Course Offerings (CAS Bulletin)

Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion

V90.0001  Given every fall. 4 points.

Focuses on fundamental theoretical and methodological issues pertaining to the academic study of religion. The course is intended to expose students to, and familiarize them with, some of the more important theories of the origin, character, and function of religion as a human phenomenon. Students are given an opportunity to encounter and test an assortment of the main scholarly approaches to understanding and interpreting religious phenomena, including psychological, sociological, anthropological, and hermeneutical perspectives.

Senior Seminar: Comparative Topics in the Study of Religion

V90.0015  Prerequisites: junior or senior status. V90.0001 and at least two other religious studies courses. Given every spring. 4 points.

Complements and develops the methodological and theoretical emphasis encountered in Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion, albeit with a higher level of specificity and sophistication. The focus is on a specific thematic motif with cross-cultural applicability: e.g., ritual, the body, sacrifice, religion and the state, etc. Students can explore the import of the motif in question for their own area of specialization as well as examining its manifestations in other traditions. Students are expected to make formal presentations to the class.

Women and Islamic Law

V90.0026  Identical to V77.0783 and V97.0784. Haykel. 4 points.

See description under Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (77).

What Is Islam?

V90.0085  Identical to V77.0691 and V57.0085. 4 points.

See description under Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (77).

Gender, Sexuality, and the Body in Early Christianity

V90.0086  Given every other year. 4 points.

Students reexamine the light shed by ancient writings (and other evidence) not only on the role(s) of women in ancient Christian groups but also on the ideologies of gender promoted or assumed by those groups. The focus, while predominantly on women, also extends to the way in which gender identities were constructed and adhered to by males and females.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

V90.0102  Identical to V65.0025, V77.0800, and V78.0160. Peters. 4 points.

See description under Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (77).

Jewish Mysticism and Hasidism

V90.0104  Identical to V78.0430 and V65.0430. Wolfson. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Jewish Philosophy in the Medieval World

V90.0106  Identical to V78.0425. Ivry. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Jewish Ethics

V90.0117  Identical to V78.0117. Rubenstein. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Biblical Archaeology

V90.0120  Identical to V78.0120. Fleming, Smith. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Foundations of the Christian-Jewish Argument

V90.0192  Identical to V78.0161 and V65.0986. Klein. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Religion, Magic, and the Jewish Tradition

V90.0212  Identical to V78.0212. Wolfson. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Beginnings of Monotheism

V90.0220  Identical to V78.0116. Fleming. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Varieties of Mystical Experience

V90.0240  Wolfson. 4 points.

Surveys the traditional forms of mystical expression in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Passion and Desire in the Middle Ages

V90.0250  Identical to V29.0961 and V65.0961. Vitz. 4 points.

See description under Medieval and Renaissance Studies (65).

Introduction to the New Testament

V90.0302  Identical to V27.0293 and V78.0022. Becker. 4 points.

Introduces students to issues and themes in the history of the Jesus movement and early Christianity through a survey of the main texts of the canonical New Testament as well as other important early Christian documents. Students are given the opportunity to read most of the New Testament text in a lecture hall setting where the professor provides historical context and focus on significant issues, describes modern scholarly methodologies, and places the empirical material within the larger framework of ancient history and the theoretical study of religion.

Belief and Social Life in China

V90.0351  Identical to V14.0351 and V33.0351. Zito. Given every other year. 4 points.

The Chinese word for religion means “teaching.” “Teaching” immediately implies someone else besides the self. Belief in China has always been theorized and practiced as mediated by the presence of others, miraculous and mundane. The class explores what Chinese people “taught” themselves about the person, society, and the natural world and thus how social life was constructed and maintained. Examines in historical perspective the classic texts of the Taoist and Confucian canon and their synthesis; Buddhist, especially Ch’an (Zen) practices in China; issues of gender in past and present practice; and religion’s relation to the state.

Classical Mythology

V90.0404  Identical to V27.0404. 4 points.

Discusses the myths and legends of Greek mythology and the gods, demigods, heroes, nymphs, monsters, and everyday mortals who played out their parts in this mythology. Begins with creation, as vividly described by Hesiod in the Theogony, and ends with the great Trojan War and the return of the Greek heroes. Special emphasis on the return of Odysseus, as related by Homer in the Odyssey.

Jewish Responses to Modernity: Religion and Nationalism

V90.0470  Identical to V78.0719. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Religions of Africa

V90.0566  Identical to V57.0566 and V11.0566. Hull. 4 points.

See description under History (57).

The Land of Israel Through the Ages

V90.0609  Identical to V77.0609, V78.0141, and V57.0540. Schiffman. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Jews in the Islamic World in the Modern Period

V90.0610  Identical to V78.0114. Franklin. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Jews and Christians in the Ancient World

V90.0611  Identical to V78.0128 and V27.0611. Becker. 4 points.

