Religion

• CAS RN 372: Indian Philosophies of Religion
  (Meets with CAS PH 246.) Studies the co-existence of religious communities in India, with emphasis on recent history of inter-communal relations. Introduction to the philosophical and religious culture of India; examination of some of the classical Six Systems of Indian Philosophy; exploration of the development of modern ("Neo-Hindu") philosophy, with emphasis on Ghandi.
• CAS RN 375: Culture, Society, and Religion in South Asia
  Ethnographic and historical introduction to the Indian subcontinent with a focus on the impact of religion on cultural practices and social institutions.
• CAS RN 384: The Holocaust
  Background of German (and European) anti-Semitism. Rise of Nazism and early oppression, initial Jewish reaction, mechanics of destruction, ghettos, camps, world response and nonresponse, literature of the Holocaust, and religious implications.
• CAS RN 387: Anthropology of Religion
  Myth, ritual, and religious experience across cultures. Special attention to the problem of religious symbolism and meaning, religious conversion and revitalization, contrasts between traditional and world religions, and the relation of religious knowledge to science, magic, and ideology.
• CAS RN 388: Oral Tradition as Verbal Art
  Exploration of religious and secular poetry worldwide with emphasis on the ethnography of communication. A focus on performance in oral tradition and its consequences for literary form, as well as the impact of mass media and literacy on orality.
• CAS RN 397: Topics in Philosophy and Religion
  Topic for Fall 2010: God, Politics, and Philosophy. From head scarves to school prayer, the intersection of religion and politics raises important philosophical questions. Course parallels Institute for Philosophy and Religion's lecture series. Also offered as CAS PH 456.
• CAS RN 401: Senior Independent Work
  
• CAS RN 402: Senior Independent Work
  
• CAS RN 412: Theology of Christian Mysticism
  A concentrated venture in philosophical theology. Lectures, reading, and discussion center on the thought, not the praxis, of selected major mystics in the Christian tradition. Overviews Greek philosophical backgrounds; closely examines Eckhart, Nicholas of Cusa, Boehme, and William Blake.
• CAS RN 413: Gender in Medieval Christian Mysticism
  Study of the Christian mystical traditions of medieval Europe, both orthodox and heretical, with particular emphasis on the role of gender and authority in mystical writing, practice, and teaching. Also offered as CAS HI 413.
• CAS RN 415: Traditional African Religions in the Diaspora
  Chronicles the religions of the African Diaspora in transatlantic communities of African descent from the pre-colonial period to the present and examines the multiple dimensions of religion in the diverse cultural contexts influenced and transformed by African peoples.
• CAS RN 420: Maimonides
  A study of major aspects of the thought of Maimonides. Primary focus on the Guide of the Perplexed, with attention to its modern reception in works by Baruch Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, Leo Strauss, and others. Also offered as CAS PH 409.
• CAS RN 425: Topics in South Asian Religions
  Specific aspects of South Asian religions within a historical or comparative/ phenomenological framework. Two topics are offered 2009/2010. Students may take one or both for credit. Fall 2009: Religion and Politics in South Asia. Explores the relationship between religion and politics in colonial and post-colonial South Asia through readings of primary texts as well as debates on religious reform/revival, nationalism, caste, and partition. Spring 2010: Visual Piety in South Asia. A focus on the Indic concept of darshan (auspicious sight) as a way of understanding the everyday religious lives of South Asians. An exploration of the way people in the region "see" religion, with an emphasis on Hinduism.
• CAS RN 427: Topics in American Religion
  Topic for Fall 2010: Wandering as Practice and Play. Is wandering punishment or opportunity? Virtue or vice? Might this playful practice serve as an antidote to American obsessions with efficiency, productivity, and the purpose-driven life? Possible authors: Thoreau, Twain, Kerouac, Crace, Dillard, Berry.
• CAS RN 429: Religion and Politics in South Asia
  Explores the relationship between religion and politics in pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial South Asia through readings of primary texts as well as debates on religious reform/revival, nationalism, caste, and partition.
• CAS RN 430: Topics in East Asian Religions
  Topic for Fall 2009: TBA.
• CAS RN 435: Women, Gender, and Islam
  Investigates the way Muslim religious discourse, norms, and practices create and sustain gender and hierarchy in religious, social, and familial life. Looks at historical and contemporary challenges posed to these structures.
• CAS RN 439: Jewish Bioethics
  Exploration of Jewish perspectives on life, death and dying, abortion, the new reproductive technologies, organ transplantation and genetic engineering. Examination of the impact of the Nazi doctors, racial hygiene, euthanasia, and genocide on contemporary bioethics.
• CAS RN 441: Hermeneutics
  Analysis of literary works, ancient and modern, informed by hermeneutical theories of Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur. Attention to structure and meaning of symbol, myth, narrative; religious, philosophical, and poetic discourse; problems of self, world, and the Divine.
• CAS RN 443: Problem of Evil
  A philosophical and theological analysis of the problem of evil, as formulated in the Bible and other sacred texts, ancient and modern philosophy, literature, and cinema. Also offered as CAS PH 483.

Note that this information may change at any time.

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