SPRING 2008 COURSES
| RE 103 - 001 Religion and Culture - TU/TH - 3:40 - 5:30 PM |
4 Credits M. Segol |
| RE 103-002 Religion and Culture - W - 6:00 - 9:00 PM |
4 Credits P. Zaas |
|
RE 103-003 Religion and Culture -
TU/TH - 9:10 - 11:00 AM
|
4 Credits K. Ulrich |
| RE 213 - Religious Traditions of India - TU/TH - 12:40 - 2:00 PM |
3 Credits K. Ulrich |
| RE 230 - Australian Aboroginal Religions - TU/TH - 2:10 - 3:30 PM **Course Description Below** |
3 Credits R. G. Calo |
| RE 241 - Theory and Methods of Religion - TU/TH - 11:10 - 12:30 PM |
3 Credits M. Segol |
| RE 303 - Religion in Contemporary American Society - TU/TH - 9:10 - 11:00 AM |
4 Credits M. Stange |
| RE 330-001 (Non-)Violence in Religion of India - TU/TH 3:40 - 5:30 PM **Course Description Below** |
4 Credits K. Ulrich |
| RE 330 - 002 History of Christian Thought - W/F - 12:20 - 2:10 PM **Course Description Below** |
4 Credits S. Murray |
| RE 375 - Senior Seminar - M/W - 2:30 - 4:20 |
4 Credits M. Segol |
TOPICS COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:
RE230 Australian Aboriginal Religions
Native Australian peoples, Mircea Eliade tells us, "have elaborated a magnificent religious system, though their technology remained elementary." In this course we examine this magnificent religious system, along with the social and geographic landscape that made the system possible--from the unique geologic features of Ayers Rock (Uluru), to the ritual evocation of the Dreaming, to the economic geography of the Songlines, to going walkabout in the outback. The course makes extensive use of multi-media materials that include source readings from the Australian anthropological literature of the past 150 years, graphic and written material from contemporary Australian Aborigines, Aboriginal films and documentaries, and web and other source images of the Australian landscape, of Aboriginal lifestyles, material culture, art, and ritual. Our primary objective is to gain some understanding of a people profoundly non-Western in their beliefs and practices. A secondary objective is to use this understanding to counterpoint our own beliefs and practices so that we can ask the questions, What does it mean to be _really_ different (yet belong to the same species)? Why are there such differences, and what purpose do they serve? And how have these differences translated in the past--and still do--into what counts as "religion." The latter in particular matters because it is tied to our definitions of "human," to our sense of social evolution and social enfranchisement, and ultimately, to the relations of power that subordinate one culture or one people to another.
RE330-001 (Non-)Violence in Religions of India
The religions of India are justly famed for the value they place on the concept of non-violence (ahimsa). Yet throughout history, there has been an equal emphasis on violence, especially in the form of speculations and stories about sacrificial rituals, the nature of kingship, and the necessity – or even glory – of warfare. This class explores the dialectical relationship between violence and non-violence in the religions of India and South Asia (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam). We trace the history of the concept of (non-)violence as it emerges from the context of ritual sacrifice, through debates about vegetarianism and the burning of widows, to the non-violence of Gandhi and the nationalist and communal conflicts of the contemporary period. Particular attention will be given to the role of (non-)violence in shaping relations between religious communities (Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains in the pre-modern periods and Hindus and Muslims in the colonial and contemporary periods), as well as to the shifting definitions of what consitutes an act of (non-)violence.
RE330-002 History of Christian Thought
This course is a survey of the developments of Christian culture from the coalescence of orthodoxy to the first great age of reform in the west. The focus will be on patterns of Christian thought as apparent in the development of theology, institutions, and Christian society of the Early Middle Ages. The focus will be on the Western tradition of Christianity (Italy, North Africa, Spain, Northern Europe), although other traditions (Byzantine and Asian Christianity) will also be considered. Although this is largely a story of the clerical hierarchy, wherever possible we will look at the role of the average Christian, including lay persons and women. Readings will be from both primary and secondary sources.
We continue by examining the main currents of Western Christian thought from the first age of reform (that is, the Central Middle Ages) through the Reformations of the sixteenth century, to the eve of the Enlightenment. In these centuries, "Christendom" underwent an almost constant process of internal and external self-definition. The most striking result of this process was the division of the western church into what became known as Protestant and Catholic Christianity. Our focus will be on the changing definitions of Christian culture, including theological formulations (definitions of orthodoxy and heterodoxy), trends of spirituality and mysticism, forms of worship, and gender roles and definitions. Attention will also be given to institutions (ecclesiastical hierarchy, monasticism, schools), and the changing relationship between the secular and religious worlds.
We shall discuss the movements from the Enlightenment through the present day, examining important theological considerations along the way. This theology will be examined in light of the social and political considerations that brought such ideas to the fore for both the Christian churches and society.
The meat of the course, however, will be discussing the main ideas developed by Christian theologians throughout the course of history. These will be discussed in the form of "doctrines," or categories by which the church classically has organized their thoughts on the relationship between God, humanity, and world.