This course examines the various pieties of the Black Power Era. We chart the explicit and implicit utopian visions of the politics of the period that, at once, criticized established Black religious institutions and articulated alternative ways of imagining salvation. We also explore the attempt by Black theologians to translate the prophetic Black church tradition into the idiom of Black power. We aim to keep in view the significance of the Black Power era for understanding the changing role and place of Black religion in Black public life.
Black Rage and Black Power
Professor/Instructor
Eddie Steven Glaude Jr.Buddhism in Japan
Professor/Instructor
An examination of representative aspects of Buddhist thought and practice in Japan from the sixth century to the present. Possible topics include: major Buddhist traditions (Lotus, Pure Land, Zen, and Tantrism), meditation, ritual, cosmology, ethics, influence on literature, and interaction with other religions. Two 90-minute seminars.
Mind and Meditation
Professor/Instructor
Jonathan C. GoldAn examination of the philosophy, history, and methods of Buddhist meditation. Buddhist theoretical works will be studied in their traditional contexts and considered in the light of modern philosophy of mind and cognitive science regarding the emotions, the will, and the effects of meditation. Some coursework in Philosophy or Religion is expected. One three-hour seminar.
Buddhist Literature: Reading Borobudur
Professor/Instructor
Jonathan C. GoldAn intensive reading and discussion of selected Buddhist texts from various cultures, from ancient times to the present. Readings may represent a range of genres, such as Buddhist scriptures, philosophical writings, sacred biography, narrative, sermons, poetry, drama, and fiction. Alternatively, we may study the reception across Buddhist cultures and time periods of a single significant text. Prerequisite: 225 or equivalent recommended. Two 90-minute classes.
Women and Gender in Islamic Societies
Professor/Instructor
Shaun Elizabeth MarmonThis seminar focuses on issues of gender and sexuality in Islamic societies, past and present. Topics include women's lives, women's writings, changing perceptions of male vs. female piety, marriage and divorce, motherhood and fatherhood, sexuality and the body, and the feminist movement in the Middle East. Course materials include a wide range of texts in translation, including novels and poetry, as well as contemporary films. One three-hour seminar.
Modern Islamic Political Thought
Professor/Instructor
Muhammad Qasim ZamanAn examination of major facets of Islamic political thought from the late 19th century to the present in a broadly comparative framework and against the backdrop of medieval Islamic thought. Topics include: the "fragmentation" of religious authority and its consequences for Muslim politics; conceptions of the shari'a and of the Islamic state; and Islamist discourses on gender, violence, and relations with non-Muslims. One three-hour seminar.
God's Messengers: Prophecy and Revelation in the Islamic Tradition
Professor/Instructor
Shaun Elizabeth MarmonThe "monotheistic superheroes" in the Islamic tradition are the "brother prophets" who preceded Muhammad, the "seal of the prophets." These prophets include figures who have parallels in the Jewish and Christian traditions, such as Abraham, Moses, Solomon and Jesus. We will explore the history of the rich post scriptural Islamic tradition, both oral and written, that developed and expanded the "stories of the prophets" and made them into the "monotheistic superheroes" that they continue to be today. One three-hour seminar.
Pilgrimage, Travel, and Sacred Space: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Land of Islam
Professor/Instructor
Shaun Elizabeth MarmonMuslim, Christian, and Jewish travelers and pilgrims in the lands of Islam before the period of European dominance in the Middle East. The course uses original accounts (in translation) along with a range of contemporary scholarly literature drawn from history, religious studies, and anthropology. One three-hour seminar.
Islam in India and Pakistan
Professor/Instructor
Muhammad Qasim ZamanIndia and Pakistan, home to nearly a third of the world's Muslim population, offer an unusually rich spectrum of the ways in which Islam has been lived, thought about, and transformed in recent times, both within this vast region and in the wider world. Our topics include: Sufism; the evolving relations between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims; major trends in Islamic law, theology, and political thought; Islamic institutions of learning (madrasas); and Muslim and non-Muslim minorities. One three-hour seminar.
Introduction to Islamic Theology
Professor/Instructor
Hossein ModarressiA general survey of the main principles of Islamic doctrine. Focuses on the Muslim theological discourse on the concepts of God and God's attributes, man and nature, the world to come, revelation and prophethood, diversity of religions, and the possibility and actuality of miracles. One three-hour seminar.
Reason and Revelation in Jewish Thought
Professor/Instructor
Leora Faye BatnitzkyA critical introduction to some of the classics of medieval and modern thought. Specific topics include prophecy, miracles, and the possibility of knowing the divine, with particular attention to the relation between modern and premodern conceptions of reason and Moslem, Christian, and secular philosophical influences on Jewish thought. Two 90-minute classes.
Religion and Law
Professor/Instructor
Leora Faye BatnitzkyA critical examination of the relation between the concepts of "religion" and "law" as they figure in the development of Jewish and Christian law, as well as in contemporary legal theory. Particular attention to the ways in which, historically, theological debates play out in contemporary secular legal arguments about the value underlying law. Two 90-minute classes.
