*Religion 97 (formerly *Religion 97a and 97b). Tutorial — Sophomore Year
Catalog Number: 2313
Tamsin Jones
Half course (spring term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Note: Required of concentrators.
*Religion 98a. Tutorial — Junior Year
Catalog Number: 2832
Tamsin Jones
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Required of concentrators.
*Religion 98b. Tutorial — Junior Year
Catalog Number: 2922
Tamsin Jones
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Required of concentrators.
*Religion 99. Tutorial — Senior Year
Catalog Number: 6498
Tamsin Jones
Full course. Hours to be arranged.
A required component of the senior year tutorial is a monthly seminar, led by the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies. Covers research methods and strategies in thesis writing.
Note: Required of concentrators.
Religion 16 (formerly Religion 1004). Religious Dimensions in Human Experience
Catalog Number: 9089
Davíd L. Carrasco
Half course (fall term). W., 1–3.
Study of major themes in the history of religions including religious experience, society and cosmic law, ritual violence and the body, the trickster, search for the soul. Readings focus on the tension between personal memoirs and the social construction of religion in Islam, Judaism, Christian, American Indian, African American and Latino traditions. Introduction to theoretical approaches of M. Jackson, Durkheim, Eliade, Berger, J.Z. Smith, Doniger, and Nandy.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3160.
[Religion 17. Myth in History: An Introduction to Religion and to the Study of Religion]
Catalog Number: 5462
Charles Hallisey (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 11, and a weekly section to be arranged.
W. C. Smith said, "the mythical can be seen as what has made human history human." Taking up this idea, this course considers myth as a basic religious phenomena; introduces four religious complexes (Ancient Greek, Christian, Islamic, and Hindu) by looking at the place of myth in each; traces the role that the category of myth has played in the academic study of religion; explores the place of myth in modern critical thinking.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3841.
[Religion 45. Introduction to Christian Thought]
Catalog Number: 9030
Tamsin Jones
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 1.
An introductory survey of Christian thought from its origins to the present. Attention given to tracking the intellectual trajectories of Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant thought. Topics covered include the relationship between faith and reason, the identity and function of Jesus Christ, understandings of the self in relation to God, and different notions of community. Primary readings include Origen, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Julian of Norwich, Luther, Barth, Lossky, Gutierrez, Daly and Cone.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11.
[Religion 55. The "Death of God"? Modern and Postmodern Responses to Religion]
Catalog Number: 5407
Tamsin Jones
Half course (spring term). M., W., F., at 1, and an hour to be arranged.
What is the significance of Nietzche’s announcement of the "death of God"? Upon what modern critiques of religion does it rest? In later postmodern thought, how have the emphases on the "other", "hospitality to the stranger", and "alterity" been construed as a "re-turn" to religion? This course examines the changing understandings of religion and of God in Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment thought. Readings include Kant, Locke, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Buber, Levinas, Derrida and Irigaray.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School.
Religion 56. Existentialism and Religion - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 75076
Tamsin Jones
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 1, and weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 6
In the event of the absence of God, can one still have belief? In the face of nothingness, how is one to live? Can beauty still be encountered in the aftermath of war and genocide? This course discusses various responses to these questions in philosophy, theology, literature, and film, focusing on the ideas emerging out of WWII and the Holocaust. Thinkers considered include Dostoyevsky, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, Marcel, Arendt, and filmmakers, Bergman, Kurosawa, and Tarkovsky.
Note: This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the Core area requirement for Moral Reasoning.
*Religion 1003. Comparative Religion: History, Challenge, Potential
Catalog Number: 1694 Enrollment: Limited to 15. Written application at the first class meeting.
Kimberley C. Patton (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). W., 1–3.
This seminar will offer an encounter with the comparative study of religion as a method, including contemporary discussions of its problems, value, and potential. Starting with a brief historical survey of important comparative approaches, we will read current theoretical works as well as representative works of application. The individual research project will feature the creation of a comparative course syllabus and accompanying rationale.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3828.
[Religion 1005. World Religions in Boston: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 2655 Enrollment: Limited. Application online.
Diana L. Eck
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–3.
Investigates religious traditions of the world in the dynamic context of the US, focusing on the presence of these traditions in the increasingly complex and diverse religious life of the Boston area today. Visits to a Hindu temple, a Sikh gurdwara, an Islamic Center, and a Buddhist temple or meditation center. Consideration of encounters, connections, and tensions with Christian and Jewish communities. Each student undertakes research on a particular community or issue in the Boston cosmopolis.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3901.
[Religion 1007. Religion in Multicultural America: Case Studies in Religious Pluralism]
Catalog Number: 8833 Enrollment: Limited. Application online.
Diana L. Eck
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1-3.
An exploration and analysis of the dynamic multi-religious landscape of the US with special focus on Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh traditions. In what contexts do minority religious communities encounter long-dominant Christian and Jewish communities? How is America changing as religious communities struggle with civic, constitutional, and theological issues, especially in the post-9/11 period? Reading, discussion, and class projects will focus on particular cases and controversies.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3847.
Religion 1012a. Dreams and the Dreaming
Catalog Number: 5216
Kimberley C. Patton (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Th., 1-3, and an hour to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
Considers the role of the dream as initiation, metaphor for aboriginal time, gateway to the other world, meeting-place of the divine guide, healing event, “royal road” to the unconscious, journey, epistemological paradox, and prophecy. Theories of dreams, the history of dream interpretation in religion, and dreams in myth and ritual will be examined cross-culturally. Includes current research in the psychology and neurobiology of dreams and relevance for the theological and spiritual dimensions of human dreaming.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3315a.This is a divisible year-long course.
Religion 1012b. Dreams and the Dreaming
Catalog Number: 5697
Kimberley C. Patton (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Th.,, 1-3 and an hour to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
A continuation of Religion 1012a.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3315b. It is not necessary to have taken Religion 1012a/HDS 3315a to take Religion 1012b/HDS 3315b.
*Religion 1024. Tomb, Relic, and Transcendence: Seminar
Catalog Number: 6792 Enrollment: Limited to 15. Written application at the first course meeting.
Kimberley C. Patton (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). W., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
This seminar deals with the doctrines of transcendence vs. practices of incarnation through the "special dead”: heroes, saints, and the awakened. Ancient Greek hero cult; Christian saints’ tombs and relics; Islamic popular shrines of the "friends of God"; Buddhism (the 84,000 stupas of Ashoka; the relics of the Buddha). Topics include corruption and incorruptibility; collective blessing and fertility; mediation between realms; tombs as foci of pilgrimage and prayer; relics as talisman; earthly "traces" of holy persons.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3814.
[Religion 1029. Jewish-Christian Interaction and Conflict, ca. 200-1789]
Catalog Number: 0386
Kevin J. Madigan (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1–3.
This course will examine the religious, social and economic relations that prevailed between Jews and Christians over 1500 years. Attention will be given to: Jesus of Nazareth in his context; Jews and Christians in antiquity; Jews before the First Crusade (1096); Crusade and Martyrdom; Shifts in Jewish-Christian relations in the 12th and 13th centuries; the Black Death and its consequences; Hasidism and Mysticism; the Spanish Inquisition and the Conversos; the Expulsion from Spain and select modern events.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity school as HDS 2212.
