Department of Religion | Spring 2006 Course Atlas

Content: This course will compare Buddhism and Christianity by looking at three aspects of these traditions. We will first study the origins and early development of each tradition, comparing the stories of the two founders and their transition to world religions, moving across diverse cultures and historical periods. We will then examine how each tradition understands the human condition, the sources and obstacles to our happiness, and the nature of suffering. Finally, we will compare the language and methods through which the two traditions describe transcendent reality.

Particulars: There will be 2-3 short papers and a longer term paper. The course fulfills General Education Requirement V.C. (Nonwestern Cultures or Comparative and International Studies).

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

Content: This course introduces the student to the academic study of religion through a consideration of some Buddhist and Islamic traditions. In readings, lecture, and discussion students will learn the fundamental categories and concepts of these two traditions in religious texts, practices, and knowledge. We will examine such topics as: attitudes toward violence and non-violence as a form of ethical action; what it means to have a "personal" relationship with an impersonal or remote entity; the role of devotion in meditative practice; the importance of "taking refuge" and "submission" and other rites that maintain one's place in a community. Students will also study the foundational categories, concepts, and perspectives used in the academic study of religion, religions, and religious traditions. We will consider such topics as how gender and power shape religious practices and ideals, (who gets to do what, and why or why not), the role of the body in being and becoming "religious," how sacred texts are interpreted and reinterpreted through time, and the way that identity governs the path of a Buddhist or Muslim. We will also compare each tradition in their differences and similarities, considering how practitioners might walk the path of the Buddha or Muhammad in our expanding and shrinking global religious landscape.

Particulars: Two Unit Exams, One Comparative Final, One Site Visit and Written Site Report, Short Discussion papers. The course fulfills General Education Requirement V.C. (Nonwestern Cultures or Comparative and International Studies).

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

Content: “The spirituality of a religion may be measured by the ethical quality of its relation with other religions.” So says course author John D’Arcy May in his 2003 book, “Transcendence and Violence: The Encounter of Buddhist, Christian and Primal Traditions.” With that claim as our point of departure we will proceed to introduce the study of religion. We will do so by reviewing the religious and cultural encounter of indigenous peoples with European forms of Christianity, from the earliest centuries of that encounter (in Europe itself) to the present (in the Americas and beyond). Along the way we will consider key questions in the field, for example: What is the nature of religion and religious experience? How does religious studies as a field relate to other disciplines in the university? How do religious phenomena relate to other areas of human behavior and interaction, particularly conflict and violence? In that connection we will use case studies and salient examples to test May’s related claim, that “the understanding that transcends differences and precludes violence becomes possible . . . to the extent that the ethical has precedent over the cognitive, justice over truth.” [Acknowledgment: “Religions of the Americas I;” Ron Grimes, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 5T8]

Particulars: 1) Weekly reflection papers; (2) midterm project (e.g., site visit, slides, interviews, powerpoint presentation); (3) final term paper. The course fulfills General Education Requirement V.C. (Nonwestern Cultures or Comparative and International Studies).

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

Content: The Bible both unites and divides Judaism and Christianity. It is at once the focus of shared religious devotion and a center of conflict. This freshman seminar will introduce students to the sacred scriptures of Judaism and Christianity, to the modern academic study of these texts, and to the history of their interpretation in the two religious traditions. Two biblical books will provide a focus for our study: Exodus in the Jewish Bible (Christian “Old Testament”) and the gospel according to Matthew in the Christian “New Testament.” We will consider how these books came to be written, how they were read and understood by their earliest readers, how Jews and Christians have interpreted them in various times and places, and how modern biblical scholars analyze and explain them. We will also look at how the founding stories of Judaism and Christianity are relived and experienced in the rituals of Passover and Easter by studying texts, viewing films, and making visits to churches and synagogues. This course will bring together students from a variety of backgrounds to explore the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity. No prior study of the Bible is required, and no particular religious beliefs or attitudes towards the Bible are assumed. What is required is a desire to learn and openness to new and different ideas and experiences.

