Courses

• GRS RN 648: Rumi and Persian Sufi Poetry
  Introduction to the Persian Sufi poet Rumi's narrative and lyric writings. Beginning with an introduction to Islamic mysticism, studies the innovative aspects of Rumi's poetry and the problem of profane vs. sacred love. All readings in English translation.
• GRS RN 660: Daoist Religion
  A historical survey of the Daoist traditions in China. The philosophy of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu and Han dynasty religion. Early Daoist movements, as well as the heyday of the religion in the Six Dynasties and the Tang. Modern Daoism as it was first formed in the Tang dynasty is also discussed.
• GRS RN 661: Confucian Religion
  Religious aspects of Confucianism, with attention to the Analects. Topics include ceremony, song and poetry, morality and sagehood, ancestral sacrifice; establishment of Confucianism as state religion; role of women; and modernity.
• GRS RN 663: Zen Buddhism
  A study of Zen teachings and practices as a sect of Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, as a philosophic system, and as a pattern of culture.
• GRS RN 668: American Evangelicalism
  Major trends in American Evangelicalism, from the colonial awakenings and religious reform to the contemporary Christian Right. Focus on how evangelicals have negotiated and shaped central tenets of American culture, including understandings of gender, race, performance, nation, sexuality, and economics.
• GRS RN 675: Culture, Society and Religion in South Asia
  An ethographic and historical introduction to the Indian subcontinent with a focus on the impact of religion on cultural practices and social institutions. Topics to be covered include kinship, gender, geography, linguistic diversity, ethnicity, ritual, agriculture, economics and politics, expressive tradition, colonialism and nationalism and communal violence.
• GRS RN 682: History of Religion in Pre-Colonial Africa
  The study of the development of religious traditions in Africa during the period prior to European colonialism. An emphasis on both indigenous religions and the growth and spread of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the continent as a whole. Also offered as GRS AA 882 and GRS HI 749.
• GRS RN 684: 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.
• GRS RN 685: Representations of the Holocaust in Literature and Film
  Questions of representation in literature and film about the Holocaust, including testimonial and fictive works by Wiesel and Levi, Ozick, and others; films include documentaries and feature films. Discussions of the Holocaust as historical reality, metaphor, and generative force in literature.
• GRS RN 687: 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 idealogy.
• GRS RN 690: Archaeology in the Holy Land
  In Israel, archaeology is part of current events. The study of remains from the Israelite to the Muslim conquests (c. 1200 BCE -- 640 CE) to learn how material evidence created and still plays a role in a larger historical drama. Also offered as GRS AR 742.
• GRS RN 696: Philosophy of Religion
  Critical survey of the manner in which philosophers over the centuries have evaluated the truth and value claims of various religions. Focus on Hegel and the nineteenth-century emergence of "philosophy of religion" as a subdiscipline of philosophy and theology.
• GRS RN 697: Topics in Philosophy and Religion
  Topic for Fall 2012: God and the "End" of Art: Aesthetics, Value, and Transcendence in the Modern Age. Examines the relation between aesthetic and other forms of value in the modern world, including the question of whether art has come to an "end." Featuring visiting lecturers in fall Institute for Philosophy and Religion lecture series. Also offered as GRS PH 656.
• GRS RN 712: Theology of Christian Mysticism
  A concentrated venture in philosophical theology. This lecture, reading, and discussion course centers on the thought, not the praxis, of selected major mystics in the Christian tradition. Overviews Greek philosophical backgrounds then moves to a close examination of Eckhart, Nicolas of Cusa, Boehme, and William Blake.
• GRS RN 720: 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.
• GRS RN 723: Core Texts and Motifs of World Religions: West
  An intensive seminar in primary texts and key ideas of theology and religious philosophy as developed in representative world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. First course in a year-long sequence. Each semester may be taken independently. Also offered as STH TT 901.
• GRS RN 724: Core Texts and Motifs of World Religions: East
  An intensive seminar in primary texts and key ideas of theology and religious philosophy as developed in representative world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism. Second course in a year-long sequence. Each semester may be taken independently. Also offered as STH TT 902.
• GRS RN 725: Topics in South Asian Religion
  Specific aspects of South Asian religions within a historical or comparative/ phenomenological framework.
• GRS RN 727: Topics in American Religion
  Two topics are offered 2012/2013. Students may take one or both for credit. Topic for Fall 2012: American Evangelicalism. Major trends in American evangelicalism, from the colonial awakenings and religious reform to the contemporary Christian Right. Focus on how evangelicals have negotiated and shaped central tenets of American culture, including understandings of gender, race, performance, nation, sexuality, and economics. Topic for Spring 2013: Atheism and Agnosticism in U.S. History. A historical exploration of skeptics and freethinkers in the United States from figures such as Thomas Paine and "The Great Agnostic" Robert Ingersoll to Christopher Hitchens and other "New Atheists."
• GRS RN 729: Religion and Politics in South Asia
  Meets with GRS RN 729. 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.

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