Department of Religion | Fall 2005 Course Atlas

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Fall 2005 Course Atlas

REL 100: Introduction to Religions: Native American Religions and American Civil Religions

Laderman, MWF 12:50-1:40, MAX: 80

Content: This course is a general introduction to the scholarly study of religions. Through an exploration of two specific religious systems we will not only seek to achieve a greater understanding of each, but also raise questions about the divergences and convergences among perspectives in academia and public life about the role of religion in social life. The two systems we will examine, both rooted in the history of North America, offer distinctive conceptualizations of the sacred. Native American religious traditions have been around for thousands of years and express a variety of teachings about the presence of the sacred in cultural life; American civil religion, on the other, is a fairly recent scholarly invention that seeks to identify and analyze the religious underpinnings of assorted political visions of national identity. This comparative look at both will illuminate many of the compelling and urgent issues associated with the study of religion in the twenty-first century.

Texts: Texts may include:

David Chappell, A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow (UNC Press, 2002)

Joel Martin, The Land Looks After Us: A History of Native American Religion (Oxford UP, 2001)

William Paden, Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion (Beacon, 2002)

Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (Penguin, 1988)

Charles Reagan Wilson, Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865-1920 (U of GA Press, 1987)

Jonathan Woocher, Sacred Survial: The Civil Religion of American Jews (Indiana UP, 1986)

Particulars: Students will be expected to attend lectures and participate in assigned section meetings; exams will be given throughout the semester. Meets General Education Requirement V.C.(Nonwestern Cultures or Comparative and International Studies). (2/3 reserved for freshmen)

Although content is different in REL 100 courses, you may not repeat for credit.

REL 100: Introduction to Religions: Buddhist and Christian Practice

Patterson, MWF 2:00-2:50, MAX: 50

Content: The course will introduce Buddhism and Christianity, using a cultural studies and religious studies approach. Spiritual practices particularly as used by women will serve as the central organizing theme. The course is divided into two parts: history/major doctrines and understanding of practices. In the first half of the course, we will trace a comparative history of these two traditions and their interactions with specific cultures. This will help us gain a clearer understanding of the development of the major doctrines of each tradition. In the second half of the course, we will examine lives, practices, and writings by or about Buddhist and Christian women focusing on their understandings and experiences of the personal transformation, healing, and compassionate service as religious seekers.

Texts:

Beyond Belief by Elaine Pagels

The Story of Buddhism by Donald Lopez

Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart by the Dalai Lama

The Story of Teresa of Avila as Told By Herself by Teresa of Avila

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron

Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delights in our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller

Additional Readings will be provided during the course

Particulars: Assignments: Regular analytical and reflective papers. Final projects as determined by students and professor. The course fulfills General Education Requirement V.C.(Nonwestern Cultures or Comparative and International Studies).

(2/3 reserved for freshmen)

Although content is different in REL 100 courses, you may not repeat for credit.

REL 100: Introduction to Religions: Christianity and Islam

Weaver, TTh 8:30-9:45, MAX: 30

Content: This course is an introduction to the study and comparison of religions, focusing on Christianity and Islam. The course is structured around seven themes: Scripture, Monotheism, Authority, Ritual, Ethics, Material Culture, and Politics. We will give special attention to the issue of "religious experience" in Christian and Muslim traditions.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: In addition to readings, discussions, and class presentations, the course will incorporate site-visits to both Christian and Muslim places of worship. Meets General Education Requirement V.C. (Nonwestern Cultures or Comparative and International Studies) (2/3 reserved for freshmen)

Although content is different in REL 100 courses, you may not repeat for credit.

REL 190: Freshman Seminar: Suffering, Healing and Redemption: A Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary View

Seeman, TTh 1:00-2:15, (same as JS 190), MAX: 9

Content: This Freshman Seminar explores the nature of suffering that underlies the human condition and the different responses to suffering or evil that religious and cultural traditions have tried to offer. We will start by comparing classical Greek, Jewish and Buddhist texts that outline radically different approaches to a problem they all recognize, and then move on to consider literature from the Holocaust, ethnographic accounts of illness, suffering and healing in different cultures, and first hand accounts of contemporary man-made and natural disasters, like the genocide in Rwanda, or the AIDS pandemic. How do human beings find healing or transcendence in the face of implacable fate, and how does our response to suffering stand at the very heart of different choices in contemporary politics, morality and religion? Should suffering be described as sickness or as evil, especially when it is man-made? We will be asking these and other “big questions” while also gaining familiarity with different research disciplines as well as different religious and cultural traditions. Students are requested to bring minds and hearts.