[Religion 1039. Topics in Comparative Religious Ethics: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 2323
Jonathan Schofer (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Th., 3–5.
The specific themes of the seminar will vary from year to year, but the course will be organized around three or four key problems in the comparative study of religious ethics. Examples include: the foundations of normative claims; the significance of the body; the nature of reason or rationality; the dynamics of emotions, desires, and instincts; the relevance of categories such as the unconscious and the archaic; and various options for comparative scope and method.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3797.
Religion 1041. Tradition and Ethics in a Comparative Perspective - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 39325
Jonathan Schofer (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 10–11:30.
This course begins with prominent approaches to tradition and ethics in contemporary scholarship (MacIntyre and Stout). Then, we critically examine the concept of tradition through research in social theory and the study of religion. The later readings examine tradition and ethics in several religions and cultures, including Judaism, Islam, the Kodi of Indonesia, and contemporary Mayan communities.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3728.
Religion 1043. The Self Writing the Self: Autobiography and Religion - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 27714 Enrollment: Limited to 40.
Janet Gyatso (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 11:30-1, and weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13, 14
This course explores selfhood, religion and the writing of autobiography. What do autobiographies tell us about the relationship of subjectivity to religious truth? To whom are autobiographers telling their self-stories, and why? What constitutes conversion, enlightenment, or self-consciousness? Autobiographies studied include those by Augustine, Teresa of Avila, a Tibetan hermitess, a Chinese-American novelist, a Venetian Rabbi, an American freed slave, and James Joyce. Students will also keep autobiographical journals.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3721.
[*Religion 1050. Democratizing Biblical Studies]
Catalog Number: 1722 Enrollment: Limited to 10.
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). W., 1–3.
The seminar discusses the multicultural character of biblical texts and intercultural analysis as a new interpretive approach in biblical studies. African, Asian, indigenous, Latin American, aboriginal, American Indian, Latina/o-Hispanic studies, as well as, ethnicity, feminist, womanist, black, queer, liberation theological, postcolonial, and third world studies, have begun to de-center the hegemonic paradigm of biblical studies. This emerging radical democratic paradigm of biblical criticism is interdisciplinary, multi-vocal, ideology critical, and radical democratic.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1514.
Religion 1060. Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary
Catalog Number: 3293
Francis X. Clooney (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 10–11:30.
This course explores gender and divinity by reading hymns praising Hindu goddesses Laksmi, Maha Devi, Apirami, Kali while asking how feminine divinity is constructed in an environment where gods and goddesses flourish. The course simultaneously explores the cult of the Virgin Mary, theologically, historically, through key texts. This approach is sharpened by attention to performative, social, visual dimensions, and through contemporary feminist and theological insights. Not a survey, but an in-depth introduction.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3760.
[Religion 1063. South Asian Religious Aesthetics: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 8607 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Anne E. Monius (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
An examination of South Asian theories of aesthetics and their relevance for understanding Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain discourses of ethics, literature, and theology.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3925.
Prerequisite: Previous coursework in the religious history of South Asia.
Religion 1082. Writing Lives: Women Writing Religion - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 90515 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Leila N. Ahmed (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., 11–1. EXAM GROUP: 4, 5
An exploratory seminar on issues of writing, gender and religion. We will read a variety of texts - narrative, fictional, autobiographical, and theoretical - and explore issues of gender, genres, the construction of knowledge and visibility/invisibility of women’s experience.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3900.
Religion 1090. Voodooizations and Politics of Representations - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 17558
Aisha Mahina Beliso-De Jesus
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 10–11:30. EXAM GROUP: 12, 13
This course will examine the process by which representations of Black spiritualities in film and media have constructed a genre of "voodoo" as well as "voodooizations" of different religious and spiritual beliefs. Addressing differing politics of representation, we will engage in theories of reception and commodification, cultural studies, performance theory, postcolonial theories, critical feminist and queer media studies. Through the watching and interrogating of Black Horror "voodoo" films and other media in different historical contexts students will be introduced to ideas around the imaginings of the body and self, gendered and racialized Others, colonialism, imperialism and empire as well as the circular production and consumption of erotic, popular and religious media.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2735.
*Religion 2002. Contemporary Conversations in the Study of Religion: Seminar
Catalog Number: 0803
Charles Hallisey (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 3–5.
An engagement with the theoretical and methodological issues that scholars of religion deem to be the most urgent and compelling in the discipline today, across the various research areas.
Note: Limited to second-year doctoral students in the Study of Religion.
[Religion 2030. Thinking About History in South Asia: Seminar ]
Catalog Number: 0070 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Anne E. Monius (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–3.
This seminar offers an intensive examination of Euro-American and South Asian approaches to time and history and considers their importance for the study of South Asian religions.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Limited to doctoral students and advanced masters-level students. Offered jointly with Divinity School as 3930.
[Religion 2045 (formerly Religion 2841). Orthodoxy: Religion, Truth, and Authority: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 5529 Enrollment: primarily for graduates
M. Shahab Ahmed
Half course (fall term). W., 2–5.
Orthodoxy is defined as “truth or sound belief according to an authoritative norm” (Encyclopaedia of Religion). Focuses comparative examination of the historical, social, institutional, and discursive constitution of orthodoxy in Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, and Judaism.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3979. Open to advanced undergraduates. Not open to auditors.
*Religion 2055. Religion and Democratic Theory: Seminar
Catalog Number: 6070 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–3.
Examines the relationship between religious reflection and democratic theories of various types. Topics covered include: liberal political theory and theological critique, religious practice and radical democratic theory, cultural/religious diversity and religious truth-claims, religion and public life, and feminist theory and democratic practice. Among the authors considered will be Seyla Benhabib, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Reinhold Niebuhr, Martha Nussbaum, John Rawls, and Adoulkarim Saroush.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2538.
Religion 2070. Topics in Modern Japanese Religions - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 85437
Helen Hardacre
Half course (fall term). W., 4–6.
This graduate seminar examines significant topics shaping Japanese religious life from the Meiji Restoration of 1868 to the present. Each year’s offering will focus on reading and discussion of relevant primary texts and secondary literature. Topic for 2009: Religion, Law and State in 20th Century Japan. An examination of capital punishment in the context of the history of changing understandings of the person (variously, embedded in family community, subject of the empire, possessing human rights) within changing social and legal frameworks (the Meji Civil Code, the Meiji constitution, the postwar constitution).
Note: May be repeated for credit. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3961
Prerequisite: Modern Japanese
[Religion 1212b. Judaism: The Liturgical Year]
Catalog Number: 8074
Jon D. Levenson (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). M., W., 10–11:30.
A continuation of Religion 1212a.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1667b/3667b.
Prerequisite: Religion 1212a.