God, Satan, Goddesses, and Monsters: How Their Stories Play in Art, Culture, and Politics
Professor/Instructor
Elaine Hiesey PagelsThe seminar will investigate sources ranging from the Babylonian creation story and Homer's Illiad to passages from Genesis, Exodus, Job, the Hebrew prophets, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the New Testament to see how stories of invisible beings (gods, demons, angels) construct group identity (who "we" are, and who are the "others"--and what characterizes each) and express group values. One three-hour seminar.
Who Was or Is Jesus?
Professor/Instructor
Elaine Hiesey PagelsThis seminar investigates the earliest sources about Jesus--New Testament gospels, "gnostic" gospels, and Jewish and Roman historical accounts--to explore various views of Jesus in historical context, as well as contemporary interpretations in poetry, fiction, and film. One three-hour seminar.
Inspiration, Revelation, and Conversion
Professor/Instructor
Elaine Hiesey PagelsExploration of some of the classics of religious experience from ancient through contemporary times, using where possible comparison of Eastern and Western sources. Sources range from Western writers as diverse as Augustine, Teresa of Avila, Thomas Merton, Simone Weil to the life of the Tibetan monk Milarepa, and the Hindu Ramakrishna. One three-hour seminar.
Religion and the American Revolution
Professor/Instructor
Seth A. PerryIntellectual and cultural aspects of American religion from the 17th century through the early republic, with the Revolution as a focal point. Special attention to early Protestant traditions (Anglican, Puritan, Quaker, and Methodist, among others), African American religious traditions, the Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and the transformation of religion through the Revolution. Two lectures, one preceptorial.
Religion in American Culture since 1830
Professor/Instructor
The relationship between religion and society in the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries. Attention will be paid to Transcendentalism, the Civil War, the social gospel, Fundamentalism, New Thought, Pentecostalism, civil rights, immigration, and recent religious movements.Two 90-minute classes.
Women, Gender, and American Religion
Professor/Instructor
Judith WeisenfeldAn exploration of women's roles and experiences, and constructions of gender in diverse settings within North American religion. The seminar will examine women, gender, and religious leadership in varied religious contexts, such as Puritanism, evangelicalism, Catholicism, Judaism, African American Protestantism, native traditions, and American Islam. Emphasis on the dilemmas faced by women in religious institutions as well as the creative approaches to shaping religious and social opportunities in light of shifting ideas about religion, gender, and authority. One three-hour seminar.
Religion and Ethical Theory
Professor/Instructor
This seminar will examine philosophical accounts of what it means to live well, focusing mainly on works written in the last half century that are relevant to issues in religious ethics: whether morality requires a religious foundation, the ethical significance of divine commandments, and the concepts of virtue, goodness, evil, horror, holiness, sainthood, faith, and the sacred. Among the philosophers to be discussed are Richard Rorty, John Finnis, Alasdair MacIntyre, Iris Murdoch, Stanley Cavell, and Robert Merrihew Adams. One three-hour seminar.
Love and Justice
Professor/Instructor
Eric Sean GregoryAnalysis of philosophical and theological accounts of love and justice, with emphasis on how they interrelate. Is love indiscriminate and therefore antithetical to justice, or can love take the shape of justice? What are the implications for moral, political, and legal theory? The seminar also considers recent efforts to revive a tradition of political theology in which love's relation to justice is a prominent theme. One three-hour seminar.
African American Autobiography
Professor/Instructor
Highlights the autobiographical tradition of African Americans from the antebellum period to the present as symbolic representations of African American material, social, and intellectual history and as narrative quests of self-development. Students will be introduced to basic methods of literary analysis and criticism, specifically focusing on cultural criticism and psychoanalytic theory on the constructed self.
The American Jeremiad and Social Criticism in the United States
Professor/Instructor
Eddie Steven Glaude Jr.An examination of the religious and philosophical roots of prophecy as a form of social criticism in American intellectual and religious history. Particular attention is given to what is called the American Jeremiad, a mode of public exhortation that joins social criticism to spiritual renewal. Michael Walzer, Sacvan Bercovitch, and Edward Said serve as key points of departure in assessing prophetic criticism's insights and limitations. Attention is also given to the role of Black prophetic critics, such as James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cornel West.
Topics in African American Religion
Professor/Instructor
Wallace DeNino BestAssesses the value of religion and its impartations of the historical, ethical, and political in African American life. Courses will also critique African American religion from a broader contextual basis by establishing commonalities and differences across historical and cultural boundaries.
Studies in Religion
Professor/Instructor
A study of a selected topic such as mysticism, scriptures of the world religions, or of particular religious movements, leaders, and thinkers.
Race and Religion in America
Professor/Instructor
Judith WeisenfeldIn this seminar we examine how the modern constructed categories of "race" and "religion" have interacted in American history and culture. We explore how religious beliefs and practices have shaped ideas about race and how American racialization has shaped religious experience. We consider the impact of religion and race on notions of what it means to be American and how these have changed over time. Topics include race and biblical interpretation; religion and racial slavery; religion, race, and science; popular culture representations; race, religion, and politics; and religious resistance to racial hierarchy.