WUSTL Course Listings Login with WUSTL Key
Search Results: Help Display: Open + Closed     Just Open     Just Closed View: Regular     Condensed     Expanded
1 course found.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES (L23)  (Dept. Info)Arts & Sciences  (Policies)SP2017
L23 Re St 236FIntroduction to East Asian Religions: Ritual as a Transformative Device3.0 Units
Description:This course introduces fundamental features of several Eastern religious traditions. We will focus on the idea of ritual as a transformative tool and observe its manifold manifestations in three religious communities: Buddhism, Shinto, and Daoism. We will encounter such diverse practices as ritualized self-immolation, bodily possession, and biospiritual self-cultivation. These techniques are all linked to the idea that a ritual performance may trigger a transformative process in practitioners and/or their surroundings. In our case, they transform practitioners into an enlightened being (Buddhism), into a vessel that may host godly spirits (Shinto), and into a powerful catalyzer that exudes the nourishing and ordering powers of the cosmos (Daoism). While this course is a general introduction to East Asian religious cultures, it is also a course in critical thinking. Drawing upon examples from China and Japan, we will consider ways people have thought about their worlds and have acted on those thoughts in the world. We will also examine the ways other people (including ourselves) have thought about those people's ideas and activities. In order to inspire such moments of reflection, we will regularly engage in experiential and experimental exercises such as the throwing of pottery or playing pokemon go as a means to create moments in which you may personally and sensually relate to some aspects of these religious practices. Hence, we strive to learn from these religious communities' distinctiveness in this course in order to engage with our own prejudices and convictions, a transformative goal we may only achieve through direct involvement with their practices and ideas.
Attributes:A&S IQ: HUM, LCDArch: HUMArt: HUMBU: ETHEN: H
Instruction Type:Classroom instruction Grade Options:CPA Fees:
Course Type:HomeSame As:L03 236FFrequency:Unpredictable / History
SecDays       TimeBuilding / RoomInstructorFinal ExamSeatsEnrollWaits
01M-W----1:00P-2:30PLopata Hall / 202 ZuernMay 10 2017 1:00PM - 3:00PM30210
Actions:BooksSyllabus
Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.
Label

Home/Ident

A course may be either a “Home” course or an “Ident” course.

A “Home” course is a course that is created, maintained and “owned” by one academic department (aka the “Home” department). The “Home” department is primarily responsible for the decision making and logistical support for the course and instructor.

An “Ident” course is the exact same course as the “Home” (i.e. same instructor, same class time, etc), but is simply being offered to students through another department for purposes of registering under a different department and course number.

Students should, whenever possible, register for their courses under the department number toward which they intend to count the course. For example, an AFAS major should register for the course "Africa: Peoples and Cultures" under its Ident number, L90 306B, whereas an Anthropology major should register for the same course under its Home number, L48 306B.

Grade Options
C=Credit (letter grade)
P=Pass/Fail
A=Audit
U=Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
S=Special Audit
Q=ME Q (Medical School)

Please note: not all grade options assigned to a course are available to all students, based on prime school and/or division. Please contact the student support services area in your school or program with questions.