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Fall 2007 Course Atlas

REL 100: Introduction to Religions: Sacred Destinations: Pilgrimage in Christian and Hindu Traditions

Courtright, MWF 10:40-11:30, Max: 30

Content: The course will inquire into the enduring process of pilgrimage in two major religious traditions.  As sacred destinations, shrines locate aspects of religious meaning and draw devotees often across harsh and demanding landscapes. Along the way pilgrims intensify their religious sentiments, relax their social structures, and carry back home material objects and memories that they distribute through gifts and stories. In addition to being centers of religious meaning, shrines are also locations of commerce and politics. The course will look at several individual shrines, including Campostela, Lourdes, Canterbury, Banaras, Vrindavan, Kedarnath. Various theoretical models for interpreting pilgrimage will be considered. An important part of the course will be a pilgrimage from the Emory campus to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic Site (4.2 miles). The course will conclude with several 'secular' American pilgrimage centers such as Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, and the Internet.

Texts: (Tentative List)

• David Haberman, Journey Through the Twelve Forests
• Pramila Jaypal, Pilgrimage to India
• Timothy Beal, Roadside Religion
• Alan Morinis, Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage
• Victor Turner, Process, Performance, and Pilgrimage: A Study in Comparative Symbology
• William Dalrymple, From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium

Particulars: (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 Traditional African Religions

Clark, TT 11:30-12:45, Max: 30

Content: This class will introduce students to the study of religion by examining one major set of religious traditions (African Traditional Religion) and another major religious tradition (Christianity).  During the first part of the semester, we will focus upon select classical religions of sub-Saharan Africa and their diasporic expressions in the Caribbean and the placecountry-regionAmericas.  In so doing, we will engage important theoretical and methodological issues that have emerged in the study of African Religions.  Students will explore both the foundations of African thought and culture and the challenges facing African civilization after antagonistic encounters with the West and its attendant colonial establishments. During the second part of the semester, we will examine salient trajectories in the history of Christianity, including that of the ancient place of Africa, and the ancient, modern and postmodern West, with special emphasis upon African American Christianity.  We will conclude our study with a brief examination of the encounter between African Traditional Religion and Christianity as it has spawned new religious movements and traditions in colonial and post-colonial African/Black societies on the continent and in the African diaspora.

(2/3 reserved for freshmen)

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

REL 190: Freshman Seminar: Global Islam in the 21st Century

Martin, (MESAS 190), TT 10:00–11:15, Max: 18 (REL 12/MESAS 6)

Content: Students in this freshman seminar will study the encounter of Muslim societies with modernity. The first phase covers an overview of premodern Islamic history and religious beliefs, practices and theological controversies. Next the course takes up the problem of modernity and the West, and Islamic responses, such as Fundamentalism, Modernism, Secularism, and Islamic Feminism. The final phase will focus on postmodern developments in Islam, including modern Islamic theology, law and ethics, the Internet, globalization, the impact of the Gulf War and 9/11, and growth of social movements, such as Salafi/Wahhabi, and Progressive Muslim identities.

Texts: will include

• John Voll, Modern Islam: Continuity and Change in the Modern World
• Sayyid Qutb, Milestones
• Muhammad Abduh, Theology of Unity
• Tayeb Saleh, Wedding of Zein
• Jonathan Brockopp, ed., Islamic Ethics of Life: Abortion, War and Euthanasia
• Course Packet

Particulars: Each week will be divided roughly between lectures with discussion (usually Tuesdays) and student presentations discussion (usually Thursdays). Students will be asked to write brief responses to the readings before class as a basis for discussion. Three take-home exams during the semester. A written evaluation of student work will be provided at mid term and at the end of the course.

Prerequisites: None.

REL 205: Biblical Literature

Siedlecki, TT 10:00-11:15, (same as JS 205), Max: 30 (15 REL/15 JS)

This course will introduce the student to the study of the Hebrew Bible, also called the Old Testament by Christians. We will study the historical background and social context of these writings as well as their literary forms, structures and themes. Theological questions emerging from the biblical text will also be addressed and discussed. Prior study of the Bible is not required 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 texts.

