Advanced Seminar: Rage, Religion, & Race RELST-UA.15, Pickett
Wednesday 2:00pm-4:30pm. Class # 8870. 4 Pts. 726 Broadway, Rm. 542
Explores theories and examples of rage with special attention to religion, politics, race, gender and sexuality. In an increasing divided and divisive world, almost everyone is angry about something or has something about which to be angry. But when is anger a moral emotion and a political compass? When does it derail religious, political and ethical purposes? What counts as anger and how is it (de)legitimated in practices of social organization, control, or privilege? This course will take up such questions as a way to reevaluate our assumptions about rage and its effects.
Topics: Black Power, Black Theology to #BlackLivesMatter RELST-UA.244, Pickett
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00pm-3:15pm. Class # 20966. 4 Pts. 194 Mercer Rm. 305
Examines the various ideas, pieties, and consequences of the Black Power era to the present. We chart the explicit and implicit utopian visions of the politics of this time period. We also explore an often obscured history of the Black Power era, which is the attempt by James Cone, the father of Black liberation theology, to translate the idiom of Black Power into Christian theological discourse. Our aim is to keep in view the significance of the Black Power era for understanding the changing role and place of Black religion in African American public life, giving special attention to contemporary figures (e.g., Rev. William Barber), issues (e.g., identity politics and intersectionality), and movements (e.g., #BlackLivesMatter) at the end of the course.
Anti-Semitism RELST-UA.270, Becker
Mondays 2:00pm-4:45pm. Class # 24415. 4 Pts. 726 Broadway, Rm. 542
This seminar discusses the history, ideas, tendencies, and cultural contexts of anti-semitism. Remaining aware of how the anti-Judaism of the Christian tradition has contributed to anti-semitism we will observe how this prior anti-Jewish tradition, though itself at times violent, was transformed in the last two hundred years into a distinct conspiracy theory about the insidious and malignant role played by Jews in society. We will read original literature as well as some academic works. There are a number of angles from which to study this material and our questions will also depend on the questions students bring to the class, especially their questions about the current moment (For example, where does anti-semitism fit in the current awkward political climate in which the president refuses to condemn Nazis and then brags about his daughter being a Jew? How do we understand the apparent recent increase in anti-semitism in the US? How does anti-semitism and accusations of anti-semitism function in the recent politics around Israel/Palestine? What is the relationship between European Christian anti-semitism and the anti-semitism attested within some Muslim communities?). This is not a course about Judaism but about the fantasies that Jews have been able to inspire, fantasies which have nonetheless had direct and even lethal repercussions on real Jewish lives.
Religions of India RELST-UA.337 (Same as HIST-UA.117), Fleming
Tuesday, Thursday 3:30pm-4:45pm Class # 18732. 4 Pts. Silver 414
Introduces students to the vibrant religious traditions of South Asia. Examines Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Jain and Sikh traditions, as well as the ancient and modern contexts in which they are situated. Students focus on the ways that various problems (material, intellectual, political) have served as catalysts for the formation and dissolution of communities of interpretation and practice and reexamine the multiple pasts of South Asia without projecting modern categories onto those traditions.
Belief and Social Life in China RELST-UA.351 (Same as ANTH-UA.351), Zito
Tuesday, Thursday 11:00am-12:15pm. Class # 20784. 4 Pts. 194 Mercer, Rm. 305
The Chinese word for "religion" means "teaching." "Teaching" immediately implies at least two people and belief in China has always been theorized and practiced as mediated by the presence of others, miraculous and mundane. We will explore what Chinese people "taught" themselves about the person, society and the natural world and thus how social life was constructed and maintained. We will examine in historical perspective the classic texts of the Taoist and Confucian canon and their synthesis; Buddhism and the synthesis of the “Three Teachings.” We will introduce modern religious life on Taiwan and in the People’s Republic.
Classical Mythology RELST-UA.404 (Same as CLASS-UA.404), Meineck
Tuesday, Thursday 11:00am-12:15pm. Class # 8871. 4 Pts. 12 Waverly, G08
Discusses the myths and legends of Greek mythology and the gods, demigods, heroes, nymphs, monsters, and everyday mortals who played out their parts in this mythology. Begins with creation, as vividly described by Hesiod in the Theogony, and ends with the great Trojan War and the return of the Greek heroes. Special emphasis on the return of Odysseus, as related by Homer in the Odyssey.
Topics in the Study of Religion: Ancient Egyptian Mythology and Religion
RELST-UA.650 (Same as HBRJD-UA.150), Roth
Monday, Wednesday 2:00pm-3:15pm. Class # 20968. 4 Pts. 25 West 4th, C20
Ancient Egyptian Mythology and Religion will focus on many aspects of Egyptian religion: conceptions of the divine in a polytheistic context, temple ritual, hymns, personal piety, the relationship between religion and magic, mortuary religion and its evolution and material consequences. Questions will be approached through both study of the primary sources in English translation: myths (very broadly conceived), other religious writings (including mortuary texts such as the Book of the Dead and the Underworld books), as well as art and artifacts connected with religious practice, such as amulets and votives. In addition, students will read the standard secondary source analyses by noted historians of Egyptian religion and critique them based on the primary sources.
Judaism in America RELST-UA.689 (Same as HBRJD-UA.173), Gottlieb
Monday, Wednesday 11:00am-12:15pm. Class # 20997. 4 Pts. 25 West 4th, C8
Explores the origin, development, and future of American Judaism. Attention will be paid to the development of the major religious denominations, the emergence of secular Judaism and the impact of factors such as immigration, feminism, suburbanization, the Holocaust and the State of Israel on American Jewish life.
Sufis: Mystics in Islam RELST-UA.863, (Same as MEIS-UA.863) Alatas
Tuesdays 2:00pm-4:45pm. Class # 23931. 4 Pts. KEVO, LL2
Since the emergence of Sufism in the ninth century, the shrines, brotherhoods, and doctrines of the Sufis have had vast influence in almost every corner of the Muslim world. This course offers a general, interpretive narrative tracing of Sufism from its perio of origin until recent times. It observes the development and spread of the so-callded "Islamic mysticism" through the Middle East, Asia, Africa and ultimately Europe and the United States. Moving beyond a focus on doctrines and practices, however, this course situates Sufism in its social, cultural and historical contexts. Over the course of the semester, we will learn how Sufi holy personages gained followers, not only among tribesmen and pessants, but also emperors, merhcants, and bureaucrats. We will then look at how such alliances made leading Sufis powerful even at the zenith of the European imperialism and in today's globalized world.
Internship (Permission Required) RELST-UA.981, Staff
Class #8872. Pts. 1-4
Independent Study (Permission Required) RELST-UA.998, Staff
Class #8873. Pts. 1-4