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35 courses found.

RELIGIOUS STUDIES (L23) (Dept. Info)

Arts & Sciences (Policies)

Thinking About Religion

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Nearly everyone has had some experience with something they would call "religion," from at least a passing familiarity through the media to a lifetime of active participation in religious communities. But what do we actually mean when we use the word? What is a religion? What does it mean to call something a religion, or "religious"? And what does it mean to study religion, given the slipperiness of the concept itself? This course offers an introduction to the academic study of religion through a consideration of these questions: What is religion, and how can we study it? Do we need an answer to the first question to pursue the second? Why, and toward what ends, might we undertake such study? We will also consider what is at stake in our investigation and inquiry into religion-for the inquirers, for the subjects of inquiry, and for society more broadly-and what kind of lens the study of religion offers us on ourselves, our neighbors, and society, in turn. To these ends, we will discuss major theoretical approaches to the study of religion and significant work on religions and religious phenomena, toward a better understanding of what "religion" might be and how it might be studied today. No prior knowledge or experience of religion, religions, or anything religious is expected or required. This course is required for Religious Studies majors and minors.

A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

Annually / History

Building / Room

01

M-W-F--

12:00P-1:00P

January Hall / 10A

Kravchenko

See instructor

30

25

0

	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.

02

M-W-F--

2:00P-3:00P

Lopata Hall / 201

Kravchenko

See instructor

30

22

0

	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.

Literature Seminar for Freshman: Literature, Spirituality, and Religion

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Prize-winning novels and novelists form the entire reading list for this class, which is interested in how writers from multiple perspectives (Christian, Jewish, pluralist, atheist, and others) have viewed the function of religion and the meaning of spirituality. This course is designed for non-English majors as well as potential English majors. As we read some of the best, most influential, and most controversial writers of the last hundred years, we'll discuss not just the competing claims about religion and spirituality, but also the functions, forms, and multiple ways of interpreting literature. Studying the topic of religion and spirituality, this class will thus also serve as introduction to the discipline of English and literary studies. All are welcome: no religious background of any kind is necessary. NOTE: This course is open only to freshmen.

A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L14 171 L16 1710 L57 1711

Building / Room

01

M-W----

10:00A-11:30A

Van Engen

No final

15

10

0

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Freshman Seminar: Sexuality in Early Christianity

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What did Jesus of Nazareth and his early followers teach about sexuality-about marriage, adultery, divorce, the virtues of procreation and celibacy, same-sex relationships, and erotic desire? How and why did ancient Christians take different stances on these issues, and how do these traditions continue to inform sexual ethics and gender roles today? In this class, we will study these questions by examining key passages from the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels, Paul's letters, writings of early church leaders, martyr propaganda, monastic literature, and apocryphal books deemed heretical. We will also consider the interpretations of contemporary historians of religion informed by recent trends in sexuality and gender theories.

A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

Every 1 or 2 Years / History

Building / Room

01

M-W----

2:30P-4:00P

Jenott

Dec 18 2017 3:30PM - 5:30PM

15

11

0

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Religion and American Society

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This course explores religious life in the United States. We will focus our study on groups and movements that highlight distinctive ways of being both "religious" and "American," including the Americanization of global religions in the US context. Major themes will include religious encounter and conflict; secularization, resurgent traditionalism, and new religious establishments; experimentalism, eclecticism, and so-called "spiritual" countercultures; the relationship between religious change and broader social and political currents (including clashes over race, class, gender, and sexuality); and the challenges of religious multiplicity in the US. You will: 1) acquire knowledge of the disparate religions practiced in North America during the twentieth century and beyond; 2) examine some of the chief conflicts as well as alliances between religion and the American social order in a global context; and 3) develop interpretive tools for understanding religion´s present and enduring role in the US and the world.

A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L57 201 L98 2010

Annually / History

Building / Room

01

M-W----

1:00P-2:30P

Lopata Hall / 202

Maffly-Kipp

No final

25

22

0

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Introduction to Islamic Civilization

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Building / Room

01

M-W----

12:00P-1:00P

Yucesoy

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100

73

0

Actions:

A

----F--

11:00A-12:00P

Lopata Hall / 201

Yucesoy

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25

25

0

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B

----F--

12:00P-1:00P

Kaplan

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25

24

0

Actions:

C

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12:00P-1:00P

TBA

[TBA]

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0

0

0

Actions:

Waits managed by dept.