[Religion 1240. Time and Space in Rabbinic Judaism]
Catalog Number: 1200
Jonathan Schofer (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
This course will examine the ways that spatiality and temporality were understood and made meaningful by the rabbis of Late Antiquity, whose thought and practice have shaped the religious life of Jews to the present day. Topics will include accounts of creation and the cosmos; memory and forgetting; the Temple, synagogues, and everyday spaces; and weekly, monthly, and annual ritual cycles. Readings will be in English translation.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3641.
[Religion 1401. Early Christian Thought 1: The Greek Tradition]
Catalog Number: 4950
Charles Stang (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 11:30-1, and weekly section to be arranged.
This introductory course will focus on the major Greek authors of the late antique Christian East (third through eighth centuries). Authors will include Origen, Athanasius, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Evagrius of Pontus, Cyril of Alexandria, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and John of Damascus.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1749.
[Religion 1402. Early Christian Thought 2: The Latin Tradition]
Catalog Number: 2577
Charles Stang (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 11:30-1 and weekly section to be arranged.
This introductory course will focus on the major Latin authors of the late antique Christian West (second through ninth centuries). Authors will include Tertullian, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Cassian, Gregory the Great, Boethius, and John Scottus Eriugena.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1750.
[Religion 1403. The Mystical Theology of Dionysius the Areopagite]
Catalog Number: 4823
Charles Stang (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). W., 3–5.
A close reading of the complete works of "Pseudo"-Dionysius the Areopagite, the late fifth or early sixth century theologian who wrote under the name of Paul’s famous convert (Acts 17:34), and who is widely regarded as the foremost spokesman of the "apophatic" or "negative" mystical tradition. This course will devote most of its attention to the corpus itself, its sources and setting, but will also consider its influence on Eastern and Western Christianities.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1748.
[Religion 1404. Early Christianity in the Roman Empire]
Catalog Number: 9800
Laura S. Nasrallah (Divinity School) (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). W., 10-12, and a weekly section and field trips to be arranged.
We shall read New Testament and early Christian literature to explore topics such as Paul and empire, early Christian apologetics, and martyrdom. These will in turn be explored in relation to the literature and especially the art and archaeology of the Roman Empire. Special focus will be given to materials of the first and second centuries CE. Key themes will include gender, colonialism, violence, spectacle, the body, justice, and ancient definitions of religion and piety.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1518.
Religion 1408. Martyrdom: Bodies, Death and Life in Ancient Christianity
Catalog Number: 9871
Karen L. King (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Th., 1-3 and hour to be arranged.
This course will consider newly discovered works, as well as engage critical re-readings of well-known sources, around such topics as the politics of martyrdom, performance and ritual, gender, and intra-Christian controversies.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1501.
Religion 1411. Seminar: Saints, Sanctity, and Society in Ancient and Medieval Christianity
Catalog Number: 6249 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Kevin J. Madigan (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 9. EXAM GROUP: 2
An historical introduction to the field of Christian hagiography. Topics include interpretive method, martyrdom and sanctity, sanctity and monasticism, shrines and pilgrimage, gender and sanctity, relics and veneration, canonization and the politics of sanctity. Some attention given to Jewish martyrology and parallels in other world religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2233.
[Religion 1413. Paul’s Letters and Their Interpreters: Ethnicity, Empire, the Body, and the End of the World]
Catalog Number: 8015
Laura S. Nasrallah (Divinity School) (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 10 and field trips to be arranged.
This introductory course focuses on 1) the Pauline epistles in their first-century context, and their earliest interpretations; 2) recent trends in Pauline studies, including feminist and postcolonial interpretation, the "New Perspective," and European philosophical treatments (Badiou, Zizek). Attention will be given to ideas of the gendered/enslaved body and its potential for transformation and pollution, ethnicity in the Roman world, the relations of communities to Roman imperial power, and views of time and the impending eschaton.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1544.
Religion 1414. Gospel Stories of Wo/men
Catalog Number: 6902
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1-3, and hour to be arranged.
The course will introduce a critical feminist rhetorical reading of "gospel" stories about wo/men in order to assess whether they are "good news" for wo/men. Special attention will be given to the significance of social locations, critical methods, and historical imagination for the interpretation and significance of these stories about Jewish wo/men for contemporary religious self-understandings and ministerial praxis. Lectures, group discussions, and group projects seek to foster a participatory, democratic style of learning.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1503/2557.
[Religion 1416. Feminist Biblical Interpretation]
Catalog Number: 3002
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1-3, and a weekly section Tu at 12.
A basic introduction to the emerging field of feminist biblical studies. We discuss different hermeneutical approaches, methods of interpretation, and theoretical perspectives. Special attention is given to historical interpretation and the significance of feminist hermeneutics for contemporary theological reflection and education for ministry. Lectures, group discussions, and presentations seek to foster a participatory style of learning.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1504/2558.
[Religion 1418. The Apostle Paul: His Letters, His Cities, and His Legacy]
Catalog Number: 7092
Helmut H. Koester (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Th., 3-5 with an additional hour to be arranged.
Addresses the entire Pauline Corpus. Beginning with the genuine letters of Paul in the New Testament it will demonstrate the developments attested in canonical and apocryphal writings that assumed the mantle of Paul’s authority after his death. Archaeological materials will elucidate the cultural and religious world of Paul’s cities.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly by the Divinity School as 1525.
[Religion 1421. The Gospel of Luke]
Catalog Number: 8662
François Bovon (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
A literary, historical, and theological interpretation of some chapters of the Greek text of Luke’s Gospel. Exegetical discussion will focus on Luke’s style, art of composition, and sources, as well as his situation in the history of Christianity. Late Antique Christianity and Reformation interpretations of Luke will be compared from time to time with the work of modern exegetes.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1511. This course may be elected as the equivalent of the fourth semester of Greek.
Prerequisite: Three terms of Greek.
Religion 1422. The Epistle to the Romans
Catalog Number: 0072 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
François Bovon (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). F., 1–3.
This course will focus on Paul’s historical and theological argument through a careful reading of the Greek text. An attempt will be made to discover the early reception of the epistle in ancient Christianity.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1519. Field trip to Houghton Library to be arranged.
Prerequisite: Three semesters of Greek.
Religion 1423. First Images of Christ—Earliest Christologies of the New Testament
Catalog Number: 8983
François Bovon (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Th., 1-3, and weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
Will discuss the earliest forms of christology and their history. Starting from the Jewish messianic expectations of the first century CE., it will investigate the prophetic perspective of Jesus and christological concepts of the first Christian congregations.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1479. Field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to be arranged.
Prerequisite: Introduction to the New Testament or equivalent.
[Religion 1424. The First Epistle to the Corinthians]
Catalog Number: 1514
François Bovon (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
This course will focus on Paul’s historical and theological argument through a careful reading of the Greek text. An attempt will be made to reconstruct the social setting of the first Christian community in Corinth. Course may be elected as the equivalent of the fourth term of Greek.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1521.
Prerequisite: Three semesters of Greek.
