Spring 2015

Religious Studies 001F. Contemporary Religion (4 units)
Flagg Miller

Lecture:
MWF 12:10-1:00P
206 Olson Hall

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: This course introduces students to the ways religious communities engage with some of the thorniest problems facing contemporary life on the planet.  Special emphasis is given to themes of civil society, environmental degradation, capitalism, violence, and terrorism.  Readings focus on Christianity in North American and the West as well other religious traditions, especially Islam.  Each section of the course will introduce students to these and other themes, exploring them through specific historical examples, and using them to discuss larger (theoretical/methodological) problems with studying and defining religion.

Prerequisite: None.

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

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

Textbooks: 

• Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence [3rd Edition]  (University of CA Press, 2003)
• Asra Q. Nomani, Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam  (HarperOne, 2006)
   

---

Religious Studies 001G. Myth, Ritual, and Symbolism (4 units)
Naomi Janowitz

Lecture:
TR 9:00-10:20A
206 Olson Hall

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the academic study of religion. 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.

We begin the course with a set of introductory questions: What is myth? What is ritual? What is a symbol? From there we turn to six specific cases of secrecy in various religious tradition. In tandem with these cases we will carefully read major scholarly works on religion.

Prerequisite: None.

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

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

Textbooks:

• Euripides, Bacchae, translated by Paul Woodruff  (Hackett Publishing Co., 1998)
• Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, translated by Carol Cosman  (Oxford University Press, 2008)
• John Berger, Ways of Seeing  (Penguin Classics, 1990)
• Matilde Battistini, Symbols and Allegories in Art  (J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005)
   

---

Religious Studies 010. Contemporary Ethical Issues (4 units)
Baki Tezcan

MW 10:00-10:50A
2 Wellman Hall
CRN 53513

Course Description: Did Moses believe in democracy? Would Buddha get involved in politics? Would Jesus vote? What would Muhammad do? Should their opinions on politics matter for us? Who has the authority to tell us what exactly Buddha, Jesus, Moses, or Muhammad would say on any of this? Come and join some of the best instructors on campus as they explore the relationship between politics and religion throughout history, all the way from Ancient Rome to contemporary Afghanistan.

Throughout the spring quarter, the students in this class will reflect on the ethical implications of religion in politics as they are listening to lectures on such varied topics as a Buddhist monk at the Tang court; the Covenant of the Old Testament; Rome vs. the Christians; Constantine, Christianity, and the Roman Empire; the Zoroastrian order of the world; a Muslim discussion on the social utility of prophets; the Crusades; the Christianization of Spain; Sunni-Shiite political rivalry in the early modern Islamic world; religion in early American history; secularism; Osama bin Laden’s audiotapes; the Zionist movement; and modern Turkish politics.

Rather than teaching a “lesson,” this course aims to expose students to various combinations of politics and religion throughout history with a view to raise an awareness of the ethical problems that these combinations created.

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 posted on SmartSite
   

---

Religious Studies 030. Religions of South Asia (4 units)
Mark Elmore

Lecture:
MWF 11:00-11:50A
176 Chemistry Building

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: The goal of this course is to introduce students to the vibrant religious traditions of South Asia. The course will examine Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and Jain traditions as well as the ancient and modern contexts in which they are situated. In order to guide our inquiries, we will focus on four major historical periods when the structure and function of daily life in South Asia changed radically (the emergence of asceticism, the definition and defense of tradition, communal interrelations, and confrontations with modernity.).  Each of these innovations contributed significantly to what are now recognized as the religions of South Asia.

Among other things, this course seeks to reexamine the multiple pasts of South Asia without projecting modern categories onto those diverse traditions and practices. Accordingly, we will examine Upanisadic texts and the four noble truths as more than tenants of ‘Hinduism’ or ‘Buddhism.’ Throughout the course we will ask how appropriate these concepts are for understanding the premodern traditions of South Asia. The class will include extensive use of visual resources in addition to traditional texts.

Prerequisite: None.

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

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

Textbooks:

• TBA
   

---

Religious Studies 042. Religion and Science Fiction (4 units)
Wendy Terry

MWF 9:00-9:50A
118 Olson Hall
CRN 52589

Course Description: Isaac Asimov wrote, “Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions.” It will be our pleasure during spring quarter to explore several of these ‘changes,’ ‘consequences,’ and ‘solutions’ through the reading of four novels set in America, a handful of short stories, and through our discussions of the material. We will ask questions like: What is the origin of religion? What are the differences between sacrifice and suicide, martyrdom and murder? What is the value of life, of human life? What is purity and desecration? What is or should be the connection between religion and politics, between religion and science? Students will also have the opportunity to write their own short fiction inspired by themes in the class (the grading for which will be based on participation in the process, not on the ‘quality’ of the story produced). We welcome your participation in these exciting conversations as we explore our world through science fiction.

Prerequisite:  None.

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

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• Walter M. Miller, Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz  (Bantam Spectra, 1984)
• Neil Gaiman, American Gods  (HarperTorch, 2002)
• Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale  (Anchor, 1998)
• Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead  (Tor Books, 1992)
   

---

Religious Studies 060. Introduction to Islam (4 units)
Mairaj Syed

MW 12:10-1:30P
212 Wellman Hall
CRN 49583

Course Description: This course aims to introduce the students to topics that are central to the Islamic tradition, such as Muhammad, the Qur’an, Islamic law, theology, philosophy, worship, and mysticism. The course will also cover topics of interest to students who want to understand contemporary Islam, such as gender, violence, and varying experiences of Islam in different historical and cultural settings, including the contemporary US.