D

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1:00P-2:00P

Palans

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25

24

0

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Topics in Religious Studies: Religion in the Kitchen

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Scholars of religion, as of late, have turned away from texts and towards material culture as a way to attend to belief. Even so, in their attempts to study religion through material practices and "things," scholars still privilege sanctuaries, icons, and formal rites. This course asks: what do we learn about religion if we focus our analytical gaze on the kitchen, the practices of food preparation, and everyday talk that takes place there? By asking this question, this class aims to expand the range of where and how we study religion.

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

N/A

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

8:30A-10:00A

Cupples II / L007

Kravchenko

Dec 15 2017 1:00PM - 3:00PM

15

5

0

Actions:

Jewish Political Thought

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This course uses the concepts of political theory to explore the diverse Jewish political tradition. While this tradition includes writing from and about the three historical periods of Jewish self-rule (including the modern state of Israel), most of the Jewish political tradition comes from the understand of politics as viewed from outsiders to mainstream communities. Additionally, Jewish political thought can be found through a Jewish community's self-understanding based on its interpretation of Jewish text and law by which it bound itself. Because we span over 2,000 years of recorded history, we will not attempt to discern a single "Jewish political thought" but rather look at JPT through the lens of familiar concepts of political theory. The fundamental questions we will explore are the relationship of the Jewish tradition to concepts such as authority, law, consent, sovereignty, and justice. We will ask how the Jewish tradition views government and the relationship between the authority of God and the authority of temporal powers. We will explore these questions through a range of materials that include both primary and secondary literature.

A&S IQ: HUM BU: BA EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L57 240 L30 2401 L32 240 L75 2400

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

10:00A-11:30A

Rehfeld

Dec 19 2017 6:00PM - 8:00PM

20

14

0

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Love and Reason

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Love often seems dramatically unreasonable, and reason can seem coldly rational in a way that excludes any emotion, passion, or affiliation even akin to love. The supposed opposition between love and reason has been used by Christian and secular thinkers throughout modernity to organize ways of knowing and judging, and to criticize claims of faith, belief, and desire. But are love and reason really so distinct? What does it mean to say so, and why might someone make this claim? Can love be reasoned, and even reasonable? Can reason be aided by love, and even driven by it? How might different answers to these questions affect our understanding of other possibly unreasoned categories like faith, belief, and piety? This course offers an introduction to modern Christian thought and Western philosophy through these questions and themes.

A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L57 245 L30 2451

Every 2 Years / History

Building / Room

01

M-W----

10:00A-11:30A

Bialek

No final

50

13

0

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Biblical Law and the Origins of Western Justice

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Building / Room

01

M-W----

10:00A-11:30A

Barmash

Dec 18 2017 10:30AM - 12:30PM

15

11

0

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Islam, Culture and Society in West Africa

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This course will explore the introduction of Islam into West Africa beginning in the 10th Century and explore its expansion and development in the region, placing emphasis on the 19th century to present day. It will focus on the development of West African Muslim cultural, social, religious, and political life, to understand not only how the religion affected societies, but also how West African local societies shaped Islam. The course also aims to introduce students to a critical understanding of Islamic writing in West Africa. It will also examine the organization of Muslim Sufi orders in West Africa through time and space. The course is organized around a series of lectures, readings, as well as print and visual media.