Texts:

• Coogan, Michael, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures (New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)
• The Jewish Study Bible (Jewish Publication Society Tanakh translation) (Oxford University Press, 2003)

REL 209: History of Religions in America

Laderman, MWF 10:40-11:30, Max: 150

Content: Violence, hatred, and oppression; sexuality and gender politics; immigration, urbanization, and diversity; missions and empire building; solitary reflections and social experimentation--the history of religions in the United States is as much about these cultural topics as it is about particular traditions in American history. Indeed, historical investigations of Protestantism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, or any other religious group on American soil are greatly complicated when careful attention is given to the relations between specific traditions and the larger cultural contexts in which Americans live religious lives. While many introductory American religion courses present either a fairly straightforward historical survey or a cross-cultural thematic exploration of specific trends, in the interest of examining the great variety of religious expression in American history, we will try to do some of both.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: tests, group projects, participation in sessions, attendance, lots of reading.

REL 210R: Classic Religious Texts: An Introduction to Vedanta: Its Origin, Meaning, and Relevance

Majmudar, TT 10:00 -11:15, (same as ASIA 210), Max: 20 (15 REL/5 ASIA)

Content:  What is “Vedanta?” Is it “religion” or “philosophy” or both? Is it synonymous with “Hinduism?” What are some of the misconceptions about Vedanta? After addressing these preliminary questions, the teacher will introduce students to the basic terminology, propositions and teachings of Vedanta, and examine the roots of Vedantic thought in the ancient Indian sacred texts of Hinduism: the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and in the commentaries of Shankara, the greatest proponent of Advaita or the non-dualistic school of Vedanta. Travelling back in time to the Vedic and Upanishadic periods in Indian religious history (placed approximately between 2500-600 B.C.), we shall enter the ancient mystical world of the forest-dwelling Rishis or seers, who deeply meditated upon the true nature of the ultimate Reality (Brahman).

Texts:

Required Textbooks:

• Torwestern, Hans (TH). Vedanta: Heart of Hinduism. Adapted by Loly Rosset; translated from the German by John Phillips. New York: Grove press, 1991.
• Pravarajika Vrajaprana (PV). Living Wisdom: Vedanta in the West. Hollywood: California: Vedanta Press, 1994.
• Olivelle, Patrick (OP). Upanishads. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
• Klostermaier, Klaus K. Hinduism: A Short History (KSH): Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2000.
• Miller, Barbara Stoler (MBS). Trans. The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Timeof War. New York: Bantam Books, 1986.
• Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli and Charles Moore (R&M). A Sourcebook of Indian Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957.

Recommended Readings:

• Knott, Kim (KKH). Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Swami Ashokananda. Ascent to Spiritual Illumination: Ten Lectures on Spiritual Practice. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 2001.
• Swami Nikhilananda. Atma-bodh. Self-Knowledge of Sri Sankaracharya (Atma-bodha). Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math or Vedanta Book Center, Chicago: Ill. 60615.
• K. R. Krishnaswamy. Adi Shankara’s Vivekachudamani. Bangalore: India: Srivastava Brothers. Banashankari Stage II, Bangalore- 560 070, 1999, 1991.
• Sister Nivedita. The Master as I Saw Him. Kolkata: Udbodhan Office, 2001. (distributed by Vedanta Press, Hollywood, California 90068).

Particulars:

Students must fulfill three basic requirements: Attendance, Attention, and Active participation (Three As). If, for an unavoidable reason, you have to miss a class, you must have the Instructor’s prior permission and submit a written explanation. Students will take three short review exams in the class during the term, and they will write one final research paper toward the end of the term.

The Complete Grading Chart:

• Attendance, Attention, Active participation: (10 % each) 30 %
• Three short exams in the class: (10 % each) 30 %
• One final research paper: 40 %

All students are required to read their assignments prior to each class, and bring their textbooks to the class. We strongly encourage you to participate in class discussions.

