michael zank@bu: coursesRN220 Holy City: Jerusalem in Time, Space, and the Imagination History of Jerusalem from pre-Israelite to modern Israeli/Palestinian times. Aided by images, maps, texts, film, and web-based information, we will study the relation between religion and politics in this conflict-ridden sacred place.
RN389/689 Moses and the Origin of Monotheism This course explores interpretations of Moses in Western religions and cultures from Philo to Freud, tracing the discourse on the Egyptian origins of monotheism from its ancient sources to its modern rationalistic, psycho-analytical, literary, identity-political, and cinematic permutations.
RN450/750 Philosophy of Religion An introduction to texts and problems in Continental philosophy of Religion. Major authors: Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Kierkegaard.
RN469 Critique of Religion Philosophical critiques of revealed religion from Enlightenment to the 20th century, including analysis of criticisms in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Major trends examined include rationalism, historicism, anthropological materialism, and nihilism.
Coming in Spring 2009: RN101 The Bible. An introduction to the Jewish and Christian sacred Scriptures, for concentrators and non-concentrators. The course fulfills the CAS humanities distribution requirement. For more information, check the website of the Department of Religion.