A&S IQ: LCD, SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: IS EN: S UColl: CD

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L90 3062 L49 3062 L75 3062 L75 506A L97 3063 U84 3062

Annually / History

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

4:00P-5:30P

DIALLO

Dec 20 2017 6:00PM - 8:00PM

16

16

0

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City on a Hill: The Concept and Culture of American Exceptionalism

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This course examines the concept, history, and culture of American exceptionalism -- the idea that America has been specially chosen, or has a special mission to the world. First, we examine the Puritan sermon that politicians quote when they describe America as a "city on a hill." This sermon has been called the "ur-text" of American literature, the foundational document of American culture. Learning and drawing from multiple literary methodologies, we will re-investigate what that sermon means and how it came to tell a story about the Puritan origins of American culture -- a thesis our class will reassess with the help of modern critics. In the second part of this class, we broaden our discussion to consider the wider (and newer) meanings of American exceptionalism, theorizing the concept while looking at the way it has been revitalized, redefined and redeployed in recent years. Finally, the course ends with a careful study of American exceptionalism in modern political rhetoric, starting with JFK and proceeding through Reagan to the current day. Our last days will be spent discussing the rhetoric and legacy of American exceptionalism in the speeches of Obama and Trump. In the end, students will gain a firm grasp of the long history and continuing significance of this concept in American culture.

A&S IQ: HUM BU: BA, HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L98 3081 L14 3081 L22 3082 L57 3081

Every 1 or 2 Years / History

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

2:30P-4:00P

Van Engen

No final

40

31

0

Actions:

Confucian Thought

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This course is designed to introduce students to the history and teachings of one of the world's major religious traditions: Confucianism. We will examine how Confucianism developed in ancient China and afterwards spread throughout East Asia and beyond. In particular, we will pay attention to the issue of ritual and how Confucians attempted to ritualize social interactions and the world at large. In order to do so, we will engage in the writings of Confucius, Mengzi, and Xunzi, three early Chinese writers whose basic ideas about ritual heavily informed myriad cultural practices that are formative for large portions of East Asia today. Hence, this course on ancient thinkers not only introduces thoughts and practices prevalent throughout pre-modern China, Japan, and Korea. It also functions as a catalyst that helps us understand some of the reasons and motivations behind these communities' recent efforts to renegotiate and question "the colonialist flavor" of human rights and democracy.

A&S IQ: HUM, LCD BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L03 3091 L04 3091 L97 3095

Unpredictable / History

Building / Room

01

M-W----

11:30A-1:00P

Zuern

Dec 19 2017 10:30AM - 12:30PM

30

22

0

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Virtues, Vices, Values: Regulating Morality in Modern America

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This course takes morality and the question of "what's right" seriously as a lens through which to understand and assess modern American history. "Morality" is, of course, a devilishly flexible rhetoric, a language invoked to tell people how to act and how to be good, or, conversely, to criticize and to shame. When the state or a community wants its citizens or members to be "good," it crafts laws and creates customs to encourage or inhibit behaviors. This class examines how state and non-state actors have attempted to regulate the lived experiences of Americans and the conflicts that emerge over what, exactly, is correct, or right, or good for individuals, society, and the state. It interrogates what values the state impresses upon its citizens and what values citizens want the state to uphold.

A&S IQ: HUM, SD BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L57 315 L22 3155 L84 315R L98 315B

Unpredictable / History

Building / Room

01

-T-----

2:30P-5:30P

Griffith

No final

15

13

0

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Modern South Asia

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Building / Room

01

M-W----

11:30A-1:00P

Lopata Hall / 103

Adcock

Dec 19 2017 10:30AM - 12:30PM

35

24

0

Actions:

Native American/Euro-American Encounters: Confrontations of Bodies and Beliefs

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This course surveys the history and historiography of how Native Americans, Europeans, and Euro-Americans reacted and adapted to one another's presence in North America from the 1600s to the mid-1800s, focusing on themes of religion and gender. We will examine the cultural and social implications of encounters between Native peoples, missionaries and other European and Euro-American Protestants and Catholics. We will pay particular attention to how bodies were a venue for encounter-through sexual contact, through the policing of gendered social and economic behaviors, and through religiously-based understandings of women's and men's duties and functions. We will also study how historians know what they know about these encounters, and what materials enable them to answer their historical questions.