Prerequisite: None.

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

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

Textbooks:

• None
   

---

Religious Studies 080. Religion, Gender, Sexuality (4 units)
Allison Coudert

TR 4:40-6:00P
118 Olson Hall
CRN 52590

Course Description: This course examines the constructions of gender and sexuality within different religious traditions, both pre-modern and modern. Topics covered include: pre-modern and modern definitions of masculinity and femininity and the religious implications of these definitions in terms of status of persons of differing genders or of non-gender-normative persons. We will also discuss the way gender stereotypes influence the appearance, dress, and behavior of individuals in different religious traditions. The course also examines historical constructions of sexual behavior and the interaction between these constructions and different religious identities, for example in religious requirements of celibacy, procreation, or polygamy. The course introduces students to the variety of changes and conflicts in different religious attitudes toward gendered and sexual behavior such as marriage, reproduction, abortion, and homosexuality. It also examines the reciprocal effects that ideas of gender and sexuality have on human notions of the divine and on notions of divine and human interaction, for example in the use of sexual language to describe mystical experience. A focus of the class will be on the way the art of different religious traditions reflects prevailing assumptions about gender and sexuality.

Prerequisite: None.

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

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

Textbooks:

• Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity  (Vintage Books, 1989)
• Dag Olstein Endsjo, Sex and Religion: Teachings and Taboos in the History of World Faiths  (Reaktion Books, 2011)
   

---

Religious Studies 102. Christian Origins (4 units)
Catherine Chin

TR 1:40-3:00P
167 Olson Hall
CRN 52591

Course Description: This course is designed as an introduction to early Christian thought and practice for advanced undergraduates. It will focus on the intellectual and social issues that preoccupied Christian thinkers from approximately the year 100 to approximately the year 500, and will examine the ways in which early Christians thought about the content of the statement “I am a Christian.” These are the dominant questions behind the course:

• What were different Christian identities, and how did people claim them?
• How did Christian communities develop rituals and beliefs (and vice versa)?
• How and why did Christian identities change over the first five centuries?

These questions cannot be answered in a single quarter course. In order to begin to address them, this course takes just two major themes in early Christian thought -- the idea of a social and ritual community, or church, and the idea of a set of fundamental identifying beliefs, or a creed -- and introduces some of the diverse approaches that Christian writers took in thinking about them.

Prerequisite: Religious Studies 040.

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

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

Textbooks:

• Robert Wilken, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them [2nd Edition]  (Yale University Press, 2003)
• Eusebius, The Church History, translated by Paul L. Maier  (Kregel Academic and Professional, 2007)
   

---

Religious Studies 143. New Testament Apocrypha (4 units)
Catherine Chin

TR 9:00-10:20A
207 Olson Hall
CRN 52593

Course Description: This course examines the production of Christian writing attributed to, or describing, New Testament figures, outside of the canonical New Testament. The first, and longer, part of the course surveys ancient non-canonical Christian writings produced by a variety of Christian groups, all of which appeal to New Testament figures and literary devices for their authority. The second part of the course examines the continuing use of New Testament figures in modern writing, and considers how the ideas of canonicity and extra-canonical status contribute to modern debates over the authority of ancient figures and texts.

This course addresses the question of how literary and religious authority has been produced in texts, both in antiquity and in the present; it thereby introduces students to critical perspectives on what are often seen as authoritative texts within major cultural and religious traditions. By examining non-canonical writing from ancient and modern sources, students will be trained to consider the relationships between discourses of authority and discourses outside traditional networks of authority in religious contexts.

Prerequisite: Religious Studies 040.

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.

Textbooks:

• Bart Ehrman, Lost Scriptures: Books that did not Make it into the New Testament  (Oxford University Press, 2005)
• Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code  (Anchor Books, 2009)
   

---

Religious Studies 150. Religious Ethics (4 units)
Meaghan O'Keefe

TR 3:10-4:30P
105 Olson Hall
CRN 52594

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: Religious Studies 010 recommended.

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

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

Textbook:

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

---

Religious Studies 158. The Ramayana (4 units)     Cross-listed with COM 156
Archana Venkatesan

W 2:10-5:00P
1344 Storer Hall
CRN 53642

Course Description: This course examines Ramayana story traditions with a primary focus on its many literary and oral variants.

Prerequisite: None.

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

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• Swami Venkatesananda, The Concise Rāmāyana of Vālmīki  (SUNY Press, 1988)
• Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia, edited by Paula Richman  (University of California Press, 1991)
• The Ramayana Revisited, edited by Mandakranta Bose  (Oxford University Press, 2004)
• Pudumaipithan, Narada Ramayanam: An Allegory of Indian History from Rama to Hindi, translated by S. Ganesan  (iUniverse, Inc., 2007)
   

---

Religious Studies 170. Buddhism (4 units)
Mark Elmore

MWF 1:10-2:00P
90 Social Sciences Building
CRN 52596

Course Description: This course examines Buddhism in its pan-Asian manifestations, from its beginning in India to its development in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Central Asia, China and Japan. Topics will cover: cultural context of Buddhist prehistory; life of the Buddha and his teaching; basic teachings of the councils and questions of canonization; the period of King Asoka and the spread of Buddhism; the cult of the Buddha, relics and stupas, and background to the Lotus Sutra; the rise of Mayhana Buddhism; growth of Buddhism in China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet (prior culture and variant styles); and Buddhism in the Modern World.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Visual Literacy and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• TBA 
   

---

Religious Studies 396. Teaching Assistant Training Practicum (Variable units)

(CRN ***)
(CRN ***)
(CRN ***)