introductory
100. Mystery and Meaning: An Introduction to the Study of Religion
This course is a general introduction to both the subject matter and the study of religion. The introduction calls attention to the fact that, although human beings have been religious in enormously varied ways since the dawn of history, the study of religion is a recent development, originating in Western Europe and America during the last century.
What is there about the modern West that has led it to study religion on a global scale? Subsequently, attention is turned to the subject matter of religion, drawing selectively from the wealth of material that may be regarded as religious: past and present, literate and non-literate, Eastern and Western. The course concludes by considering the place of the study of religion in the contemporary liberal arts curriculum, the discipline's relationship to adjacent disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and the distinction between the study and practice of religion. (MacWilliams, Greenwald, Desmond, Self, Young)
scripture
205. Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (In English)
This course is designed to enable the student to use the insights of modern biblical scholarship to read the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) in an informed manner. The student is introduced to the entire array of methods used for understanding biblical texts, although historical, sociological and literary analyses are emphasized. Attention is also given to the ways modern Judaism and Christianity understand specific biblical passages. (Greenwald)
206. Introduction to the New Testament
The goals of this course are identical to those of Religious Studies 205, although that course is not a prerequisite. The same forms of analysis that were used to understand the Hebrew Bible are used to understand the New Testament. The course emphasizes the different ways Christian communities understood the Christian message and how these different understandings came to be embodied in a single collection of documents. Also offered through European Studies. (Greenwald)
307. Jesus in the Gospels
This course studies one or more of the gospels using any or all of the techniques of modern biblical scholarship. It examines how the author(s) understood the ministry of Jesus and how they communicated that understanding to the reader. The format of the course is a combination of lecture and seminar. Religious Studies 206 or permission of the instructor required. (Greenwald)
308. Seminar in Feminist Interpretation of Scripture
This seminar examines the premise that both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament were produced and canonized by societies that were patriarchal in their structure and in their very essence. We then ask how, if at all, a modern woman of faith can use these documents to express her own religiosity. Readings are from the works of several feminist interpreters of Scripture and feminist theologians from both Christian and Jewish traditions. There are no prerequisites, but any of the following courses may be helpful: Religious Studies 205, Religious Studies 206, Gender Studies 103 or English/Philosophy 361. Class size is limited. (staff)
Surveys of Religious Traditions
221. The Religious Life of India
An introductory exploration of the indigenous religious life of India, both past and present. The baseline for this investigation is historical, beginning with the prehistoric evidence and concluding with the modern scene of Mahatma Gandhi, international meditation movements and politicized religion. Building on this baseline, the concern throughout is to discern what the tradition has meant personally to the individuals involved. Frequent use is made of artistic and video material to appreciate Indian appraisals of the human condition. Also offered through Asian Studies. (Desmond)
222. The Buddhist Religious Tradition
An introductory exploration of the various classical and contemporary forms of Buddhism. The initial task is to understand the Buddha in the context of India in the sixth to fifth centuries BCE, then to go on to examine the emergence of a sophisticated philosophical and psychological literature, the meditational techniques of Tantra and Zen, the sociopolitical role of the monastery and more. The examination also enables students to follow the historical spread of Buddhism into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, Tibet, China, Japan and, more recently, the West. Also offered through Asian Studies. (MacWilliams, Young)
223. The Religious Life of China
An introduction to China's unique religious heritage through a selective survey of major thinkers, texts and cultural expressions. The primary emphasis is on the historical development and mutual influence of the "three teachings" - Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism - with special attention given to the relationship between philosophy and popular practice, and to the interaction between political and religious institutions. Topics include gods and the sacred, ritual, ethics, human nature, meditation, mysticism and salvation. Also offered through Asian Studies. (MacWilliams, Young)
224. The Islamic Religious Tradition
An introductory examination of that religious tradition which, originating in 7th century Arabia under the inspiration of the Prophet Muhammad, has come to include one-sixth of humankind, and predominates throughout the Middle East, North and East Africa, Pakistan, portions of India and Indonesia. The course considers the career of the Prophet and the growth of the central institutions of Islamic civilization. The course also endeavors to identify the varied aspirations and concerns of Muslims in the contemporary world. (Salih)
225. The Religious Traditions of Judaism
An introductory examination of the religious traditions of Judaism from the biblical period through the 21st century. Just as Christianity is no longer the religion of the Hebrew Bible, neither is Judaism. Emphasis is placed on the development of Rabbinic (modern) Judaism and its evolution in the modern world. Recent movements and events (the emergence of new forms of Judaism, Zionism, the Holocaust and the birth of Israel) are also discussed. (Greenwald)
226. The Religious Life of Japan
A historical and topical introduction to the complex mingling of indigenous and foreign traditions, exemplified by the relationship between Shinto and Buddhism, that has informed Japan's unique religious heritage. Major topics include: attitudes toward nature, the interpenetration of religion and the arts (haiku poetry, landscape painting, swordsmanship, the tea ceremony, etc.), monasticism and meditation practices, modern Zen philosophy and the influence of the West. Course materials consist of canonical and secondary texts and autobiographical accounts, works of fiction and film. Also offered through Asian Studies. (MacWilliams)
