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RELIGST 1: Religion Around the Globe

A survey of significant religious traditions of the world with emphasis on contemporary manifestations. We will address aspects of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. In addition, we will discuss interaction between individuals and communities in diverse and complex religious settings such as East Asia, the Middle East, and North America.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
Instructors: ; Bashir, S. (PI)

RELIGST 2: Is Stanford a Religion?

This course seeks to introduce students to the study of religion by posing a two-part question: What is a religion, and does Stanford qualify as one? Scientific, pragmatic, seemingly secular, Stanford may not seem at all similar to religions like Christianity, Judaism or Buddhism, but a deeper look reveals that it has many of the qualities of religion--origin stories, rituals and ceremonies, sacred spaces and times, visions of the future, even some spirits. By learning some of the theories and methods of the field of religious studies, students will gain a better understanding not just of Stanford culture but of what motivates people to be religious, the roles religion plays in people's lives, and the similarities and differences between religious and secular culture.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

RELIGST 13Q: Mystical Journeys: Beyond Knowing and Reason

What makes a mystic a mystic? This question has many sides. Why do we call someone a mystic? Is there such a thing as mystical experience? Do experiences make a mystic? Do beliefs? Practices? Many religious traditions have records of visionaries whose lives and writings open windows on the more hidden and aspirational aspects of belief and practice. These writings also take many forms: poem, letters, teachings, and accounts of visions, which we will encounter in the course of the quarter. Readings for the course will cover a cross-section of texts taken from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Native American sources.
Terms: Win | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP, Writing 2
Instructors: ; Gelber, H. (PI)

RELIGST 14N: Demons, Death, and the Damned: The 'Other' and the Otherwordly in America

This course will examine how beliefs about the "other world" actually shape and are shaped by Americans' this-worldly actions and interactions (i.e. in the demonization of the "other," whether defined religiously, racially, ethnically, or in gendered terms). Students will ask how ideas about demons and death, heaven and hell have reflected the concerns, values, and identities of Americans over time. Students will learn how to read primary sources against secondary literature.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors: ; Lum, K. (PI)

RELIGST 17N: Love, Power, and Justice: Ethics in Christian Perspective

From its inception, the Christian faith has, like all religions, implied an ethos as well as a worldview, a morality and way of life as well as a system of beliefs, an ethics as well as a metaphysics. Throughout history, Christian thinkers have offered reasoned accounts of the moral values, principles, and virtues that ought to animate the adherents of what eventually became the world's largest religion. We will explore a variety of controversial issues, theological orientations, and types of ethical reasoning in the Christian tradition, treating the latter as one 'comprehensive doctrine' (John Rawls) among many; a normative framework (actually a variety of contested religious premises, moral teachings, and philosophical arguments) formally on par with the religious ethics of other major faiths as well as with the various secular moral theories typically discussed in the modern university. We will learn to interpret, reconstruct, criticize, and think intelligently about the coherence and persuasiveness of moral arguments offered by a diverse handful of this religious tradition's best thinkers and critics, past and present.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
Instructors: ; Sockness, B. (PI)

RELIGST 18N: Religion and Politics: Comparing Europe to the U.S. (JEWISHST 18N)

Interdisciplinary and comparative. Historical, political, sociological, and religious studies approaches. The relationship between religion and politics as understood in the U.S. and Europe. How this relationship has become tense both because of the rise of Islam as a public religion in Europe and the rising influence of religious groups in public culture. Different understandings and definitions of the separation of church and state in Western democratic cultures, and differing notions of the public sphere. Case studies to investigate the nature of public conflicts, what issues lead to conflict, and why. Why has the head covering of Muslim women become politicized in Europe? What are the arguments surrounding the Cordoba House, known as the Ground Zero Mosque, and how does this conflict compare to controversies about recent constructions of mosques in Europe? Resources include media, documentaries, and scholarly literature.
Terms: Win, Spr | Units: 3-4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Fonrobert, C. (PI)

