FALL 2001 COURSES IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Humanities Core Credit under the old core; Textual Analysis Mode Credit for new core; Required for Religious Studies Major

M W F 10:10-11:00 For Section 01—Vulgamore 201

TUES/THURS 12:10-1:30 For Section 03—Rob 401

The process of globalization and the increasing awareness of American plurality have shed light on our unprecedented marketplace of different religious viewpoints. In this course, we will seek to address this situation responsibly by examining the three dominant "Western" religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We will analyze the characteristic beliefs and practices of these three traditions so as to understand and appreciate their similarities and differences. While we will survey the distinctive origins and histories of these religions, we will also study their contact with one another and explore the conditions necessary for dialogue between them. Our approach will be academic rather than confessional or apologetic.

—Willard G. Oxtoby, World Religions: Western Traditions.

—Coursepack.

1. Attend all classes

2. Read all assigned material and participate actively in class discussions

3. Three exams

4. One 15-minute presentation

Grading: Presentation: 15%

Exam One: 20%

Exam Two: 20%

Exam Three: 25%

Participation: 20%

1 unit--CRN #: 8690

Humanities core credit under the old core; Textual Analysis mode credit under the new core; required for Religious Studies Major.

M W F 2:10-3:00 pm—ROB 202

This course will explore the religious dimension of human nature and activity by studying the three great western religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—that all claim Abraham as their ancestor. The primary focus will be on the sacred traditions and principal beliefs and practices of these three religions. The main approach will be historical, tracing the evolutions of the religions, their ideas and forms of religious expression from their beginnings until recent times, noting both common and distinctive features. In addition to the historical approach, students will be introduced to a number of other methodological perspectives: theological, philosophical, anthropological, psychological, and sociological. There is a difference between learning religion and learning about religion. This course will focus on the latter.

1) To gain a basic understanding of the general nature of religion and of the three major western religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

2) To obtain an appreciation of the richness and diversity as well as the similarities of religious experience and expression in various cultures and historical periods.

3) To try to understand the ways that communities construct their religious worlds through myth, ritual, symbolism, beliefs, ethics, etc., and the reason why they do so.

4) To become aware of the need for religious dialogue in our contemporary world.

—Nielsen, Niels C., Norvin Hein, et al., Religions of the World (3rd edition; New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993).

—Eastman, Roger (ed.), The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions (3rd edition; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).

—Additional material will be provided in the class

1. Attendance and participation 15%.

2. Midterm exam 25%.

3. Term paper 30%.

4. Final exam 30%.

Fulfills Biblical Studies Requirement For Religious Studies Majors

M W F 9:10-10:00 VULGAM 201 

The Hebrew Bible (i.e. the Old Testament) is not a single book, but an anthology reflecting different authors, historical circumstances, literary genres, and theological agendas. This course is designed as an introduction to the critical study of this and related literature, and of the ancient Near Eastern cultural environment that formed its background. We will give particular attention to the social, political and religious history of ancient Israel, the development of its theological traditions, the basic forms of Hebrew literature and the principal methods to interpret it. Our main task is to understand what the writings of the Hebrew Bible may have meant in their original, historical context, but we will also consider these writings as a contemporary resource for questions of religion and values. By the end of this course, we will have read and discussed a major portion of the Hebrew Bible in English translation.

GOALS:

1. To become acquainted with the religious traditions of ancient Israel, as they are reflected in the Hebrew Bible.

2. To acquire a basic understanding of the ancient Near Eastern cultures that constitute the environment in which the Hebrew Bible developed.

3. To acquire a general understanding of the methods and results of modern biblical scholarship.

4. To practice using the techniques of linguistic and literary criticism (close reading) to interpret Hebrew Bible literature.

—Frank S. Frick, A Journey Through the Hebrew Scriptures (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1995).

—The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).

1. Attendance and participation 15%

2. Short written assignments 25%

3. Research paper 30%

4. Final exam 30%

Humanities core credit under the old core; Textual Analysis credit under the new core;

Fulfills theology requirement for Religious Studies Majors.

M W F 1:10-2:00 —Rob 406

In this course we will examine some important literary and theological works of the Christian tradition. We will seek to understand how the authors of these works understand the divine, the world, human persons, sin, and salvation. There have been many different understandings of the nature of Christianity. We will examine some texts that have been very popular and influential and some that present unorthodox or minority views. Since this course focuses on Christian thought, rather than Christian practice, we will emphasize the skills necessary both to interpret and to evaluate the arguments and rhetoric of the authors. Our primary methods will accordingly be critical, theological, and philosophical.

—Augustine, Confessions

—John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

—Fyodor Dostoevsky, Selections from The Brothers Karamozov (Coursepack)

—C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

—Reinhold Niebuhr, Faith and History: A Comparison of Christian and Modern Views of History

—Rosemary Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology, "The Kenosis of the Father: A Feminist Midrash on the Gospel in Three Acts (Coursepack)

—Leo Tolstoy, My Confession, excerpt (Coursepack)

—Film: "The Last Temptation of Christ"

—The Creed of Nicaea (Coursepack)

1. Attend all classes

2. Read all assigned material and participate actively in class discussions

3. Three exams

4. One 15-minute presentation

Grading:

Report: 15%

Exam 1: 20%

Exam 2: 20%

Exam 3: 25%

Participation: 20%

RELG 313.01—DEATH AND DYING IN WORLD RELIGIONS—S. RAJ

1 unit--CRN #: 8492

Fulfills Global Studies Category Requirement

MWF 12:10-1:00—Vulgamore 202

Human longing for a meaningful explanation of the mystery of death and dying is deep and uni-versal. Through a critical analysis of textual and non-textual sources, this comparative course will examine a wide array of beliefs and rituals related to death and dying in a select number of world religions.

In addition to intellectual familiarity with cross-cultural beliefs and practices, students will be encouraged in the creative and critical enterprise of analyzing familiar religious and cultural practices surrounding death and dying.

—Huntington, R. & Metcalf, P. (eds) Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual —Kubler-Ross, E. On Death and Dying

—Obayashi, H. Death & Afterlife in World Religions: Perspectives of World Religions

—Selected readings, handouts, videos, and field trip

Class attendance, participation, presentation, three chapter summaries, three creative projects, and a final exam.

TUES/THURS 1:10-2:30 VULGAM 202

Counts for the Historical and Cultural Analysis Mode in the new core

1. To acquaint the students with biblical and other ancient near eastern wisdom literature, and with some principal methods of their interpretation.

2. To understand the origins and development of wisdom traditions.

3. To develop skills in reading biblical and other ancient literature in their own historical, literary and theological contexts.

4. To be able to identify and assess some of the main issues in the modern discussion regarding wisdom literature.

—Richard J. Clifford, The Wisdom Literature (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, c1998).

—Roland E. Murphy, The Tree of Life (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1996).

—The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).

—Additional material will be provided in the class.

1. Attendance and participation 15%

2. Midterm exam 20%

3. Research paper 35%

4. Final exam 30%