Particulars: This course meets General Education Requirement I.C. (first-year seminar). Careful preparation, regular attendance, and active participation in class discussions will be essential to success in this course. Graded written work will consist of regular submissions to an on-line “learning journal,” a short book review, a “site visit” report, and a final research paper. There will be some short quizzes, but no major tests or examinations. Two feature-length films will be shown and there will be two required “field trips” outside of regular class time.

REL 190: Freshman Seminar: Genuine Phonies: Religion and the Search for Authenticity in the Modern World

Content: Fake, heretical, phony, fraudulent, virtual, invented--these are descriptions that religions and religious people seek to avoid, perhaps at all costs: Authenticity, orthodoxy, genuine, original, true, real--these are what they claim or aim for. In the modern, globalizing world, how does one tell the difference between the real and the fake? What difference does the difference make? How does one become authentic? Is becoming authentic itself inauthentic? Taking religion as a point of departure, the seminar will look at issues of authenticity and inauthenticity in fiction, film, advertising, and the internet.

Particulars: This course meets General Education Requirement I.C. (first-year seminar).

Content: In this course, we will seek to understand the dynamics of various parts of the Jewish Bible, called "Old Testament" by Christians. This will involve questions such as the following: What is said? How is it said? What appears to be the aim? Insofar as there can be disagreement in regard to these questions, we will look at different answers, both as they have been given by others and as they are presented by members of the class.

Particulars: Students will bring to each class an analysis of the text studied and will be ready to discuss their analyses orally in class. Students who have to miss class more than occasionally can turn their analyses into short papers and discuss them in an individual conference (which will normally cover two or three such papers covering the topics of two or three missed classes). There will be a midterm and a final. The course fulfills General Education Requirement IV.A (Humanities).

Content: What does it feel like to be a Buddhist? How do Buddhists see and make sense of their worlds, with all of their difficulties like old age, sickness, evil, and death? What resources do Buddhists draw on when they face difficult decisions, and how do they balance the values of both renunciation and love?

This seminar explores these and other such questions through a sustained encounter with the worlds of Buddhist narrative literature. Our careful reading of great Buddhist stories from a variety of cultural contexts will provide us with an entryway into the many worlds of the texts: the worlds behind the texts, the worlds inside the texts, and the worlds that stand before the texts. Our aim will be to understand not only what these stories have meant for Buddhists in distant times and places, but also what these stories seem to demand of their readers in any time and place. Along the way, we expect to learn much about Buddhist doctrines like the law of impermanence, the law of karmic retribution, the sanctity of holy persons and places, and the centrality of generosity and compassion.

The course is also a writing intensive seminar. Our aim will be to use the writing component of the course as a tool to deepen our entry into the worlds of the texts. Opportunities for revision will become opportunities for the clarification and deepening of our understanding. Our goal will be to present effective arguments about the stories we read, including arguments about their narrative structure, ethical demands, or historical context.

REL 210: Classic Religious Texts: The Classical Texts of Vedanta, East and West

Content: The class will be introduced to the concept and meaning of “Vedanta” as a metaphysical inquiry into the nature of Brahma (ultimate Reality) and the knowledge of Atman (Self) through a study of selected texts and passages of classical Hinduism: the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and others. Having acquired this basic understanding of major Vedanta principles and terms, the class will explore the development of Vedanta in the West through Swami Vivekananda’s first famous address at the Chicago Parliament of World Religions in 1893. The class will then move on to trace the more recent development of the Vedanta movement in Europe and America, with an establishment of numerous Vedanta Centers and Societies, including the one in Atlanta, Georgia.

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

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 the Mishneh Torah, his philosophical masterpiece The Guide of the Perplexed, his Commentary on the Mishnah, 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.