Texts: TBA

REL 190: Freshman Seminar: Beyond Christianity: Black Religions of Protest

Stewart, TTh 8:30-9:45, (same as AAS 190), MAX: 13

Content: This course examines a variety of religious traditions in the African American experience. The course begins with a brief overview of major trajectories in African American religious history and is followed by in-depth study of Black religions that have been typically classified as "sects and cults" in much of the social science literature. Representative traditions include Black Judaic, Islamic, Afrocentric, and African-centered religions such as the Hebrew Israelites, Nation of Islam, Ausar Auset, Rastafari and the Yoruba-Ifa movement. In many ways, a study of these traditions is a study of Black nationalism in America and thus our major aim will be to study how Black nationalism is configured and reconceived in various religious traditions. We will also interrogate their constructions of race and gender as well as their theological beliefs and religious practices.

Texts: Texts include

1. Yvonne Chireau and Nathaniel Deutsch, Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism
2. Cornel West and Eddie Glaude, African American Religious Thought: An Anthology
3. Richard Brent Turner, Islam in the African-American Experience
4. Ennis Barrington Edmonds, Rastafari: From Outcasts to Culture Bearers
5. George Brandon, Santería: From Africa to the New World
6. Ben Ammi, God the Black Man and Truth

Particulars: Assignments: 3 critical reflection papers (2 pages each), 1 class presentation, 1 final paper (8 pages)

REL 190: Freshman Seminar: Meditation and Religion

Dunne, TTh 10-11:15, (same as ASIA 190), MAX: 15

Content: In recent years, various forms of Buddhist meditation have become popular practices in North America. Focusing on these practices, we will seek to understand them within both their traditional context and the new context of contemporary North America. One central question will run through our study of meditation: how does meditation illuminate our notion of "religion"? By asking this question, we will encounter themes such as the centrality of "experience" or "feeling" in contemporary religion, the role of reason, the sometimes dangerous power of contemplative practice, and the transformation that religious traditions confront when they move from one place (such as Asia) to another (such as Atlanta). Our method will include the close-reading of texts, first-person analysis of meditative practices, interviews and observations at local meditation centers, and lively discussion.

Texts: TBA

REL 209: History of Religions in America

Stern, TTh 1:00-2:15, MAX: 30

Content: From Plymouth Rock to rock ‘n roll, the Civil War to Civil Rights, Rev. Billy Graham to Rev. Timothy Lovejoy – religion permeates American culture and history. This course will examine how religious traditions and ideas have both shaped, and been shaped by, the evolution of America. The first part of the course will offer a chronological overview of the development of various religious traditions in America, stretching from Native American religions to the pluralistic religious landscape of the twenty-first century. The second part of the course will offer a thematic exploration of the intersection between religion and other aspects of American culture such as sports, music, and film. Taken together, these two approaches will allow us to understand and to challenge traditional ways of thinking about religion and history, both within and beyond the American context.

Texts:

Edwin Gaustad and Leigh Schmidt, The Religious History of America

Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop

Julie Byrne, O God of Players

Additional articles to be determined

Particulars: Assignments will include regular participation, quizzes, a report on a visit to a religious site, and a final exam. This course meets General Education Requirement V.A. (United States history).

REL 210: Classic Religious Texts: Classic Writings in Journalism of Religion

Gray, TTh 11:30-12:45, (Same as JRNL 488 01P - Permission required), MAX: 15

Content: This course examines texts from the emerging canon of the journalism of religion.

Students will study classic writings on religion from newspapers—accounts of religious practices, institutions, and communities from the preaching of George Whitefield in the Colonies to Eastern religions settling in rural American communities. These writings will be studied alongside classic ethnographic texts from the academic study of religion, drawn particularly from the anthropology, sociology, and phenomenology of religion.

Closely reading “emerging classic” writings of journalism of religion alongside seminal ethnographic texts will permit students to examine religious phenomena from the perspective of the detached journalist as well as the theoretically informed academician. Students will also learn how descriptive and interpretative frameworks—from outside religious traditions—shape individual and collective religious experiences, meaning, and sacred narratives.

Texts:

Journalistic writings will include selections from:

Buddenbaum, Judith M. and Debra L. Mason, Readings on Religion as News.

Hoover, Stewart M., Rethinking Media, Religion, and Culture

The American Guide Series of the Federal Writers’ Project, Works Progress Administration.

Covington, Dennis, Salvation on Sand Mountain.

Scholarly writings will be drawn from: Tocqueville, W.E. B. DuBois, Geertz, Turner, Douglas, Warner, Wuthnow, Balmer, Orsi, Harding, and others.

