Fall 2009

 

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Note:

Effective Fall 2009, the Hebrew Language Courses will now be housed under the Classics Program. To find out more information about course schedule and expanded course descriptions, please click HERE (It will lead you to the Classics Program Website).

For the meantime, please contact Maria Saldana-Seibert, Undergraduate Program Coordinator, for any questions at (530) 752-1219.
 

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Religious Studies 1: Survey of Religion
(Lecture: TR 12:10-13:30, 206 Olson)
Prof. Wendy Terry

Disc. A01 (M 9:00-9:50, 1020 Wickson) CRN 43708
Disc. A02 (M 1:10-2:00, 110 Hunt) CRN 43709 
Disc. A03 (T 3:10-4:00, 116 Veihmeyer) CRN 43710
Disc. A04 (R 4:10-5:00, 117 Olson) CRN 43711
Disc. A05 (F 4:10-5:00, 117 Olson) CRN 43712
Disc. A06 (F 2:10-3:00, 267 Olson) CRN 43713

Description: This course is an introductory survey of religions and assumes no academic knowledge on the part of the student. We will spend the first half of the term introducing students to the Vedic traditions (Hinduism and Buddhism) and Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) through primary source readings and video clips from contemporary practice. The second half of the class will be devoted to introducing students to traditional and new religious traditions, covering examples close to home (e.g., Wintun and Heaven’s Gate) and examples from the other side of the globe (e.g., Australian Aboriginal and Aum Shinrikyo). This is all done in an effort to ask questions and hopefully glean some basic understandings about religion, its place in the world, and its dynamicity. Because it would be impossible to cover all religious traditions in the time allotted for one course, students will be given the opportunity to choose a religious tradition for a group presentation to take place during the last week of class. GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.

Course Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Prerequisite: None.

Text:

• A Course Reader

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Religious Studies 1G: Myth, Ritual, Symbol
(Lecture: TR 10:30-11:50, TR 10:30-11:50)
Prof. Naomi Janowitz

Disc. A01 (T 3:10-4:00, 217 Olson) CRN 43978
Disc. A02 (M 4:10-5:00, 141 Olson) CRN 43979
Disc. A03 (W 9:00-9:50, 1020 Wickson) CRN 43980
Disc. A04 (R 4:10-5:00, 80 Social Science & Humanities) CRN 43981
Disc. A05 (F 4:10-5:00, 159 Olson) CRN 43982
Disc. A06 (F 5:10-6:00, 159 Olson) CRN 43983

Description: The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the academic study of religion. During the first unit of the course we will examine myths from numerous religious traditions (primary texts) and scholarly approaches to the study of myth (method readings). The second unit focuses on rituals and scholarly theories about ritual. The course is introductory, and no prior academic study of religion is expected. As a General Education course, the requirements emphasize the development of skills in critical reading, analytic writing and oral argumentation. GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Prerequisite: None.

Texts:

• Euripides, The Bacchae
• Wendy Doniger (editor), Hindu Myths
• Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
• C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

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Religious Studies 10: Ethical Eating 
(Lecture: TR 12:10-1:30, 1003 Giedt) CRN 43721
Prof. Allison Courdert

RST 10A - 01 (M 5:10-6:00) CRN 43723
RST 10A - 02 (T 6:10-7:00) CRN 43725 
RST 10A - 03 (W 5:10-6:00) CRN 43726
RST 10A - 04 (R 6:10-7:00) CRN 43727
RST 10A - 05 (F 10:00-10:50) CRN 43728
RST 10A - 06 (F 11:00-11:50) CRN 43729

Description: This course presents students to challenging, contemporary perspective. For this course, students will explore the the issue of ethical eating.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour; Term Paper.

Prerequisite: None.

Text:

• Michael Pollan, An Omnivore's Dilemma
• Simon Blackburn, Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics

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Religious Studies 21: Hebrew Scriptures
(TR 9:00-10:20, 147 Olson) CRN 40033
Prof. Wendy Terry

Description: This course introduces students to the Hebrew Scriptures through selected primary source readings and secondary modern scholarship. No previous academic knowledge is expected or required. Course work is done in English translation; therefore, no knowledge of Hebrew is required. Students will be exposed to a variety of modern critical tools for analysis, including historical, literary and sociological approaches. GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Prerequisite: None.

Text:

• TBA (Please contact the instructor for more information)

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Religious Studies 40: New Testament
(Lecture: MWF 11:00-11:50, 6 Wellman)
Prof. Catherine Chin

Disc. A01 (W 5:10-6:00) CRN 40034
Disc. A02 (W 6:10-6:00) CRN 40035 
Disc. A03 (R 5:10-6:00) CRN 40036
Disc. A04 (R 6:10-6:00) CRN 40037
Disc. A05 (F 9:00-9:50) CRN 40038
Disc. A06 (F 10:00-10:50) CRN 40039

Description: This course is an introduction to the study of earliest Christianity, and of the documents that came to be understood as a “New Testament” in the early centuries of Christian history. In order to understand these documents, we will be looking at many different aspects of the contexts in which they were written. Students will come to an understanding of how Christian thought emerged from: the political situation of Judaism in Roman Palestine; the intellectual and cultural situation of Judaism in the wider Hellenistic and Roman world; Greek and Roman religions and philosophies; Greek and Roman literary genres. Students will also learn the basic methods of modern New Testament studies, in order to understand why the academic study of the New Testament takes the shape that it does, and why New Testament scholars ask the questions that they ask.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Prerequisite: None.

