DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Transcription

1 DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES COURSE DESCRIPTIONS Fall 2014 RLST Religions in the United States Professor Deborah Whitehead HUMN 250, MW 10:00 10:50 Recitations W *Approved for Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum: United States Context or Ideals and Values This course will introduce students to the historical and contemporary study of religions in the United States. It will not seek to give either a comprehensive historical account of the development of all American religions, nor a survey of all religious institutions, movements, and traditions that have made up the vast and diverse U.S. religious landscape. Rather, the course approaches the topic of religions in the U.S. through the investigation of primary source texts, which, set in context, will give us glimpses or snapshots of religion as lived, practiced, and experienced by Americans of all backgrounds during the past 400 years. Along the way we will encounter many of the key religious traditions, movements, and figures that have shaped American religious belief and practice. In addition the course will consider such questions as: What major cultural forces shape and have shaped religions in America? How have Americans of different faiths and nationalities encountered, interacted, argued, clashed, and cooperated with one another? Have they seen America as a promised land or place of refuge or as a place of conflict and suffering? What are some ways that religious Americans think about faith, spirituality, religious diversity and church and state? Ultimately, how does the academic study of religion shed light on what it means to be an American or a religious American? RLST Religions of South Asia John Kinsey HUMN 150, TR 2:00-3:15 *Approved for Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum: Ideals and Values Introduces the literature, beliefs, practices, and institutions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, in historical perspective. RLST American Indian Religious Traditions Professor Greg Johnson MCOL W100, TR 2:00 3:15 *Approved for Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum: Ideals and Values or Human Diversity This introductory course explores the religious traditions of peoples indigenous to the Americas, with particular attention to the native peoples now encompassed by the United States and Canada. Our historical view will range from before Columbus to the present, with special attention to issues of culture contact. In order to develop a broad understanding of the religious lives of Native Americans, First Nations peoples and Native Hawaiians, our analyses will take us to a diversity of places, from the frozen landscapes of the Arctic to the warm waters of Polynesia. Then we will focus upon the rituals and myths of several specific tribes/nations/groups. Doing so, we will engage in close studies of Ute, Navajo, Kwakiutl, Kanaka Maoli cultures. The next section of the course proceeds thematically, as we explore modern and contemporary religious movements, including the Sun Dance, Ghost Dance, and the Native American Church, repatriation and religious freedom issues, and powwow events. We will conclude our adventure by way of a literary excursion, reading the difficult but rewarding novel by N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn.

2 RLST/WMST Women and Religion Denice Walker HUMN 250, MWF 4:00 4:50 *Approved for Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum: Human Diversity This course examines the intersection between religion and gender, considering the ways in which religion informs understandings and assumptions about gender and, in turn, how gendered assumptions shape and inform religious practice. Thus, we will employ gender as a category of analysis for the study of religion, asking several key questions. To begin we will consider what various religious traditions teach about gender roles and the accompanying gendered responsibilities of women and men. What do they teach about sexuality? About bodies? What do they say if anything about alternative gender roles? Having established a baseline of understanding, we will explore ways in which religious teachings, in both historical and contemporary contexts, have informed secular understandings of gender and the ways in which contemporary conceptions of gender have informed religious practice. We will consider these questions from the perspective of five religious traditions: Native American, Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and Feminist/New Age spirituality, all set within the context of religion in the United States. Same as WMST RLST Christian Traditions Professor Brian Catlos CHEM 142, MW 1:00 1:50 Recitations WF *Approved for Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum: Historical Context Serves as an introduction to the academic study of Christianity, understood in its historical context, beginning with its most remote Mesopotamian origins and through to beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. Coverage is global, but "Western" Christian traditions are emphasized, as is the evolution of doctrine, ritual and institutions in relation to social, cultural and political factors. RLST Religion and the Senses Professor Sam Gill HLMS 141, MWF 12:00 12:50 Religion and the Senses constructs an understanding and appreciation of the human senses based on several parallel and interconnected perspectives or bodies of research: neurobiology, cognitive science, and phenomenology and plays out the potential implications for anthropology and the academic study of religion. Perception is understood an active and creative function and the body and mind are inseparable in perception. Being human is constituted in an interaction between bodied beings and their environment. What has yet to take place is to examine these disparate, yet exciting, areas of research and emerging perspectives and insights as they cross from discipline to discipline (neurobiology to cognitive science to philosophy for example) and to chart the implications for the academic study of religion and culture; indeed, the deeper appreciation of these areas of human behavior. This is the objective of this course. Religion and the Senses then is ambitiously directed to providing a fertile approach to understanding and appreciating cultures and religions in terms of exciting emergent perspectives while also offering students a greatly enriched understanding of their own embodied humanity. 2 of 5