Texts:

Content: This is an introductory and survey course on the history, thought, and practices of the three closely-related “Abrahamic” religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Particular attention will be given to the ways in which Judaism, Christianity and Islam have affected and been affected by their larger cultural contexts. The course will emphasize the historical development of the three traditions, with a focus on pre-modern history (up to the beginning of the 19th century). However, some attention will also be given to present-day belief and practice, with special consideration of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities in Atlanta. The course is intended to provide both breadth of knowledge and some depth of understanding of key elements of the three traditions, and to serve as a basis for work in more focused and specialized courses. The course also functions, more generally, as an introduction to the academic historical and comparative study of religion. No prior study of any of the traditions is assumed or required.

Particulars: This course meets General Education Requirement V.B (Historical Perspectives on Western Culture). Graded course work will consist of two tests, a final examination, and three short (five pages, each) papers. Three feature-length films will be shown outside of regular class time.

REL 212: Asian Religious Traditions: China and Japan

Reinders, TTh 10:00-11:15, (same as ASIA 212), MAX: 25

Content: This is an introduction to religious life in East Asia (mainly China and Japan). We will deal with the major religious traditions (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Shinto, Christianity), within the larger context of popular religious practices. Our themes will include: temples, sacred space, nature and the natural world, the miraculous, hermit culture and images of the holy man or woman.

Texts: texts may include:

Particulars: Several short written pieces responding to the readings; a research paper or essay; attendance and participation; a creative project; one or two examinations. The course fulfills General Education Requirement V.C. (Nonwestern Cultures or Comparative and International Studies).

REL 212: Asian Religious Traditions: Buddhism and Hinduism in South Asia

Content: This course is an introduction to devotional practices, myths, and doctrines of some Hindu and Buddhist traditions of South Asia, as well as some materials and methods in the study of religions. In this course we will examine what people do as much as what they believe in order to gain a firm foundation in some Buddhist and Hindu practices, ideas, texts, ideal persons, and Gods and Goddesses. In this course we will pay particular attention to visual and material culture, and the stories that emerge around such images and objects, in addition to the religious teachings and ethics of these traditions. We will move between considering Practice and Imagination (that is, what people do and what they think). In “Practice” for instance, we will study the role of image, scripture, and body in religious life. Our consideration of “Imagination” will include how Buddhists and Hindus envision persons, the ultimate, the cosmos and society, morality and ethics, and the ‘fruits’ of their traditions. We will employ historical and anthropological methods of studying religions, which will require site visits to the Hindu Temple of Atlanta and Wat Buddha Bucha, close reading of religious texts, image and film study (involving Website, movies, and art museum assignments), understanding of historical and cultural context.

Particulars: Class participation (includes two short presentations, one per tradition), two unit exams, one comparative final examination, and a site visit with written site report. Meets General Education Requirement V.C.

Content: Who was Jesus of Nazareth? What does it mean to call him “the Christ”? What were the most important events in the life of Jesus? What happened when Jesus died, and after? What is the relationship between Jesus and God? What is the relationship between the religious movement inspired by Jesus’ ministry, other religions and other systems of thought? How should a follower of Jesus live? How should a follower of Jesus relate to systems of political power?

These questions have plagued the Christian movement since its beginnings and continue to trouble Christian thinkers and believers today. In this course, we will examine the answers given to these questions during the first 1500 years (or so) of Christian thought. Our examination will consist chiefly of close, careful, critical and creative readings of primary texts from the Christian scriptures and representative Christian thinkers. The intention of the course is not to uncover the true version of Christianity or to defend Christianity as true. Instead, we will be concerned with mapping the various attempts to articulate the meaning of Christianity. The primary objective of the course, then, will be to understand the plurality of voices that comprise the Christian
tradition and how these voices provide a range of options for articulating the meaning of Christianity in the contemporary moment.

Texts/Films: Readings will include works by Augustine, Athanasius, Julian of Norwich, Angela of Foligno, Anselm of Canterbury, and Thomas Aquinas.

We will also consider visual artifacts produced during the period being studied as well as view the films "Jesus of Montreal" and "The Passion of the Christ."

Particulars: Assignments: Students will be required to write two short papers (5-7 pages) in response to readings from the course, a short paper (5-7 pages) on one of the films, and one longer research paper (12-15 pages) covering a figure or theme from the course. There will be no exams.