Text:

• Bart Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings
• The New Oxford Annotated Bible

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Religious Studies 60: Introduction to Islam --  CANCELLED
 

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Religious Studies 68: Hinduism
(MWF 10:00-10:50, 158 Olson) CRN 43503
Prof. Archana Venkatesan

Description: This course is a survey of Hinduism. The course will introduce students to Hinduism's major philosophical ideas, and to the diversity of Hinduism in India and in the diaspora. Students will read and analyze a number of primary sources (in translation) including selections from the Upanisads, Bhagavad Gita, the devotional poetry of south Indian and north Indian poets, and the writings of Hindu reformers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours. Term Paper.

Prerequisite: None.

Texts:

• Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism
• A Course Reader

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Religious Studies 120: Religion, Magic, and Science
(TR 3:10-4:30, 141 Olson) CRN 43504
Prof. Allison Courdert

Description: This course examines the religion, magic, and science from the middle ages to the present. Student will explore the contrast between scientific methodology and religious and magical thinking.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Prerequisite: None.

Text:

• A Course Reader

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Religious Studies 130: Women and Goddesses
(MWF 1:10-2:00, 223 Olson) CRN 40048
Prof. Archana Venkatesan

Description: This seminar explores goddesses and the religious lives of Hindu women within two large categories (however fluid), how women worship and how female deities are worshiped. In doing so, the course interrogates specific roles that Hindu women assume such as the goddess, mystic/teacher, the exemplary devotee, the poetic trope of the female heroine, and the ways in which women resist or subvert these categories. 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.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Prerequisite: one course from 1, 2, 3A, 3B, or 3C or consent of instructor

Texts:

• John Hawley, Devi: Goddesses of India
• A Course Reader

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Religious Studies 135: Heaven and Hell
(Lecture: MW 12:10-1:30, 167 Olson) CRN 43506
(Film Viewing: M 4:10-7:00, 101 Olson)
Prof. Alon Raab

Description: Known by many names and in various guises, God and Satan are the most central figures in many cultures. This class will explore some of their manifestations and actions through the lens of film. While the focus will be on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, we will also note their importance in other religions.

The class will address some of the key stories and themes of the Bible including the story of creation, the Ten Commandments, and Good and Evil. Ways in which the Bible and its spirit are expressed literally, symbolically and through images will be included.

We will use primary source materials from the Tanach and the New Testament, as well as Midrashim, Agadah, and scholarly works. Genres will include historical spectacles, rock music videos and musicals, the contemporary Jesus, and the Apocalypse.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Film Viewing - 3 hours.

Prerequisite: Humanities 10 recommended.

Texts:

• Karen Armstrong, A History of God
• Elaine Pagesl, The Origin of Satan
• Mikhael Bulgakov, Master and Margarita
• A Course Reader

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Religious Studies 140: Christian Theology
(MWF 1:10-2:00, 1128 Hart) CRN 43961
Prof. Catherine Chin

Description: This course examines the history of Christian thought through the lens of traditional problems in "God-talk": how have people in the Christian tradition historically attempted to describe something (God) that has usually been understood as beyond human comprehension? Topics to be covered include classical doctrines of Trinity and Christology, human relationships to the divine, and the problem of how "theology" relates to the formation of Christian communities.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Prerequisite: course 40; course 102 recommended.

Text:

• Alister McGrath, Christian Theology
• A Course Reader

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Religious Studies 162: Introduction to Islamic Law
(MWF 9:00-9:50, 212 Wellman) CRN 43909
Prof. Baki Tezcan

Description: This course surveys the development of Islamic law in interaction with economic, social, and political conditions in the Middle East since the rise of Islam in the seventh century. Topics covered include the development of regional legal schools in parallel to the geographical expansion of Islam, legal theory and the sources of Islamic law, the general structure of the shari'a, continuity and change in Islamic law, reformist movements, Islam and the modern law of nations, criminal law and human rights, commercial law, family law, and women’s rights.

Grading: First paper (15%); second paper (20%); third paper (25%); final exam (30%); lecture participation (10%).

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Extensive Writing.

Prerequisite: course 60 recommended.

Texts:

• Bernard G. Weiss, The Spirit of Islamic Law
• Wael B. Hallaq, Authority, Continuity, and Change in Islamic Law
• A Course Reader