Rel 210R: Classic Religious Texts: Prophetic Literature

Lambert, TT 2:30-3:45, (same as JS 210R), Max: 20

Content: This course aims to introduce students to the corpus of prophetic literature that emerged from ancient Israel. Over the course of the term, we will read in their entirety the most prominent of the prophetic works: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Amos. Some attention will also be paid to Mosaic and pre-classical prophecy, accounts of which are found in the Pentateuch and historical writings of the Hebrew Bible.

Discussion will be organized around the question of whether the moral amendment of the people was indeed the fundamental aim of ancient Israelite prophecy, as many modern interpreters tacitly assume. Other possible motivations will be explored to broaden our conception of the prophet’s role. Also to be considered is the related question of how prophets understood and conceived of their communication with the divine. What sort of experience did they believe themselves to have undergone? Methodological questions surrounding the attempt of modern students of religion to reconstruct ancient religious experience will be addressed.

Texts:

• The Jewish Study Bible (eds. Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler) ( Oxford University Press, 2003)
• Heschel, Abraham J. The Prophets (HarperCollins, 2001)
• Petersen, David L. The Prophetic Literature: An Introduction ( Westminster John Knox Press, 2002)

Other readings:

• Barton, John. Oracles of God: Perceptions of Ancient Prophecy in Israel after the Exile (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1986)
• Blenkinsopp, Joseph. A History of Prophecy in Israel (Westminster John Knox Press, 1996)
• Prophecy in its Ancient Near Eastern Context: Mesopotamian, Biblical, and Arabian Perspectives (ed. Martti Nissinen) (Society of Biblicial Literature, 2000)
• Simon, Uriel. Reading Prophetic Narratives (Indiana University Press, 1997)

Particulars: There will be two short papers (5-7 pages), a few short writing assignments (1-2 pages), and an in-class presentation. Attendance, careful preparation, and active participation in class discussions will constitute a significant portion of the course grade.

Rel 210R: Classic Religious Texts: The Works of Maimonides

Chervin, MW 2:30-3:45, (same as JS 210R), Max: 20

Content: Theologian, philosopher, legal codifier, physician, and community leader, Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), asked the question: Is traditional Judaism consistent with the dictates of reason and philosophy?  His answer: Yes, and I can prove it!  In this course, we will explore Maimonides’ (also known as the Rambam) answer, by studying selections from his vast corpus of writings, including his monumental code of Jewish law TheMishneh Torah, his philosophical masterpiece The Guide of the Perplexed, his Commentaryon theMishnah, and his various letters.   Maimonides’ quest to reconcile the God of the Bible with the God of the philosophers, is one of history’s greatest intellectual and spiritual achievements, and provides valuable guidance for approaching today's debate between religion and science.

Texts:

• A Maimonides Reader (Isadore Twersky)
• Maimonides: A Guide for Today’s Perplexed (Kenneth Seeskin)
• Highly recommended: Tanakh (Hebrew Bible - JPS)

Other Readings

• Back to the Sources (Barry Holtz, ed)
• Jewish People, Jewish Thought (Robert Seltzer)
• The Guide of the Perplexed by Maimonides (translated by Shlomo Pines)
• Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works (Herbert A. Davidson)
• The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides (ed. Kenneth Seeskin)
• A History of Medieval Jewish Philosophy (Isaac Husik)

Particulars: Regular attendance and active participation in class discussions (20%), a short paper (10%), midterm exam (10%), a final paper and presentation (30%), and final exam (30%).

REL 212: Asian Religious Traditions

Doyle, TT 11:30-12:45, (same as ASIA 212), Max: 20 (15 REL/5 ASIA)

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: 

• Eck, Darsan
• Shantideva, Way of the Bodhisattva
• Thich Nhat Hanh, Heart of Understanding
• photocopied sourcebook of articles 

Particulars: Class participation (15%), three 2 page reflection papers (30%), mid-term exam (25%), and final exam (30%).

REL 260: Introduction to Biblical Archaeology

Borowski, TT 10:00-11:15, (same as MESAS/JS 250), Max: 18 (4 REL/10 MESAS/4 JS)

For further information on this course, please refer to the following
web-site:
http://www.college.emory.edu/current/courses/atlas/fall.html

REL 300: Interpreting Religion

Patterson, TT 1:00-2:15, Max: 30, Permission only

(For Permission Number, Contact Religion Dept.: ph. 7-7596) 

McClintock, TT 10:00-11:15, (same as ASIA 305), Max: 20 (15 REL/5 ASIA)

** SORRY, this class has been cancelled.***

For other offerings on Buddhism, see REL/ASIA 310 and REL/ASIA 365.

