Winter 2018

Religious Studies 001H. Religion and Law: Sex, Marriage, Divorce (4 units)
Mairaj Syed

Lecture:
TR 3:10-4:30P
26 Wellman Hall

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: Sex, marriage and divorce are ubiquitous features of human societies. This course will consist of a comparative investigation of these phenomena across different religious traditions, time periods, and areas of the world. In the first two-thirds of the course, we will analyze how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have conceived of law, primarily by looking at how these religions regulated the institution of marriage and sexual activity. In the last third of the course, we will analyze how the emergence of homosexuality as a social identity affected the way the way Jewish, Christian, and Islamic theologians considered the morality of homosexual acts and attitudes.

Prerequisite: None.

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

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

Textbooks:

• TBA

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Religious Studies 021. Hebrew Scriptures (4 units)
Wendy Terry

MWF 1:10-2:00P
176 Chemistry Building
CRN 74262

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

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

Textbooks:

• TBA

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Religious Studies 030. Religions of South Asia (4 units)
Layne Little

Lecture:
MWF 1:10-2:00P
126 Wellman Hall

Discussion Sections:

Course Description: Introduction to South Asian religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Jainism and Sikhism. Traces historical developments from Vedic texts and their ascetic reformulation by sages such as Yajnavalkya, Siddhartha Gautama, and Mahavira into our global present.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities, Social-Cultural 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

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

TR 10:30-11:50A
168 Hoagland Hall
CRN 70979

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

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

Textbooks:

• TBA

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Religious Studies 103. Medieval and Byzantine Christianity (4 units)
Wendy Terry

MWF 10:00-10:50A
167 Olson Hall
CRN 74267

Course Description: Christianity in Europe and the Near East from the year 600 to 1450. Focus on the development of Catholic and Orthodox traditions in ritual, art, and thought, with attention to interactions between regional groups, and Christian interaction with Islam.

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor (wrterry@ucdavis.edu).

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

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• TBA

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Religious Studies 125. Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha (4 units)
Naomi Janowitz

TR 10:30-11:50A
251 Olson Hall
CRN 74268

Course Description: The ancient world produced many more texts than the few that became the Jewish and Christian Bibles. This course will survey a selection of these texts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls (an amazing set of parchment scrolls found in the Judean desert near the Dead Sea between 1946 and 1956),  the Apocrypha (“hidden” writings) and Pseudepigrapha (“false” writings). These texts include vivid depictions of the end of time, cosmic battles, tours of the heavens and claims about divine knowledge.  We will also read the famous account in Josephus’ The Jewish War of the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans.

Prerequisite: Religious Studies 021 or consent of instructor (nhjanowitz@ucdavis.edu). 

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

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

Textbooks:

• TBA

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

MW 2:10-4:00P
126 Wellman Hall
CRN 70994

Course Description: Comparative and critical study of the modern phenomenon of genocide from religious, ethical and historical perspectives.

Prerequisite: Upper division standing.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities or Social Sciences; Social-Cultural 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/Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

• TBA

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Religious Studies 135. Bible and Film (4 units)
Wendy Terry

Lecture:
MW 12:10-1:00P
207 Olson Hall

Film Viewing:
M 5:10-8:00P
118 Olson Hall

CRN 75158

Course Description: Examination of the uses of the Judeo-Christian scriptures in film. Topics include dramatic depictions of biblical stories, the tension between science and religion, allegorical treatments of biblical themes, and the problems of religious conviction.

To meet the course description, this class will view ten movies roughly divided into two categories: 1) Movies with biblical themes, and 2) Movies based on biblical narrative. Students will also read weekly academic analyses of the movies that we view together. 

Movies will include:

The Ten Commandments  (Cecil B. Demille, 1956)
Decalogue [selections]  (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1990)
Blade Runner  (Ridley Scott, 1982)
Contact  (Robert Zemeckis, 1997)
Magnolia  (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999)
Jesus Christ Superstar  (Norman Jewison, 1973)
Monty Python’s Life of Brian  (Terry Jones, 1979)
The Last Temptation of Christ  (Martin Scorsese, 1988)
Jesus of Montreal  (Denys Arcand, 1989)
The Passion of the Christ  (Mel Gibson, 2004)

Students will be evaluated on participation in discussion, weekly analytical analyses of the movies we view together, one final course essay, a review of one movie viewed independently, and one project (creative or analytical).

Prerequisite: Film Studies 1 (formerly known as Humanities 10) recommended.

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

Format: Lecture - 2 hours; Film Viewing - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbook:

• A Course Reader

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Religious Studies 154. The Hindu Temple (4 units)     [Cross-listed with AHI 154]
Layne Little

M 3:10-6:00P
244 Olson Hall
CRN 75195

Course Description: Comparative history of architecture and symbolism of the Hindu Temple in India, Southeast Asia and the United States. Attention to the temple as expression of religious knowledge, political authority, and cultural heritage through the lens of colonialism and postcolonialism.

Prerequisite: None.

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

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• TBA

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Religious Studies 175A. Chinese Intellectual Traditions: Daoist Traditions (4 units)     [Cross-listed with CHN 100A]
Thor Harris

MW 10:00-11:50A
147 Olson Hall
CRN 70996

Course Description: English-language survey of key Daoist texts and scholarship. Topics include Daoist concepts of the cosmos, the natural world, scripture, the body, and immortality; Daoist divinities; Daoism and the state.

Prerequisite: A course in Chinese history recommended.

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

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 4 hours.

Textbooks:

• TBA