Courses

• CAS RN 429: Religion and Politics in South Asia
  Meets with CAS IR 429. 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 Spring 2013: TBA.
• CAS RN 434: Representations of Muhammad
  Explores Muslim and non-Muslim representations of Muhammad over the centuries in prose biographies, poetry, and film. Attention to differences of genre across time and space. Focuses on shifting ideas about holiness, sex, violence, and revelation.
• 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.
• CAS RN 452: Topics in Religious Thought
  Topics vary from year to year. Topic for Fall 2012: Happiness and the Good Life, East and West. What is happiness? How can we achieve a balanced, healthy, flourishing life? Classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu; Stoic, Epicurean, Confucian, Buddhist paths; comparison with contemporary happiness studies. Also offered as CAS PH 485.
• CAS RN 453: Topics in Religion and Sexuality
  Topic for Fall 2011: 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.
• CAS RN 459: Primo Levi Within Holocaust Literature
  A study of Primo Levi's writings and scientific, theological, and philosophical approaches to the Holocaust. Other theorists (Arendt, Wiesel, Muller-Hill) and other survivors' testimonies (Delbo, Borowski, Fink) are read in conjunction with Levi's works. Also offered as CAS LI 459 and CAS XL 459.
• CAS RN 466: 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.
• CAS RN 469: Critique of Religion
  Philosophical critiques of revealed religion from the 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.
• CAS RN 470: Topics in Medieval Religious Culture
  Topics vary.
• CAS RN 471: Topics in Ancient Christianity
  Topic for Spring 2012: Saints and Their Cults. The cult of living and dead saints was central to the development and spread of Christianity (as also Islam and Buddhism). This seminar addresses the interpretation of saints' lives, pilgrimage and ritual action at shrines, and the saint's festival.
• CAS RN 491: Ds: Religion
  
• CAS RN 492: Directed Study
  
• CAS RN 494: Magical Texts: Literature & Practice
  An advanced course in the interpretation of ancient magical texts, emphasizing the use of theoretical models (Malinowksi, Tambiah, J.Z. Smith) for understanding a selection of ritual manuals, amulets, binding tablets, and mystical ascent texts from Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian antiquity. Also offered as CAS CL 406 B1.
• CAS RN 499: Topics in Judaic Studies
  Topic for Spring 2013: TBA.
• CAS RN 504: Topics in Religion and the Visual Arts
  In-depth discussion of special issues in the study of religion and art. May be repeated for credit as topics change. Also offered as CAS AH 504.
• CAS RN 524: Topics in Religion and Literature
  Topic for Spring 2013: Apocalypse and Literature. Literary responses to the biblical book of Revelation, from ancient to modern times. Systematic analysis of the biblical text. Readings from Dante, Langland, Rabelais, Blake, Hölderlin, Dostoevsky, García Lorca, Samuel Beckett, and Flannery O'Connor. Reference to artistic and musical representations of apocalypse. Also offered as CAS XL 560.
• CAS RN 526: Topics in Religion and Literature in East Asia
  Focus, each time the course is offered, on one masterpiece of East Asian religion and literature. Also offered as CAS LC 470 and CAS XL 470.

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