REL 309: Jews and Judaism in Modern Times

Seeman, TT 2:30-3:45, (same as JS 309), Max: 60 (30 REL/30 JS)

Content: How have Jewish communities faced the challenges posed by modernity? This class uses literary, historical, philosophical and anthropological material to explore this question. What is the origin of the split between different Jewish religious movements (i.e. Orthodoxy and Reform)? What is the relationship between Zionism, good citizenship in America or in Europe and traditional Jewish religion? What are the special challenges facing Israeli Jewry? How has Jewish thought been influenced by the Holocaust? By feminism? This class focuses on Jewish religious and intellectual life, but always tries to relate those to the larger existential dilemmas that Jewish people have faced in modern times.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: Students are expected to attend class each week prepared to discuss that week's readings, and will be evaluated on the basis of attendance and participation (20%). There will be an in class mid-term exam (30%) and a final essay (50%) in which students write a critical essay analyzing one topic on the basis of class readings and discussions plus related newspaper articles. There will be a mandatory film and discussion night, approximately four times during the semester.

REL 310: Modern Buddhism:  Religious Identity in Asia & America

Doyle, TT 1:00-2:15, (same as ASIA 310), Max: 20 (15 REL/5 ASIA)

Content: During the last two centuries, many Buddhist communities have been stimulated to forge new religious identities, movements, and organizations in response to rapidly changing, often culturally traumatic, socio-political conditions. This course will investigate some of the ways people from Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, and Tibet have responded to these changes, in their home countries and/or here in the USA. Particular areas of focus will be: the impact of colonialism and orientalist constructions of knowledge on Buddhist communities; Buddhist revival movements and their relationship to nationalist and/or communal struggles; re-workings of the “past” to explain and/or legitimate new religious/cultural forms; the influence of western-style social activism and feminism on Buddhist reform movements; and the ways in which various Asian immigrant and refugee communities have dealt with the dilemma of simultaneously maintaining and adapting their Buddhist traditions while living in the United States. An integral component of this course will be fieldtrips to local Buddhist temples and meditation centers.

Texts:  

• Bond, Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka
• Gunesekera, Reef
• Sangharakshita, Ambedkar and Buddhism
• Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step
• and a reader of articles.

Particulars: Class participation (10%), 3 Essays (60%), Site visits and presentations (30%).

REL 315WR: The Qur'an

Devin Stewart, TT 1:00-2:15, (same as MESAS 315WR), Max: 20 (5 REL/15 MESAS)

For further information on this course, please refer to the following
web-site:
http://www.college.emory.edu/current/courses/atlas/fall.html

REL 333S: Religion and the Body 

Reinders, MWF 10:40-11:30, Max: 18, TPL

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
• Anthony Schmieg, Watching Your Back
• a selection of theoretical writings and a selection of Chinese and Japanese works.

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.

REL 354RSWR: Jewish Ethics

Berger, MWF 10:40-11:30, (same as JS 354RSWR), Max: 18 (10 REL/8 JS)

Content: As a discipline, ethics is the way one analyzes a situation and reaches a conclusion as to what one should do. As such, ethics must be done from within a particular tradition, maintaining certain assumptions and following unique patterns of thought. This course is meant to introduce the student to what ethical discourse is like in the Jewish tradition: what sources are used, how arguments are constructed, and how one weighs competing arguments. Through the analysis done largely in class, students will learn the skills involved in doing Jewish ethics, and actively participate in the process. Topics to be discussed are social ethics, such
as lying and self-sacrifice, and sexual ethics, such as pre-marital sex and homosexuality. A final paper on medical ethics is the student's own attempt at writing Jewish responsum.

