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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
How do religious and scientific explanations and methods of inquiry differ? What are the roles of reason and authority in each case? This course draws together materials from antiquity to the present, from the West and from Asia, to illustrate a variety of types of “systems of knowledge.” Theoretical readings are balanced with diverse case studies from diverse contexts: religious doctrines, mystical practices, alchemy, astrology, sorcery, “traditional medicines,” and modern religious movements. Students research a system of their choice and analyze its claims and methods in comparison with those of other traditions covered in the course. Lubin.
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3.00 Credits
Indian yogis, monks and ascetics pursue extraordinary paths that invert the normal aims and values of society. This course surveys the ideas on mental and physical training that developed in India; their conceptual basis; the range of techniques used; and their philosophical development in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The course seeks to answer such questions as: “What is the purpose of these teachings and for whom were they designed?” “What roles do yogis and ascetics play in religious life?” and “What is their ethical status in the world?” Staff.
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3.00 Credits
This course looks at how deities and religious ideas and practices spread from one place to another through conquest, a network of holy men, or a circuit of traders. The aim is to identify (a) the processes that occur when religions travel from one region to another, and (b) the role of these religions in creating new cultures shared across a wide area. The focus is mainly on premodern periods, but comparisons are made with religious pluralism and globalization in the modern world. Lubin.
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3.00 Credits
Prerequisite: REL 102 or permission of the instructor. An exploration of the uncertain boundaries between orthodoxy and heresy in early Christian movements. Questions addressed include, “Who decides what is orthodox and what is heretical, how are these decisions made, and what impact do they have on institutional structures? What perennial problems in Christian thought and practice emerge in the early debates about orthodoxy and heresy, and how are those problems being addressed today?” Readings include selections from the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament, “Gnostic gospels” and other so-called heretical texts, writings from the Church Fathers (with special attention to St. Augustine) and recent scholarly treatments of orthodoxy and heresy. Brown.
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3.00 Credits
An introduction to perduring issues in Christian theology and ethics through study of one or more of the classical Christian theologians.
Topics for Winter 2011:
REL 260: Christian Mystical and Visionary Traditions (3). This course explores classical Christian texts from antiquity to the present that concern a particular phenomenon, namely the desire for and experience of the divine presence. Certain of Christianity’s great figures have embraced this “mystical” mode of experience and expression while others have consciously avoided it. Beginning with biblical (Jewish and Christian) and classical Greek materials, and moving on to particular figures and movements in the patristic, medieval, Reformation, and post-Enlightenment eras, we examine both primary texts and various theories (e.g., theories of language, psychology and religion) pertinent to them. Brown.
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3.00 Credits
Introduction to Judaism through a classical, a medieval, and a modern book: the wisdom stories and debates of the Talmud; the mystical theosophy of the Zohar; and the theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel, who interwove Talmudic values, mysticism, and modern philosophy for an era of mass murder, indifference, and alienation. Marks.
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4.00 Credits
Prerequisite: Completion of FW requirements. Readings in the works of 20th-century authors writing in Yiddish and Hebrew, such as the Polish author Isaac B. Singer, the Russian author Sholem Aleichem, and the Israeli novelists Amos Oz and A. B. Yehoshua. These writings are studied as literary expressions of religious themes and as responses to the historical and religious crises of modern Jewish life in Europe, the United States, and Israel. The class views four films for additional insight into Yiddish and Israeli culture. Students write two interpretive papers and daily analyses of the readings and films. This is a discussion-centered course. Marks.
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3.00 Credits
A study of Islamic religious movements and representative religious writings of the past two centuries, with focus upon “fundamentalist” or “revivalist” writings and upon recent authors responding to them. Hatcher.
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4.00 Credits
For Muslim believers, the Qur’an (the “Recitation”) is the word of the One God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad and the heart of Islamic faith and practice. This course explores the themes and content of the Qur’an; the Qur’an’s original context in the life and society of the Prophet Muhammad; traditional and modern modes of Qur’anic analysis and interpretation; and the significance of the Qur’an and its interpretation for Islamic law, ritual, ethics, theology, aesthetics, and devotion. The Qur’an is read in English-language interpretation and in tandem with traditional and modern examples of Qur’anic exegesis (tafsir). No previous knowledge of Islam is required. Hatcher.
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3.00 Credits
This course explores the mystical expressions and institutions known as Sufism within the Islamic community. Topics include the elaboration of Sufism from the core tenets of Islam; Sufi practices of ecstasy and discipline; the artistic and literary products of the Sufi experience; the institutions of Sufi orders, saints, shrines, and popular practices; and the debates among Muslims over the place of Sufism within the greater tradition of Islam. Hatcher.
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