Particulars: This course fulfills General Education Requirement IV.A (Humanities).

REL 210: Classic Religious Texts: The Five Books of Moses

Gilders, M 2-3:40 and W 2-2:50, (same as JS 370), MAX: 10

Content: Torah (“Teaching”); Pentateuch (“Five Scrolls”); Five Books of Moses. These are three of the designations for the collection of five books that stands at the beginning of the Bible. These five books—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—are foundational and central scriptures in both Judaism and Christianity. This course will provide a focused introduction to the collection and will emphasize skills, techniques and habits of careful reading and interpretation of classic religious texts. It will include attention to historical questions about when and how the books came to be written, how their earliest readers in ancient Israel may have understood them, and how Jews and Christians, in a variety of times and places, have interpreted them as scripture. Special consideration will also be given to the ways in which interpretation has been expressed in the visual arts, literature, and film. Prior study of the Bible is not a requirement for taking this course, and no particular religious commitments or beliefs about the Bible are assumed or required. What is required is openness to exploring new and different ideas, and a willingness to engage in disciplined reading of the biblical documents.

Texts:

The Jewish Study Bible (Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation) (Oxford University Press, 2003)

Richard Elliot Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible? (HarperCollins, 1997)

Particulars: Students will submit three short papers (approx. 1500 words each) and will also prepare a variety of study exercises in the course LearnLink conference. Attendance, careful preparation, and active participation in class discussions (including on-line discussions in the course LearnLink conference) will constitute a significant portion of the course grade. This course fulfills General Education Requirement IV.A (Humanities).

REL 210: Classic Religious Texts: New Testament

V. Robbins, TTh 11:30-12:45, MAX: 20

Content: The approach to the New Testament and early Christian texts in this class is based on 21st century methods of the study of religion. The emphasis is on the meaning of biblical and other sacred texts in their first setting, but there is also an examination of their relation to the life of religious communities today. The course includes materials on Jewish and Hellenistic developments at the time of New Testament and early Christian texts which are considered essential for understanding earliest Christianity. The assumption is that the New Testament came into being as a collection of literature that is open to the normal methods of literary, historical, social, cultural, rhetorical, and theological investigation. In particular, there is an assumption that the story about Jesus in the gospels is the product of a believing and worshipping community of religious people.

Texts:

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Duling, Dennis C. The New Testament: History, Literature, and Social Context. Fourth edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003.

Robbins, Vernon K. Exploring the Texture of Texts. Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1996.

Particulars: The syllabus and special materials will be available on Blackboard. Students will post analysis and interpretation of texts on LearnLink. The three “exams” will feature analysis and interpretation of texts. This course fulfills General Education Requirement IV.A (Humanities).

REL 210: Classic Religious Texts: Taoism

Reinders, MWF 10:40-11:30, (same as CPLT 333 and ASIA 370), MAX: 15

Content: This course will begin with a detailed, close reading of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, a classic text of philosophical Taoism. We will read two different translations side by side, to facilitate our own inquiry into the meanings of texts, and discuss the views of language in the Tao Te Ching itself. Other themes of the text will include: its political philosophy, its relativism, the cultivation of the body, and its cosmology. We will then read the Taoist text Chuang Tzu, and a brief selection of later Taoist works. We will focus on two themes of the Tao Te Ching and other texts: the martial tradition and the utopian tradition, that is, what these Taoist texts have to say about war and violence, and about the ideal peaceful society.

Texts: Required books:

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, translated by D. C. Lau

Lao-tzu’s Taoteching, translated by Red Pine

Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu, trans. by Victor Mair

Sunzi, Art of War

and a selection of readings.

Particulars: This course fulfills General Education Requirement IV.A (Humanities).

REL 212: Asian Religious Traditions

Doyle, TTh 1:00-2:15, (same as ASIA 212), MAX: 15, TPL

Content: This “theory-practice-learning” (TPL) class is an introduction to a number of prominent texts and associated religious practices found within the Hindu and Buddhist traditions of South Asia. Texts will include Vedic hymns, selections from the Upanishads, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, the Devi-mahatmya, medieval bhakti poetry, Ashvaghosa’s Buddha-carita, the Satipatthana Sutta, Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara, and selections from Buddhist tantras. In line with the TPL nature of this course, students will also witness important rituals and/or festivals at the Hindu Temple of Atlanta and Wat Buddha Bucha, study about and practice Hindu yoga and Buddhist meditation, and watch performances of Carnatic devotional music and Tibetan chanting. All these will be studied within historical and contemporary contexts, thus revealing both the continuity and innovativeness of these two major religious traditions.