Texts: 

• Sourcebooks of primary texts (in translation)

Rel 354RS: Ethics: Human Goodness

Hall, TT 10:00-11:15, Max: 18

Content: This seminar will explore a single (though not simple) topic: What is human goodness? How should we best define it? How best represent it? In seeking answers to these questions, we may have occasion to consider how reflecting about goodness may or may not be related to the pursuit of goodness. My approach is broadly philosophical. We will study together a variety of texts in order to consider our questions about goodness, ethics, and forms of life together. Some texts will be philosophical and theological, some literary, some cinematic.

Tentative texts: We will read selections from thinkers past and present (with some emphasis on the latter) considering moral excellence. We will read Plato’s dialogue the Phaedo, selections from J.S.Mill’s Autobiography, and Dorothy Day’s The Long Loneliness. Contemporary writers will include Iris Murdoch and Mary Gordon. We will give substantial time as well to artists’ visions of human goodness, including short stories by Flannery O’Connor and Henry James and films including Weapons of the Spirit,Ulee’s Gold, and The Painted Veil.

REL 357R: Religion and Conflict: Comparative Truth Commissions from South Africa to the U.S. South

Smith, TT 11:30-12:45, (same as AAS 385 and AFS 389), Max: 18 (8 REL/5 AAS/5 AFS), TPL

Content: What is the relationship between religion, conflict, and peacebuilding? How does religion contribute to conflict and violence, and alternatively how does it promote conflict resolution and peacebuilding? In pursuing these and related questions this course will employ a Theory Practice Learning (TPL) approach. That approach will draw on student experience in and out of class, research into the nature of conflict and theories of violence, and attention to specialized materials on religion and conflict resolution and religion and peacebuilding. In particular students will design their own truth commissions based on case studies of actual commissions that have been completed in South Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, and most recently in Greensboro, North Carolina in the U.S. South.

Preliminary texts & Web resources:

• Bauerlein, Mark. Negrophobia: A Race Riot in Atlanta, 1906 (SF: Encounter
  Books, 2001).
• Hayner, Priscilla. Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and
  Atrocity (NY: Routledge, 2001).
• Ifill, Sherrilyn. "Creating a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for
  Lynching." Law and Inequality Journal, 2003 (21:2 263-312).
• Lederach, John Paul. Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided
  Societies (DC: US Institute of Peace Press, 1997).
• Oney, Steve. And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the
  Lynching of Leo Frank (NY: Pantheon, 2003).
• Till-Mobley, Mamie and Christopher Benson. Death of Innocence: The Story
  of the Hate Crime that Changed America (NY: Random House, 2003).
• "Universal Declaration of Human Rights," United Nations, 1948.
• Wexler, Laura. Fire in a Canebreak: The Last Mass Lynching in America (NY:
  Scribner, 2003).

Web sources:

• The Greensboro Truth & Reconciliation Commission
  www.greensborotrc.org
• Regional Alliance for Truth & Racial Reconciliation
  www.olemiss.edu/winterinstitute/atrr
• Southern Truth and Reconciliation
  www.southerntruth.org
• Strategic Choices in the Design of Truth Commissions
  www.truthcommission.org
• Truth & Reconciliation Commission: The Official South African TRC Website
  www.doj.gov.za/trc/index.html

Particulars:
(1) Report on the effectiveness of 2 practicums on conflict resolution
conducted in the context of differing religious traditions;
(2) Review of 2 case studies of truth commissions involving religious
factors in their design and development, recommendations and
implementation;
(3) Design of 2 truth commissions based on the preceding case studies
and suitable for submission to such agencies as the United Nations (UN) or
the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

REL 365: Buddhist Philosophy: Mind and Mental Transformation

Dunne/Negi, Tu 4:00-6:30, (same as ASIA 365), Max: 60 (REL 30/ASIA 30)

Content: This course serves both as an introduction to Buddhist thought and also an exploration of a particular theme. This fall, the course focuses on Buddhist theories of mind and emotions as they relate to the "Mind Training" tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This theme will form the focus of lectures to be presented during much of the semester by a distinguished visiting Tibetan philosopher, Kyabje Rizong Rinpoche.