Content: Death is a universal fact of human life. Yet throughout history different cultures have responded to death, and the dead body, in a variety of ways. In this course we will explore human responses to mortality in a number of cultural settings, including the United States, examining the symbols, rituals, and meaning-systems people have used to make sense of the end of life.

Content: This course will examine the retention of African traditions in Black Atlantic religious cultures. Contesting two commonly held assumptions that (1) most enslaved Africans were captured from West Africa and (2) the enslaved African populations were heathens with no civilized expressions of religion, we will give considerable attention to Central African traditions in our interdisciplinary approach to the subject. Central African traditions during the era of the transatlantic slave trade included sophisticated understandings of the sacred, the cosmos, and creation as well as Christian traditions that date back to the Kongo Kingdom’s conversion during the late 15th century. Given that Central Africans comprised one-third of the enslaved populations in the Americas and the Caribbean, this African cultural region is indispensable to African diasporic religious studies. The texts and source materials for the course include scholarship covering demographics of the transatlantic slave trade, Central African religious traditions (indigenous and Christian) as well as Central African influences upon Black religious cultures in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America.

Particulars: Assignments: 1 shorter paper (5-7 pages), 2 class presentations, and final research paper (15 pages).

Content: This course examines the writings and traditions associated with one of the most influential and controversial figures in Christian history, the apostle Paul. Addressed to newly formed Christian communities, Paul's letters respond to a wide range of issues and questions about how to live true to one's religious faith in a diverse society. In exploring his letters, we will situate Paul within his first century context, paying special attention to his connections with Judaism and his posture toward the Greco-Roman social world. In addition, we will explore how this first-century letter writer continues to shape important cultural debates, especially those surrounding gender, sexuality and social class.

Texts:

New Oxford Annotated Bible
The Letters of Paul, Calvin J. Roetzel
Exploring the Texture of Texts, Vernon Robbins

Particulars: Grades will be based upon active class participation, class presentations, and three short papers. Students will use both LearnLink and Blackboard throughout the semester.

Content: In this course, we use the work of the pseudo.-Dionysius (6th cent.), especially his Mystical Theology, to help establish a paradigm of mystical or negative theology in the Christian tradition. We also consider the historical and philosophical background to Dionysius in Platonism (focusing on Plato and Plotinus). We track the Dionysian paradigm through several medieval sources, both men and women, such as William of St. Thierry, Margaret Porette, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Meister Eckhart, and The Cloud of Unknowing. To appreciate these texts, it is necessary to fill in some background regarding the influence of authors such as Augustine and Gregory the Great, themes such as action vs. contemplation, and socio-historical contexts such as monasticism and heresy.

Particulars: Emphasis of on close reading of primary texts in English translation. Teaching involves a mix of informal lectures and seminar discussions. A special feature of the course is the "Mystical Questionnaire": a dozen critical questions that we apply to each of the major sources to arrive at a precise assessment and to highlight problems of interpretation. Assessment is based on participation, answers to the Mystical Questionnaire, and a final exam.

Content: This class will examine the role of religion and ethics in thinking about, formulating, and implementing public policy. It will begin with a discussion of what is public policy and of ethical decision-making. The class will then move to an analysis of what is or ought ot be the role of religion in people’s decisions about and implementation of public policy. It will play particularly close attention to the question of how do we talk about a “common good” in a plural society? What can or ought specific religions say about the public policy? Does ethical policy-making require sound factual analysis and attention to consequences? The class will then turn to a discussion of several pressing issues including war, economics, and the relationship between religion and the state.

Particulars: Students will write three short reflection papers and take mid-term and final examinations.

