| Course | Section | Title | Instructor |
|---|---|---|---|
| HEB 3 | 001 | Elementary Hebrew | A. Raab |
| HEB 23 | 001 | Intermediate Modern Hebrew | A. Raab |
| RST 1 | 001 | Survey of Religion | W. Terry |
| A01 | Disc. | ||
| RST 1A | 001 | Pilgrimage | Tezcan/Venkatesan |
| A01 | Disc. | ||
| A02 | Disc. | ||
| A03 | Disc. | ||
| A04 | Disc. | ||
| A05 | Disc. | ||
| A06 | Disc. | ||
| RST 124 | 001 | Palestinian/Israel Film | A. Raab |
| RST 130 | 001 | Ghosts | W. Lai |
| RST 130 | 001 | Anti-Semitism | R. Galoob |
| RST 141B | 001 | John | W. Terry |
| RST 172 | 001 | Zen Buddhism | W. Lai |
| RST 201 | 001 | Language of Heresy | F. Miller |
Hebrew 3: Elementary Hebrew
Description: Continuation of Hebrew 2.
Format:
Prerequisite: Hebrew 2 or consent of instructor.
Text: TBA.
Hebrew 23: Intermediate Modern Hebrew
Description: Continuation of Hebrew 22.
Format:
Prerequisite: Hebrew 22 or consent of instructor.
Text: TBA.
Religious Studies 1: Survey of Religion (MW 2:00-3:30)
Disc. A01 (MW 3:40-4:00) CRN
Course format:
Prerequisite:
Text: TBA.
Religious Studies 1A: Pilgrimage (MWF 1:10-2:00)
Disc. A01 93183 (W 4:10-5)
Disc. A02 93184 (W 5:10-6)
Disc. A03 93187 (R 4:10-5)
Disc. A04 93189 (R 5:10-6)
Disc. A05 93190 (M 9-9:50)
Disc. A06 93191 (T 3:10-4)
Description: Come join us in a journey that will explore the meaning of religion through one of the most moving religious experiences: pilgrimage. In the first part of the course, we will start with thinking about what religion is, then move on to methods in the study of religion, ask ourselves what pilgrimage is all about, ponder such intriguing questions as civil religion, and tackle seemingly secular pilgrimages that involve Star Trek and motorcycles. The second part is devoted to the study of pilgrimage in Hindu and Buddhist traditions while the third part will focus on pilgrimage in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In short, we will introduce you to methods in comparative religion, focusing on the theme of pilgrimage in a variety of religious and seemingly secular traditions. There will be three written assignments geared to creatively evaluate your understanding of religion and pilgrimage in different traditions, including “secular” ones.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 4 hours.
Prerequisite: None.
Text: A Course Reader.
Religious Studies 124: Palestinian/Israel Film
Description: For the past 130 years, the encounter between the Israeli and Palestinian people has been one of strife and war, but also filled with many expressions of friendship and hope. Beyond the statements of the guns there exists a rich tradition of artists and writers, on both sides, looking at the “other” and their relations with each other. Film and literature often reflect dominant values in their society as well as help to shape new ways of seeing and of action. This class will examine artistic expressions of the complex and tangled relationship between the two nations.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Prerequisite: course 23 or consent of instructor.
Texts:
- Joe Sacco, Palestine
- Ehud Ben Ezer (ed.), Sleepwalkers and Other Stories: The Arab in Hebrew Fiction
- Salma Khadra Jayyusi (ed.), Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature
- David Lesch, The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History
Religious Studies 130: Special Topic - Ghosts
Description:
Format:
Prerequisite: one from course 1, 2, 3A, 3B, or 3C or consent of instructor.
Texts:
- Pu Songling and John Minford, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
- Jean-Claude Schmit, Ghosts in the Middle Ages
- A Course Reader
Religious Studies 130: Special Topic - Anti-Semitism
Description: The relationship between Jews and non-Jews has often been marred by feelings of antipathy for Jews, both latent and explicit, all too often expressed as violent outbursts against individual Jews and entire Jewish populations. This phenomenon is most commonly referred to as anti-Semitism. This class will explore the historical, social and theological roots of anti-Semitism and its development over time, with an emphasis on Jewish/Christian interactions within a European context. The class will combine lecture and discussion in an effort to advance an open dialogue between students of different faiths on this sensitive and central issue of Jewish/Christian relations.