RELIGST 21: Religion in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Science fiction and fantasy create alternate worlds that incorporate religious institutions and beliefs that illuminate how we think about religion now and for the future. Texts work off diverse religious traditions: Islam, Buddhism, Catholic and Protestant forms of Christianity, ancient Sumerian and Mayan religion, and Voudou are some that appear. Themes of free will and determinism, immortality, apocalypse and redemption. Myth, ritual, prophecy, the messianic hero, monasticism and mysticism. Texts like Dune, Snow Crash, Count Zero and the like explore religion in the contemporary imagination. Main assignment: write a short story.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-CE
Instructors: ; Gelber, H. (PI)

RELIGST 24: Sexuality, Gender, and Religion (FEMGEN 24)

From ancient times to the present, religious texts, authority figures, adherents, and critics have had a great deal to say about sexuality and gender, with powerful impacts in personal, social and political spheres. Today these debates are more wide ranging and public than ever. In this lecture and discussion series, distinguished scholars from within and beyond Stanford will consider how sexuality and gender become ¿religious¿ in Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
Terms: Win | Units: 2 | Repeatable 3 times (up to 6 units total)
Instructors: ; Hess, L. (PI)

RELIGST 25SI: Contemporary German Jewish Encounters: the Holocaust in Historical Memory

This one-unit course, open to all students, will focus on the history and contemporary experience of Jewish life and memory in Berlin in the decades following the Holocaust. Topics range from artistic expression and storytelling, to theodicy and forgiveness, to public historical memory and memorials. Each week students will meet with professors from various departments with different fields of expertise. This is a readings and discussion based course that encourages group discussion and empowers students to learn from each other as well as from the speaking professors.
Terms: Win | Units: 1
Instructors: ; Fonrobert, C. (PI)

RELIGST 28: Religion and Science in Dialogue: Possibilities and Future Directions

Religion and science are widely seen to be in conflict with each other, particularly in the West where science was under the aegis of the Church for centuries, until the advent of an independent scientific community and the tragedy of the Galileo affair. This course explores the historical and philosophical grounds for the conflictual view, areas where the two domains remain distinct, and contemporary and future strategies for dialogue on the basis of overlapping understandings of how we go about knowing anything at all. Features guest speakers from Stanford and elsewhere in the scientific, philosophical, historical and theological fields.
Terms: Spr | Units: 1-2
Instructors: ; Crowley, P. (PI)

RELIGST 28SI: Interfaith@Noon

This course explores the intersection of the two topics one should avoid at the dinner table: Religion and Politics. Guest speakers from the Religious Studies and Political Science departments will speak on issues such as the separation of church and state, and how religion influences one's political views. As part of Stanford's response to President Obama's Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, the course will draw connections between belief and global citizenship through guest lectures and participant discussion. It is a collaboration between the Office for Religious Life, the Haas Center for Public Service, the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, and the Religious Studies department. Class meets on Wednesdays starting April 2, 12:00 pm. Location TBD. The course is open to the public.
Terms: Spr | Units: 1 | Repeatable 3 times (up to 3 units total)
Instructors: ; Weitzman, S. (PI)

RELIGST 31: The Religious Life of Things

Temples, prayer beads, icons, robes, books, relics, candles and incense, scarves and hats, sacred food and holy water; objects of all sorts play a prominent role in all religions, evoking a wide range of emotional responses, from reverence, solace and even ecstasy, to fear, hostility and violence. What is it about these things that makes them so powerful? Is it beliefs and doctrines that inspire particular attitudes towards certain objects, or is it the other way around? Many see a tension or even contradiction between religion and material pursuits and argue that the true religious life is a life without things. But is such a life even possible? This course adopts a comparative approach, drawing on a variety of traditions to examine the place of images, food, clothing, ritual objects, architecture and relics in religious thought and practice. Materials for the course include scholarship, scripture, images and at least one museum visit.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Kieschnick, J. (PI)

RELIGST 35S: Religion, Democracy, and Human Rights (POLISCI 33S)

