Courses
Courses
Fall 2006 Courses
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- 015. Religion, Violence, and Secularization
- Elizabeth Pritchard T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55
- Introduces students to the rationales and repercussions of the rise of the modern secular nation state as a solution to �religious violence,� one of the most pressing challenges of the contemporary world. In doing so, the course complicates the association of violence and backwardness with �religion� and peace and progress with �secularism.� Topics include the demarcations of state and church and public and private, the relationship between skepticism and toleration, the rise of so-called �fundamentalism,� the shifting assessments of the injuriousness of religious belief, speech and act, and the assumptions surrounding what it is that constitutes �real religion.�
- 142. Philosophy of Religion
- Scott Sehon T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25
- Does God exist? Can the existence of God be proven? Can it be disproven? Is it rational to believe in God? What does it mean to say that God exists (or does not exist)? What distinguishes religious beliefs from non-religious beliefs? What is the relation between religion and science? We approach these and related questions through a variety of historical and contemporary sources, including philosophers, scientists, and theologians.
- 215. The Hebrew Bible in its World
- Jorunn Buckley M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55
- Close readings of chosen texts in the Hebrew Bible (i.e. the Old Testament), with emphasis on its Near Eastern religious, cultural and historical context. Attention is given to the Hebrew Bible�s literary forerunners (from ca. 4000 b.c.e. onwards) to its �successor� The Dead Sea Scrolls (ca. 200 b.c.e. to 200 a.c.e.). Emphasis on creation and cosmologies, gods and humans, hierarchies, politics, and rituals.
- 224. Religiosities of South Asia
- Sunil Goonasekera T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25
- This course focuses on varieties of indigenous religious expressions in South Asia and covers salvation religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikkhism, Yoga and Tantra as well as minor religions such as Astrology, Demonology, Spirit Possession, Sorcery, Witchcraft, and Magic specific to the region. Students will read samples from the scriptures of the salvation religions and texts of the other traditions to become familiar with the doctrinal aspects of South Asian religiosity. The course includes discussions of monastic traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. South Asian religious traditions prescribe a variety of monastic practices ranging from rigorous self-mortification culminating in death to the middle path recommended by Buddhism, and complete rejection of monasticism in orthodox Hinduism. These practices are based on the different cosmologies developed by each tradition. For the laymen also each religious tradition prescribes a wide range of practices fr om exuberant expressions of devotion involving bodily mutilation to quiet contemplation. Students will explore the connection between these religious ideals and the everyday life of their adherents as well as their relationships with nationalistic political movements.
- 230. Anthropology of Religion
- Sunil Goonasekera T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25
- Every society in the world has one or more religions indicating that religion is a human universal. In our contemporary world, religions encounter various challenges from science as the debates on Creationism and Evolutionism indicate. Religions are also intricately entangled with politics and some religions advocate and justify the use of violence in order to achieve political goals while others abhor all forms of violence. Some religions appear to encourage vigorous economic activity and some others reject the world altogether and prescribe complete withdrawal from it. This course explores the anthropological perspectives on religious ideas and practices in a wide variety of cultures: the way various cultures define the nature of the world, the place of human beings, the senses of time and space, and how life must be lived. The context for this study includes �salvation religions� such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism as well as �micro-religions� like magic, sorcery, witchcraft, and spirit possession that address the everyday concerns of the believers. Students will become familiar with the classical and contemporary anthropological theories about the origins of religiosity and the relationships between religion, politics, economics, psychology and other areas of culture, and with anthropological methods for studying religious phenomena.
- 249. Monotheism and Masculinity
- Elizabeth Pritchard T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55
- Focuses on the emergence of and continuing elaborations of transcendent monotheism in the Abrahamic traditions. Of particular interest in this examination is the relationship between portrayals of the divine and assumptions about gender, class, and race. Other topics include whether it is possible or permissible to obtain knowledge of the divine (and perhaps be able to see or depict the divine); the relationship between transcendent monotheism, cultural identity, and violence; and the ways in which monotheism informs various renderings of morality and politics. Readings include selections from the Bible, Augustine, Maimonides, Aquinas, Ibn-Arabi, and Luther.
- 390. Theories about Religion
- Jorunn Buckley M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
- Seminar focused on how religion has been explained and interpreted from a variety of intellectual and academic perspectives from the sixteenth century to the present. In addition to a historical overview of religion�s interpretation and explanation, the focus also includes consideration of postmodern critiques and the problem of religion and violence in the contemporary world.