Texts:

Coburn, Encountering the Goddess

Eck, Darsan

Shantideva, Way of the Bodhisattva

Thich Nhat Hanh, Heart of Understanding

photocopied sourcebook of articles

Particulars: Class participation (15%), three 3-5 page reflection papers (30%), mid-term exam (25%), and final exam (30%). Meets General Education Requirement V.C.

REL 300: Interpreting Religion: Theories and Methods of Religious Studies

Patton, TTh 1:00-2:15, MAX: 35, (For Permission Number, Contact Religion Dept.: Anny, ph. 7-7596, or Joy, ph. 7-7566)

Content: How do we think about religion? Is there a common way to talk about religion across cultural divides, or, should we simply concur that religion is like art, where "We can't define it, but we know it when we see it"? This course will take us through the basic theories in the study of religion as "ways of perceiving" this most elusive of phenomena: anthropology, history, text, politics, philosophy, theology, experience, literature, and gender studies. All of these "ways of perceiving" play a crucial role in the way we think "across boundaries" in the study of religion.

In this class, students will be asked to take a single "case" in the study of religion--the case that is most important to them in their lives. Students will follow their case through the semester as we read different theorists and their points of view. We will begin by considering which theoretical voices are most sympathetic to our approach, and which are the most distant, and how our preconceptions about religion affect real life attitudes in our daily lives. Do we think religion is primarily politicallly motivated? Experientially based? Does that view affect how we think about members of religious traditions other than our own? In answering these questions, this course will assume that theory is a form of practice: Particularly through working on their case studies, students will develop a set of skills that will allow them to be practitioners of an art--the art of interpreting religion.

Texts: Primary texts will include works by Rudolph Otto, JZ Smith Samuel Preuss, WC Smith, Mark C. Taylor, Katie Cannon, and Wendy Doniger, among many others.

REL 309: Modernization of Judaism

Chervin, MW 2:30-3:45, (same as JS 309), MAX: 15

Content: The course will focus on the modernization of Judaism, i.e. the changes in Jewish religious identity and thinking which were caused by Jews' entrance into modern Western society. The aim is to enable students to understand the differences among the four major denominations of contemporary Judaism - Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionism. We will examine what these movements are and how they came about, and then use this knowledge to interpret current events. Because America constitutes the largest Jewish population in the world (larger than the State of Israel), and the fact that Jewish religious diversity is primarily an American phenomenon, our readings and discussions in the second half of the course will focus on the American scene. We will also have guest speakers representing each of the four denominations.

Texts may include:

Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea

P. Mendes-Flohr and J. Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World

Michael Meyer, The Origins of the Modern Jew

Marshall Sklare, American Jews: A Reader

Jack Wertheimer, A People Divided

Particulars: 1. Active class attendance and participation 2. Short written exercises 3. Site visits to two houses of worship and two-page reports for each 4. Midterm Exam and Final Exam

REL 316: Early and Medieval Islam

Newby, TTh 10:00-11:15, (same as MES 316), MAX: 6

Content: TBA

Texts:

TBA

Particulars: TBA

REL 317: Modern Islam

Newby, TT 1:00-2:15, (same as MES 317), MAX: 5

SORRY: THIS COURSE HAS BEEN CANCELLED

REL 321: Psychology of Religion

Bell, TTh 10:00-11:15, MAX: 30

Content: This course will survey the fields of religious studies and psychological theory. Instead of using the traditional preposition “of,” psychology “and” religion is designed to create a constructive, respectful dialogue between both perspectives. Can we conceive of ways in which religious behavior and the study of religion may inform, or even construct, psychological theory?

Conversely, how do psychological perspectives and cognitive science tell a richer, deeper story of what is happening in religious experiences? We will consider postmodern and qualitative critiques to such investigations, as well as the emerging field in “explaining” religion through cognitive science and evolutionary theory. Although the field of psychology of religion has been dominated by studies of Western religion, this course will also consider Eastern forms of religious expression and spirituality. Likewise, little work has been done with gender and race regarding psychology and religion. We will collectively propose new areas of research that would attend to these important contexts.

Texts:

Boyer, Pascal, Religion Explained: The evolutionary origins of religious thought

James, William, The Varieties of Religious Experiences

Jonte-Pace, Diane and William B. Parsons, Religion and Psychology: Mapping the terrain

Spilka, Bernard, Bruce Hunsberger, Richard Gorsuch, Ralph Hood, The Psychology of Religion, 3rd Ed.: An empirical approach

Particulars: In addition to the importance of regular attendance and discussion, there will be one midterm exam, two smaller papers, and one seminar paper.