[Religion 1426. The Apocryphal Jesus and the Noncanonical Apostles: Introduction to Ancient Christian Apocryphal Literature]
Catalog Number: 8930
François Bovon (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Begins by exploring the field of non-canonical gospels, particularly Greek fragments of lost Gospels, then devotes a longer time to the apocryphal acts of the apostles, particularly to the Acts of Philip, and concludes by reading the Apocalypse of Peter and the Apocalypse of Paul.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1270/2130.
Religion 1429. Augustine and His Heretics - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 59969 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Charles Stang (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Th., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 17, 18
This course will survey Augustine of Hippo’s theological career through the lens of his encounters with three heretical communities of Roman North Africa: Manichaeism, Donatism, and Pelagianism. Particular attention will be paid to following themes: evil, freedom, the will, and selfhood.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1752.
Religion 1433. Christianity Along the Silk Road - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 65379
Charles Stang (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1-3, weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
This course will introduce students to the ancient and medieval expansion of Christianity eastward from Syria to China by tracing the history of the so-called "Nestorian" Church, or "Church of the East." Particular attention will be paid to the emergence of this church community in the wake of the Christological controversies of the 5th century and its intellectual heritage in Antioch. Subsequent units will focus on particular areas where the Church of the East established itself, including Syria, Persia, India, Central Asia along the Silk Road, and finally Tibet, China, and Mongolia. Considerable attention will be paid to the interactions between Christianity and other religions in these areas, including Judaism, Islam, Manichaeism, Buddhism, and Taoism.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1753.
Religion 1434. History of Western Christianity, 150-1100
Catalog Number: 5783
Kevin J. Madigan (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., 10–11:30. EXAM GROUP: 99
Church and society in western Europe from the fourth through the twelfth century. Early and high medieval Christianity in social and cultural context, with attention to popular religious belief and behavior as well as to the institutional church and its leaders.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2230.
Religion 1435. The History and Practice of Lived Religion - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 79773
Ruth Marie Griffith
Half course (fall term). M., 11–1. EXAM GROUP: 4, 5
Bringing together historical and ethnographic perspectives in a series of case studies, this course focuses on the lived practices that make up religion in the U.S., both within and beyond institutions. Attention to prayer and healing, cooking and eating, fasting and bodily discipline, gender performance, caring for others, and engaging nature. Reading of primary as well as secondary sources, supplemented by discussions and occasional lectures.
Religion 1437. History of Western Christianity: 1100–1500
Catalog Number: 5997
Kevin J. Madigan (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). M., W., 10–11:30. EXAM GROUP: 3, 4
Church and society in western Europe during the high and late Middle Ages. Particular attention will be paid to theological and institutional change and continuity and to popular religious movements.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2250.
*Religion 1440. On Grief: Theology, Philosophy, and Demography in Earliest Christianity - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 52469 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Laura S. Nasrallah (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). W., 1–3.
This course examines the topic of grief, focusing on the first century BCE through second century CE. We shall work with a variety of materials: New Testament texts (especially the letters of Paul), funerary monuments and inscriptions, Roman-period consolation letters and literature, philosophical writings, tragedies, satiric writing on funerals, and scholarly hypotheses regarding lifespan (especially that of mothers and the issue of infant mortality). Special attention will be paid to political and economic issues (including slavery), as well as to instructions to women on how to mourn.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1893.
Religion 1446. Recent Trends in Medieval Ecclesiastical Historiography - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 90974 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Kevin J. Madigan (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 9.
A analysis of recent work in medieval Christianity, focusing on martyrdom.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2201.
[Religion 1450. History of Christian Thought: The Medieval West]
Catalog Number: 8878
Amy Hollywood (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., 10-12 and weekly section to be arranged.
The course will survey the main features of Christian theology from the 11th through the 15th centuries. We will focus on the particular genres, modes of argumentation, questions, and goals attendant on theology as it emerges in multiple contexts within the medieval West.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2629.
*Religion 1453. Theology and the Everyday - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 92888 Enrollment: Limited to 25.
Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). W., 1–3.
An inquiry into the construction of the everyday as a site for constructive theological thinking. Readings in Luther, Hegel, Wittgenstein, Lefebvre, Cavell, and Wolf, as well as viewing of relevant films.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2530. Expected to be offered again 2011-12.
Religion 1454. History of Ancient Christianity - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 58387
Helmut H. Koester (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Th., 3–5.
Christian history from the beginnings to the end of the fourth century in its political and cultural context. The course will discuss Jesus and Paul and the diversity of beginnings, the process of institutionalization, establishment of offices and of the canon of the Holy Scriptures, orthodoxy and heresy, Montanism and Gnosticism, philosophy and the theology of the Church Fathers, development of doctrine, persecutions and martyrdoms, and the controversies and ecumenical councils of the fourth century.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1545.
[Religion 1456. Bodily Practice, Practical Reason] - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 56473 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Amy Hollywood (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
The seminar will explore Talal Asad’s contention that bodily practices give rise to practical reason. Particular attention will be given to the importance of these conceptions of bodily practice and practical reason for the understanding of religion. In addition to Asad, we will read texts by Friedrich Nietzsche, Marcel Mauss, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Saba Mahmood, as well as material from the medieval Christian monastic and mystical traditions.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2627.
Religion 1458. Mourning, Melancholia, and Mysticism - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 20058 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Amy Hollywood (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 17, 18
The course will look at key theoretical texts that articulate the role of mourning and melancholia in subject formation and the complex relationship between mourning, melancholic identification, gender, sexuality, and race. We will then explore the Christian mystical tradition as a potential resource for feminist philosophy of mourning. Readings will include texts by Mechthild of Magdeburg, Margaret Ebner, Sigmund Freud, Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Catherine Clément, Anne Anlin Cheng, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School 2628.
[*Religion 1463. Evangelical Conversion and Disenchantment Narratives] - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 36161 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
David Neil Hempton (Divinity School )
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
This seminar will concentrate on processes and discourses of religious conversion and disenchantment within the Evangelical tradition from the early eighteenth to the later twentieth centuries. Questions addressed will include what was the appeal of Evangelical religion and spirituality to different social groups, how were religious conversions understood and expressed, and what factors promoted subsequent disenchantment? We will examine conversion narratives, various expressions of disenchantment (in art and literature), and some examples of reconversion. By exploring these categories, the course hopes to shed light on wider themes such as the emergence of a concept of self in the early modern period, and possible causes of secularization in later periods.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2357.
[Religion 1464. The Rise of the Holiness Traditions: Pietism, Methodism, and Pentecostalism] - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 14853
David Neil Hempton (Divinity School )
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
This course examines one of the most dynamic traditions of Protestant Christianity since the Reformation. The course will investigate the rise of Pietism and Methodism in Europe and the North Atlantic world in the early modern period, and the growth of Pentecostalism in the United States and beyond in the twentieth century. Particular attention will be paid to the social, economic, and political environments that facilitated growth as well as to the most important personalities and theological characteristics of these fast-growing movements.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2359.
Religion 1472. The Ethical and Religious Thought of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Catalog Number: 8761
Preston N. Williams (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). M., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 8, 9
A study of the life, thought, and actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. An ethical analysis of his primary concepts, ideas, and strategies based upon a reading and discussion of his writings and their sources.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2721.