Courtright, TTh 2:30-3:45 & screenings Mon 8-10 pm, (same as ASIA 375), MAX: 15

Content: The largest film-producing countries are the United States and India. Hollywood has often been referred to as a “dream factory” and its products are among the most lucrative and prolific exports of American industry. “Bollywood,” an enormous film industry that has grown up in Bombay, India, produces hundreds of mass-market films that feature a formula of music, dance, melodrama, comedy, tragedy, religious and political perspectives and that are distributed throughout India, the Persian Gulf, Africa, Southeast Asia and increasingly Great Britain and the United States. In addition to the major film industries of Hollywood and Bollywood, smaller independent filmmakers thrive in both India and the United States producing internationally acclaimed films. This course will explore the intersection of religion, culture, and film. Our approach will be comparative on a number of levels. First, we will be investigating various religious themes and sensibilities informing films in two specific cultural settings: India/Bollywood and America/Hollywood. Second, we will be investigating how movies can help us understand the boundaries and meaning of religion. Finally, we will be investigating how attending to religious themes can help us better understand the narratives and images of movies. Like movies, religious traditions involve stories, characters, dramatic situations, spectacle, and special effects. Thus, films can serve as a useful context in which to think about how religion works in particular contexts.

Particulars: The course consists of screening one film per week, two class sessions for discussion, readings, two (10-15 pp) comparative papers, and a final exam. Films to be studied include:Mother India, Devi, Amar, Akbar, Anthony; Jai Santoshi Ma, Bombay, Matir Moina; The Wizard of Oz, Fiddler on the Roof, Places in the Heart, Tender Mercies, The Apostle,and The Matrix.

REL 370R: Special Topics: Race and Religion: Case Studies from Modern History

Content: The historical practices of Abrahamic religions, especially fundamentalist interpretations of their texts, have provided religious justifications for racial inequality in the modern world and provided ideological underpinnings for dehumanization, even genocide. But in the context of race as a cultural construct, religion has been used as a marker for "otherness" and privilege, supplementing or even replacing phenotypical "color lines." This course surveys religio-cultural essentialisms in early modern Spain, Ulster, French Algeria, Israel/ Palestine, exploring the role of religion in justifying categories of superiority as well as inferiority and in creating forms of social control that enlisted the poorest members of the dominant "race" as repressive agents in the exploitative enterprises of their own elites.

Readings: The paradigmatic example used is racial slavery in colonial Virginia, whose origins are traced in Theodore William Allen's Invention of the White Race [see "Summary of the Argument" www.eserver.org/clogic] back to the English experiment in Ulster. Other readings include Karen Armstrong's Battle for God; Ian Lustick's Unsettled States, Divided Lands; Jonathan Gosnell's Frenchness in Colonial Algeria; Baruch Kimmerling's The Invention and Decline of Israeliness; Donald Akenson's God's Peoples; Noel Ignatiev's How the Irish Became White. The course will also touch on patriarchy's relationship to religion, a necessary corellary since male privilege provided the historical template and synergistic for race privilege as social control formation.

Requirement Particulars: class participation grounded in weekly reflection papers (50%) plus two 7 page or one 15 page research/ historiographical (i.e. interpretive) essay (50%)

Collins, TTh 11:30-12:45, (same as MES 370R), MAX: 5

Sorry, THIS CLASS HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Content: This course is an introduction to Shiite Islam, including a historical survey investigating the Twelver and Isma'ili traditions and showing how Shiism has shaped Islamic history and thought in general. Topics covered will include conceptions of religious authority, heresy, and orthodoxy in Islamic history; the historical conflicts over leadership of the community; the lives of the Imams; Shiite dynasties; Shiite scholarly traditions; relations between Islamic minority groups and the majority.

Content: This course is a survey of various “critics” of Christianity. We will read (and view) primary texts of critics who are located both outside and within the Church. Our focus will be upon individual critics (see reading list below) as well as the relationship between the Church and various groups/persons (Jews; women; homosexuals; the poor; Hollywood; the current war on terror). The goal of this course is neither to defend such critics nor to defend Christianity but to understand these critics and the nature of their criticisms on their own terms.

Particulars: Evaluations will be based on class participation (15%), journal reflections (25%), two response papers (2-3pgs) (20%), a midterm (20%) and a Final (20%).

