Lahore University of Management Sciences. ANTH 464 Children of Abraham Spring

Transcription

1 ANTH 464 Children of Abraham Spring Instructor Room No. Office Hours Telephone Secretary/TA TA Office Hours Course URL (if any) Lukas Werth 216 New SS Wing COURSE BASICS Credit Hours 4 Lecture(s) 2 Per Week Duration 1:50 hours Recitation/Lab (per None Duration week) Tutorial (per week) None Duration COURSE DESCRIPTION Everybody knows that the Quran is related to Bible and Torah, but in which way? What are the common traits between the holy scriptures, what are the differences? Can we, in particular, identify cultural trajectories which run through the scriptures? The question of common trajectories lies at the heart of the course, and it tries to detect them through describing the historical and cultural contexts from which the religions of the book emerge, through identifying these contexts in the scriptures themselves. The course in particular looks at how certain narratives occur in the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran: for instance, Adam and the creation, Nuh/Noah, Lut/Lot, Ibrahim/Abram/Abraham and his sacrifice, Isa/Jesus, of course. The course centers on an anthropological perspective, taking the thoughts of Edmund Leach as a starting point and textbook, which implies an engagement with structuralist theory. However, structuralist views will have to be set into perspective, and questions of history and textual critique will also be discussed, as well as certain philosophical and ethical issues. The course presumes you are more familiar with the Quran, so you will find yourself reading in the Bible (the Torah is part of it), particularly, but not exclusively, in the book of Genesis in which quite some anthropological topics will be located. You will be comparing the narratives found there with the Quranic ones, identifying common traits and differences in structure and use. You may find that reading the earlier scriptures may enhance an understanding of how the Quran deals with these narratives. Given the vastness of the topic, the syllabus of the course is necessarily eclectic. Rather than aiming at any

2 completeness, it will concentrate on a few topics in order to introduce the possibilities of an anthropologically inspired textual analysis. A final note: this course is not philological, that is, it relies on translations, and will not debate different possibilities of rendering certain terms in English. COURSE OBJECTIVES 1. The enhancement of an understanding of the religions of the book, their cultural contexts ad their common traits 2. To apply anthropological concepts to a scriptural tradition 3. An intellectual archaeology of the religion of Islam 4. To work towards an anthropological understanding of myth COURSE ORGANIZATION 1. The course is lecture based. 2. Students will be asked to work out some comparisons between narratives in the holy scriptures. 3. Each student is supposed to follow the readings. COURSE EVALUATION 1. Attendance does not form a part of the grade. You are expected to come regularly to classes. If you do not, it will be difficult for you to reply questions in the exams. Also, I reserve the right to reduce your grade or fail you entirely if you miss more than three classes. 2. Students who fail to appear for a test will be given zero on those works. Only on a doctor's attestation or because of participation in sports activities for LUMS missed work may be repeated. 3. There will be a 2% grade reduction on entering the class after the lecture has started, no matter whether a few seconds or a few minutes have passed. As attendance is not obligatory, it is expected that if you come you will attend the whole session. Leaving the class earlier will also be marked with a 2% reduction. 4. Please switch off your mobile phones. Receiving any message will result in a 2% reduction of your grades. 5. The course will be evaluated through 5 brief tests of 15 minutes at the beginning of a session, each of which carries 12%, comparisons between narratives of the holy scriptures carrying 15%, a final takehome essay of about 4000 words carrying 25%, and also through the participation in class discussions for which + points will be given. 6. The followings points concerning the take home essay should be taken into account: a) Introduction b) Detailed outline (i.e. between two and four pages) c) Significance d) Significance in relation to the other presentations or upcoming presentations e) Critical questions f) Some extra research g) Conclusion 7. Following are the important points regarding the grades: a) The grades will be marked on an absolute basis. b) For the actual distribution of grades for the class work, presentations or exams please refer to

3 the literature list. c) The following is the distribution of grades according to the percentage. Outstanding Work A+ = A = A = Good work B+ = B = B = Passable Work C+ = C = Work just about passable (with a lot of good will) C = D = Work that does not meet the minimum standard for passing Fail = 49 and below. IMPORTANT POINTS TO NOTE 1. You may discuss your exam papers with me if you want to improve your skills, or if you think I have miscalculated the numbers, but do not just argue that you deserve more numbers than what I have already given to you. 2. There will be no discussion on the exam paper of any kind when it is the final exam, unless I have miscalculated your numbers. Thus no change of grade should be expected once it is given. 3. Please do not bring mobile phones, or notebook or any other other electronic devices with you in the exams. COURSE ETHICS 1. Please arrive on time in order not to disturb the concentration of the other students. 2. Please switch off your mobile phones before entering the class. 3. Please note that sometimes, due to the given amount of time for each session, I will have to cut short questions or to limit them to the topic under discussion. Such an act under no circumstances reflects on the discussant. 4. Please have respect for different opinions. Anthropology is a study of differences as well as of similarities between various people, and not an imposition of one's own world view on others. 5. Please respect your class fellows' opinions also when they differ from your own, even when they trigger strong feelings in you. This should not lead to the interruption of a student or the instructor, or to a dismissal of anyone's opinion out of hand. In brief, it is expected to deal with differences in a well behaved manner worthy of your own self respect. 6. Please keep silence during the class work or exam. It is expected that students will neither talk, nor help, nor cheat. Transgressions will affect everybody involved irrespective of who did what.