REL 324: The History of the Holocaust

Lipstadt, TTh 11:30-12:45, (same as JS 324 and HIST 385), MAX: 40

Content: This course will examine the history of the annihilation of European Jewry by the Nazis. We will trace the roots of European antisemitism; the rise of Nazism and Hitler’s seizure of power; the evolution of Nazi policy toward the Jews; the Nazi policy towards the disabled, mentally handicapped, and carriers of genetic diseases; Germany policy towards the Roma and Sinti; the response of the German Jewish community to the policy of persecution; the reaction of the nations of the world to Nazi antisemitism; resistance by Jews to persecution; the experience of those in the concentration and death camps; and the attempts – however feeble – to rescue Jews.

Texts:

Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt, Holocaust: A History

Raul Hilberg,The Destruction of the European Jews

Elie Wiesel, Night

Art Spiegelman, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale

Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz

Kevin Mahoney, In Pursuit of Justice

Donald Niewyk, The Holocaust

Films:

Triumph of the Will

Healing by Killing

Designers of Death

America and the Holocaust

Partisans of Vilna

Weapons of the Spirit

Particulars: 1. Exams: There will be two in-class exams (40% total) and a final which will be divided into a written take-home portion (25%) and an in-class portion (20%).

2. Papers: Students will write three reaction papers (15%, 2-3 pages).

3. Class Participation: Class participation will be taken into account in determining the final grade. You are expected to come to class fully prepared to participate in class discussion which will be based on the assigned readings.

REL 329: Religion and Ecology

O’Brien, MWF 9:35-10:25, (same as ENVS 329), MAX: 20

This course explores the connections, tensions, and possibilities between religions and natural environments. We will begin by considering these two pervasive and distinct concepts separately and move on to explore the parallels and intersections between them. Our conversation will be framed by the idea that worldviews and ethical systems emerging from religious traditions significantly impact social attitudes and interactions with the natural world. More simply put, what people believe helps define how they live where they live. We will investigate this claim in conversation with a variety of religious practices and traditions from Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, Judaism, and Native American Religions. We will also discuss whether worldviews inspired by economics, the sciences, and environmentalism might play a similar role in shaping human interactions with the natural world. Our texts will include academic essays, religious scriptures, scientific articles, and recent popular films.

Texts:

Daniel MaGuire, Sacred Energies

Richard C. Foltz, ed., Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment: A Global Anthology

Additional Readings on E-Reserve

Particulars: Students are expected to regularly attend class, read course texts carefully and participate actively in class discussions, write several critical response papers, and take a final exam.

REL 331: Culture of Buddhist Tibet

Negi, TTh 11:30-12:45, (same as ASIA 375), MAX: 15

Content: This course explores the fundamental cultural elements that have shaped the Tibetan Buddhist world, and that spread from Tibet throughout Central Asia to the north and the Himalayas to the south. It will draw from not only literary sources, but also some of the unique film documentation that has become available in recent years. The aim of this course is to examine how various values, belief-systems and rituals have produced a unique culture that sustained the peoples of Tibet for many centuries. The course will also look at the relevance of these cultural facets to the modern world.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: Students will be graded on class participation, presentations, response papers, and a final paper.

REL 333S: Religion and the Body

Reinders, MWF 12:50-1:40, MAX: 18, TPL

Content: The body may be considered a site of conflict, an object of control and self-control, and the source of meaning. We examine selected issues related to the body in traditional Chinese and Japanese cultures, such as yin-yang theory, birth and death, medicine, sex, diet, monasticism, and meditation. We will learn a complete set of Taiji (T’ai-chi), so that the cultural material will be in dialogue with your body practices. We will draw on certain themes of current theory on the body and practice, such as the idea of the body as a “produced” object, the notion of “habitus” as “embodied culture,” and the bodily basis of language. This is a Theory-Practice Learning course.

Texts: Texts may include: Kristofer Schipper, The Taoist Body; Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching; Dogen, Pure Standards for the Zen Community; a selection of theoretical writings and a selection of Chinese and Japanese fiction.

Particulars: Given the nature of this class, active participation is essential; Also, short written responses to readings throughout the semester; a more polished 10-page research paper; other short tests on the reading as needed. Meets General Education Requirement for advanced seminar.

REL 352R: Gender and Religion: Global Christian Women's Voices

Patterson, MWF 9:35-10:25, (same as WS 352), MAX: 15

Content: This course will take a journey through and with the voices and witnesses of Christian women who are searching for histories, rituals, texts, theologies, and communities that reflect their spiritual paths in this tradition. From early Christian women, through the Middle Ages women mystics, to the first waves of Christian feminist theology, to the voices of contemporary women around the world, we will explore how women have reshaped traditional categories and blazed new trails for understanding their faith and giving testimony in word and activism.

