Fall 2013

Course CRN Title Instructor
RST 1C -    Topic: "Sacrifice" A. Coudert
  50020    (sec. 1, Discussion Section) E. Taggart
  50021    (sec. 2, Discussion Section) E. Taggart
  50022    (sec. 3, Discussion Section) R. Judge
  50023    (sec. 4, Discussion Section) R. Judge
RST 1H -    Topic: "Religion and Law" M. Syed
  54057    (sec. 1, Discussion Section) M. Casey
  54058    (sec. 2, Discussion Section) M. Casey
  54059    (sec. 3, Discussion Section) M. Collins
  54060    (sec. 4, Discussion Section) M. Collins
RST 21 53883    Hebrew Scriptures W. Terry
RST 40 -    New Testament W. Terry                     
  53887    (sec. 1, Discussion Section) A. Jones
  53888    (sec. 2, Discussion Section) A. Jones
  53889    (sec. 3, Discussion Section) R. Cass
  53890    (sec. 4, Discussion Section) R. Cass
  53891    (sec. 5, Discussion Section) P. Milton
  53892    (sec. 6, Discussion Section) P. Milton
RST 65C 54056    The Qur'an and Its Interpretation                            M. Syed
RST 68 53885    Hinduism           A. Venkatesan
RST 100 50043    Study of Religion: Issues and Methods N. Janowitz
RST 150 53859    Religious Ethics M. O'Keefe
RST 160 53884    Introduction to Islamic Thought B. Tezcan
RST 190 54276    Historical Roots of the Study of Religion A. Coudert

 


Religious Studies 1C. Topics in Comparative Religions: "Sacrifice"
Prof. Allison Coudert, apcoudert@ucdavis.edu

Lecture: TR 9:00-10:20A, 6 Wellman

Discussion Sections:

Section     
Discussion Leader     
Day / Time     
Room
CRN
01 Eric Taggart T 4:10-5:00P 290 H Gym     50020    
02 Eric Taggart T 5:10-6:00P 290 H Gym 50021
03 Rajbir Judge W 4:10-5:00P 251 Olson 50022
04 Rajbir Judge W 5:10-6:00P 251 Olson 50023

Course Description: This course addresses the topic and practice of sacrifice in three major areas: sacrifice in specific religious traditions; sacrifice in the service of a country or nation; and sacrifice for romantic love. All three areas have religious implications inasmuch as they involve suffering and the pursuit of some higher ideal and/or physical or spiritual transformation, even to the point of death. During the first part of the course we will focus on sacrificial rituals in major world religions (Traditional Religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). The central question addressed will be why has sacrifice played such a prominent part in religions right up to the present? And what has encouraged humans to believe that supernatural beings demand the sacrificial death of men, women, children, and animals? In the second part of the course, we will examine the role of sacrifice in the formation of national identity and the promotion of patriotism. Finally we will look at Romanticism and the ideal of sacrificing oneself in the service of love. To help us understand these forms of sacrifice, we will analyze and evaluate various theories offered by scholars to explain sacrifice. Is it sufficient to understand sacrificial rituals as a means of communication with higher powers or as gift made in the hope of receiving something valuable in exchange? Or do we have to look more deeply into human nature and psychology and explain sacrifice as a response to human anxiety, aggression, and altruism? Finally, what, if any, role does gender play in sacrifice?

The course is introductory, and no prior academic study of religion is expected. The course fulfills the General Education requirement and emphasizes the development of skills in critical reading and analytic writing.

Prerequisite:  None.