What is the relationship between religion, democracy, and human rights? What is the status of religion within modern human rights regimes? Do religions have "special" rights in democracies? Why did the French outlaw the hijab (Islamic headscarf) and the Swiss the building of mosques and is that good for human and democratic rights? What is (and what should be) the relationship between religious human rights and democratic self-determination? How do we balance between concerns over blasphemy and free speech, in the case of the Danish cartoon depiction of Mohammad, for example? Is the idea of "religion" even useful in human rights or democratic language anymore, as some now claim? These are just some of the questions students will take up as they are introduced to several important areas within the larger field of religion and international relations.nnReadings are interdisciplinary in nature, and include case studies. No prerequisite. Open to all majors/minors, and will be particularly beneficial to students in International Relations, International Policy Studies, Political Science, and Religious Studies, as well as students with specific regional political interests where the themes of the course are especially relevant (e.g., Middle East, Latin America, Russia and Eastern Europe, Africa, and so on) and Pre-Law students.
Terms: Sum | Units: 3
Instructors: ; Robichaux, J. (PI)

RELIGST 55: Exploring Zen

Reading and discussion of Zen texts in English translation.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Bielefeldt, C. (PI)

RELIGST 56: Exploring Chinese Religions

An overview of major themes and historical developments in 5000 years of Chinese religion. In this course, we will try as much as possible to appreciate Chinese religion from the Chinese perspective, paying particular attention to original texts in translation in an attempt to discern the logic of Chinese religion and the role it has played in the course of Chinese history. To a greater extent perhaps than any other civilization, Chinese have left behind a continuous body of written documents and other artifacts relating to religion stretching over thousands of years, providing a wealth of material for studying the place of religion in history and society.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-EDP

RELIGST 5B: Biblical Greek II (CLASSGRK 5B)

This is a continuation of the Winter Quarter Biblical Greek Course. We will be reading selections primarily from the New Testament (both Gospels and Epistles) as well as focusing on knowledge of key vocabulary and grammar needed to read the Greek Bible with ease. Readings will be supplemented with sections from the Septuagint and Early Christian texts (Apostolic Fathers and Early Creeds). Pre-requisite: ClassGrk 5 or a similar introductory course in Ancient Greek.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 61: Exploring Islam

Introduction to the most important features of the Islamic religious tradition in the premodern period. The ways in which Muslims have interpreted and practiced their religion. The main subjects of discussion include the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur'an, law, ritual, mysticism, theology, politics, and art, with reference to their historical contexts. Topics include abortion, gender, war, and the visual vocabulary of paintings. Important theories and methods in the academic study of religion. No prior knowledge of religion required.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Sadeghi, B. (PI)

RELIGST 61S: Islamic Encounters

No religious tradition forms or exists in a vacuum and throughout history Muslims have lived and interacted with non-Muslims, whether Christian, Jews, or Hindus. This course will explore those encounters by looking at the social and political effects of five encounters between Muslims and non-Muslims across the world.nThe class will begin with two examples from the contemporary period: political debates over Islamic clothing in Europe and shared devotion between Muslims and Hindus in modern Indian as the class examines how politics and cultural affect and are affected by religious identity. We will then turn to the example of Muslims living under non-Muslim rule in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century West Africa. As we examine how these communities decided to shift from religious accommodation to religious warfare and Muslim statehood we will question the role of religious conflict in driving large historical changes. nIn the fourth section of this class will examine the relationship between racial and religious identity by looking at Muslims in the Americas, and specifically at the participation of Muslims in the 1835 slave uprising in Brazil. Finally, the last section of the class will focus on the development of the first Muslim community in the Arabian peninsula as we look at the relationship between the formation of religious identity and the formation of a religion itself.nWhile historically and geographically distinct, all these moments bring to light the fundamental issue of contact and encounter and examine how those encounters shape religious traditions and identity.
Terms: Sum | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Marcus-Sells, A. (PI)

RELIGST 62S: Philosophy of Religion (PHIL 77S)

Key philosophical questions concerning the nature of the divine and the religious through a close reading of some classic philosophical texts, while aiming to develop critical thinking about these issues. Topics include: the existence and nature of God, the problem of evil, the justification of religious belief, the nature of and relationship between faith and reason, and the function(s) of religion. Key texts will include Plato, St. Anselm, Hume, and Nietzsche.
Last offered: Summer 2012 | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II

RELIGST 65: The Future of Christianity

Developments affecting the world's largest religion in the new millennium: shifting demographics leading to declining numbers in mainline Christian denominations in North America and Europe and the emergence of 'global Christianity' in Africa, Asia, and South America; the explosion of international Pentecostalism and other new Christianities; Christianity, global politics, and the global economy; Christian Muslim relations and conflicts. Will Christianity have a future? What kind of future?
Last offered: Spring 2012 | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP

