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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
This class introduces students to some of the dominant themes, values, beliefs, and practices found among the religions of North America’s Indian peoples. The first part of the course explores the importance of sacred power, landscape, and community in traditional Indian spiritualities and rituals. It then examines some of the changes that have occurred in these traditions as a result of western expansion and dominance from the 18th through early 20th centuries. Lastly, the course considers some of the issues and problems confronting contemporary American Indian religions. Markowitz.
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3.00 Credits
Central Asia has long been a crossroads of peoples and ideas, connecting India, China, the Middle East, and the northern steppes of what is now Russia. This course explores this region’s rich religious history and diversity in three parts: the religions of the ancient “Silk Road”” (including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Manichaeism); Islam’s arrival in Central Asia and how Islam was transformed in the process; and the response of Central Asia’s modern Muslim communities to the advent of colonialism, Communism, Economic Liberalism, and politically-mobilized Islam. Hatcher.
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3.00 - 4.00 Credits
REL 295 - Special Topics in Religion FDR: HU Credits: 3-4 Prerequisite varies according to the topic. A course offered from time to time in a selected problem or topic in religion. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different.
Topic for Spring 2011:
REL 295: Special Topics in Religion: Buddhist Meditation (4). For nearly 2500 years, Buddhists have promoted meditation as a simple means to realize total liberation from all suffering. Often with sights set a bit lower, in the last century the West took notice on a number of levels. Western Buddhists have adopted the Buddha’s teachings from several teaching traditions, and often emphasize meditation even more enthusiastically than their Asian counterparts. Psychologists and physicians now recognize mental and physical benefits to meditation. Neuroscientists are beginning to employ the insights of Buddhist meditation teachings to better understand mind, brain, emotion, and cognition, and have gone as far as to map the brains of meditators to try to isolate the activity of meditation in the brain. Obviously meditation is not as simple as we may have once thought. What can these various sources teach us about religion, the human condition, the mind, and the cultures from which they emerge? (HU) Haskett.
Topics for Winter 2011:
REL 295A: Religion and Existentialism (3). Students of any year and any major welcome. A consideration of the accounts of human existence (faith and doubt; death and being-in-the-world; anxiety, boredom, and hope; sin and evil; etc.) elaborated by philosophers and theologians in the 19th and 20th centuries. The central figures to be considered are G.W.F. Hegel, Søren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Attention is paid to the religious context in which these philosophies were elaborated and to their significance for future philosophers, theologians, artists, and literary figures. Additional writers and artists to be considered may include Fyodor Dostoevsky, Martin Heidegger, Samuel Beckett, Maurice Blanchot, Jean-Paul Sartre, Anselm Kiefer, and others. (HU) Kosky.
REL 295B: Jainism (3). Jainism, a 3,000 year old religion indigenous to India, is notorious for naked monks and rigorous asceticism, but Jainism also promotes compassion for all living things and a steadfast commitment to total non-violence. In this course, we focus on the rich philosophical and literary tradition of Jainism, the deep ritual life of Jain communities, and the applications of Jain ethics to the modern world. We also consider questions of Jain identity (“Is Jain a caste, an ethnicity, or a religious identifier?”) as well as the experience and challenges of living as a religious minority in Hindu India and in the West. (HU) Haskett.
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3.00 Credits
A consideration of human practices in pursuit of the good and the good life with an eye toward understanding the interaction of these practices with social, cultural, and institutional powers and authorities. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different. Staff.
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3.00 Credits
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Instruction in Sanskrit language and literature. For students at the elementary level, the course presents all the basic grammar of the language over the course of a year, with readings of gradually increasing difficulty from the first class. Recitation and the use of spoken Sanskrit to analyze grammatical forms will be taught. At the intermediate level, the course gives more attention to syntax, the use of compounds, and metrics. All readings are taken from original Sanskrit works, beginning with easy epic passages and fables in prose and verse. At the advanced level, the course guides students in the reading, analysis, and interpretation of important works in Sanskrit (chosen in accordance with the students’ interests), providing historical, religious, and cultural background, as well as a consideration of the relevant secondary literature. Opportunities for reading from manuscripts are offered. May be repeated for degree credit when the levels of instruction are different. Only the fifth term of study (third-year level) may be used to a meet a major requirement. Lubin.
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3.00 Credits
This course introduces Hindu law, in both historical and comparative perspectives. We begin with introductory reflections on the nature and role of law in society and the relationship between religion and state in the law in general, and in India in particular. Other topics covered include the origins of Hindu law in priestly ritual codes, political theory, and local custom; Dharma as religious jurisprudence; premodern legal practice; British attempts to codify Hindu law; Hindu personal law in modern India; and the controversy over religion and secularism in the courts today, including the constitutional definition of “Hindu;” attempts to legislate against disapproved religious practices; and disputes over sacred spaces. We close with comparisons with legal reasoning about religion in America, Israel, and England, based on court cases. (HU, GE4d) Lubin.
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3.00 Credits
Prerequisite: One course in Asian religions or permission of the instructor. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different. A study of specific topics in Asian religion and society. Lubin.
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3.00 Credits
REL 350 - Seminar in Biblical Studies FDR: HU Credits: 3 Prerequisite: REL 101, 102, 151 250, or course work in ancient history or classics, or permission of the instructor. An exploration of a topic in Biblical studies, focusing on ancient texts and their interpreters from antiquity to the present. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different.
Topic for Fall 2010:
REL 350: Seminar in Biblical Studies: The Apostle Paul: Life, Letters, Legacy (3). Prerequisite: Religion 101, 102, 151, 250, or course work in ancient history or classics, or ?permission of the instructor. ? A study of the Apostle Paul that begins with his ?historical and cultural contexts (Jewish and ?Hellenistic) in the first century of the common ?era, takes up his letters individually through close ?critical readings of the texts, and ?follows the various and divergent influences of certain of his ?key ideas (e.g., justification ?by faith, freedom, law and grace) through the course of Western ?religious and political ?thought.? (HU) Brown.
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3.00 Credits
This seminar introduces students to the Islamic understanding of shari’a (“Path,” “law”) and its role in Muslim culture, history, and society. To be examined are: the key sources of law in the Qur’an and the model of the Prophet Muhammad, the early development of Islamic legal theories and institutions, the roles of these institutions in everyday life, and the struggle to reimagine Islamic law and its place in contemporary Muslim communities. Case studies include the nature of political institutions, the rights and roles of women, and Islamic economics. Hatcher.
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3.00 Credits
Prerequisite will vary according to the topic. An advanced seminar offered from time to time, depending on student interest and staff availability, in a selected problem or topic in religion. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different. Staff.
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