Religion 1473. Christian Sexual Ethics - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 49022 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Mark Durham Jordan
Half course (spring term). W., 1-3, and weekly section to be arranged.
What accounts for the prominence of sexual issues in contemporary Christian debates? Is this something new in church history? Is it peculiar to Christian thinking or does it arise from other cultural forces? Is it helpful for Christian ethics to talk so much about sex? This course will take up these questions first in some historical constructions of sexual topics, then in the rapid changes of the last hundred years.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2710.
Religion 1474. Christian Ethics, Persuasion, and Power II - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 64129
Mark Durham Jordan
Half course (fall term). W., 1-3, and weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
Whatever else it might be, European "modernity" is a transformation in Christian projects for ethics. Controversies over Reformation can conceal how far both Protestant and Roman Catholic writers begin to make modern assumptions about moral learning or to exercise modern forms of control over moral subjects. The course will try to trace some of the transformation and the increasingly radical reactions to it through a series of primary texts from Luther to Nietzsche.
Note: Offered subsequent odd-year springs. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2394.
Religion 1475. Christian Ethics and Ritual - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 12607 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Mark Durham Jordan
Half course (spring term). Th., 3–5.
Some Christian ethicists have recently turned back to liturgy and sacraments in their explanations of moral education. This is indeed a return: the oldest Christian accounts emphasize the connection between ritual and character. At the same time, some Christian liturgists have tried to sharpen liturgy’s ethical consequences--both by disrupting ritual complacencies and by blurring boundaries between ritual and world. This seminar brings together these preoccupations by juxtaposing older theological accounts of sacraments with recent studies of ritual efficacy.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2395.
Religion 1484. Classics of Twentieth Century Roman Catholicism - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 50272 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Francis Fiorenza (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). W., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
This seminar will analyze the major classics of Twentieth Century Roman Catholic Theology. The seminar will seek to introduce major religious thinkers primarily through an analysis of the arguments of a major work that has become a classic. It will discuss the unique contribution of the work, the reasons for its significance and the extent of its impact. Among those considered will be Maurice Blondel, Alfred Loisy, Jacques Maritain, Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar, Bernard Lonergan, John Courtney Murray, Karl Rahner, and Gustavo Gutierrez. Others to be considered.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2477.
Religion 1485. Queer Theology - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 69539
Mark Durham Jordan
Half course (fall term). Th., 1-3 and hour to be arranged.
According to one narrative, the encounter or collision of feminist, liberationist, and erotic theologies mainly within Christianity has produced something called queer theology. Wherever it comes from, whatever its exact genealogy, queer theology has attracted or claimed writers working on the whole range of theological topics, from scriptural exegesis or doctrines of God to ethics and liturgy. This course will attempt both to sample what has been written and to speculate about what might be written next.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2709.
[Religion 1493. Contemporary Roman Catholic Theology]
Catalog Number: 6926
Francis Fiorenza (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). W., 1-3, and a weekly section to be arranged.
A survey of contemporary Roman Catholic theology that discusses issues in the interpretations of God, Jesus, and the church with reference to theological method. The broad spectrum of present-day Roman Catholic theology will be covered through an analysis of diverse theologians and approaches: existential, transcendental, liberationist, feminist, analytical, and hermeneutical.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2479.
[Religion 1495. Introduction to Theological Thinking]
Catalog Number: 5154
David Lamberth (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 11:30–1.
A basic survey of a variety of approaches to theology through selected major figures. We will consider: What is the nature of theology? How are theological questions posed and answered? What is distinctive about each author’s view? We will also be concerned with what theological thinking is today, and its relation to other fields of inquiry. Authors are drawn from the early medieval and contemporary periods, and are mostly Christian.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2402.
*Religion 2480. Karl Barth: Seminar
Catalog Number: 8592 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1–3.
An intensive reading and research course on the work of Karl Barth. Attention will be given to the theological and political development throughout his work, including his involvement in the German Church Struggle. Close reading of the Church Dogmatics during the second half of the seminar.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2535.
Prerequisite: At least one course in modern theology.
[*Religion 2485. Faith: Seminar] - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 65584 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
An inquiry into faith as a general human orientation and a particular Christian commitment. Topics covered will include: faith as ultimate concern, faith and reason, faith and suffering, and faith and history. Readings in Luther, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Lewis, Wolterstorff, Dostoevsky, Tillich, Niebuhr, Robinson, and Morrison.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2549.
*Religion 3425hf. New Testament Seminar for Doctoral Dissertations
Catalog Number: 8507
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (Divinity School) 3193
Half course (throughout the year). W., 3-5 biweekly.
Biweekly presentation of research projects.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 1995.
Religion 1514. Reading Derrida I: Writing, the Law, and the Gift - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 11152
Amy Hollywood (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged, and weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 8, 9
The course will focus on selected essays by philosopher Jacques Derrida, read against the background of the philosophical, theological, and literary texts with which he is engaged. Readings will include work by Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, Walter Benjamin, J. L. Austin, as well as by Derrida.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2614. Expected to be offered again 2011-2012.
Religion 1516. Reading Derrida II: On Haunting and Messianicity - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 26259
Amy Hollywood (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). W., 3-5 and a weekly section to be arranged.
The course will focus on selected works by philosopher Jacques Derrida, read against the background of the philosophical, theological, and literary texts with which he is engaged. Readings will likely include Sophocles’ Antingone, Hamlet, and works by Karl Marx, Maria Torok and Nicolas Abraham, Paul Celan, and Derrida.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2615. Expected to be offered again 2011-12.
[Religion 1517. American Liberal Religious Thought: Formations of a Tradition]
Catalog Number: 7116
David Lamberth (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Surveys important authors in the formative development of liberal religious thought in America into the early 20th century, such as Channing, Emerson, Thoreau, James, Royce, Matthews, DuBois, Wieman, Dewey.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Some prior work in theology or philosophy is suggested. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2551.
Religion 1520. Introduction to Hermeneutics and Theology
Catalog Number: 6184
Francis Fiorenza (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 11, and a weekly hour to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
General introduction to hermeneutical theory. A survey of the development from classical to modern and contemporary hermeneutics. Examines the influence of contemporary hermeneutical theory upon the interpretation of biblical texts, the diverse conceptions of theology, and the explication of key theological categories such as revelation, experience, method, foundations, classics, community, and practice.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2410.
[Religion 1528. The German Church Struggle and the Holocaust]
Catalog Number: 6091
Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
An analysis of the role of the churches in Germany during the period 1918-1945. Consideration will be given to the following topics: religious intellectuals and the Weimar culture, Christian anti-Judaism, the rise of Nazism and the role of the church, the confessing church movement, and Christian resistance to and complicity with the Holocaust.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2536.
Religion 1533. Attention and Engagement in Contemporary American Poetry - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 68875 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Amy Hollywood (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1–3.