RELIGST 71: Exploring Judaism (JEWISHST 71)

Introduction to the varied beliefs, ritual practices, and sacred stories of Judaism, moving from foundational texts like the Bible and the Talmud to recent changes in Jewish religious life that have arisen in response to secular and feminist critiques, the Holocaust, and the emergence of the State of Israel.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Weitzman, S. (PI)

RELIGST 86: Exploring the New Testament (CLASSGEN 86)

The New Testament is many things to many people. Around the globe, it is and has been for two millennia a source of culture, law, and faith. It has been used both to undergird battles for civil rights and to fight against them. It has been used both to justify wars and to argue that all war is unjust. Yet, many people haven¿t read the New Testament and still more haven¿t looked at it from historical, sociological, comparative and literary frameworks. This course will provide you the opportunity to read the New Testament and to study it closely. We will ask questions of the New Testament about the early Jesus movement, how it fits into its historical context and how it developed. We will look at the range of opinions and views about Jesus present in this literature. We will explore the different genres used by early Christians. We will examine how this set of Early Christian texts came to be considered the canon.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: ; Copeland, K. (PI)

RELIGST 91: Exploring American Religious History (AMSTUD 91)

This course will trace how contemporary beliefs and practices connect to historical trends in the American religious landscape.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

RELIGST 93: Exploring Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism was once considered one of the great religions of antiquity. It was the state religion of the Persian Empire and its theological influence has been traced in Graeco-Roman mystery cults, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Yet, today it is one of the least understood of living religions. This introductory class will introduce and analyze Zoroastrianism through some of its defining themes, including an examination of the figure of the prophet Zoroaster, modes of transmitting sacred knowledge, the nature of good and evil, and the importance of ritual practice and practitioners. We will also discuss how Zoroastrianism views the individual with respect to the body, the life cycle, and issues of gender and sexuality. Finally, this course will also examine the intersection of religion and ethnicity that has defined Zoroastrianism from its origins in the 2nd millennium BCE up to the present.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors: ; Vevaina, Y. (PI)

RELIGST 95: How to Read the Bible

What does the Bible mean? Seeks to help students answer this question for themselves by introducing some of the many ways in which the Bible has been read over the ages. The focus will be the book of Genesis, but the real subject is the history of biblical interpretation¿how Genesis has been understood by theologians, writers, artists, scholars and others¿and the ultimate goal is not merely to engage the Bible itself but to gain a better appreciation of the act of reading, why people read differently and the consequences of that difference for religious history.
Last offered: Autumn 2010 | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 105: Religion and War in America (HISTORY 154D)

Scholars have devoted much attention to wars in American history, but have not agreed as to whether religion was a major cause or simply a cover for political, economic, and other motives. We will compare interpretations that leave religion out, with those that take it into account. We will also look at the impact of war on the religious lives of ordinary Americans. We will examine both secondary as well as primary sources, beginning with King Philip's War in the 17th century, and ending with the "War on Terror" in the present day.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 106: Religion and the Environment: The Moral Meanings of Nature

What does it mean to live in "harmony" with nature? What do humans seek and find in nature and our relationship to it? How have understandings of nature oriented human actions and values and given "place" to humanity in the cosmos? From religious texts to Deep Ecology, American conservationism to Buddhist and Romantic nature poetry, naturalist critics of religion to religious naturalists, and finally debates over the role of religion in dealing with environmental crisis, this course is designed as a general introductory survey of the topic of religion and the environment. It will be guided by the question of how conceptions of nature have been a source of reflection on the goals of life and the ways in which humans are to understand their existential "lot". Readings will include primary texts from major religious traditions, poetry, and scholarly and philosophical texts from figures including, among others, Descartes, Goethe, Nietzsche, J.S. Mill, Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Gary Snyder, and Peter Singer.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
Instructors: ; Woodford, P. (PI)

RELIGST 108: Indian Epics: Past and Present (COMPLIT 148B)

