Winter 2016

Religious Studies 040. New Testament (4 units)
Catherine Chin

Lecture:
MWF 12:10-1:00P
1003 Giedt Hall

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: This course examines the emergence of the documents we now call the "New Testament" from debates within a variety of forms of Judaism in the first-century Roman Empire.  We will be discussing controversies over Roman imperial rule in Judea, problems of assimilation in the ancient world, and the way that the writers of New Testament texts argued over the idea of "the messiah" and the legacy of Abraham in this period.  We will pay particular attention to the way that political and religious debates within ancient Judaism laid the groundwork for the new movement that would eventually become Christianity.

Prerequisite: None.

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

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

Textbook: 

• The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament [UBS 4th Edition], edited by J.D. Douglas  (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1993)

[RECOMMENDED]

• Bart D. Ehrman, A Brief Introduction to the New Testament [3rd Edition]  (Oxford University Press, 2012)
  

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Religious Studies 045. Christianity (4 units)
Wendy Terry

MWF 9:00-9:50A
148 Physics Building
CRN 43478

Course Description: Major concepts and practices in the Christian tradition. Survey of the history of Christianity and Christian expansion from antiquity to modern times. Course pays particular attention to Christianity in China, India, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Prerequisite: None.

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

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

Textbooks:

• TBA
  

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

TR 10:30-11:50A
176 Chemistry Building
CRN 43479

Course Description: This course seeks to provide an introduction to pre-modern and contemporary Islam. We will study the central beliefs, institutions, and practices that constitute Islam.  We will start with Muhammad’s message in seventh century Arabia.  We will then examine the intellectual traditions of Islamic law, theology, and mysticism in medieval Muslim societies.  Starting in the 19th century, these same societies underwent massive structural change with the advent of colonial occupations.  We will study the impact of Western colonialism on the structure of religious authority in Islam.  In the last few weeks, we will study themes that have figured prominently in popular media portrayals of Muslims in the last few decades, notably gender and Islamic politics, including the radical variety.

Prerequisite: None.

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 reading materials will be made available online
  

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Religious Studies 106. Christianity in the Contemporary World (4 units) 
Andrew Ventimiglia

TR 1:40-3:00P
7 Wellman Hall
CRN 44533

Course Description: This class will explore Christian identity, belief, and practice in the United States and its relationship with other aspects of U.S. history, society and culture, indigenous and imported faiths, and the impact of immigration, colonization and culture contact on spiritual practice. From the eclectic beliefs of the nation’s founding fathers to contemporary conflicts over the religious freedom, the story of religion in the United States is one of constant struggle between the myth of the U.S. as a unified Christian nation and the ideal of the country as a place of robust religious pluralism. This class will explore this ongoing tension as it manifests time and again throughout American history and as it impacts broader U.S. society and culture. We will also explore the increasing importance of Christian media in the formation of contemporary spiritual identity.

Prerequisite: None.

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

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• All reading materials will be made available on SmartSite
  

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Religious Studies 130. African Indigenous and Diasporic Religions (4 units) 
Wendy Terry

TR 9:00-10:20A
1128 Hart Hall
CRN 44535

Course Description: This course seeks to expose students to the often maligned but rarely understood religious world of the African continent and its diaspora. Though Christianity has been in Africa since the first century and Islam since the seventh, this class will not treat these traditions. Instead, we will look at a variety of indigenous and diasporic African religious traditions, exploring them through multiple theoretical academic lenses. To that end, the quarter will be divided between the first five weeks analyzing traditions from the African continent and the last five weeks analyzing African diasporic traditions in the “New World.” Students will read primary source material, as well as watching primary source ritual material, and reading secondary source essays/articles. Evaluation will be based on Participation, Exams, a Research Term Paper, and a Final Exam. Exams will take the form of Weekly Response essays. These are take-home essay exams. Students will write five out of ten possible essays over the course of the term.

Prerequisite: Religious Studies 001 or consent of instructor (wrterry@ucdavis.edu).

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

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• TBA   
   

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Religious Studies 131. Genocide (4 units)     [Cross-listed with HMR 131]
Keith Watenpaugh

MW 10:00-11:50A
115 Hutchison Hall
CRN 40234

Course Description: This course focuses on comparative and critical approach to the modern phenomenon of genocide from ethical, historical and religious perspectives. This course takes neither a bestiary approach to the study of genocide; nor does it seek to determine which genocide was worse. It is based on the proposition that the modern phenomenon of genocide can be studied from a comparative, critical theoretical perspective while simultaneously preserving the specificity and distinctive nature of each genocidal moment. Several genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries are examined through the lens of five thematic fields: Beginnings, Styles and Technologies, Remembering and Commemoration, Denial and Responsibility. Five genocides will be examined through these thematic fields: The Armenian Genocide, The Holocaust, The Genocide of the Kurds, The Rwandan Genocide and the Ethnic Cleansings of the Balkans. Course will consider the links between modernity and genocide, and the steps that could be taken to prevent/punish genocide in the future and explore the concept of restorative justice. Term paper (2500 words) will engage students in the comparison of two or more genocides using primary and secondary material.

Prerequisite: Upper division standing.

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/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper or Discussion.

Textbooks:

• None 

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Religious Studies 190. Foundational Theories of Religion (4 units) 
Mairaj Syed

T 1:10-4:00P
111 Wellman Hall
CRN 43482

Course Description: This course deals with explanations of religion that grant causal primacy to factors other than ideas, beliefs, and emotions – factors such as economic, technological, geographical, and demographic realities.  We consider rational choice theory, functionalism, Marxism, cultural materialism, and critiques of these views.  Materialist explanations for the spread of ideas still need to account for how individuals develop beliefs and attitudes. This leads us to consider psychology and the unconscious in the last week of the course.  

Recurring themes in this course include ultimate causation versus proximate causation, methodological individualism versus holism, insider versus outsider explanations, idealism versus materialism, and the malleability of ideas and practices versus inertia.

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor (msyed@ucdavis.edu), required of all Religious Studies majors.

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

Format: Seminar - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• All reading materials will be made available online