Courses

• GRS RN 739: 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.
• GRS RN 741: Hermeneutics
  Analysis of literary works, ancient and modern, informed by hermeneutical theories of Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricouer. Attention to structure and meaning of symbol, myth, narrative; religious, philosophical, and poetic discourse; problems of self, world, and the divine.
• GRS RN 743: 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 GRS PH 683.
• GRS RN 749: Dante
  The Divine Comedy as a journey toward the vision of God. How Dante transforms his pagan sources, how deeply he assimilates the Bible and its interpretative traditions, and how boldly he attempts to establish his own text as a "sacred poem".
• GRS RN 750: Philosophy of Religion
  An examination of principal issues and topics in the philosophy of religion in three stages: First, a historical overview of the development of the philosophy of religion as a discipline or subdiscipline of philosophy, theology, and metaphysics. Second, readings and discussions of source materials in the philosophy of religion and religious ethics. Third, a close reading of and commentary on Hegel's 1827 Lecture on the Philosophy of Religion.
• GRS RN 751: Critique of Religion
  
• GRS RN 752: Topics in Religious Thought
  Topic for Fall 2010: Happiness, East and West. What is happiness? How can human beings achieve a balanced, healthy, fulfilling life? Classical thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Chuang Tzu, Augustine; Stoic, Epicurean, Confucian, Buddhist paths; comparison with contemporary happiness studies. Also offered as GRS PH 650.
• GRS RN 753: Topics in Religion and Sexuality
  Topic for Fall 2009: The Body and Sexuality in Classical Religious Texts. Treats foundational primary sources in translation on sex and the body in several world religions. Consideration of differences in sources: genre, gender, modern/classical. Traditions include Greek, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist.
• GRS RN 759: Topics of International Relations and Religion
  Interdisciplinary consideration of Britain’s relationship with South Asia, and its aftermath, focusing on encounters of ‘Christianity’, ‘Hinduism’ and ’Islam’. Also draws on comparative historical material from Europe, Africa and elsewhere, to stress conceptual problems generated by conflicting theoretical perspectives.
• GRS RN 766: Religion and the Problem of Tolerance
  Explores the religious roots of tolerance as an alternative to secular, more liberal foundations for pluralism. Grapples with the challenge of tolerance to the revealed religions and the ways different societies have met or failed to meet this challenge.
• GRS RN 768: Symbol, Myth, and Rite
  Historical overview of ritual behavior, the role of symbolism in the study of culture, and the narrative quality of worldview and belief. Emphasis on verbal performance and public display events in specific cultural contexts
• GRS RN 769: Critique of Religion
  Philosophical critiques of revealed religion from Enlightenment to the twentieth century, including analysis of criticisms in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Major trends examined include rationalism, historicism, anthropological materialism, and nihilism.
• GRS RN 770: Topics in Medieval Religious Culture
  Topic for Fall 2006: Religious Cultures in Contact and Conflict: Jewish-Christian Encounter. Focuses on varieties of interaction through an examination of social relations, economic ties, intellectual and cultural exchanges, expulsions and violence. Explores coexistence, toleration (and its limits) in medieval context. Meets with GRS HI 707.
• GRS RN 795: Humanities Approaches to Religion
  Introduces major theoretical questions in the humanistic study of religion. Examines the nature and origin of religion as well as definitions and critiques of religion from comparative, historical, sociological, literary standpoints as well as postmodern and gender studies approaches.
• GRS RN 796: Social Science Approaches to Religion
  Introduces major theoretical questions in the social scientific study of religion. Examines approaches of Marx, Durkheim, and Freud among others.
• GRS RN 797: Philosophical and Theological Approaches to Religion
  An introduction to philosophical and theological approaches to the study of religion(s) as distinct from other humanities-based and social-scientific approaches. Provides a common vocabulary for students pursuing historical, constructive, or interdisciplinary projects related to religious thought.
• GRS RN 798: Topics in Ancient Christianity.
  Topic for Fall 2008: Augustine on Sacred Violence. How did the church, within four centuries, shift from persecuted to persecutor? Consideration of this question beginning with representations of violence in the New Testament, and ending with Augustine's principled advocacy of religious coercion.
• GRS RN 799: Topics in Judaic Studies
  Topic for Spring 2005: Power, Morality, and Modern Jewish Identity. Examines Jewish people's moral and ideological debates about the use of the military during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Specal attention to the creation of a new Jewish ethos of power and its ambiguous relation to the Jewish tradition.
• GRS SO 699: Teaching College Sociology I
  The goals, contents, and methods of instruction in sociology. General teaching-learning issues. Required of all teaching fellows.
• GRS SO 701: Advanced Sociological Theory (Classical)
  Primarily for first-year graduate students. Required for master's degree in sociology. Advanced survey and review of sociological theory and theorists.

Note that this information may change at any time.

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