A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L57 330 L22 3306 L77 330A L98 330A

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

11:30A-1:00P

Croxall

No final

25

9

0

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Hinduism and the Hindu Right: Topics in South Asian Religions

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Many observers are bewildered by the rise of the political Right in the U.S. and around the world, but not observers in India. The world's largest secular democracy since independence in 1947, India has witnessed the rising ascendancy of the Hindu Right since the early 1990s. In its wake, the Hindu Right has brought violence against minorities; curbs on free speech; and moves toward second-class citizenship for Indian Muslims. This course will track the history of the Hindu Right in India from its nineteenth century roots to the present. The struggle to come to grips with the Hindu Right is of immediate political relevance. And it raises big questions in the study of religion and secularism.

A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L73 3392 L75 3392 L97 3392

Unpredictable / History

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

1:00P-2:30P

Adcock

No final

16

15

0

Actions:

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Building / Room

01

-T-R---

4:00P-5:30P

Nakissa

Dec 20 2017 6:00PM - 8:00PM

20

6

0

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Anthropological and Sociological Study of Muslim Societies

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This course introduces students to anthropolocial and sociological scholarship on Muslim societies. Attention will be given to the broad theoretical and methodological issues which orient such scholarship. These issues include the nature of Muslim religious and cultural traditions, the nature of modernization and rationalization in Muslim societies, and the nature of sociopolitical relations between "Islam" and the "West." The course explores the preceeding issues through a series of ethnographic and historical case studies, with a special focus on Muslim communities in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Case studies address a range of specific topics, including religious knowledge and authority, capitalism and economic modernization, religion and politics, gender and sexuality, as well as migration and globalization.

A&S IQ: LCD, SC, SD, SSC BU: IS EN: S

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L75 354 L48 3541 L75 554 L97 3544

Every 2-3 Years / History

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

1:00P-2:30P

Mallinckrodt / 303

Nakissa

Dec 19 2017 1:00PM - 3:00PM

40

19

0

Actions:

Ancient Philosophy

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Building / Room

01

-T-R---

1:00P-2:30P

Life Sciences / 118

Brown

Dec 19 2017 1:00PM - 3:00PM

35

25

0

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Travelers, Tricksters, and Storytellers: Jewish Travel Narratives and Autobiographies

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Jewish literature includes a number of highly fascinating travel accounts and autobiographies that are still awaiting their discovery by a broader readership. In this course, we will explore a broad range of texts originating from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. They were written by both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews hailing from countries as diverse as Spain, Italy, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire. Among the authors were pilgrims, rabbis, merchants, and one savvy business woman. We will read their works as responses to historical circumstances and as expressions of Jewish identity, in its changing relationship to the Christian or Muslim environment in which the writers lived or traveled. Specifically, we will ask questions such as: How do travel accounts and autobiographies enable their authors and readers to reflect on issues of identity and difference? How do the writers produce representations of an "other," against which and through which they define a particular sense of self? To what extent are these texts reliable accounts of their authors' personal experiences, and where do they serve their own self-fashioning? How do the writers portray Christians, Muslims, and Jews from other cultural backgrounds than their own? How do they construe the role of women in a world dominated by men? How do they reflect on history, geography, and other fields of knowledge that were not covered by the traditional Jewish curriculum; and how do they respond to the challenges and opportunities of early modernity? This course is open to students of varying interests, including Jewish, Islamic, or Religious Studies, medieval and early modern history, European or Near Eastern literatures. All texts will be read in English translation.

A&S IQ: HUM, LCD BU: IS EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L75 359 L22 3599 L74 359 L75 559

Every 4 Years / History

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

11:30A-1:00P

Jacobs

See instructor

25

3

0

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The Bible as Literature

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The Bible is one book among many; the Bible is a book like no other; the Bible is not one book but many. The course will debate such positions and the different histories and practices of reading they involve. We shall read extensively in English translations of the Bible, both Jewish and Christian, with emphasis on literary form and ideas. We shall look at the Bible´s material forms, and the history of its interpretation and translation. The aim is not to adjudicate its meaning but to explore what over time it has been taken to mean, attempting to locate within the book the potential for different interpretations. The course requires, and should foster, attentive reading, vigorous yet courteous argument, and respect for the readings of others.

