Courses - Fall 2009
CM 10. Introduction to Asian Religious Traditions. Mr. Michon. Historical study of major Eastern religious traditions in India, China and Japan. Comparative methodology used to examine significant themes in each of these religious traditions.
CM 15. Myth and Religion. Mr. Michon. Interrogates myth, and how it has been understood in ancient and contemporary societies. Offers a historical survey of various types of myths and the academic understandings of them. Models of understanding applied to myths from ancient Babylonian, Greek, Australian, Indian, and Native American traditions. A redefinition of myth is offered for students to apply this to contemporary discourse.
20. The Biblical Heritage. Ms. Runions. Critical introduction to the Bible, emphasizing comparative interpretation of the literature in its historical and religious context. Biblical text supplemented by secondary readings designed to illustrate different modes of interpretation.
CM 22. Introduction to Western Religious Traditions. Ms. Yonemoto. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, this course is a study of major Western traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Comparative methodology used to examine significant themes and issues in each religious tradition.
CM 37. History of World Christianity. Ms. Yonemoto. The history of Christianity from Jesus to the present. The origins of Christian doctrine, the canon of Scripture, orthodoxy vs. heresy, rise of the papacy, monasticism, scholasticism, mysticism, the Crusades, church-state debates, Catholic-Orthodox/Christian-Muslim/Christian-Jewish conflicts, the Reformation, missions, Protestant denominationalism, Christian liberalism, fundamentalism, Pentecostalism, liberation theology and struggles over indigenization, autonomy and colonialism in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
40. Religious Ethics. Ms. Eisenstadt. What is ethics? Is it the study of the best way to live, or of how best to serve others? Are these things the same or different? To whom and for whom am I responsible? Where do these responsibilities come from? What do the various religious traditions of the world have to say about these questions? To what extent do they lay claim to the question of ethics, a question on which the philosophical traditions also have a lot to say? Are such claims legitimate? Do religious traditions generally say the same thing about morality, or do they differ on ethical fundamentals? In this course we begin to think about these difficult questions, through a careful study of selected texts.
CM 43. Introduction to Religious Thought. Mr. Davis. A study of such concepts as creation, evil, and the nature of God in recent and contemporary monotheistic traditions.
SC 61. New Testament and Christian Origins. Mr. Jacobs. Students will examine the New Testament and other Christian literature of the first and second centuries in the context of the history, culture, religion, and politics of the late ancient Mediterranean. The course will emphasize analytical reading, the varieties of early Christian expression and experience, and key scholarly and theoretical issues.
SC 92. Varieties of Early Christianity. Mr. Jacobs. Through study of ancient texts and monuments, this course explores the diverse forms of Christianity that arose in the first six centuries CE. We will pay particular attention to political, cultural, and social expressions of early Christianity, including: martyrdom, asceticism, religious conflict (with Jews, pagans, and heretics), and political ideology.
CM 135. Jerusalem: The Holy City. Mr. Gilbert. Survey of the religious, political, and cultural history of Jerusalem over three millennia as a symbolic focus of three faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Focus on the transformation of sacred space as reflected by literary and archaeological evidence by examining the testimony of artifacts, architecture, and iconography in relation to the written word. Study of the creation of mythic Jerusalem through event and experience, and discussion of the implications of this history on Jerusalem’s current political situation.
CM 138. American Religious History. Mr. Espinosa. Examines the role that religion has played in the history of the United States and asks students to explore critically how peoples and communities in various places and times have drawn upon religion to give meaning to self, group and nation. Covers a wide range of religious traditions, as well as regional, denominational and racial-ethnic dimensions within these groups.
142. The Problem of Evil: African-American Engagements With(in) Western Thought. Mr. Smith. Thematically explores the many ways African Americans have encountered and responded to evils (pain, wickedness and undeserved suffering) both as a part of and apart from the broader Western tradition. We will examine how such encounters trouble the distinction made between natural and moral evil, and how they highlight the tensions between theodicies and further ethical concerns.
158. Introduction to Jewish Mysticism. Ms. Eisenstadt. Close reading of selections from various texts of medieval Jewish mysticism in translation, including the Zohar, Abulafia, Cordovero, Luria, and the Hasidim.
CM 163. Women and Gender in the Jewish Tradition. Mr. Gilbert. Examines representation of women and gender in Jewish tradition and how women from biblical period to present have experienced Judaism. Attention to articulation of these issues in biblical and rabbinic texts, influence these texts have had on Jewish attitudes and practices, particular religious activities practiced by women, and opportunities and questions raised by developments in contemporary Judaism including liturgical revisions and ordination of women as rabbis.
HM 183. Ghosts and Machines. Ms. Dyson. Explores the interrelations between occult mediumship, modern media and technology in Europe and the United States from the nineteenth century through the present. Topics for the course include: ghostly visions and magic lantern phantasmagoria; American spiritualism and the telegraph; phrenology and rise of the archive; psychical research and stage magic; radio’s disembodied voices; and spirit photography and therapeutic light therapies; psychic television; magic on film.
190. Senior Seminar in Religious Studies. Ms. Kassam. Required for all senior majors. Advanced readings, discussion and seminar presentations on selected areas and topics in the study of religion.
191. Senior Thesis. Staff. Required of all senior majors in Religious Studies.
Related Courses
ANTH 25 SC. Anthropology of the Middle East.
ANTH 87 SC. Contemporary Issues: Gender and Islam.
ANTH 88 PZ. China: Gender, Cosmology, and the State.
ANTH 120. Altered States of Consciousness.
CLAS 65 SC. Pagans and Christians.
GOVT 138 CM. Religion & Politics in Latin America.
HIST 56 CM. Middle East: Ottomans to the Present.
HIST 165 CM. Middle East in Modern Times.
IIS 146 PZ. International Religions of the Middle East.
MUS 89A The Islamic Voice.
PHIL 84 PZ. Islamic Philosophy.
PHIL 170 SC. Philosophy of Religion.
REL 425 CGU. Survey of Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Mysticism.
REL 436 CGU. Islamic Law and Legal Theory.