4 7. In accord with institutional policy, there will be no discrimination in this course on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex/gender, ability/disability, religion/spiritual beliefs or class. Your political beliefs and moral values will not be considered relevant for your grading and evaluation. CHEATING & PLAGIARISM If you take an idea from any text, book, newspaper, or any other source, you have to give the author credit. Furthermore, changing one or two words in a sentence is not acceptable as a substitution for quotation marks. All assignments must represent original work not previously or simultaneously handed in for credit in another course. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other violations of the honour code will be dealt with according to LUMS policy. Other serious ethical violations include re use of essays, improper use of the Internet and electronic services, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded essays, forgery, lying, and unfair competition. For further instructions please check with the latest Student Handbook. COURSE SCHEDULE & LITERATURE The following literature will be discussed in this course, and students are expected to read it. (I reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus and attached course schedule as additional materials become available or to better accommodate the pedagogical needs of particular classes.) Add and drop 1 st and 2 nd Sessions : general points concerning the course (add and drop period). Introductory lectures 3 rd Session: introductory lecture: fertile crescent, riverine cultures, axial time, nomads and cities, people inbetween, kings, angels, hell, a mountain deity on the Sinai Reading: First Book Moses/Genesis, chapters th Session: introductory lecture: The Torah / Pentateuch, the books of the old testament, the emergence of Judaism. The Yahwist and the Priestly source in the Genesis. The Elohist and the Deuteronomist. The creation account in the Bible and in the Quran. Reading: First Book Moses/Genesis, chapters th Session: introductory lecture: The four gospels and their historical context, their authors. Who was Jesus/Isah? James Frazer and the dying god. 6 th Session: introductory lecture: the other parts of the new testament, Saulus and Paulus, the apocalypse, another, apocryphic gospel. The spread and dynamics of Christendom. The rise of Islam, the relation between the religions. Reading: excerpts from the gospels of Mathew and Luke, the account of Saul s conversion in the history of the apostles (to be specified).

5 7 th Session: The Structure of the Quran. From McAuliffe ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Quran 2006: Daniel Madigan: Themes and Topics, Angelika Neuwirth: structural, linguistic and literary features. Structuralist studies Main literature: Edmund Leach and Alan Aycock eds. Structural interpretations of Biblical myth. Cambridge UP th Session: discussion: what, if anything, is structuralism? Introducing the travels of Edmund Leach in the Biblical Never Never Land. 9 th Session: Chapter 2 of Leach and Aycock: Edmund Leach: Anthropological approaches to the Bible in the 20 th century. Pp A very useful overview essay in which Leach discusses main issues of his methodology, making in passing some snide remarks on other authors like Mary Douglas and her thesis about the pig taboo. 10 th Session: Richard Moye 1990: Myth and History in Genesis and Exodus. Journal of Biblical Literature 109, pp We will also look at the Quran here. 11 th Session: 3) Chapter 3 of Leach and Aycock: Edmund Leach: why did Moses have a sister? Pp th Session: discussion and review 13 th Session: Chapter 6 of Leach and Aycock: Alan Aycock: The fate of Lot s wife: structural meditation in Biblical mythology. Pp We will also compare the Biblical Lot with the Quranic Lut. 14 th Session: Edmund Leach 1966: the legitimacy of Solomon: some structural aspects of Old Testament history. European Journal of Sociology 42, pp th Session: Tim Winter 2004: The chador of God on Earth: the metaphysics of the Muslim veil. New Blackfriars 85, pp With special emphasis on Winter s interpretation of Suleman. A comparison between the Biblical and the Quranic figure. 16 th Session: Karin Andriolo 1981: Myth and History: a general model and its application to the Bible.

6 American Anthropologist 83, pp Michael Caroll 1977: Leach, Genesis and structural analysis: a critical reevaluation. American Ethnologist 4, pp th Session: discussion and review The Great Flood Main literature: Alan Dundes ed The Flood Myth. California UP. 18 th Session: essay from Dundes: Norman Habel: the two flood stories in Genesis. Pp Robert Graves and Raphael Patai: Hebrew myths: the book of Genesis. Cassel and Company Pp (The chapters about the flood and Noah s drunkenness) 19 th Session: Essays from Dundes: Dundes, Alan: The flood as male myth of creation. Pp Ginzberg, Louis: Noah and the flood in Jewish legend. Pp th Session: Essays from Dundes: Hämmerly Dupui, Daniel: Some observations on the Assyro Babylonian and Sumerian Flood stories. Pp Frymer Kensky, Tikva: The Atrahasic Epic and its significance for our understanding of genesis 1 9. Pp th Session: discussion and review Sacrifice 22 st Session Once again: from Structural interpretations of Biblical myth (see the first section): Alan Aycock: The mark of Cain. Pp (Together with Leach s qualification in the introduction to the volume; pp. 4 5) 23 nd Session: Hubert and Mauss 1864: Sacrifice: its nature and function. Chicago UP (French original 1898) Chapter 5: the sacrifice of the god. Pp th Session: Ronald Green 1982: Abraham, Isaac and The Jewish Tradition: and Ethical Reappaisal The Journal of Religious Ethics 10, pp th Session: Erich Auerbach (German original 1946): Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. Different English editions. Chapter 1: Odysseus scar, pp In case you are wondering why this chapter is included here: Auerbach extensively compares Homer with Abraham s sacrifice. Apart from that, I just want to teach you this book because it is such a wonderful classic. 26 th Session: Terry Evans 2008: : Anthropology as Ethics: nondualism and the conduct of sacrifice. Berghahn Books. Chapter 2: Blind faith and the binding of Isaac: the Akedah. Pp Evans uses the narrative to develop an ethical perspective in anthropology.

7 27 th discussion and review 28 th Session: continued discussion and review; winding up.