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the two great epics of India, have been crucial texts in South Asian literature and culture for millennia. In this course, we will explore the diverse forms and impacts of both epics from their Sanskrit versions, first composed more than 2,000 years ago, into retellings through newer media forms well into the twenty-first century. We begin with abridged translations of both the Mahabharata (including the Bhagavadgita) and the Ramayana. We will discuss the major literary, religious, and social themes of each text as well as subsequent retellings in Sanskrit and vernacular languages. Throughout the course we will also investigate the modern lives of the Indian epics, including their transformations into Indian television serials, film versions of both narratives (from India and America), and invocations of the epic stories in contemporary political disputes. In addition to gaining exposure to some of the foundational texts for the study of South Asia, students will cultivate the ability to fruitfully analyze texts and stories from different cultures.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Truschke, A. (PI)

RELIGST 109: Emperor, Explorer, and God: Alexander the Great in the Global Imagination (CLASSGEN 109)

This course will survey the changing image of Alexander the Great from the Hellenistic world to the contemporary. We shall study the appropriation of his life and legend in a variety of cultures both East and West and discuss his reception as both a divine and a secular figure by examining a variety of media including texts (primary and secondary) and images (statues, coins, mosaics, illuminated manuscripts, film, and TV) in the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Jewish, Islamic, Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern contexts. In concluding the quarter, students will evaluate contemporary representations in film and popular culture, such as Alexander directed by Oliver Stone and Pop Art in order to better appreciate his enduring legacy.
Terms: Win | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: ; Vevaina, Y. (PI)

RELIGST 111: Islam in India: Conflict and Accommodation (HISTORY 195X)

This course will investigate the history of Islam in South Asia, particularly interactions between Muslims and Hindus, through the lenses of conflict and accommodation. This topic has become increasingly important in modern times as India and neighboring nations experience sectarian violence and simultaneously strive to engender the peaceful coexistence of multiple religious communities. In many ways the debate over South Asia¿s present and future is being played out in regards to interpretations of its past. In this course, students will gain a solid overview of the chronological development of Islam in India and its negotiations with other religious traditions on the subcontinent. We will think critically about the relevance of South Asia¿s past to its present and the crucial role of forms of Indian Islam in the broader context of Islamic cultures across the globe.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Truschke, A. (PI)

RELIGST 113C: Asceticism: The Discipline of Desire

Asceticism is an intense negotiation of the self with its desires, usually taking the form of the attempt to repress or curtail desire. Asceticism is often understood as a radical response to the problem of obsessive desire. Excessive attachments to food, money, and sex are among the most common of these concerns¿today we refer to these as addictions¿both in the contemporary world and to those living in a pre-modern context. In this course, we will discuss the experiences of ascetic figures throughout history not as relics of history but as intelligible responses to the problem of obsessive desire common to all ages. We will comparatively examine case studies from the ancient Christian world and the modern Indian world. The first part of the course will be devoted to understanding some of the most notable theoretical approaches to ascetic behavior in the field of religious studies while the second part of the course will be devoted to close readings of the cases in light of these theoretical approaches. Cross-cultural comparison and contrast will also be stressed. In the final part of the course, we will turn to modern philosophical reflections on ascetic behavior, attempting to answer the question, does the ascetic response to obsessive desire make sense in the world we live in today?
Terms: Spr | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
Instructors: ; Witkowski, N. (PI)

RELIGST 114: Yoga Ancient and Modern (RELIGST 214)

Originating in ancient India, yoga went through many developments over more than 4000 years in India and other parts of Asia. Having migrated to Euro-America in the late nineteenth century, today yoga is everywhere--studios, schools, gyms, malls, resorts, ashrams, retreat centers. It comes in many flavors¿austere, with meditative instructors and Sanskrit chants; stylish, in 105-degree heat, with portable-miked instructors loudly motivating students to go through poses with speed and intensity; niche-crafted to meet the needs of busy professionals, pregnant women, senior citizens, or people with back problems. It may appear as a spiritual path or as a heavily marketed commodity. It generates lawsuits as teachers dispute ownership of certain styles, or as some Americans oppose its teaching yoga in public schools. In the first half of the course we will study the history of yoga in India, reading primary texts composed between about 500 BCE and 1600 CE. In the second half we will learn about yoga¿s globalization in the last century. Participating in a yoga class is recommended. 4 units without yoga class, 6 units with yoga class and weekly short reflections on the experience.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4-6 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Hess, L. (PI)

