| RELG 111-01 |
From Abraham to Al-Qaeda: Jews, Christians, and Muslims from their Origins to the Present
Instructor: Peter Schadler
Course Description:
Cross-listed with HIST 219-01 and MEST 200-05. This course will survey relations between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, from their origins up to the present day, with heavy attention to the premodern period, and to those areas under the political control of Muslims. We will, however, also consider the relations between these three in the modern period, and how the beliefs of these three groups have coincided and collided to generate specific tensions between them.
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
DENNY 317 |
| RELG 112-01 |
Religion & the Internet
Instructor: Andrea Lieber
Course Description:
Religion is everywhere on the web. How do online religious communities and social media reshape traditional religious identities and practices such as prayer, meditation, evangelism and pilgrimage? How are traditional religious institutions responding to the challenges and possibilities presented by technology? How are traditional systems of authority being challenged in an age when access to information is more democratic than ever? In this course, we will explore these questions, and engage with the many theoretical parallels between religious systems and life in the digital age.
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10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MWF
DENNY 304 |
| RELG 209-01 |
The Age of Faith: Medieval Europe Between Church and State
Instructor: Peter Schadler
Course Description:
Cross-listed with HIST 101-01. This survey course will study the development of European civilization during the period c.400 to 1500 with special attention to the rise of the papacy and religious conflict. It will consider the impact of such events as the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic invasions, the development of Christianity and the Church, the emergence of feudalism, the expansion of Islam and the Crusades, and the creation of romantic literature.
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09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MWF
EASTC 301 |
| RELG 233-01 |
Israeli Cinema
Instructor: Nitsa Kann
Course Description:
Cross-listed with FMST 210-01, JDST 233-01 and MEST 200-03. Israeli cinema has become increasingly diverse, critical, and multicultural and is often at the cutting edge of the Israeli cultural scene. Films provide an interesting lens to explore questions about Israeli life and identity: What was the experience of growing up in post-independence Israel? How were Holocaust survivors and new immigrants from Arab countries received during that period? What made kibbutz life distinct and how has it changed overtime? How is the impact of war and the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict depicted in film? What is the role of gender in the construction of Israeli identity and how has the portrayal of Israeli men, women, and LGBT identities changed overtime? What are the distinct issues facing Orthodox and Ultraorthodox Israelis? How are marginalized groups (Israeli Arabs, Middle Eastern Jews, Russian Jews and Ethiopian Jews) portrayed in film?
The course discusses trends and processes in Israeli cultural history and in current Israeli society, as represented in Israeli films from the 1960s to present day Israel. Screenings of Israeli films are a central part of the course. Films from present day Israel, including the most recent, as well as from earlier decades, create the ideological and cultural universe that the course illuminates. This course is cross-listed as JDST 233.
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09:00 AM-10:15 AM, TR
EASTC 314 |
| RELG 260-01 |
Ritual and Myth in Asian Religions
Instructor: Blayne Harcey
Course Description:
This course introduces students to conceptions of ritual, myth, and pilgrimage within the religions of Asia. Rituals and practices of place-making are central to the propagation and maintenance of Asias diverse cultures and are vital aspects of daily life. How do myths make places meaningful? How are lives punctuated by ritual, veneration, devotion, and worship? This course begins with an exploration of the theoretical lenses of ritual, myth, and pilgrimage in religious studies broadly, before turning to historical and contemporary examples from within Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Daoism, and Shinto. Students will engage these topics through a comparative approach that brings into focus the full diversity of the human experience.
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10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
DENNY 317 |
| RELG 260-02 |
Tibetan Literature and Culture in the PRC
Instructor: Christopher Peacock
Course Description:
Cross-listed with EASN 205-03. When the People's Liberation Army entered Tibet in 1950, Tibetan society was turned upside down. A culture defined by its devout Buddhism became part of communist China, and over the following decades, Tibetans were subjected to extreme political campaigns and vast socio-economic changes. After the death of Mao in 1976, the relatively relaxed political climate gave rise to a flourishing cultural scene in Tibet. Since then, Tibetan writers and artists have been finding new avenues of creative expression as they wrestle with the major issues facing the Land of Snows. How can Tibetans reevaluate the roles of religion and tradition on their own terms? Can Tibetans discuss sensitive issues such as the Cultural Revolution and the ongoing self-immolation protests by Buddhist monks? What is it like to be an ethnic minority in a country that is 91% Han Chinese? What does feminism look like in modern Tibet? These are just some of the questions that Tibetan writers--and this course--seek to explore. We will examine literature, art, and film by Tibetans living in the PRC, and through them discover how a unique cultural tradition has adapted itself to the modern world. All texts will be in English translation (translated from Tibetan and Chinese); no prior study of China- or Tibet-related topics required.
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01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
LIBRY E. ASIAN |
| RELG 318-01 |
One Nation Under God
Instructor: Jodie Vann
Course Description:
Every four years, the United States engages in an extended ritual process through which a new President is elected. This course will analyze, in real time, the process as it unfolds. We will be using news and other media as primary sources to consider how the U.S. political cycle displays the themes and characteristics of what scholars call Civil Religion. This complex system of rituals, symbols, and myths allows Americans to develop a particularly meaningful identityboth collectively, and as individuals. We will consider the current election within the context of a long history of Civil Religion as it has changed and adapted to a shifting nation and world. We will analyze how the election process gives us a space to explore various answers to important questions such as: how can a person be a good citizen?; what does it mean to be American?; what should the future of the United States be?.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, W
DENNY 112 |
| RELG 318-02 |
Keys to Music 2: Sacred Roots
Instructor: Hannah Koby, Greg Strohman
Course Description:
Cross-listed with MUAC 125-01. What are the deepest roots of contemporary music, popular and arcane? In this course, we begin by studying the earliest written music in the Western world. We trace its technical developments from the modal music of the secluded monastery to the contrapuntal complexity of Renaissance musical cathedrals. Doing so, we begin assembling a tool kit for musical performance, composition, and analysis, including modes and the incipience of the major-minor key system.
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09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MTWRF
WEISS 212 |
| RELG 410-01 |
Interpreting Religion
Instructor: Peter Schadler
Course Description:
An advanced introduction to some fundamental issues of theory and method in the academic study of religion. Selected religious phenomena will be examined using the perspectives such as those of the history of religions, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philology, philosophy, and theology. Emphasis will be placed upon methods of research and styles of writing in the study of religion.
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01:30 PM-04:30 PM, M
EASTC 303 |