The late Reginald Shepherd writes that the poem is "a form of thinking, a thinking out and a thinking through." For many contemporary poets, this thinking requires new and/or hybrid forms, forms often reminiscent of ancient and medieval religious texts. Readings for the course will likely include work by Rae Armantrout, Anne Carson, Jorie Graham, Fanny Howe, Susan Howe, Dawn Lundy Martin, Jennifer Moxley, Alice Notley, Juliana Spahr, John Taggart, and C. D. Wright.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2611.
[Religion 1534. Feminist Theologies: Contexts and Methods]
Catalog Number: 3081
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1-3, and a weekly section Tu at 12.
In the past decades many different feminist religious voices have emerged around the globe. The course will study key feminist thea/ological directions and explore how their theoretical frameworks and methods are shaped by their different socio-cultural-religious locations and struggles. Lectures, group sessions, and projects.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2688.
Religion 1537. Political Theology, Justice, and Rights
Catalog Number: 5652
Francis Fiorenza (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). hours to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
This course will explore contemporary issues within political theology, its relation to diverse theories of justice, and the significance of human rights. It deals with the relation between political theology and the foundations of social ethics, justice, rights, and theology, as well as the relation between ethical and religious reflection and the social construction of reality. Special emphasis to the work of Rawls, Scanlon, Nussbaum, and Jürgen Habermas’s theory of communicative action, modernity, and discourse ethics.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2632.
Religion 1543. 19th-Century Religious Thought: Theology and the Critique of Religion
Catalog Number: 5065
David Lamberth (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., 11:30-1. EXAM GROUP: 99
The 19th-century formulated many of the questions and frameworks that continue to dominate theology and religious reflection in the West. We consider the developing interplay between modern Christian theology (primarily continental) and the principal philosophical and social critiques of religion in the 19th-century. Topics include human nature, religion, the divine-human relationship, religious knowledge, the social, and historicity. Readings from Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Marx, Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Harnack, and Troeltsch.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2431.
Religion 1544. Unitarian and Universalist Thought in the Nineteenth Century - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 38993
Daniel P. McKanan
Half course (fall term). Th., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
This seminar will explore the intellectual shapers of the Unitarian and Universalist traditions in the nineteenth century, with special attention to the founders and formative theologians of each tradition, the challenges of Transcendentalism and Spiritualism, and the interactions of Unitarianism and Universalism with broader currents of religious liberalism in the United States.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2770.
[Religion 1545. Approaching Evil]
Catalog Number: 7456
Courtney Bickel Lamberth
Half course (spring term). Th., 4–6.
An examination of evil in western thought, with focus on
conceptions of human freedom and divine will, the distinction between
natural and moral evil, and responses to the challenge of theodicy. The
final project asks students to apply tools of analysis developed in the
course to a situation or topic of their choosing. Readings include
philosophical, theological and literary texts.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2623.
[Religion 1546. Religion and the American Pragmatic Tradition]
Catalog Number: 3565
David Lamberth (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 11:30–1.
Surveys the American pragmatic tradition, attending to views of the nature and place of religion. The first part takes up the classical pragmatists, beginning with Emerson as precursor, then focusing on Peirce, James, and Dewey. Topics include belief, experience, truth, action, ethics, rationality, and the nature and role, socially and individually, of religion. The latter part considers contemporary neo-pragmatists, including Rorty, Putnam, Chopp, and Stout. Prior work in theology or philosophy is recommended.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2671.
[Religion 1548. Psychoanalysis and Character Ethics]
Catalog Number: 0741
Jonathan Schofer (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
How does the human psyche operate? In what ways can people transform their emotions and desires to become, in some sense, better? These two questions are shared by both the psychoanalytic tradition and scholars of virtue ethics, though they have arguably conflicting responses concerning the nature of psychological dynamics and the possibilities for change. This course will address readings from Aristotle, Freud, and recent thinkers who engage the relationship between these two approaches.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3639.
Religion 1549. Media, Religion, and Social Meaning
Catalog Number: 3414
Marla F. Frederick
Half course (fall term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
This course looks at the development of television ministries and their influence on contemporary American Christendom. In almost all instances, the incorporation of media has dramatically increased religion’s participation in American politics and the global market. In some cases, televised church has blurred religious denominationalism and disrupted simple social binaries of black/white, rich/poor, male/female. Through an interdisciplinary approach using history, anthropology, sociology, religion and media studies we will try to better interpret this growing phenomenon and its contemporary social import.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2517.
Religion 1550. Religion and American Public Life
Catalog Number: 1431
Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). W., 1-3 and hour to be arranged.
An overview of the issues that arise within American democracy concerning the public role of religion. This course will cover issues in public theology, religion and democratic political theory, and constitutional law, including church/state relations. It will conclude with a case study in public policy, considering such issues as religion and gay/lesbian marriage, religion and welfare, and/or religion and welfare policy.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2524.
Religion 1561. Religion and Society in America Today: Change and Continuity - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 62674
Harvey G. Cox, Jr. (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 3–5 and an hour to be arranged.
We will study relations between the Protestant "mainline" and evangelicals; developments in black churches; Buddhists and Muslims in America; tensions in American Catholicism; the role of immigrants; the growth of mega-churches; trends in Judaism; Pentecostalism; religion in film, TV and Internet; and the rise of "spirituality", examining the theological bases of today’s rapid changes, and tracing past roots and projecting future probabilities.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2540.
[Religion 1567. Religion and the Public Intellectual]
Catalog Number: 2548
Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). W., 1-3, and section to be arranged.
An inquiry into the role of the public intellectual in contemporary culture. The course will review the critical literature on the public intellectual focusing on the question of religion. Special attention will be given to the social and cultural conditions that enable religiously based social criticism and to the various genres (poetry, the essay, the novel) through which that criticism is communicated. Readings in Baldwin, Camus, Day, Hansberry, Hughes, Niebuhr, Orwell, and others.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2528.
[*Religion 1568. Religion, Ethics and Human Rights: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 7428 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–3.
The course will look at the ethical and religious bases of human rights discourse and examine the challenges to the universal claims inherent in that discourse. The course will explore a series of case studies on human rights issues worldwide in order to relate philosophical and religious concepts to actual human rights struggles.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2805.
[*Religion 1569. Theology and the Literary Arts]
Catalog Number: 1559 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1–3.
An exploration of literature (primarily poetry and the novel) as vehicles for the expression of public theology. We will look at literary theory as well as literature in order to assess the efficacy of the literary arts as a vehicle of religious sentiments.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2546.
[Religion 1572. Sex, Gender and Sexuality]
Catalog Number: 6407
Amy Hollywood (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). M., 10-12, and weekly section to be arranged.
The course will explore the theoretical articulation of sex, gender, and sexuality in twentieth-century medicine, social science, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and feminist and queer theory. Attention will be given to the ramifications of these concepts for the study of religion. Readings will include texts by Sigmund Freud, Simone de Beauvoir, Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, Gayle Rubin, Julia Kristeva, Monique Wittig, Judith Butler, Moira Gatens and others.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2692.
[Religion 2543. Circumscribing a Discipline: Theology and the Philosophy of Religion]
Catalog Number: 4293
David Lamberth (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 3–5.