231. Christian Religious Traditions
A survey of the development of the Christian tradition or traditions from the end of New Testament times to the present. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and the major streams of Protestantism are considered. Special attention is given to a sampling of significant Christian writers, both men and women, of the past and present. Also offered through European Studies. (Self)
Comparative and Topical Courses
230. Feminist Issues in Religion
This course examines the ways that feminism has changed the world's religions, how they are studied and future feminist agendas for them. Contributions of influential feminist thinkers, effects of feminist methodology on the study of religion and the role and status of women in the history of religions are explored. Special attention is given to contemporary Christian and post-Christian feminist thought. (Self, Venkatesan)
266 and 348A. History of the Middle East Since 1914
A two course survey of the history of the Middle East from 1914 to the present, set in the context of the region's internal politics. Starting with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of Zionism and the rise of Arab nationalism, the course focuses on the development of modern Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Also offered as History 260. (Greenwald)
267. The Holocaust
A study of the Holocaust, the events leading up to it, and its theological implications for Judaism and Christianity. The course looks for possible causes in German culture and Christian preaching and examines other recent genocides for common factors and common lessons to be learned. Also offered as History 267 and through European Studies. (Greenwald)
277. Intro to Hinduism
This course is an introduction to Hindu religious culture, its mythology, sacred texts, ritual and philosophy. The course emphasizes both text and practice in the development of Hinduism, including its contemporary manifestations in Hindu Nationalism, Social Reform and the South Asian Hindu Diaspora. (Desmond)
288. Cults & New Religious Movements
The rise of new religious and spiritual movements (NRMs) in North America since the 1960s is a response to the current religious, social, and political condition of the contemporary post-modern world, a condition characterized as one undergoing rapid change and engendering cultural crises. We now live in a world in which people are struggling to find a sense of the sacred that will give meaning and direction to their lives, in a time of rapid technological and social change, secularization and renewed orthodoxy, religious pluralism, industrialization, and globalization.
Because NRMs are nontraditional and marginal in character, more traditional and mainstream institutions criticize them as irrational, incomprehensible, and even dangerous, often referring to them pejoratively as "cults."
The objective of this course is to explore the origins and nature of New Religious Movements by employing a variety of academic perspectives—historical, sociological, psychological, and phenomenological. (MacWilliams)
312. Mystical Experience, Eastern and Western
As virtually a universal phenomenon, in both explicitly religious and deliberately secular guise, mystical experience - personal encounter with or knowledge of ultimate reality - has received extraordinarily diverse appraisals. Some have acclaimed it "the only truth there is," while others have been executed for admitting to it. This introductory course examines the nature of mystical experience and the variety of its manifestations in and out of the world's major religious traditions, past and present.
331. Pilgrimage as a Spiritual Journey
This course will explore the experiences, rituals, stories, beliefs, temples/shrines, images and traveling communities associated with the religious phenomenon of pilgrimage. What kind of travel is pilgrimage? Does it have a particular structure? Are there different kinds of pilgrimages? What kind of religious experience does pilgrimage provide? These and other questions will be examined through a close study of selected pilgrimages in Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. (MacWilliams)
339. Theology of Liberation: Analysis, Critique, Alternatives
This course examines a major expression of the continued vitality of religious life in contemporary Latin America: the emergence over the last several decades of a theology of social change, usually called "theology of liberations." We consider the rise of this theology and the reactions and criticisms it has provoked, compare it with liberation theologies elsewhere in the third world as well as with black theology in the United States, and look at alternatives to it. Prerequisite: Religious Studies 100 or permission of instructor. Also offered as Government 339. (O Shaughnessey)
370. Asian Religions in the Modern World
A seminar that examines the transformations that the religious traditions of Asia-Islamic, Indian, Chinese and Japanese have undergone during the past century. Attention is paid to institutional and ideological changes in the Asian traditions themselves and the increasing presence of Asian religious motifs in Western culture. Also offered through Asian Studies. (MacWilliams)
380. Mythology and Popular Religious Thought in India
This seminar has two goals:
- To familiarize students with the great myths of India and the variety of ways they have been woven into the fabric of Hindu culture
- To explore some contemporary theories about the nature of myth
Emphasis throughout is on student discussion and research, on engagement with the values of Indian culture and on seeing those values in relation to the concerns of modern Western scholarship. Also offered through Asian Studies. (Desmond)
special courses
247, 248. Special Topics
347, 348. Special Topics Seminars
460. Majors Seminar
Required of all majors in religious studies. Review of various approaches to the study of religion in greater depth than in previous courses. This seminar allows students to bring to bear knowledge of religion and religious systems that they have acquired in their studies. (MacWilliams, Greenwald, Venkatesan, Self)
450, 451. Directed Studies in Religion
An individual study program for candidates for honors in religious studies or others showing special interest and aptitude in the study of religion, as approved by the department chair and the instructor under whom the work will be completed. A term paper is required as the product o f the special study. (A 2.5 average is required.) Also offered through Asian Studies.
