Fall 2014

Religious Studies 1D. Conversion (4 units)
Meaghan O'Keefe

Lecture: TR 3:10-4:30P, 194 Young Hall

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: This course examines the idea of conversion: what is conversion, why does it happen, and how do we know it has taken place?  As part of understanding what it means to convert or be converted, we will look at academic theories of conversion as well as descriptions of the conversion process from various religious traditions including American Islam, Afro-Brazilian religion, and Evangelical Christianity.

Prerequisite: None.

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

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

Textbooks: 

• Conversion of a Continent: Religious Change in Latin America, edited by Timothy J. Steigenga and Edward L. Cleary (Rutgers University Press, 2007)
• Malcolm X, et al., The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley (Random House,1999)
• Gerald Graff, et al., They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing [3rd Edition] (W.W. Norton & Company, 2014)
   

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Religious Studies 1E. Fundamentalism (4 units)
Flagg Miller

Lecture: TR 10:30-11:50A, 194 Young Hall

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: Introduction to the global and comparative study of religious fundamentalism. Special attention to the ways fundamentalist views of science, textual interpretation, colonialism, nationalism, media, sexuality, and violence reflect and shape the challenges of modern life.  Readings focus on Christianity in North American and the West as well other religious traditions including Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism.  Throughout the course we will investigate the ways studies of fundamentalism reflect broader trends in religious studies.  

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (Old): Arts and Humanities or Social Sciences; Diversity and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts and Humanities or Social Sciences; Oral Literacy, Visual Literacy and Writing Experience.

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

Textbooks:

• Justin Wilford, Sacred Subdivisions: The Postsuburban Transformation of American Evangelism (New York University Press, 2012)
• Brian Malley, How the Bible Works: An Anthropological Study of Evangelical Biblicism(AltaMira Press, 2004)
   

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Religious Studies 10. Crime and Punishment in the US (2 units)
Allison Coudert

MW 10:00-10:50A
176 Everson
CRN 63512

Course Description: This class will explore the myths, misconceptions, and half-truths that pervade our view of the criminal justice system and riddle the so-called “war on crime.” Can we build our way out of crime by constructing more and more prisons? Does harsh sentencing and an emphasis on deterrence with such programs as “Three Strikes and You’re Out” actually reduce crime? Why are more people of color imprisoned for drug offenses when drug use is only slightly higher among black than white Americans and actually lower among Hispanics? Why are 2/3 of those serving life sentences African-Americans and Hispanics? How is it possible that the US has the world’s highest rate of incarceration and at the same time the industrial world’s highest levels of deadly violence? In 2013 14,827 people were murdered in the US. This is 5 times the homicide rate in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark, 10 times that of Australia and 11 times that of Japan. Are guns the problem? If so, how can we explain the fact that Canadians actually own more guns per capita than US citizens but have a much lower homicide rate? These are just some of the contentious and very complex issues that have polarized Americans over the issue of crime and punishment. The class will feature outside speakers representing different aspects of and attitudes toward the criminal justice system, from judges, public defenders and prosecutors to exonerated offenders, representatives of the union of prison guards in Focus on The Death Penalty.   

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 2 hours.

Textbooks:

• All readings will be made available on SmartSite
   

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Religious Studies 21. Hebrew Scriptures (4 units)
Wendy Terry

TR 3:10-4:30P
146 Olson
CRN 64161

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

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbook:

• Michael D. Coogan, A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in its Context [2nd Edition] (Oxford University Press, 2011)
   

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Religious Studies 65C. The Qur'an and its Interpretation (4 units)
Baki Tezcan

MWF 1:10-2:00P
1130 Hart
CRN 63769

Course Description: This course aims to examine the Qur’an in some detail. In the first part, we will engage with some of the early chapters of the Qur’an directly. Then we will learn about how the Qur’an had come to being in the way we know it today. In the third part of the course, we will study the interpretation of the Qur’an in the Islamic tradition by covering such topics as the development of the Islamic exegetical tradition, the Qur’an and Islamic law, prominent exegetes in the Muslim tradition, and modern trends in Qur’anic exegesis. 

In the fourth part, the course will explore the major themes of the Qur’an, such as God, the human being as individual, the human being in society, nature, prophethood and revelation, eschatology, Satan and evil, and other religions, all from the viewpoint of a Muslim modernist, the late Fazlur Rahman. We will also make an effort to contrast his views with those of earlier commentators. The last part of the course will be devoted to some of the most recent discussions in the interpretation of the Qur’an, such as the meaning of jihad and the Qur’an and woman.

Prerequisite:  None.

