2007–2008 Religion Courses
First-Year Studies: Islam
Level: FYS
Semester: Year
This course will provide a comprehensive introduction to the foundational texts of Islam, the historical development of different Muslim cultures, and the contemporary issues that animate Islam’s ever-evolving manifestations. We will begin with the Qur’an, a book whose juxtaposition of narrative fragments, apocalyptic imagery, divine voice, and sociopolitical themes conveyed in rhymed Arabic prose has both entranced and confounded readers. We will look at the historical roots of the “isms” used today to describe the orientations of Sunnism, Shi‘ism, Sufism, and Salafism. Looking beyond the Middle East, where only about 20 percent of the current global population of Muslims reside, we will examine how migrating people, concepts, texts, and practices have transformed and have been transformed by existing traditions in different geographical locations. Contemporary preoccupations such as the status of women in Islam and the relationship between Islam and violence will be examined from a variety of perspectives illustrating the intricacies of Muslim and non-Muslim acts of interpretation and their relationship to power and authority.
First-Year Studies: The Buddhist Philosophy of Emptiness
Level: FYS
Semester: Year
The concept of a “thing”—a distinct entity that exists in and of itself whether or not human beings attach a name to it—is nothing but a useful fiction: in the final analysis, there are no such things as “things.” This, in a nutshell, is the startling proposition advanced by the Buddhist doctrine of sunyata, or “emptiness,” as the Sanskrit term is usually translated. Often misconstrued by critics as a form of nihilism (“nothing exists”), idealism (“it is all in the mind”), or skepticism (“we cannot know anything with certainty”), the emptiness doctrine is better interpreted as a radical critique of the fundamental conceptual categories that we habitually use to talk about and make sense of the world. This course has several specific aims. The first is to impart a clear, accurate understanding of the emptiness doctrine as it developed in the context of Buddhist intellectual history and found expression in various genres of classical Buddhist literature. The second is to engage in serious criticism and debate concerning the “truth” of the doctrine: is it merely an article of Buddhist faith, or does it also stand up to the standards of logical consistency and empirical verification that have been established in Western traditions of philosophy and science? The third aim of the course is to explore ways in which the emptiness doctrine, if taken seriously as a critique of the mechanisms and inherent limitations of human knowledge, might impact a variety of contemporary academic disciplines. More generally, the course is designed to help first-year students gain the kind of advanced analytical, research, and writing skills that will serve them well in whatever areas of academic study they may pursue in the future. Both in class and in conference work, students will be encouraged to apply the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness in creative ways to whatever fields in the humanities, social sciences, or sciences that interest them.
Jewish History and Counter-History
Level: Open,Lecture
Semester: Year
How did a Jewish civilization develop despite the triumph of Christianity and Islam? This course conceives of Judaism as a counterpoint to the dominant cultures of Rome, Christian Europe, and Islamic lands. We will study the rise of rabbis and merkavah (“chariot”) mystics in late antiquity; the medieval appearance of worldly Jewish philosophers and otherworldly Kabbalists in Muslim Spain; and the more insular communities of medieval France and Germany. We will follow the exiles of Spain as they begin openly practicing Judaism in select cities; trace the growth of the popular messianic movement Shabbetai Zvi; and witness the blossoming of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, with its extensive self-rule, new economic niches, and world-renowned yeshivas. Throughout, we will balance negative flashpoints like the Crusades, blood libels, and the Spanish Inquisition with more affirmative features of Jewish life-like ritual, magic and mysticism, money lending, trade, medicine, and the spiritual lives of Jewish women. In the second semester, the focus shifts to Jewish struggles to achieve equal rights in Western Europe and the resulting creation of Reform, Conservative, and Neo-Orthodox Judaism; but we also consider the quite different developments in Eastern Europe, including the mystical movement Hasidism, the rise of Ultra-Orthodoxy, and the fledgling Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah). We then consider the Jewish economic mystique through the rise of Jewish banking dynasties like the Rothschilds; the appearance of new fantasies of Jewish power and more virulent forms of anti-Semitism; and modern Jewish political responses like Zionism and Jewish Socialism. We conclude with the destruction of European Jewry during the Holocaust, the creation of the modern state of Israel, and the emergence of large Jewish communities in America.
The Buddhist Tradition
Level: Open,Lecture
Semester: Year
An in-depth exposure to the religious tradition known in the West as “Buddhism,” in all of its incredible historical and cultural diversity. In the first semester, the course focuses on the evolution of Buddhist doctrines, practices, and institutions in India, from the origins of the religion as a group of “world-renouncing” ascetics through the development of large state-supported monastic communities and the emergence of the major reform movements known as Mahayana and Tantra. It also treats the Buddhism of two regions of the world—Southeast Asia and the Tibetan plateau—where the respective traditions have been most self-consciously concerned with maintaining precedents inherited from India. The second semester of the course focuses on the Buddhism of East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan), where new branches of the tradition such as Zen and Pure Land developed and flourished. It also deals with the issues of Buddhism in the modern world and the contemporary spread of various branches of the tradition from Asia to the West. The course is open to all students: no background knowledge is required or expected. Because the first semester is a self-contained unit, students may consider taking only that part of the course. The approach taken in the second semester, however, presumes knowledge of the material covered in the first, so students will only be allowed to join the course in January if they have consulted with and received permission from the instructor.