A&S IQ: HUM, LCD BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

Building / Room

01

M-W----

2:30P-4:00P

Lawton

No final

25

25

0

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Topics in Near Eastern Cultures: Bombing the Savages: Orientalism, War, and the Modern Middle East

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Taking its title from a provocative essay by Sven Lindqvist on the colonial origins of aerial bombardment, this course investigates the discourses and practices of modern military campaigns by Western powers in the Middle East. We take a critical perspective on narratives that attribute violence in the Middle East to a timeless "clash of civilizations" and ask: How have wars by Western countries in the Middle East transformed the culture and politics of the region? How do contemporary wars against "terror" reproduce the assumptions of civilizational difference that drove earlier colonial wars? What makes deaths of Arabs/Muslims at the hands of war largely unrecognized? And how do assumptions about Middle Eastern patriarchy and homophobia justify and even incite wars in the name of humanity? Sophomore standing required.

A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: IS EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L75 373 L97 3730

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

8:30A-10:00A

TBA

Touhouliotis

Dec 15 2017 1:00PM - 3:00PM

15

0

0

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Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christianity: Topics in Christian Thought

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From the time Jesus of Nazareth preached in the rural countryside of Judea, his followers interpreted his words differently and wrote varied accounts of what he said and did. As time passed, and Jesus' movement grew into a world religion-Christianity-disagreement among Christians only continued to increase, leading to the need to define and enforce correct beliefs and practices-a Christian 'orthodoxy' embodied in the now-familiar institutions of creed, canon, and clergy. Yet in the process of creating an orthodoxy, what was left out? Whose voices were suppressed? Through careful study of ancient texts long-ago deemed heretical, and virtually lost until the twentieth century, this course examines the wide varieties of Christianity in its nascent years, and how the framers of orthodoxy defined themselves against these alternatives.

A&S IQ: HUM BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

Unpredictable / History

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

10:00A-11:30A

Jenott

See instructor

15

7

0

	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.

Topics in Jewish Studies: Jewish Sexual Ethics

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How have Jews engaged with questions of sex and sexuality over the course of their history? How do the various streams of Jewish tradition respond to contemporary questions of sexual ethics? What are the ways in which Jewish thought on matters of sex has interacted with non-Jewish thought, and how have sexual norms served to define the boundaries of Jewish identity and behavior? This course will explore the above questions by engaging with primary texts and secondary literature. The first unit of the course will examine ways the Jewish tradition has grappled with sexuality at various points during its history and development. The second unit will explore the roles sex and sexuality have played in situating Jews in the broader world, and in situating groups of people within Judaism itself. The third unit will engage a (non-exhaustive!) set of particular questions that animate contemporary discussions of sexual morality. Prerequisite: one course in Jewish Studies or permission of instructor.

A&S IQ: HUM BU: IS EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L75 385 L75 585A L77 385A

Building / Room

01

M-W----

4:00P-5:30P

Epstein-Levi

Default - none

15

5

0

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Medieval Christianity

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Building / Room

01

M-W----

1:00P-2:30P

Cupples I / 113

Bornstein

Dec 20 2017 1:00PM - 3:00PM

30

6

0

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Topics in Religion and Politics: Religious Celebrity

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Building / Room

01

-T-R---

1:00P-2:30P

Logan

No final

15

13

0

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JINES CAPSTONE SEMINAR: Convivencia or Reconquista? Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Medieval Iberia