3 RLST Religion and Literature in America Lucas Carmichael HALE 260, TR 3:30 4:45 *Approved for Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum: United States Context Religion and Literature in America: Beat Writers and Beat Religion This course focuses a broad investigation into the religious dimensions of American culture through specific attention to the Beat writers. The course hinges on mid-20th century economic, political, and cultural changes that impacted religion and literature in America, including WWII, the Civil Rights Movement, Immigration Reform, and the Counter-Cultural Revolution. The first half of the course sets the stage for these changes through a cultural investigation of late 19th and early 20th century America. The second half of the course follows significant 20th century changes in religion and literature by focusing on the relationship between the Beat writers and the introduction of Buddhism and other Asian traditions in America. Throughout the course, we will juxtapose the Beats with other writers to hear both distinctive contributions and common themes: to note those American religious and literary traditions the Beats rejected, those that they continued, and those they transformed. We will read Emerson, Whitman, Hemingway, Williams and more in addition to Beats such as Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs, Snyder, Baraka, and Waldman. RLST/JWST Judaism Professor Elias Sacks HUMN 250, TR 11:00 12:15 *Approved for Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum: Historical Context. This course will survey Jewish religious experience and its expression in thought, ritual, ethics, and social institutions. We will explore the development of Jewish belief, practice, and literature from the biblical period to modern times, encountering diverse voices and paying special attention to the changing contexts in which these voices have emerged: we will be particularly concerned with the ways in which Jewish life has been shaped by its political, religious, and social settings, and the ways in which the Jewish tradition has shaped the broader world. We will consider specific topics such as the concrete practices that have been associated with Jewish life, the ways in which Jews have understood the relationship between Judaism and other traditions, and attempts by Jews to imagine the role of Judaism in a modern state. Exploring these topics will lead us to reflect more broadly on the nature of religion. RLST Islam Professor Ruth Mas HALE 230, TR 12:30 1:45 This course focuses on the Islamic tradition, its practices and institutions. Topics that will be covered in class include the life of Mohammed, the development of the Islamic community, Sufism, Shi ism, themes of the Qur an. Muslim engagement with the Qur an, as well as the theological, philosophical, and legal schools of thought. A special point of focus throughout the course will be each topic s relevance to issues of gender and modernity. 3 of 5

4 RLST Dancing, Religion, and Culture Professor Sam Gill HLMS 141, MW 1:00 1:50 CARL E012, F 1:00 1:50 The examination of dancing, and views about dancing, in the contemporary Western Christian context followed by a number of studies of dancing traditions Australian Aboriginal, Hinduism, Javanese. Flamenco, and Latin American that offer inspiration for the development of a richer understanding of dancing. Lecture discussion on Mondays and Wednesdays and Latin American dancing (salsa, ruedua de casino, bachata, etc.) in studio on Fridays. RLST 4/ Topics: Buddhist Esotericism Jules Levinson HUMN 270, W 3:00 5:30 Examines in depth central themes, schools of thought, and movements in Buddhism, such as Theravada in Southeast Asia, Mahayana and Tantrayana thought, Zen, and Buddhism in America. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours as topics change. Prereqs., 6 hours of RLST courses at any level including RLST 3300 or instructor consent. Same as RLST Prerequisites: Restricted to students with credits (Sophomore, Junior or Senior) only. RLST4/5260/JWST Topics in Judaism: Is God Dead?-SASR Professor Elias Sacks HUMN 270, T 3:30 6:00 Does it make sense to believe in God, and should believing or not believing in God make a difference for how individuals lead their lives? This course will explore diverse answers to these questions, examining debates surrounding the existence and nature of a higher power in ancient, medieval, and modern sources. We will devote special attention to topics such as the problem of evil, the nature of revelation, and the ethical and political significance of religious belief, considering issues including the status of belief in God in the wake of events such as the Holocaust, the relationship between religious commitments and scientific knowledge, and the implications of belief in God for debates surrounding topics such as violence and sexuality. We will focus primarily on Jewish, Christian, and philosophical sources, while also placing this material in conversation with works drawn from other traditions. RLST Religion and Nonviolence Professor Ira Chernus HLMS 263, TR 12:30 1:45 Studies theories of nonviolence developed by major thinkers and movements, especially in the U.S., in the context of their religious commitments and beliefs and their historical circumstances. 4 of 5

5 RLST 4/ Topics: Religion, Media, and Culture-SASR Professor Deborah Whitehead HUMN 270, M 3:00 5:30 This seminar for upper level undergraduates and graduate students will explore an array of theoretical approaches to the rapidly developing field of religion and media studies. Situated at the intersection of religious studies and media/communication studies, the seminar will investigate such topics as cultural studies approaches to religion and media, mediation vs. mediatization theory, religion and materiality/material culture, the idea of religion and/as communication (with the divine/with a Jamesian "More"), network theory, and related issues of access, authority, agency, and authenticity. Readings to include Meyer, Morgan, Peters, Hirschkind, McDannell, Plate, Hoover, Campbell, and Stolow; 6 hours previous coursework in RLST or instructor permission required. Same as RLST Prerequisites: Restricted to students with credits (Sophomore, Junior or Senior) only. RLST 4/ Topics: Islam and Modernity-SASR Professor Ruth Mas HUMN 145, T 3:30 6:00 The aim of this course is to examine current themes and issues in the study of Islam and modernity. It considers the ways in which the study of Islam and modernity inform how we think about the category of religion through the works of thinkers such as Said, Asad, and others. Topics will be chosen from among the following: Orientalism, Western imperialism, forms of power associated with the rise of the modern nation state, secularism, liberalism, Islam in the public sphere, ethnicity and post-colonialsim. The course takes as its point of departure the relationship of knowledge to power in discourses about Islam especially with regards to the process of history writing about Islam especially with regards to the process of history writing about Islam. It questions the employment of the West as a normalizing concept to speak about Islam, fundamentalism and modernity. Following from this are the implications of normative assumptions about secularism and liberal politics for Muslims living in post-colonial societies and in Western multi-cultural societies with large diasporic communities of Muslims that live as minorities. Special attention will be placed on the politics of secular liberal governance and the impacts that these have on the constitution of Muslim subjects, their bodies, affects and ethics. Same as RLST Prerequisites: Restricted to students with credits (Sophomore, Junior or Senior) only. RLST Introduction to the Academic Study of Religion Professor Greg Johnson HUMN 270, TR 3:30 6:00 Introduction to the graduate academic study of religion through the exploration of contemporary models and issues that demonstrate the nature and future of the field. Each student will prepare a profile of his/her intended area of research. Restricted to Religious Studies graduate students. Prerequisites: Restricted to Religious Studies graduate students only. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION ON THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. ( ) Be sure to check online for the most up-to-date details. MyCUinfo.colorado.edu 5 of 5