Religious Studies Department Courses - Fall 2012
RELS0020 CRN 14528
Death and the Afterlife in the Biblical Tradition - Saul Olyan
A close analysis of the development of ideas about death and the afterlife in the Hebrew Bible and in the literatures of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. Topics: life and death in Israel and ancient West Asia; the abode of the dead and its denizens; from Sheol to Heaven, Hell, and the final judgment; religious specialists, rituals, and the literature of death: necromancy; burial and mourning rites; cults of the dead ancestor. No prerequisites. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. FYS LILE WRIT
M 3:00 PM - 5:20 PM
RELS0050 CRN 14529
Love: The Concept and Practice - Mark Cladis
A study of love (in classical and modern texts and in film) that provides a window into a host of religious, philosophical, and ethical issues. Topics include the potential conflict between divine and human love, between transcendent and earthly love, and the nature of friendship, romance, marriage, and love at the crossroads. Although the scope is love in the West, the Kamasutra and other texts furnish a comparative component.
MWF 12:00 pm - 12:50 pm
RELS0120 CRN 14530
The Foundations of Chinese Religions: Mystics, Moralists and Diviners - Harold Roth
An introduction to the origins and early development of the indigenous religious thought of China from the oracle bone divination of the Shang Dynasty to the ethical philosophy of Confucianism and the cosmology and mysticism of Daoism. The course will seek to identify and elucidate the basic elements of the distinctive Chinese world view and demonstrate how they have shaped the nature of religious practice and experience and how they have been shaped by them. Works of interpretive scholarship will be used to supplement the primary texts in translation that will form the course. Optional lab section will give first-person experience with the ancient divination practices of the I Ching, Confucian moral psychology, and early Daoist meditation.
TR 10:30 AM - 11:50 AM
RELS 0190 CRN 14531
Japanese Religious Traditions - Janine T. Sawada
An introduction to the history of Japanese religion as it developed in the early and medieval periods, with some attention to related modern and contemporary manifestations. The emphasis will be on native ("Shinto") ideas and practices; selected Buddhist teachings; and popular practices such as shamanism and death rituals. Readings include primary texts in translation and selected modern interpretations. No prerequisites.
TR 1:00 PM - 2:20 PM
RELS0400 CRN 14532
New Testament and the Beginnings of Christianity- Nicola Denzey-Lewis
How and why Christianity emerged in various forms in the ancient Mediterranean. Insights from religious studies, gender studies, literary studies, anthropology, and other fields. Careful critical readings of New Testament books, non-canonical gospels, early Christian letters, ancient apocalypses. Topics include: Jewish contexts; representations of Jesus; Paul and early communities; Christians and imperial Rome; gender constructions; canonization; eventual separation of Christianity and Judaism. Open to all students. LILE WRIT
MWF 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM
RELS0830 CRN 14533
Religion, Reason, and Ethics from Kant to Nietzsche - Thomas A. Lewis
The nineteenth century witnessed revolutionary transformations in thinking about the power and limits of human reason, the relation between reason and religion, revelation, the role of humanity in creating religion, morality and religion, the significance of history, and the plurality of religions. This course examines major thinkers from this period who continue to shape our own assumptions and reflection. WRIT
MWF 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM
RELS1000 CRN 14534
Methods in Religious Studies - Stephen Bush
Intensive introduction to classical and contemporary theories of religion and the principal methods for the study of religion. Junior seminar for religious studies concentrators. Enrollment limited to 25. WRIT
M 3:00 PM - 5:20 PM
RELS 1320 CRN 14535
The Origins
of Western Morality - Stanley Stowers
How Greco-Roman and Jewish moral and ethical thought and practices were appropriated and transformed by Christianity. Special attention to Hellenistic philosophy, the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible and Christian writers in the first three centuries CE. Addresses questions about the origins of tensions and conflicts in Western morality and why sexual ethics have been so prominent and so problematic.
TR 2:30PM - 3:50 PM
RELS1370C CRN 15496
David Hume and Religion - Andre Willis
This course will consider and challenge traditional scholarly views of philosopher David Hume as a critic of Christianity, by examining a wide range of his writings (letters, historical writings, moral enquiries, philosophical and religious writings). How might his corpus inform work in philosophy of religion? Previous coursework in philosophy or philosophy of religion strongly advised. Enrollment limited to 20.
T 4:00 PM - 6:20 PM
RELS1441 CRN 15444/15445
Zen Meditation in China, Korea, and Japan - Harold Roth
Intensive study of the development of Zen Meditation in China, Korea and Japan featuring historical origins in Indian Mahayana Buddhism and Chinese Daoism. Historical and social contextualization will be balanced by first-person investigations. Examines both kôan and silent illumination methods. Weekly seminars on representative texts in translation; labs will experiment with meditation techniques directly drawn from the readings. Students register for both seminar and lab. Topic for 2012: Chinese Chan. Prerequisite: EAST 1950F, 1950S, RELS 0040, 0100, 0500, 1430, 1440, or UNIV 0540; or instructor's permission. Enrollment limited to 20.
Class W 3:00 PM - 5:20 PM
Lab MWF 9:00 AM - 9:50 AM
RELS2200R CRN 15722
Lived Religion in the High Empire and Late Antiquity - Nicola Denzey-Lewis
This graduate course will use the theoretical work of Robert Orsi and Michel de Certeau to recover aspects of "lived" or "quotidian" religious experience in the High Roman Empire and Late Antiquity, particularly (but not exclusively) in the city of Rome. We will use as our data set not only textual sources in the original language and translation, but also elements of material culture (amulets, pyxides, reliquaries, crepundia, textiles, sortes, etc.), funerary epigraphy, and papyri.
R 4:00 PM - 6:20 PM
RELS 2400F CRN 15719
Pro-Senimar in Greek and Roman Religion and Philosophy - Stanley Stowers
A graduate level introduction to Greek and Roman religion with a focus upon the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire and to Hellenistic and Post-Hellenistic philosophy. Topics include the critical use of sources, methods and the synthesis and theorization of the phenomena. Required of RAM graduate students.
W 3:00 pm - 5:20 pm
RELS 2600D CRN 15122
Pragmatism and Religion - Stephen Bush
Readings in the original American pragmatists and their recent admirers with special attention to the topic of religion.
R 1:00 PM - 3:20 PM
Fall 2012 Courses of Interest to Concentrators in Religious Studies
| JUDS0050E | From Amsterdam to Istanbul: Christians, Moslems, and Jews |
| JUDS0050F | The God Debate |