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This seminar will provide an opportunity to explore in some depth various facets of the convivencia (coexistence) of Muslims, Jews, and Christians in medieval Iberia. We will pick up the timeline with the emergence of an Ibero-Islamic society in the 8th century CE; the seminar's historical horizon stretches up to the turn of the 16th century, when Spanish Jews and Muslims were equally faced with the choice between exile and conversion to Christianity. Until about 1100, Muslims dominated most of the Iberian Peninsula; from then onward, Christians ruled much and eventually all of Spain and Portugal. Through a process termed, from a Christian perspective, as reconquista (Reconquest), Catholic kingdoms acquired large Muslim enclaves. As borders moved, Jewish communities found themselves under varying Muslim or Christian dominion, or migrated from one realm to the other. Interactions between the three ethno-religious communities occurred throughout, some characterized by mutual respect and shared creativity and others by rivalry and strife. The course focuses on these religious and cultural encounters, placing them in various historical and geographic contexts. It will raise questions concerning the ambiguities of religious change, and the interplay of persecution and toleration. Methodologically, the seminar emphasizes the study of primary sources, including documentary, historiographical, literary and poetical texts. Structurally, the course divides into four main parts. Part 1 will cover the political and cultural history of Iberia from the 8th to the early 16th centuries; part 2 will be devoted to the Jewish experience under Muslim rule; and part 3 to the Jewish and Muslim minorities in Christian Spain. In part 4, we will discuss primary sources originating from each of the three communities that are portraying the respective Other. All sources will be read in English translation; however, students are encouraged to make use of their linguistic and cultural expertise acquired in previous classes. This is the capstone seminar for Jewish, Islamic, & Near Eastern Studies majors, Arabic majors, and Hebrew majors. Graduate students and advanced undergrads in other relevant fields are likewise welcome.

A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L75 4001 L22 4010 L49 4001 L74 4001

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

2:30P-4:00P

Jacobs

See instructor

15

6

0

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Solidarity and Silence:Religious Strategies in the Political Sphere

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Although political action is often considered a problem of making oneself heard, religious practices of silence, self-effacement, and withdrawal from certain worldly struggles have guided many significant political and social movements, particularly forms of non-violent resistance. This course considers the role of religious thought and practice in such movements in the twentieth century. The history of these movements presents an apparent paradox: how can political action emerge from the supposedly "private" realm of religion in the modern era, particularly its most individualistic formations in contemplative and mystical practices? Does the historical role of these practices in the political sphere complicate their portrayal in some scholarship as private, individual, and depoliticizing? With these questions animating our investigations, we will consider the work of authors and activists including Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Simone Weil, and William Barber, as well as the history of movements associated with their work. Toward the end of the semester, we will turn to contemporary movements against economic inequality, intimate violence, racially motivated violence, and discrimination toward transgender persons to discuss the use of religious strategies or religiously-derived strategies in current political and social activism.

A&S IQ: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

Building / Room

01

-T-----

3:00P-6:00P

Bialek

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15

6

0

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Topics in Islam: History of Political Thought

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This course aims to study political thought and practice in Islamic history (ca.8-13th centuries) through a close reading of a selection of primary sources in translation (and in their original language if language proficiency is satisfactory). Particular attention will be given to historical contexts in which thoughts are espoused and texts written. We plan to examine the development of political concepts and themes as articulated in diverse literary genres (legal, theological, political) from the 8th through the 13th century. We hope to engage various theoretical models to analyze the relationship between politics and religion and tease out the role of power in determining socio-political relations, distinctions, and structures. We hope to have a better grasp on the historicity of ideas presented in timeless categories in political discourse. Prereqs: Advanced knowledge of Arabic preferred but not required.

A&S IQ: HUM BU: IS EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L75 445 L22 4450 L97 4453

Building / Room

01

M-W----

1:00P-2:30P

Yucesoy

Dec 18 2017 3:30PM - 5:30PM

25

7

0

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Of Zombies, Ghosts, and Ancestors: Interactions of the Living and the Dead in Chinese Religions

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This course introduces a basic aspect of the multifaceted history of Chinese religions, culture, and civilization by centering on the practice of taking care of the dead. In particular, we will observe how various religious texts, short stories, and plays from China's earliest times until the sixteenth century depicted the interactions of the living and the dead. Despite the distinct genres, time periods, and topics, one important aspect will regularly appear: apparently people perceived the boundaries between the living and the dead to be quite porous in pre-modern China. In other words, the dead seemed to have played as much of a role in society and everyday life as living family members, friends, and government officials.

A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L03 419 L04 419

Building / Room

01

M-W----

4:00P-5:30P

Zuern

See instructor

20

18

0

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Law, Religion, and Politics

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Building / Room

01

M------

2:00P-5:00P

Lopata House / 10

Inazu

No final

15

14

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American Unbelief from the Enlightenment to the New Atheism

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