Texts: The texts for this class will be wide-ranging. They will include writings by Elizabeth Clark, Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, Elizabeth Johnson, Mary Daly, Kwok Pui-Lan, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Katie Cannon, and Rebecca Chopp.

Particulars: The class will be participatory and experiential. Critical thinking skills will be emphasized along with imaginative exercises in theological construction. Short papers and response journaling will be required.

REL 353RS: Mystical Thought and Practice

Smith, TTh 11:30-12:45, Max: 18

Content: This course focuses on the ecstatic dimension of mystical experience. Contemplative or meditative mysticism will be addressed by way of comparison, but our focus will be religious ecstasy in the forms of celebration, festival, dance, spirit possession and other trance phenomena. We will explore both individual and collective forms of religious ecstasy, as well at their effects on culture or society. In addition the course explores a diversity of religions and cultures through a diversity of disciplines and methods, and considers a diversity of social effects and impacts of mystical ecstasy on religion and culture.

Texts: (sample):

Euripides, The Bacchae

The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite, by Wole Soyinka

I.M. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession

Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy

Robert Frager, Clifton Fadiman, James Fadiman, Essential Sufism

Michael Harner, The Way of the Shaman

Jordan D. Paper, The Mystic Experience: A Descriptive and Comparative Analysis

Victor Turner, Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society

Sheila S. Walker, Ceremonial Spirit Possession in Africa and Afro-America

Particulars: Course evaluations will be based on (1) weekly journal reflections on the reading, (2) a midterm paper or fieldwork/media project addressing some of the major issues and objectives of the course, and (3) a final term paper that addresses mystical thought and practice in the terms addressed by the course. Meets General Education Requirement for advanced seminar.

REL 354RSWR: Ethics: Philosophical Ethics in a Time of War

Farley, TTh 1:00-2:15, MAX: 18

Content: World War II thoroughly traumatized western culture but produced reflections on the ethical and spiritual underpinnings of the human psyche and society that remain only too relevant. This class will look at three such thinkers: Simone Weil, a Jewish near-convent to Christianity; Gabriel Marcel, a Protestant philosopher; and Emmanuel Levinas, a Jewish survivor of German prison camps each described vulnerabilities of the human psyche that cause us to inflict and suffer violence. They were each attuned to the social and spiritual dimensions of degradation that enmesh human history in mutual destruction. Each also provides an ethical vision through which we might resist the temptation to repeat the mass destruction of the Second World War. Their analyses provide us with a “distant mirror” through which we can reflect on our current situation. This class will focus on slow and careful readings of these texts and will rely on discussions and writing projects for deeper engagement with them. In addition, students will choose research projects concerning war and related topics for a final presentation and term paper.

Texts:

Simone Weil Reader

Man Against Mass Society, Gabriel Marcel

Totality and Infinity, Emmanuel Levinas

Particulars: Meets General Education Requirements for both advanced seminar and post-freshman writing requirement.

REL 370R: Special Topics: Religion and Culture: Religion and Modern India

Courtright, TTh 10:00-11:15, (same as ASIA 370R), MAX: 15

Content: A historical and thematic survey of religious traditions, primarily Hindu, Jain, Muslim, and Sikh, in India from the early nineteenth century to the present. Topics include: A brief survey of religion on the eve of British colonial encounter, European Orientalist scholarly presentations of India's religions, new religious movements in the colonial period, religion and nationalism, religion and the arts and media, major religious and cultural figures, e.g.: Ram Mohan Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, Vivekananda, Gandhi, Tilak, Sarvarkar, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Radhakrishnan; religious and political conflict, the secular state, and religious diasporas.

The main goal of the course will be to better comprehend India's religious diversity, the significance of religion in Indian culture, and how traditions make use of historical, narrative, and ritual traditions in modern and post-modern contexts.

Texts:

Khilnani, The Idea of India

Pinney, Photos of the Gods

Van der Veer, Gods on Earth

Selections of writings from major figures and organizations via electronic reserve.

Particulars: Assignments will include: writing descriptive profiles of religious traditions, communities, and movements; exploring broad themes and issues between and among traditions; and assessing the global distribution and impact of India's religious heritage in the contemporary world.

