Religion

• 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.
• CAS RN 555: Dante's Hell
  A close reading of one text, Dante Aligheri's Inferno, with attention to its medieval contexts: philosophical, theological, and historical. Analysis of the poetic means by which Dante represents both human evil and human hope. Bi-lingual text. Lectures and discussion in English. Also offered as CAS LI 555 and CAS XL 383.
• CAS RN 556: Dante: The Divine Comedy II: Purgatorio and Paradiso
  Focus on the literary, philosophical, and theological ideas Dante uses to represent his experience of himself and of human nature. Bi-lingual texts. Lectures and discussions in English. Also offered as CAS LI 556.
• CAS RN 560: The Politics of Religion, Ethnicity, and Nationalism in International Relations
  Explores causes, consequences, and patterns of resurgent religion, ethnicity, and nationalism in post-Cold War international relations, using interdisciplinary scholarship, policy literatures, and case studies.
• CAS RN 561: Religion and International Relations
  (Meets with CAS IR 561.) Explores the role of religion in contemporary international relations in the context of questions about the common core of modernity. Reviews scholarly and policy literature, and case studies, in order to elucidate religion's intellectual and operational diversity in international relations.
• CAS RN 563: Muslim Societies: An Interdisciplinary History
  Examines the states, empires, faiths, and ideologies of the Muslim world over a 1500-year period, including states from North and West Africa, through the Middle East, to Turkey, Iran, and then to Central and Southeast Asia. Also offered as CAS AH 539, HI 596, and RN 563.
• CAS RN 571: Literature of Memory I
  Topic for Fall 2010: Elie Wiesel, Author: Fiction. Examines the development of Elie Wiesel as a novelist from a selection of his fictional works. Particular attention is paid to the books' structures, themes, and moral lessons. Provides an opportunity to study these works with the author himself.
• CAS RN 572: Literature of Memory II
  Topic for Fall 2010: Elie Wiesel, Author: Non-Fiction. Explores Elie Wiesel's non-fiction writing. Using his memoirs, Biblical interpretations, and reflections on prominent Hasidic masters, we seek to better comprehend the ethical voice in his work. Provides the opportunity to explore these issues with Professor Wiesel himself.

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