REL 370R: Special Topics: Religion and Culture: Religion and Fantasy

Reinders, MWF 2:00-2:50, (same as CPLT 389), Max: 40 (30 REL/10 CPLT) Content: We will consider the treatment of the fantastic—the “normally impossible”—in religious stories and fantasy fiction. What happens to a religious story when it is read as fiction? What happens to fictions when we read them as religious stories? In what sense are stories like Lord of The Rings, Princess Mononoke or Hellboy “religious”? Relieved of the task of telling a single Truth, what do religious stories say?

Coleridge wrote of the “willing suspension of disbelief,” though Tolkien has a quibble with that phrase, in his essay “On Fairy-Stories.” When we are “enchanted” by a story, Tolkien wrote, we leave the “primary world” and live in a “secondary world.” Our movement between this real world and fantasy worlds involves changes of our subjective identity, which may be comparable to spiritual transformation or self-transcendence. How do our desires allow (or prevent) a “suspension of disbelief?” Other themes include violence, heroism, iconography, and technology.

We will read a selection of texts, and draw from various fantasy and fan cultures, modern and pre-modern. We will examine aspects of the different histories of manga and comics as fantasy media and as industries. Since we will start with discussion of masks and assumed identities, attendance for at least one day at DragonCon (August 31 – September 3; www.dragoncon.org) is highly encouraged.

Texts:

• Mike Mignola, Hellboy: Strange Places
• Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art
• Susan J. Napier, Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle
• David Loy & Linda Goodhew, The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons: Buddhist Themes in Modern Fantasy
• and a selection of texts by Tolkien, Chuang Tzu, Gerard Jones, and others.

REL 380R: Internship

Patterson, Th 4:00-6:30, Max: 20

Content: This course provides any student from any major an opportunity to become civically engaged as a scholar.  It connects classroom learning with hands-on experience in an internship setting.  Students will choose an internship site using the resources provided through the Religion Department webpage in consultation with the professor: http://religion.emory.edu/courses/internMoreInfo.html.  Sites not listed on the departmental webpage may be approved. The site selection process should begin during the Spring semester before the class.

Special opportunity:  Emory University is in the midst of finalizing an approved sustainability policy and plan for the campus.  This commitment to sustainability at Emory will mean new initiatives regarding serving local foods, developing sustainable practices regarding energy use, learning to become rooted in the "place" the landscape that is Emory, etc.  2-3 internships will be available for work on these local sustainability projects involving campus initiatives but also making connections into the sustainability efforts of other local and regional groups.  Dr. Patterson will serve as one of the supervisors for these internships and other faculty also will be involved.

In general, The Religion Internship course offers students opportunities to practice classroom theory in local settings with supervision. Students will choose their community partners from a list including the Food Bank, The DeKalb County Child Advocacy Unit, The Women's Resource Center, The Neighborhood Development Association, The Consulate General of Israel's Atlanta Office, etc.  Emphasis during the weekly seminar sessions will be on the development of interdisciplinary critical and synthetic thinking, problem-solving, and reflective judgment as related to the actual work within internship placements.  

Assignments: Using a portfolio format, students will develop a learning plan with goals and objectives, assess their performance, integrate ideas with actions, and ethically reflect. Pod-casting will likely be one of the assignment forms.

• The Careless Society (McKnight)
• Call of Service (Robert Coles)
• The Demands of the Times and the American Research University (Ira Harkavy)
• Stages of an Internship (H.F. Sweitzer and Mary King)
• Common Fire (Daloz, Parks Keen)
• The Weight of the World (Bourdieu)
• Building Communities From the Inside Out (an asset-based model).

Particulars: Credit for this course can be taken for variable credit, reflecting the time required by the internship and/or the students' choice. Each hour of credit requires 2 hours of work with a community partner via a supervised internship. Students may take this course for no less than 2 hours of credit (meaning class time plus 4 hours of work in an internship etting) and no more than 12 hours of credit per semester (meaning class time plus 24 hours of work in an internship setting). No Emory student can receive more than 12 hours of credit for internship work over the entire course of their studies in Emory College.

Non-Religion Majors are welcome. Consultation with instructor is welcome. Contact Dr. Patterson or the Religion Office.  

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

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 may include:

• 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.

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.