REL 370RS: Topics in Religion and Culture: Using Stamps to Explore Religion and Culture

Blumenthal, Th 2:00-5:00, (same as JS 370RS), MAX: 5

Content: Issuing a stamp is a political and cultural statement, not just a utilitarian matter. A state’s attitudes toward religion, women, political justice, non-citizens, etc. are all expressed in the choice of the stamps it issues. Scholarship based on the study of stamps can reveal all these attitudes. This class will study the Sol Singer Collection of Philatelic Judaica, a stunning collection recently acquired by the University (http://specialcollections.library.emory.edu/exhibits/stamps/default.html).

Goals: The class will have three goals:

(1) to find or to develop a cataloguing system for the topical part of the Collection

• To the best of our knowledge, no data base for Jewish topics exists but are there analogous, usable data bases for African Americans, for scientists, for other religions?

(2) to write scholarly papers using the Collection on such topics as:

• How does the (secular) State of Israel portray religious Jewish holidays in its stamps?

• How does it portray religious objects?

• What is the place of women in Israeli stamps?

• How is the holocaust treated by Israel? By European countries? By others?

• Who are the “heroes” depicted and who is left out?

• Which countries are more open to Jewish topics? Are there antisemitic stamps?

(3) to make recommendations for the development of the Collection.

Particulars: This class is only for brave students. It has never been taught before and there is no syllabus. The students, together with the instructor, will have to design the research plan, identify the methods to be used, and do the work. Graduate students, outside consultants, and research funding will be available but a high standard of performance is expected. Meets General Education Requirement for advanced seminar.

REL 370RS: Special Topics: Islam in America

Martin, Tu 2:30-5:30, (same as MES 370RS and RLAR 738D), MAX: 4
(Permission of Instructor Required)

SORRY: THIS COURSE HAS BEEN CANCELLED

REL 372R: Special Topics: Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy

Negi, TTh 2:30-3:45, (same as AS 375R), MAX: 15

Content: This course aims at providing the student with a comprehensive overview of the philosophical and metaphysical characteristics of the four principal movements that developed in Buddhist India during its classical period, i.e., pre-twelfth century A.D. All four of these movements were based on specific aspects of Buddha's own teachings, and emerged from the works of later Buddhist masters in their attempts to arrange the diverse elements of Buddha's doctrines into a cohesive structure. In that all schools of Buddhism that arose in other countries around Asia are based on trends found within these four, an understanding of them is paramount to an understanding of the many faces that Buddhism has revealed over the centuries in environments as diverse as China and Japan to Tibet, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Texts: Coursework will draw from texts representing the two basic literary sources: the original sutras of the Buddha (The Sutra of the Four Truths of the Noble Ones (Skt.Chaturarvadharmasutra), The Sutra that is the Heart of Wisdom (Skt. Prajnaparamitasutra), The Sutra Addressing the Intent of the Buddha (Skt. Samdhinirmochanasutra); and the commentaries of the later Indian masters (Acharya Vasubandhu's Treasury of Metaphysics (Skt. Abhidharmakosha), Acharya Dharmakirti's Analysis of Valid Cognition (Skt. Pramanavarttika), Acharya Asanga's Stages of the Attendants (Skt. Shravakabhumi), Acharya Chandrakirti's A Guide to the Middle View (Skt. Madhvwnakavatara). This will be done with English translations made from the Tibetan versions of these ancient texts, with reference reading drawn from modem scholarship.

Particulars: Students will be graded on four criteria: (1) Attendance and class participation; (2) Class presentations and written summaries of the readings; (3) A mid-term exam; (4) A final term paper, six to eight pages in length. This should first present the main points of one of the four schools, and conclude with either a defense or a refutation of these.

REL 387SWR: Literature and Religion

Smith, Tu 2:30-5:30, (same as ENG 387SWR), Max: 13

Content: This course connects religious discovery with literary discovery. How is the experience of discovering new worlds of thought, being and action similar in religious experience and in literary expression such as drama, poetry, novels, short stories and essays? Does religious discovery require a different sensibility? Or rather is it essentially the same as discovering oneself or other dimensions of life in literature? The key connector is “discovery”: finding, sighting, detecting, unearthing, or realizing something new; some breakthrough that reorients understanding or perspective in some way, experienced via religion on the one hand and literature on the other.

Texts: (sample):

Paula J. Carlson & Peter S. Hawkins, Listening for God: Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith

Gary L. Comstock, Religious Autobiographies (multiple traditions)

Ursula K. Leguin, Earth-Sea Trilogy

C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

Stephen Mitchell, trans., The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke

J. Moyne & Coleman Barks, trans., Open Secret: Versions of Rumi

Issac Bashevis Singer, The Slave

Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus

The Gospel at Colonus (text & video), adapted by Lee Breuer & Bob Telson

Particulars: Course evaluations will be based on (1) weekly journal reflections on the reading, (2) a midterm paper or fieldwork/media project addressing some of the major issues and objectives of the course, and (3) a final term paper that addresses the similarities or differences between religion and literature in terms of the major issues of the course. Meets General Education Requirements for both advanced seminar and post-freshman writing requirement.