Content: For more than two thousand years, a small set of texts associated with Confucius (551-479 BC) and his disciples formed the core of the Chinese educational curriculum. As a store of knowledge shared by all educated men and women, the Confucian Classics shaped Chinese literati culture from late antiquity to the early 20th century. The goal of this survey course is to illustrate the diversity of the literary and cultural practices that evolved around this unique body of writings. The course is roughly divided into two parts. First, we will attempt to establish a framework for understanding the textual history and changing significance of the Classics throughout Chinese history. Drawing on a broad selection of primary sources (to be read in English translation), we will then examine how the canonized ideas were refracted in literary, philosophical, religious and political discourse. Satisfies G.E.R. post-freshman writing requirement and G.E.R. area IV.A (Humanities, textual).

Required Texts:

Particulars: Knowledge of Chinese is NOT required. Grading: class participation, written assignments, exams, paper. Satisfies G.E.R. post-freshman writing requirement and G.E.R. area IV.A

Content: Have you wished for a chance to test out ideas you've learned in class, in a local community organization, in a local religious community? Would you like to develop your analytical skills while working with others in service? Do you want to develop better communication skills and learn how to be part of a team? 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 will be on the development of interdisciplinary critical and synthetic thinking, problem-solving, and reflective judgment with relevancy to the discipline of Religious Studies.

Texts: Readings and methods of this course are from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Some selections may include: 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), and Building Communities From the Inside Out (an asset-based model).

Particulars: Students will meet weekly in a seminar class in addition to working in their placements. Each hour of credit requires 2 hours of work at a placement. Students may take this course for no less than 2 hours of credit and no more than 8 hours per semester. The course can be taken over several semesters, but cannot exceed a total of 12 hours of credit. Students should advise their supervisors that some weeks they will need to lessen their hours because of the academic requirements of the course. Students will present case studies of their work and keep a portfolio.

A Six-Week Seminar offered by the Venerable Abbot Lobsang Gyatso, translated and assisted by Geshe Lobsang Negi

Negi, Thursdays 4:00-6:00 pm: *March 23 and 30 and April 6, 13, 20 and 27; (Same as RLAR 797R), 2 credits or more, MAX:

*NOTE: To take the class for more than 2 credits, there are two introductory sessions that you would also be required to attend: Thurs., March 2, and Thurs., March 9, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

Content: In this seminar, Geshe Lobsang Gyatso will present one of the most important concepts in Buddhism, known as the Two Truths (relative truth and ultimate truth). An understanding the Two Truths is essential to comprehend the Buddhist view of reality, known as the view of the Middle Way, free of the extremes of nihilism and eternalism. However, the Two Truths are understood differently by each of the four Buddhist philosophical schools of thought. Geshe Lobsang Gyatso will present the Middle Way from the Prasangika-Madhyamika viewpoint, based on the unique presentation by Je Tsongkhapa, a 14 th century master who is perhaps the greatest philosophical scholar produced by Tibet.

Text: The Buddhism of Tibet, by Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness draws on many classics of Buddhist literature to elucidate Tsongkhapa’s position, which is that the Two Truths are complementary and not contradictory. The first section of this book is recommended as background reading on Buddhism; the second section is required reading for the course.

Particulars: Requirements include regular attendance, active participation (50% of grade), and a final oral exam. Students will be expected to prepare for this exam as rigorously as they would for a written exam.

Content: This course will explore perspectives on the mind-body connection. We will read broadly in the areas of healing, religion, and medicine. Although we will examine these issues historically, biologically, and from the view of a diversity of cultures, the course will also focus on current findings at the nexus of Western science and Buddhism.

Felman, Mon 4:00-7:00, (same as CPLT 490S-000/ENG 489S/361S), MAX: 3 (REL)