GE credits (Old): Arts and Humanities, Domestic Diversity and Writing Experience.
GE credits (New): Arts and Humanities, Oral Literacy, Visual Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

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

Texts:

  • All texts will be online
     

Religious Studies 1H. Topics in Comparative Religions: "Religion and Law"
Mairaj Syed, msyed@ucdavis.edu

Lecture: TR 4:40-6:00P, 1227 Haring

Discussion Sections:

Section     
Discussion Leader     
Day / Time     
Room
CRN
01 Matthew Casey W 9:00-9:50A 151 Olson     54057    
02 Matthew Casey W 10:00-10:50A 125 Wellman    54058
03 Michael Collins R 2:10-3:00P 163 Olson 54059
04 Michael Collins R 3:10-4:00P 207 Olson 54060

Course Description: Religion and law are ubiquitous features of human societies. This course will consist of a comparative investigation of these two phenomena across different religious traditions, time periods, and areas of the world. In the first half of the course, we will analyze how Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have conceived of the law in broad terms. When possible, we will also look at how these religions regulated the institution of marriage. In the second half of the course, we will analyze how the emergence and popularization of the modern state affected the way the law was conceived by the different religions. We will end the course by looking at how different states attempted to regulate religion.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credits (Old): None.
GE credits (New): Arts and Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

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

Texts:

  • None
     

Religious Studies 21. Hebrew Scriptures
Wendy Terry, wrterry@ucdavis.edu

MWF 3:10-4:00P, 1204 Haring
CRN 53883

Course 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.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credits (Old): Arts & Humanities, Diversity, and Writing Experience.
GE credits (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Texts:

  • TBA
     

Religious Studies 40. New Testament
Wendy Terry, wrterry@ucdavis.edu

Lecture: MWF 9:00-9:50A, 1322 Storer

Discussion Sections:

Section     
Discussion Leader        
Day / Time     
Room
CRN
01 Abram Jones M 4:10-5:00P 125 Olson     53887    
02 Abram Jones M 5:10-6:00P 125 Olson 53888
03 Randall Cass M 6:10-7:00P 125 Olson 53889
04 Randall Cass T 4:10-5:00P 101 Wellman 53890
05 Piper Milton T 5:10-6:00P 101 Wellman 53891
06 Piper Milton T 6:10-7:00P 101 Wellman 53892

Course 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.

Prerequisite:  None.

GE credits (Old): Arts and Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credits (New): Arts and Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

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

Texts:

  • TBA
     

Religious Studies 65C. The Qur'an and Its Interpretation
Mairaj Syed, msyed@ucdavis.edu

TR 1:40-3:00P, 1007 Giedt
CRN 54056

Course Description: We will read and discuss about two-thirds of the Qur’an. We also study the structure and early history of the text. Finally, we consider several case studies in the interpretation of the scripture in the pre-modern period.

Prerequisite:  None.

GE credits (Old): Arts and Humanities, Domestic Diversity and Writing Experience.
GE credits (New): Arts and Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

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

Texts:

  • Neal Robinson, Discovering the Qur'an: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text(Georgetown University Press, 2004)
  • Thomas Cleary, The Qur'an: A New Translation (Starlatch Press, 2004)
     

Religious Studies 68. Hinduism
Prof. Archana Venkatesan, avenkatesan@ucdavis.edu

MWF 1:10-2:00P, 1130 Hart
CRN 53885

Course 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.

Prerequisite:  None.

GE credits (Old): Arts and Humanities, Diversity and Writing Experience.
GE credits (New): Arts and Humanities, Visual Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Writing.

Texts:

  • Gavin D. Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
  • Diana L. Eck, Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India (Columbia University Press, 1998)
     

Religious Studies 100. Study of Religion: Issues and Methods
Prof. Naomi Janowitz, nhjanowitz@ucdavis.edu

TR 1:40-3:00P, 90 SocSci
CRN 50043

Course Description: In the wake of the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the discovery of the new world, religion became a problem as never before. This class explores the development of this problem from the early modern period through the present, focusing on two wide-ranging narratives. The first concerns the declining authority of God and the reciprocal ascent of the individual as it develops in early-modern and modern philosophy including, for example, the writings of Nietzsche. The second concerns the birth and growth of the academic study of religion alongside the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, and sociology. We will text these theories against a selection of religious texts and rituals from a wide variety of ancient and contemporary traditions. Students are encouraged to investigate examples of particular interest to them (perhaps something from a prior Religious Studies course). This course is ideally taken no later than the junior year.