REL 472RS: Topics in Religion: Theologies of the Grotesque

J. Robbins, TTh 11:30-12:45, (same as CPLT 490S and RUSS 375S), MAX: 4

Content: This course examines the intertwining of theological questions with the grotesque imagination. Nikolai Gogol’s Petersburg tales, which, for Nabokov, are concerned ultimately with the trivial, the falsely important, the mediocre, give new meaning to the phrase, “The Devil is in the details.” Fyodor Dostoevsky’s early works take up the same Gogolian material and through stylistic innovation, inflect it with a specifically ethico-religious significance. Franz Kafka’s preoccupation with transcendence and absence suggest, for Buber, a “Paulinism of the unredeemed,” namely, a world from which grace has been eliminated.

Texts:

Gogol:“The Overcoat”; “The Nose”;“Nevsky Prospect”

Dostoevsky: Poor Folk;The Double

Kafka: The Complete Stories;The Trial: A New Translation Based on the Restored Text; Diaries;Letter to His Father

Secondary texts by Boris Eichenbaum, Mikhail Bakhtin, Walter Benjamin and Gilles Deleuze.

Particulars: Meets General Education Requirement for advanced seminar.

REL 472R: Topics in Religion: Islamic Law

An-Na`im, MW 8:30-10:00, (same as Law School's LAW 651, 08A), Credit: 3 Hours, MAX: 5
(Permission of Instructor Required)

**** NOTE: Law classes start the week of August 29. ****

Content: The objective of this course is to introduce students to the nature, sources and techniques of Islamic Law (Shari`a), and its main concepts, principles and rules. However, class discussions will focus on the relationship between Shari`a and modern legal systems, as well as its social and cultural impact on present Islamic societies.

Following a discussion of the nature, sources and early development of Shari`a, we will review the main substantive aspects of this legal tradition, namely, property and transactions, family law, criminal law, and constitutional law and inter-communal, international law. The last section of the course will examine the relationship between Shari`a and the legal systems of modern states, especially in relation to international terrorism and international and humanitarian law in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: Evaluation for the course will consist of the following components:

25% for a 3000 to 4000 words paper on the nature and development of Shari`a in relation to issues of its modern application. This essay is due by Friday, Oct. 7, 2005.

75% for a 7000-8000 words paper on a topic agreed with the instructor. This final paper is due by first day of Law School examination period.

REL 472R: Topics in Religion: Understanding Modern Tibet:
Readings in Contemporary Religion, Culture, and Political History

Doyle, Day and Time to be determined, (same as ASIA 370 and CHN 375), Credit: 4 hrs, (Permission of Instructor Required), MAX: 4

Content: This reading course will focus on contemporary Tibetan culture, religion, and political history inside the Peoples Republic of China. After a brief historical overview of twentieth-century China and Tibet, class members will decide on, read about, and discuss particular special topics, such as China’s nationality/minorities policies, recent political protests in both China and the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), Chinese White Papers on Human Rights and Tibetan exile government responses, the figure of the Panchen Lama, modern art and issues of identity, dissident Chinese authors’ views on Tibet, Chinese policies regarding religion, the revival and crackdown of Buddhism inside China and TAR, economic development strategies, and recent discussions between Beijing and members of the Tibetan exile government.

Texts: A Tibetan Revolutionary: The Political Life and Times of Bapa Phuntso Wangye, by Goldstein, Sherap, and Siebenschuh; photocopied material, and readings from websites.

Particulars: This course will comprise weekly discussions and regular films. As a group, we will also attend the exhibition of contemporary Tibetan art coming to Emory campus in October (dates TBA). Requirements will include regular attendance, a one-page reflection on weekly assigned readings, and occasional student presentations.

REL 495R: Directed Reading (honors)

Faculty, (Permission of Instructor Required)

Content: Independent research for senior major and joint major students selected to participate in the department's Honors program. Readings on special topics in Religion as arranged between individual students and a specific member of the Department who consents to guide the student in her/his study, arrange requirements and appointments.

REL 497R: Directed Reading

Faculty, (Permission of Instructor Required)

Content: Readings on special topics in Religion as arranged between individual students and a specific member of the Department who consents to guide the student in her/his study, arrange requirements and appointments.

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