Under what conditions did philosophy of religion emerge in Western thought? How is it separate from theology? Participants conduct research and present in the second half of the term.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2672.
Prerequisite: Advanced work in the field.
Religion 2550. Women and Religion in Contemporary America: Seminar
Catalog Number: 8927
Ann D. Braude (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Th., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 17, 18
Surveys contemporary developments in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities. Topics include religion and women’s political mobilization, including evangelical and Mormon movements; the modernization of orthodoxies, including Judaism and Catholicism; and the body as a site of conflict, exploration, and expression of the intersecting categories of religion, gender, and American identity. The course approaches persistent issues of modesty, dress, sexuality, food, menstruation, healing, and ordination.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2328. Expected to offered again 2011-12.
Religion 1627. Hindu Ethics: Seminar
Catalog Number: 9638 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Anne E. Monius (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 1–3.
An intensive exploration of the place of ethics and moral reasoning in Hindu thought and practice. Materials to be examined will be drawn from a wide range of sources, from classical Sanskrit dharmashastra to epic narrative, devotional poetry, and modern ethnography, but emphasis will be placed throughout upon the particularity of different Hindu visions of the ideal human life.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3923.
[Religion 1631. Hindu Traditions of Devotion]
Catalog Number: 9423
Anne E. Monius (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged.
An examination of Hindu bhakti (devotional traditions), focusing on three specific geographic/cultural regions within the Indian subcontinent. Keeping in mind both continuities and differences in the bhakti traditions of these three distinct cultural areas, this course explores a variety of devotional literature in English translation and considers the enduring significance and use of that deeply emotional poetry in the lives of Hindus today.
Note: Expected to be given in 2011–12. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3406.
[Religion 1636. Hinduism Through the Modern Novel]
Catalog Number: 5069
Anne E. Monius (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged.
Although not a literary genre indigenous to India, the novel has rapidly emerged as one of the most creative and powerful means of modern Hindu literary expression in India and abroad. This course will explore what it means to be "Hindu" in the colonial and post-colonial age through the lens of contemporary fiction.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3411.
Religion 1660. The Brhadaranyaka Upanisad with Sankara’s Commentary
Catalog Number: 3842 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Francis X. Clooney (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 3–5:30.
This seminar is for students interested in the study of primary Indian/Hindu texts, read in translation and in the context of a comparative dynamic of reading across the boundaries of traditions. The Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, Sankara’s commentary on it (plus excerpts from Suresvara’s Vartikas), will be read (in English) along with short examples from Christian theological/commentarial literature.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3928.
Prerequisite: No language or course prerequisites, but students who know Sanskrit will be encouraged to make use of their expertise. It is part of a series, but not necessary to have taken prior seminars.
[Religion 1663. A Summation of Hindu Theology: the Vedartha Samgraha of Ramanuja]
Catalog Number: 1380
Francis X. Clooney (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 3–5:30.
A seminar on Ramanuja’s (10th - 11th c.) Vedartha Samgraha, dedicated to a theistic reading of the Upanisads and Vedanta, defending devotion, synthesizing an integral view of God, world, and self, while criticizing alternative Vedanta readings of the Upanisads.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School.
Prerequisite: Part of the series, Reading Hindu Texts Interreligiously, meant for students interested in closely reading Indian/Hindu texts, with attention to textual analogues from other religions. No Sanskrit required.
Religion 1665. Tamil Love: Tiruvaymoli - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 18144 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Francis X. Clooney (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 3–5:30.
The Tiruvaymoli is a classic of Tamil devotion, the major work of Nammalvar, foremost of the alvar Vaisnava saints. In 100 songs, it explores philosophical, ritual, ascetic, erotic, dramatic expressions of the divine-human relation; in commentary, Srivaisnava teachers have found here the paradigm for the spiritual path. Part of the series, Reading Hindu Texts Interreligiously, meant for students interested in closely reading Indian/Hindu texts, with attention to textual analogues from other religions. No Tamil required.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3921.
Religion 1702. The Buddha in Myth, Image, and Ritual
Catalog Number: 8138 Enrollment: Limited to 20.
Donald K. Swearer (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 17, 18
Is the Buddha a spiritual exemplar, the founder of a religion, the iconic locus of devotional ritual, a cosmological principle, or all of the above? This seminar will explore the multifaceted nature of the figure of the Buddha primarily within the context of Theravada Buddhism with a particular focus on the Buddha image consecration ritual. Narrative and doctrinal constructions of the Buddha will be informed by recent studies of icons, images, relics, and ritual.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3572.
Prerequisite: Previous work in Buddhism.
[Religion 1707. Introduction to Buddhist Commentaries and their Critical Interpretations]
Catalog Number: 9290
Charles Hallisey (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 9, and hour to be arranged.
An introduction to the study of Buddhist commentaries, their textual and hermeneutic services, as well as their history and their places in Buddhist scholastic cultures. Examples of Buddhist commentaries will be drawn from across the Buddhist world.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3779.
Religion 1722. Buddhist Ethics - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 38661
Charles Hallisey (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5:30.
A systematic exploration of the place of moral reflection in Buddhist thought and practice. The scope of the course is wide, with examples drawn from the whole Buddhist world, but the emphasis will be given to the particularity of different Buddhist visions of human flourishing. Attention will also be given to the challenges and promises of describing Buddhist ethics in a comparative perspective.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3576.
[Religion 1740. Buddhism and Literature]
Catalog Number: 8499 Enrollment: Limited to 25.
Charles Hallisey (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). W., 3–5:30.
A consideration of the place of Buddhist practices and values in Asian literary cultures and the place of literary culture in Buddhist life. The literary cultures considered will include examples from India, Sri Lanka, China, and Japan.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3778.
Religion 1741. Modern Buddhism and Fiction - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 23554 Enrollment: Limited to 25.
Charles Hallisey (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). W., 3–5:30.
A consideration of fiction as a vehicle for religious reflection in the modern Buddhist world. Attention will also be given to examples of fiction in which Buddhist themes or ideas are taken up for reflection by non-Buddhist authors and audiences.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3777.
[Religion 1742. Introduction to Buddhist Narrative and Story Literature] - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 90183 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Charles Hallisey (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 9.
An introduction to the study of narrative and story literature in the Buddhist world. A primary focus will be on the narrative and story literature found in Buddhist scriptures and commentaries, but there will also be consideration of examples of narrative and story literature that circulated independently. Examples will be drawn from across the Buddhist world.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3776.
[Religion 1752. Buddhist Logic and Epistemology: In the Wake of Dignaga]
Catalog Number: 2905 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Parimal G. Patil
Half course (fall term). F., 3–5.
This course is an opinionated introduction to the roughly 800 year history of the Buddhist epistemological tradition in India. 2007-2008 academic year focuses on this text-traditions approach to inferential reasoning and religious language, and explore its impact on the intellectual history of religion in Southern Asia. A secondary objective is to develop a trans-disciplinary methodological approach to this material that is equally responsible to its historical, philosophical, and religious contexts.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11.
[Religion 1753. Buddhism Against Itself]
Catalog Number: 9746
Parimal G. Patil
Half course (spring term). F., 2:30–5.