Format:
Prerequisite: one from course 1, 2, 3A, 3B, or 3C or consent of instructor.
Texts:
- Rosemary Ruether, Faith and Fracticide
- A Course Reader
Religious Studies 141B: John
Description:
Format:
Prerequisite:
Texts: TBA.
Religious Studies 172: Zen Buddhism
Description: This course will pick up where RST 170: Buddhism leaves off. But you do not have to have taken the 170 course to be enrolled. 170 covers the history of Buddhism, its ideas and its realities, changes in its institutional set-up, from the time of the Buddha, through the sectarian days, and the continuation into the living Theravada tradition in the southern path. It also covers the rise of Mahayana and the basic tenets and ideational developments.
RST 172 will be covering primarily the history of Chinese Buddhism from the early reception of the Dharma (teachings), through the period of study seeking to digest the wealth of traditions, to the flowering of that Buddha Dharma in the high T'ang period. Although Zen Buddhism is listed as the course title, the class covers far more than that one tradition. Zen or Ch'an is presented only as one major culmination of a Snitic Mahayana development. (Students in International Studies taking this class will be exposed to more than the "Pop Zen" angle: the course will cover the socio-psychological and politico-historical dimensions of this faith.
Buddhist Studies in general and Zen research in particular have, in the last decade, witnessed new uncharted twists and unexpected turns. The basic textbook, Heinrich Dumoulin's Zen Buddhism vol. I covering India and China, is one summation of what scholars a generation or two ago have done. We will use that as a stepping stone to seeing what else can be and is being done by scholars today. (The class will not get into Japanese Zen which is covered in vol. 2 of Dumoulin's book, but enough attention would be paid to how Zen came to America from Japan and why the field is where it is now.) The student is encouraged to explore the InterNet, esp. such advanced resources as the Zen center at Hanazono University, etc. Other readings, esp. from the instructor's published research, will be provided and employed as investigative means to getting at the subject matter.
For readings from primary texts, we will use Donald Lopez ed. Buddhist Scriptures issued by Penguin. (There is an older edition by Edward Conze; it has the same ISBN number. It will do also, since we have accepted both in RST 170. Before students can come to this class without any Indian Buddhist background, the class like Dumoulin's book will begin from the beginning--with the life and teachings of ths historical Buddha.)
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Prerequisite: None
Texts:
- Donald Lopez (ed.), The Buddhist Scriptures
- Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History, Indian & China
Religious Studies 201: Language of Heresy
Description: Amidst global struggles for cultural identity, the power to name constitutes an elemental means of discipline and exclusion. This is especially apparent in religious discourse. This course proposes focusing on heresy in order to explore how named identities are historicized, spatialized, and embodied. Readings will emphasize cross-cultural and cross-historical approaches to heretical discourse, focusing especially on Christianity and Islam. Part of the course will examine case studies of foundational heresy outbreaks, including those in medieval England, early modern France, and the 9th-12th century Islamic Middle East. We will also investigate the legacies of such contexts for modern charges of heresy and “fundamentalism” in contemporary settings, especially the post 9/11 United States. Close readings of specific heretical texts will be conducted, and may include those by Ann Askew and Osama Bin Laden, among others. Special attention will be given to text production, authorship, gender, culturally situated notions of silence and censorship, intersections of religion and ethics, and relations between law and religion. Throughout the course we will give special emphasis to the work of Michel de Certeau and Michel Foucault.
Format: Seminar - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
Texts (tentative) :
- Michel De Certeau, The Mystic Fable: Vol.1 The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
- Foucault, Discipline and Punish
- John B. Henderson, The Construction of Orthodoxy and Heresy: Neo-Confucian, Islamic, Jewish, and Early Christian Patterns
- Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, Books Under Suspicion: Censorship and Tolerance of Revelatory Writings in Late Medieval England
- Vincent Crapanzano, Serving the Word: Literalism in America from the Pulpit to the Bench
- Anouar Majid, A Call for Heresy: Why Dissent is Vital to Islam and America
- R.I. Moore, Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Wester Europe (950-1250)