Christianity and the Roman Empire
Cameron C. Afzal, David Castriota
Level: Open
Semester: Year
For a full description, see Art History.
Jewish Autobiography: Between History and Literature
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
Autobiography is among the most contentious literary genres, owing to the fallibility of memory and the human tendency toward self-aggrandizement. Yet, while current literary theory often questions the relationship of autobiographical writing to what we normally designate as the truth, these subjective accounts nevertheless afford unique insights into history as a lived experience. This course seeks to utilize personal narratives and testimonies as a window onto the Jewish transition from the “ghetto” to modernity. We begin with “traditional” Jews, including the mystic Hayyim Vital and the successful businesswoman Glückel of Hameln. We then proceed to the wrenching accounts of the first rebels against tradition, like Solomon Maimon and Ezekiel Kotik, and then on to witnesses of the erosion of tradition as a more widespread phenomenon, like Pauline Wengeroff. We then turn to first-hand accounts by leaders of modern Jewish political movements like Zionism and Jewish Socialism, as well as proponents of assimilation and Ultra-Orthodox reaction. We conclude with perspectives on the Holocaust through the eyes of its victims, bystanders, and perpetrators; and, finally, we seek insights into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through perspectives from each side.
Early Christian Thought: The Gospel of Matthew and the Letters of Paul
Level: Advanced
Semester: Year
This course will begin in the first semester with a close reading of the Gospel according to Matthew. Here we will reflect on how one particular Christian community preserved and transmitted the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and how the theology of this community built and developed its ideas regarding the significance of Jesus’ life and death with a view to sustaining the Christian Church through the first century. Particular attention will be given to the emergence of what will become two major traditions in the world, Judaism and Christianity, and how these traditions developed separate identities. The second semester will study the spread of the Christianity into the Greco-Roman world through the work of the Apostle Paul. We will have occasion to study life in the Greek cities as well as their religious institutions and how the new teachings emerging from Paul’s form of mess- ianic Judaism interacted with Greek city life. Throughout this seminar, we will learn to read ancient texts closely, practice exegesis, and exercise the hermeneutical arts in order to bridge the gap between the ancient world and our own.
This course is open to intermediate and advanced students.
Modern Jewish Literature
Level: Open
Semester: Spring
This course examines the ways in which authors like Abramovitch, Sholem Aleichem, Perets, Agnon, Babel, Kafka, Singer, and others came to terms with modernity, i.e., their transition from the cloistered world of the “ghetto” to an embrace of the modern values embodied in non-Jewish societies. The path was often torturous, entailing rebellions against the Jewish tradition followed by nostalgia, longing, and regret. Some managed to enrich their modern existence with elements from the lost world of the shtetl, while others sought to push away that world through a desperate embrace of sexuality and violence. Prominent among these authors’ concerns is how to contend with the burgeoning Hasidic movement, often presented with scathing ridicule or misty romanticism. Other persistent themes include the predicament of Jewish homelessness (emphasized by Zionists); economic despair and disparities (stressed by Socialists); the destruction of European Jewry (presented by Holocaust survivors); Jewish neurosis (a preoccupation of American Jews); and ambivalence about Zionism (among Israeli authors). Despite the deep tensions that run through them, we will discover works of great beauty, poignancy, and insight.
Muslim Literature, Film, and Art
Level: Advanced
Semester: Year
In current global circumstances, Islam is all too frequently represented solely in terms of political and militant ideologies. For those who wish to dig deeper, there are the rich and varied traditions of classical religious scholarship and jurisprudence. But to look at Islam through these lenses alone is to miss alternate sensibilities that are just as important in providing the material from which many Muslims construct their identities. In this course, we will be studying some of the distinctive themes and aesthetic traditions associated with Muslim cultures. When the contemporary Syrian poet Adonis speaks of a “Sufi aesthetic,” what does he mean by this? What is the dynamic underlying the text/image art movement named hurufiyya after the medieval Islamic study of the occult properties of letters? In what ways do the religious elements of controversial novels like Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses and Naguib Mafouz’s Children of the Alley engage with long-standing traditions of storytelling? How is a theme like the veil addressed in works that take into account Western responses as much as other symbolic histories? How is a medium like film used to portray the role of religion in motivating or responding to acts of violence? Although most of the material we will be studying will be from the contemporary period, premodern works will be used to illustrate the ways in which Muslim artistic and literary works have historically adapted themes, genre, and media from pre-Islamic and other cultures.
A previous course in Islam, the Qur’an, or Sufism is required.