This course is an advanced introduction to the history of Madhyamaka Buddhism in India. Its focus will be on understanding the Madhyamaka text-tradition’s impact on the philosophy and intellectual history of Buddhism in Southern Asia, through an analysis of specifically intra-Buddhist debates. A secondary objective will be to inquire into the possibility (and desirability) of working towards an intellectual history of religion in Southern Asia.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3872.
Prerequisite: Previous course work in Buddhist Studies or South Asian religions will be helpful, but not required.
Religion 2735. Buddhist Bodies and Their Moral Cultivation: Seminar - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 79236 Enrollment: Limited to 20.
Janet Gyatso (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Th., 1–3.
This seminar will study Buddhist sources for what they suggest about how the human body exists, perceives, engages with others, learns, and participates in moral and artistic development. Readings will be drawn from Buddhist writings on the body and the senses, ritual, discipline, ethics, and artistic practice, along with personal memoirs from South Asia, Tibet, and East Asia. The seminar will also study continental philosophy of the body, including Bergson and Merleau-Ponty, as resources for vocabulary and conceptualization.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3570.
[Religion 2760. Buddhism and Its Critics]
Catalog Number: 7232
Parimal G. Patil
Half course (fall term). Tu., 5–7 p.m.
Focuses on the Buddhist theory of momentariness. After discussing its intellectual history in India, we will read, in translation, a Buddhist "proof" of the theory, and discuss a number of non-Buddhist criticisms of it.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3867.
[Religion 2765. Re-envisioning the Philosophy of Religions]
Catalog Number: 7054
Parimal G. Patil
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
For too long the philosophy of religions has been defined by primarily Christian texts and philosophical/theological concerns. This course resists this history by asking what the philosophy of religions would look like if we began in India. Our goal this semester will be to bring new questions, concerns, and philosophical resources to the field by paying careful attention to the work of selected Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain philosophers and religious intellectuals.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11.
Religion 1806. The Vocabulary of Islam
Catalog Number: 1701
M. Shahab Ahmed
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 1–2:30. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
Provides students with knowledge of a broad range of key concepts, technical terms, seminal questions, and cultural motifs internal to the Islamic tradition. These constitute a vocabulary related to Quran and exegesis, Hadith, law, theology, political thought, philosophy, Sufism, ritual, literature, art, and architecture, that has permeated Islamic discourses, practices, and identities down to the modern period, and that is central to an informed understanding and further study of Islam as religion and civilizational complex.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3978. Not open to auditors.
*Religion 1816. Ismaili History and Thought - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 18808 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Ali S. Asani
Half course (spring term). W., 5–7 p.m. EXAM GROUP: 9
A seminar surveying the development and evolution of Ismaili interpretations of Islam in various historical and cultural settings.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3939.
Prerequisite: Prior study of Islam or permission by instructor required.
*Religion 1820 (formerly *Religion 1585). Muslim Societies in South Asia: Religion, Culture, and Identity
Catalog Number: 2741 Enrollment: Limited to 20.
Ali S. Asani
Half course (spring term). Th., 3–5.
South Asia is home to the largest concentration of Muslims in the world. This course surveys the development of Muslim communities in the region focusing on an exploration of their identities in diverse contexts. Issues and themes will be considered within religious and socio-political contexts, as well as the broader framework of South Asian cultures as expressed in language, literature, and the arts. The course also examines various ways in which the terms "Islamic" and "Muslim" are understood in pre-modern and modern discourses as well as the lived experiences of being Muslim in contemporary India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3625. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Culture and Belief or Societies of the World, but not both.
This course fulfills the requirement that one of the eight General Education courses also engages substantially with Study of the Past.
Prerequisite: Introductory course in Islam or equivalent.
Religion 1825 (formerly Religion 1590). Themes in Feminism and Islam: A Historical Overview
Catalog Number: 9891
Leila N. Ahmed (Divinity School)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 12–3. EXAM GROUP: 14, 15, 16
This course follows out the history of feminist debates and developments in Islam from beginnings in 19th century Egypt to contemporary and ongoing discussions of women, gender and Islam in the United States.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3604.
[Religion 1842. Religion, Gender, Identity: Readings in Arab and Muslim Autobiography: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 4518
Leila N. Ahmed (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 3–5.
We will read autobiographical works mainly by contemporary Arab and/or Muslim writers, paying particular attention to issues of identity, religion, and gender, and exploring how these are at play in the text and in authorial constructions of self.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3616.
Religion 1950. Issues in the Study of Native American Religion - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 74695
Ann D. Braude (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 11:30–1.
Based around a series of traditionalist guest speakers, this course interrogates the study of religion in general and of Native American traditions in particular in light of indigenous religious experiences, perspectives and histories. Questions of appropriation, repatriation and religious freedom will be approached through legal as well as cultural frameworks.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2345.
*Religion 3001. Reading and Research
Catalog Number: 7954
Ryuichi Abe 4974, M. Shahab Ahmed 5273, Ali S. Asani 7739, François Bovon (Divinity School) 3551, Davíd L. Carrasco (FAS, Divinity School) 4213, Francis X. Clooney (Divinity School) 1785, Harvey G. Cox, Jr. (Divinity School) 3479, Arthur J. Dyck (Public Health, Divinity School) 1670, Diana L. Eck 4514, Francis Fiorenza (Divinity School) 2735, Marla F. Frederick 4728, William A. Graham, Jr. 4156, Janet Gyatso (Divinity School) 4243, David D. Hall (Divinity School) 2510, Helen Hardacre 3191, Jay M. Harris 2266, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham 3517, Amy Hollywood (Divinity School) 5547, Beverly M. Kienzle (Divinity School) 2452, Karen L. King (Divinity School) 4217, Arthur Kleinman 7473, James T. Kloppenberg 3157, Helmut H. Koester (Divinity School) 3477, Smita Lahiri 4465, David Lamberth (Divinity School) 3714, Jon D. Levenson (Divinity School) 2264, Peter Machinist 2812, Kevin J. Madigan (Divinity School) 4287, Everett I. Mendelsohn 2700, David G. Mitten 1290 (on leave spring term), Anne E. Monius (Divinity School) 4489, Roy Mottahedeh 1454, Laura S. Nasrallah 4834 (Divinity School), Parimal G. Patil 4478, Kimberley C. Patton (Divinity School) 3306, Stephanie A. Paulsell (Divinity School) 5382, Jonathan Schofer (Divinity School) 5384, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (Divinity School) 3193, Charles Stang (Divinity School) 6204, Ronald Thiemann (Divinity School) 3395, Wei-Ming Tu 7233, and Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp 1556
Note: May also be taken with other instructors, when authorized by the Chair.
*Religion 3002. Foreign Language Certification
Catalog Number: 4791
Members of the Committee
Reading and research conducted in a specific foreign language, normally French or German, to satisfy the modern language reading proficiency requirement for PhD students in the Study of Religion.
Note: Limited to PhD candidates who receive written permission from the Committee’s Director of PhD Studies.