traditions, such as those of the Hurrians, or of the ancient Mediterranean town of Ugarit. Religion will not be viewed merely as a separate, sealed-off element of the ancient societies, but rather as an element in various cultural contexts, for example the relationship between religion and magic, and the role of religion in politics will be recurring topics in the survey. Background readings for the lectures will be drawn not only from the modern scholarly literature, but also from the words of the ancients themselves in the form of their myths, rituals and liturgies.
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  • RELS 015: The Bible as Literature

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. Successive generations have found the Bible to be a text which requires--even demands-extensive interpretation. This course explores the Bible as literature, considering such matters as the artistic arrangement and stylistic qualities of individual episodes as well as the larger thematic patterns of both the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha. A good part of the course is spent looking at the place of the Bible in cultural and literary history and the influence of such biblical figures as Adam and Eve, David, and Susanna on writers of poetry, drama, and fiction in the English and American literary traditions.
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  • RELS 024: Archaeology and the Bible;Conflict Insight Understanding

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Staff. The Hebrew Bible (Tanak) and archaeological research provide distinct, and at times conflicting, accounts of the origins and development of ancient Israel and its neighbors. Religion, culture and politics ensures that such accounts of the past have significant implications for the world we live in today. In this course we will discuss the latest archaeological research from Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan as it relates to the Bible, moving from Creation to the Babylonian Exile. Students will critically engage the best of both biblical and archaeological scholarship, while being exposed to the interpretive traditions of Anthropology as an alternative approach to the available evidence. Open discussions of the religious, social and political implications of the material covered will be an important aspect of the course.
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  • RELS 027: Great Books of Judaism

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    May be counted as a General Requirement Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Stern. The study of four paradigmatic classic Jewish texts so as to introduce students to the literature of classic Judaism. Each text will be studied historically--"excavated" for its sources and roots--and holistically, as a canonical document in Jewish tradition. While each text will inevitably raise its own set of issues, we will deal throughout the semester with two basic questions: What makes a "Jewish" text And how do these texts represent different aspects of Jewish identity All readings will be in translation.
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  • RELS 101: Religion and Psychology

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. An introduction to psychological interpretations of religious belief, experience, and behavior. Emphasis upon such major theorists as James, Freud, Jung and Allport. More recent investigations (e.g., psychohistory, stages of religious development, religious roots of psychoanalysis, transpersonal psychologies, parapsychological research) will occasionally be included. No prerequisites.
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  • RELS 102: Science and the Sacred

    3.00 Credits
    University of Pennsylvania

    Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. An exploration of differences, similarities, and intersections between science and religion. Focus on the relation between scientific paradigms and religious myths; comparison of types of experience in religion and science; critical investigation of efforts to synthesize science and religion in psychology, biology, and physics.
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