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

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

Textbooks:

• Al-Qur’an: A Contemporary Translation, translated by Ahmed Ali (Princeton University Press, 2001)
• Michael Sells, Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations [2nd Edition] (White Cloud Press, 2006)
• Helmut Gätje, The Qur’ân and Its Exegesis: Selected Texts with Classical and Modern Interpretations, translated by Alford T. Welch (Oneworld, 1996)
• Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of the Qur’an [2nd Edition] (University of Chicago Press, 2009)
• Amina Wadud, Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective (Oxford University Press, 1999)
   

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Religious Studies 130. Social Construction of Religion; Natural, Supernatural and Hypernatural (4 units)
Naomi Janowitz

TR 1:40-3:00P
101 Olson
CRN 64571

Course Description: From the ancient world to today people have tried to categorize the forces that seem to shape their lives, calling some religion, some magic and some science. This course will begin with selected ancient examples of putting powerful forces into play including love charms and rituals to divinize humans into gods. The course will then consider modern and post-modern attempts to conceptualize mental and physical forces including spirituality, psychotherapy, hyperobjects, and physics. *RST 130 will satisfy the RST 100 requirement for the major.*

Prerequisite: Any of the following courses: RST 01, 02, 03A, 03B, or 03C, or consent of the instructor.

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture/Discussion--3 hours; Term paper

Textbooks:

• Chris White, Unsettled Minds: Psychology and the American Search for Spiritual Assurance, 1830-1940 (University of California Press, 2008)
• Ian Hacking, The Social Construction of What? (Harvard University Press, 2000)
• Owen Davies, Magic: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2012)
• Thomas Dixon, Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2008)
   

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Religious Studies 134. Human Rights (4 units)
Keith Watenpaugh

MW 2:10-4:00P
115 Hutchison
CRN 63772

Course Description: This upper division course introduces students to the comparative and critical study of Human Rights. Students will study the theoretical, historical and practical foundations of human rights in various civilizations, cultures and religions, evaluate the role of Human Rights within western and non-western societies, and examine the role of human rights thinking, policy and institutions in the contemporary world. Of particular interest will be the intersection of the question of human rights and religious difference and the role religious institutions and movements have in the protection/violation of human rights.

Prerequisite: None. (Students who have completed RST 90 are ineligible to receive credit for RST 134)

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities or Social Sciences; Diversity and Writing Experience.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities or Social Sciences; World Cultures and Writing Experience.

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

Textbooks:

• All course readings will be available on SmartSite or elsewhere online
   

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Religious Studies 163. Social Life of Islam (4 units)
Flagg Miller

TR 3:10-4:30P
101 Olson
CRN 63774

Course Description: This course provides an introduction to culture and social life in Muslim societies. Special attention is devoted to family life, sexuality, ethics, youth culture, urbanization and modern forms of public activism.  Throughout the course, we explore the extent to which religion can be considered an ordering system or, as sociologist Peter Berger puts it, a formula for “world maintenance.”  We continuously situate this approach in relation to social and economic struggles underway in the Middle East and North Africa, focusing especially on Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco.  Complementing and in tension with regional case studies we investigate how Muslim ways of life and understandings of religion have been shaped by global processes that extend beyond the Arab world.  Central to course goals will be developing a critical vocabulary for assessing the influences of the West and neoliberalism on Muslim selfhood.  

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): None.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• Michael Sells, Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations [2nd Edition] (White Cloud Press, 2007)
• Fatima Mernissi, Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (Perseus Books, 1995)
• Lara Deeb, An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi`i Lebanon (Princeton University Press, 2006) 
• Gabriele Marranci, Jihad Beyond Islam (Bloomsbury Academic, 2006)
   

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Religious Studies 175. Daoist Traditions (4 units)  [Cross-listed with CHN 100A]
Mark Halperin

MW 10:00-11:50A
1 Wellman
CRN 63497

Course Description: Chinese culture would be unimaginable without the Daoist tradition. This course will investigate Daoism in its multitude of manifestations. No Chinese book has gone through more translations than the Daoist classic, the Daodejing, and we will explore how Chinese have chosen to understand this work. In addition, we will analyze tales of amazing immortals and the Daoist afterlife, various approaches to alchemy, Daoist ritual practice, and Daoism and violence. In so doing, we will see how Chinese have conceived of divinity, power, virtue, and the world of the dead. Short writing exercises will include creative assignments as well as expository commentary.

Prerequisite: CHN 011 or a course in Chinese history recommended.

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

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 4 hours.

Textbooks:

• Terry F. Kleeman, A God's Own Tale: The Book of Transformations of Wenchang, the Divine Lord of Zitong (SUNY Press, 1994)
• Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, translated by D.C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1964)
   

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Religious Studies 190. Historical Roots of the Study of Religion (4 units) 
Allison Coudert

W 3:10-6:00P
203 Wellman
CRN 63513

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. *RST 190 will satisfy the RST 100 requirement for the major.*

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. (Click here to e-mail instructor )

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): None.

Format: Seminar - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• Allison P. Coudert, Religion, Magic, and Science in Early Modern Europe and America(Praeger, 2011)
• Voltaire, Candide, translated by Francois-Marie Arouet (Dover Publications, 1991)