489, 490. Senior Year Experience
An individual study program for candidates for majors in religious studies that fulfills the requirements for their senior year experience and may be taken in place of Religious Studies 460 with approval of the department chair. (A 2.5 average is required). An extended term paper is required as the product of the special study. (MacWilliams, Greenwald, Venkatesan, Self)
498, 499. Honors
This is a departmentally approved honors project requiring an extended term paper that is the product of the special study. A cumulative GPA of 3.5 in the department is required to do an honors project. (MacWilliams, Greenwald, Venkatesan, Self)
101-102. Classical Hebrew
This course is an introduction to classical Hebrew. The main interest and value of the study of Hebrew lies in the fact that the Hebrew scriptures are written in this language. During the first semester and part of the second, students are introduced to the script and basic vocabulary and grammar. During the second semester, various parts of the Hebrew scriptures are read. Offered occasionally by request. (Greenwald)
111-112. Hellenistic Greek
The first term and much of the second are spent mastering the essentials of Greek grammar and vocabulary of the period necessary to proceed in the second semester to readings in the New Testament. Offered occasionally by request. (Greenwald)
Special Topics courses from previous semesters:
Hindu Women, Hindu Goddesses (Venkatesan)
This seminar explores goddesses and women’s religious lives in India within two large categories (however fluid)—how women worship and how female deities are worshipped. In doing so, we interrogate specific roles that women in India assume such as the goddess, mystic, the exemplary devotee, the poetic trope of the female heroine (nayika) and the ways in which women resist or subvert these categories. The seminar will also engage with the unique phenomenon—the rise in popularity of female gurus (teachers) in the past two decades. Throughout the course, we will address the relationship between human women and Hindu Goddesses, the binary between “fierce” and “benevolent” goddesses as well as issues of transnational cultural appropriation, fetishizing and commodification, of female Hindu religious images.
Global Christianities (Self)
This course explores Christianity outside the West. Catholic and Protestant Christianities in addition to "newer" forms of Christianity will be included, and case studies will be drawn from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Pentecostal Christianity will be a particular focus. The conflict and interplay of older forms of Christianity, often part of the inheritance of colonialism, with more recent arrivals will be one question the course considers. It will also describe the relationship between religion and the processes of globalization, questions whether or not any of these forms of Christianity can be described as globalized, and, if so, whether global Christianity resists or supports globalization.
Virgin, Queen of Heaven, Disciple: the Marys in Christian Traditions (Self)
Course description: This class is an investigation of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene in the Christian traditions. The course discusses what accurate historical information we have about the Marys, and the development of the veneration of each saint. We will consider the importance of each Mary in the history of Christianity, looking at how each is depicted in texts and in art. A significant portion of the course will focus on more recent apparitions and visions of the Virgin Mary, and the role she plays in non-Western Christianities.
Walking Naked: The Ecstatic and Erotic Devotional Traditions of Hindu India (Venkatesan)
The seminar will focus on the literature of ecstatic and erotic devotion (bhakti) that began in Southern India in the early part of the 5^th century and continues into the 21st century assuming new forms, attitudes and genres. This focused examination of the devotional literature of a single region of India will be aimed at understanding devotion (bhakti) in its literary, performative and visual modes. The central question to be examined will be: "what defines bhakti as a literary genre, and how poets, male and female who are linguistically and geographically diverse adapt, adopt and valorize the poetics of this genre?" The seminar will employ an interdisciplinary methodology, bringing in bronze images, music, dance, and painting to enliven and embody these poems.
Religion and Violence (Self)
This course examines violent religious conflict in multiple religions including Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, especially the idea of a just war. It considers other forms of religious violence, such as martyrdom and asceticism in each of these religions. Readings are drawn from primary and secondary sources on religion and violence, and considers depictions of religious violence in films such as the Left Behind series and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Chist.