Students acquire a basic knowledge of the early history of Judaism and Christianity. However, on the theoretical level, the class aims to provide the students with a forum to ask some of the questions most relevant to religious studies (e.g.: Are we to use self-definition, typology, or both in our formulating religious categories? How do certain categories help and hinder our understanding of religious and other social phenomena? What is the relationship between ideology and social world? How do we learn about the “real” world from literary evidence?)

Religion State and Politics

V90.0613  Given every other year. 4 points.

Introduces students to the debate on secularism by following a comparative approach. Students first gain basic knowledge related to the emergence and development of the secularization paradigm. In a second step, we confront it with empirical data. Concretely, this course introduces different examples of state-religion relationships and discusses the impact of the respective historical experiences and religio-cultural backgrounds on them. This agenda serves to develop a critical overview on scope and limits of secularization theory and provides the students with basic tools to situate current debates on religion in a broader theoretical frame.

Religion and Media

V90.0645  Zito. Given every other year. 4 points.

Introduces the long-standing and complex connection between religious practices and various media. Analyzes how human hearing, vision, and the performing body have been used historically to express and maintain religious life through music, voice, images, words, and rituals. Time is then spent on more recent electronic media such as radio, film, television, video, and the Internet. An anthropological/historical perspective on studying religion is pursued. Prior course work in religious studies, anthropology, or media studies would be helpful, but is not necessary if you are willing to work hard.

Religion, Sexuality, and Public Life

V90.0646  Pellegrini. To be given periodically. 4 points.

This country was founded on the promise of religious freedom, and yet U.S. laws and policies regulating sexual life derive much of their rationale from specifically religious notions of “good” versus bad “sex,” what bodies are “for,” what kinds of human relationships are valuable. How are we to understand this apparent contradiction? If sexual life is a special case, what makes it so? Finally, what are the implications of this “exception” for both sexual and religious freedom? Course materials are designed to introduce students to critical approaches to the study of religion in society as well as to familiarize them with important work in the interdisciplinary areas of gender and sexuality studies.

Martyrdom, Ancient and Modern

V90.0650 Becker. Given every other year. 4 points.

Examines the theory and practice of martyrdom in the West. We begin with a close study of the development of the martyrological discourse in classical, early Christian, early Jewish, and Muslim literature and culture. Also traces how the concept of martyrdom is deployed in modern culture in various phenomena, such as the “Columbine martyrs,” “Martyrdom Operations” (“suicide bombers”), political martyrdom, and modern notions of holy war.

Perspectives on Islam

V90.0665  Identical to V77.0665. Katz. 4 points.

See description under Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (77).

Jewish Philosophy in the Medieval World

V90.0675  Identical to V78.0425 and V65.0425. Lachter. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

History of Judaism: The Emergence of Classical Judaism

V90.0680  Identical to V77.0680 and V78.0100. Schiffman. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Judaism from Medieval to Modern Times

V90.0683  Identical to V78.0111, V57.0098, and V77.0683. Kaplowitz. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Meaning of Death

V90.0703  Identical to E70.1003. Moran. 4 points.

Study of death in cultural and historical perspectives with particular attention to religious meaning and ritual. The care of those who are dying and rituals of bereavement. Ethical-religious issues concerning the dying.

Introduction to Egyptian Religion

V90.0719  Identical to V77.0719. Goelet. 4 points.

See description under Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (77).

The Civilizations and Religions of the Ancient Near East

V90.0790  Identical to V77.0790. 4 points.

See description under Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (77).

The Dead Sea Scrolls

V90.0807  Identical to V78.0131. Schiffman. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Modern Perspectives on the Bible

V90.0809  Identical to V77.0809 and V78.0126. Von Dassow. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Gender and Judaism

V90.0815  Identical to V78.0718 and V97.0718. Wolfson. 4 points.

See description under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (78).

Anthropology of Religion

V90.0829  Identical to V14.0030. 4 points.

See description under Anthropology (14).

Buddhism

V90.0832  Identical to V33.0832. Zito. Given every other year. 4 points.

An introduction to this complex religion, emphasizing its history, teachings, and practices. Discusses its doctrinal development in India, then emphasizes certain local practices: Buddhism and the family inChina; Buddhism, language, and hierarchy inJapan; the politics of Buddhist Tibet; and Buddhist art. Finally the course touches on Buddhism in theUnited States.

Jesus and the Origins of Christianity

V90.0843  Identical to V77.0843. Formerly Jesus and His Times. Given every other year. Peters. 4 points.

Introduces students to the modern quest to separate the historical, human Jesus from the unreliable accounts of his behavior and teaching in the early Christian gospels. The background of this “quest” and its key techniques are surveyed in the first portion of the course; the remainder is spent applying these techniques to two very unusual ancient Christian writings: the sayings gospel “Q” and the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas.

The Sufis: Mystics of Islam

V90.0863  Identical to V77.0863. Chelkowski. 4 points.

See description under Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (77).

Introduction to Medieval Philosophy

V90.0986  Identical to V65.0986.Marshall. 4 points.

See description under Medieval and Renaissance Studies (65).

Internship

V90.0980, 0981  Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Variable 1-4 points.

Independent Study

V90.0997, 0998  Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. 2 or 4 points per term.