Content: History has put on trial a series of outstanding thinkers. At the dawn of philosophy, Socrates drinks the cup of poison to which he is condemned by the Athenians for his influential teaching, charged with atheism, and corruption of the youth. Centuries later, in modernity, similarly influential Oscar Wilde is condemned by the English for his homosexuality, as well as for his provocative artistic style. In France, Emile Zola is condemned for defending a Jew against the state, which has convicted him. E. M. Forster writes about a rape trial / race trial of an Indian by the colonizing British Empire. Different forms of trial are instigated by religious institutions, as well as by psychoanalytic ones. Jacques Lacan, the French psychoanalyst, compares his banning by, and expulsion from, the International Psychoanalytic Association, with a religious “excommunication”, for charges of nonorthodoxy and of heresy (Luther, Spinoza). However different, all these accused have come to stand for something greater than themselves: something that was symbolized -- and challenged – by their trials. Through the examination of a series of historical and literary trials, this course will ask: Why are literary writers, philosophers and creative thinkersrepetitively put on trial, and how in turn do they put culture and society on trial? What is the role of literature as a political actor in the struggles over ethics and the struggles over meaning? Why does justice matter, philosophically, artistically and humanly, and how does it move us, make us think, and pervade the emotion and the drama of our lives? Topics under discussion include the interrelations among justice, forgiveness, truth, religion, desire, testimony, injury, assimilation, exile, trauma, memory, and cross-cultural exchanges.

Texts: Plato; Oscar Wilde; David Hare; Moises Kaufman; E. M. Forster; Emile Zola; Hannah Arendt; Baruch de Spinoza; Jacques Lacan; Nella Larsen; Virginia Woolf.

Particulars: Regular attendance; two short papers; brief oral presentations; intensive weekly reading and active (annotated) preparation of texts for class discussion; ongoing participation. Fulfills Advanced Seminar requirement.

REL 472R: Topics in Religion: Constitutional Law: Religion & State

Witte, TTh 10:15-11:45, (same as LAW 646, 10A), NOTE: Law School Classes begin week of Jan. 9, Credit: 3 Hours, MAX: 5

Content: This course will explore questions arising under the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment as well as religion clauses in representative state constitutions and their colonial antecedents. Consideration will be given to cases concerning religious speech, worship and symbolism in the public square, the public school, and the workplace; government support for, and protection of religious education in public and private schools; tax exemption of religious institutions and properties; treatment of religious claims of Native Americans and various religious minorities; the freedom of religious exemptions and their limits; exercise of and limitations on religious law and discipline, control and disposition of religious property; and other issues.

Particulars: Classes will consist of lecture and discussion. Students will be given a take-home examination to be distributed to the last day of class and to be returned the last day of the examination period. Enrollment in History of Church-State Relations in the West or American Constitutional Law is NOT a prerequisite to enrollment in this course.
Grading Criteria: Take-Home Exam

REL 472R: Topics in Religion: Jewish Law

Broyde, MW 2:00 - 3:30, (same as LAW 664, 02A and JS 370), NOTE: Law School Classes begin week of Jan. 9, Credit: 3 Hours, MAX: 3 REL/ 2 JS

Content: This course will survey the principles Jewish (or Talmudic) law uses to address difficult legal issues and will compare these principles to those that guide legal discussion in America. In particular, this course will focus on issues raised by advances in medical technology such as surrogate motherhood, artificial insemination, and organ transplant. through discussion of these difficult topics many areas of Jewish law will be surveyed.

Particulars: No prerequisites. Grading Criteria: Paper or Take-Home Exam

Farley, TTh 2:30-3:45, for Religion Majors only (contact Religion Dept for permission number: 404-727-7596)

Content: It is part of the cultural significance of religion that it serves to promote and sometimes sanctify social and political regimes of power and that it also criticizes these, providing visions of human possibility less dedicated to oppression and violence. This class will examine this two-fold function by focusing on religion and gender. We will begin by studying the novel, The Last Report of the Miracles at Little No Horse, which chronicles a missionary encounter between a Catholic priest and an Ojibwa community early in the last century. We will then look at writings by women about their participation in one of the world’s religions. The class will focus a great deal of attention on students’ own research projects. Approximately a third of the class will be dedicated to readings assigned by students and presentations of their research. This research should reflect a culmination of their study of religion so far.

Particulars: REL 490 is a required seminar for Religion majors. Graduating seniors will be given preference in enrollment. It is not open to nonmajors. REL 490 is a writing intensive (WR) seminar.

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.

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.