Prerequisite:  None.

GE credits (Old): None.
GE credits (New): Arts and Humanities or Social Sciences, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Texts:

  • Michael Foucault, Discipline and Punishment (Vintage, 1995)
  • Friedrich Nietzsche, Will to Power (Vintage, 1968)
  • Max Weber, The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Penguin, 2002)
  • Sigmund Freud, Three Case Histories (Touchstone, 1996)
  • Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (Oxford University Press, 2008)

[RECOMMENDED]

  • Jonathan Z. Smith, Relating Religion: Essays in the Study of Religion (University of Chicago Press, 2004)
     

Religious Studies 150. Religious Ethics
Meaghan O'Keefe, mmokeefe@ucdavis.edu

MWF 10:00-10:50A, 105 Olson
CRN 53859

Course Description: This course examines religious perspectives on ethical dilemmas that arise in pluralistic societies. Because the United States, and particularly California, has become increasingly diverse in terms of religious practice this means that as citizens affected by and interested in public policy we have to figure out how to straddle the line between respecting religious ethics and creating fair and equitable public policy.  Part of this process is learning about and understanding religious traditions outside of our own as well as deepening our understanding of those that are more familiar. Guided by these concerns, in this course you will become familiar with various ethical traditions, research their histories, and formulate academic arguments about religious ethics.

Prerequisite: RST 10 recommended.

GE credits (Old): None.
GE credits (New): Arts and Humanities and Writing Experience.

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

Texts:

  • Charles Mathewes, Understanding Religious Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)
     

Religious Studies 160. Introduction to Islamic Thought
Prof. Baki Tezcan, btezcan@ucdavis.edu

TR 9:00-10:20A, 101 Olson
CRN 53884

Course Description: This course surveys several trends within Islamic thought from the first centuries of Islam to the eighteenth century. Topics and authors covered include theology, philosophy, ethics, Sufism, historiography, political theory, al-Farabi, al-Ghazzali, Ibn Rushd, Tusi, Ibn al-Arabi, Rumi, Molla Sadra, Ibn Khaldun, and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab.

Prerequisite: RST 60 recommended.

GE credits (Old): Arts and Humanities or Social Sciences, Diversity and Writing Experience.
GE credits (New): Arts and Humanities, World Cultures, and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Extensive Writing.

Texts:

  • Majid Fakhry, A History of Islamic Philosophy, 3rd Edition (Columbia University Press, 2004)
     

Religious Studies 190. Historical Roots of the Study of Religion   
Allison Coudert, apcoudert@ucdavis.edu

T 3:10-6:00P, Sproul 822
CRN 54276

Course Description: Religious Studies is a modern discipline that emerged in the 19th century West, but the historical roots that made the discipline possible extend back into the early modern period. Between 1450 and 1750 there was a revolution in the way Europeans viewed the world. As a result of the recovery of classical texts, the voyages of discovery, and the spread of print culture, people began to realize that the past was different from the present and that cultures differed dramatically in terms of customs and beliefs. The Reformation and the Scientific Revolution further undermined traditional ways of thinking by discrediting the Aristotelian-Ptolemic worldview, which had been in place for a thousand years, and the ideal of a united Christendom. As we shall see magic, witchcraft, and esoteric thought of various kinds (alchemy, Kabbalah, Hermeticism) also played their part in challenging the conviction that Christianity offered the only valid religion for all people at all times. It was within this context that the idea of religion as a distinct and culturally-conditioned aspect of human experience developed. The goal of this course is to understand how these developments laid the foundation for the secular study of religion and why these developments occurred in the West and not in other parts of the world. An emphasis will be placed on reading primary texts.

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.

Format: Seminar - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Texts:

  • TBA