RELIGST 116: Who Speaks for Religion? Scholars Versus Believers

This course introduces students to the Insider /Outsider problem in the study of Religion focusing on questions of location, position, relation and boundaries. Who possesses the authority to decide on which people are inside/outside a religion, religious group or tradition? How do we conceive of the participant observer relationship and the speaking and writing about religion? How should we think about the scientific pretensions of religious studies as a reductionist approach? How do we meaningfully engage with questions of faith, theology, and the beliefs of others as part of a historical narrative of religious studies that both privileges lived experience of believers and extols the need for critical distance on the part of scholars?
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors: ; Vevaina, Y. (PI)

RELIGST 117: Christianity in 21st-century America

As the largest religion practiced in the United States, Christianity not only shapes the lives of a large number of its citizens but also impinges on public discourse, policies, and debates. This course investigates the ways in which Christianity in America is changing and what these changes bode for its role in the public and private spheres. Issues include shifting demographics lead to declining numbers in 'mainline' denominations; the polarization of Christian conservatives and religious 'nones'; interfaith toleration and cooperation alongside interreligious conflict; the rise of 'spiritual, not religious' young adults; the effects of immigration; religion and science.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-AmerCul, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Pitkin, B. (PI)

RELIGST 119: Gandhi and His Legacy: Violence and Nonviolence in the World and in Ourselves (RELIGST 219)

Gandhi, the pioneer of nonviolent political struggle in the first half of the 20th century, is used as a springboard to study violence more broadly¿what it is, what it does to individuals and societies, how it can be addressed and transformed. Special attention to connections between (non)violence on an individual/personal level and in the larger world. New format includes both academic study and experiential workshops
Terms: Win | Units: 4-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
Instructors: ; Hess, L. (PI)

RELIGST 119X: Spirits, Selves, and the Social: Histories of Thinking about Religion (ANTHRO 119A)

Why do humans worship gods, spirits, and ancestors? What roles do religion, witchcraft, and magic play in everyday life? How does religious action become meaningful in a particular context? In what sense can we know about the religious experiences of others? Focus is on approaches to religion throughout anthropology¿s history. Each student will carry out a mini-ethnography on a religious community of their choice. Students will not be required to have any previous knowledge in anthropology or the study of religion.
Terms: Spr | Units: 5
Instructors: ; Davie-Kessler, J. (PI)

RELIGST 124: Sufi Islam

The complex of Islamic intellectual and social perspectives subsumed under the term Sufism. Sufi mystical philosophies and historical and social evolution. Major examples include: Qushayrî, Râbi'a, Junayd, Hallâj, Sulamî, Ibn al-'Arabî, Rûmî, Nizâm al-Dîn Awliyâ'. Social and political roles of Sufi saints and communities. Readings include original prose and poetry in translation, secondary discussions, and ethnography.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Bashir, S. (PI)

RELIGST 126: Protestant Reformation

16th-century evangelical reformers (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli) and reform movements (Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist) in their medieval context.
Last offered: Autumn 2011 | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

RELIGST 129: Modern Jewish Thought (JEWISHST 129)

From 1870 to the late twentieth century, Jewish thought and philosophy attempted to understand Judaism in response to the developments and crises of Jewish life in the modern world. In this course we shall explore the responses of figures such as Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Hermann Cohen, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Joseph Soloveitchik, Emil Fackenheim, and Emmanuel Levinas. Central topics will concern ethics and politics, faith and revelation, redemption and messianism, and the religious responses to catastrophe and atrocity. We shall discuss Judaism in European culture before and after World War I and in North America in the postwar period and after the Six Day War. A central theme will be the ways in which attempts to understand Jewish experience are related to history.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: ; Morgan, M. (PI)

RELIGST 130: Genesis and Gender: Male and Female in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (JEWISHST 120)

What does it mean to be a man or a woman? And what role have classical religious traditions played in shaping understandings of gender differences? Investigation of the construction of gender identities, roles, and differences in three monotheistic faiths. Interpretation and retellings of the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible and the Qu'ran, commentaries, lives and practices of religious communities, religious iconography down to the present.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender

RELIGST 132D: Early Christian Gospels (CLASSGEN 132)

An exploration of Christian gospels of the first and second century. Emphasis on the variety of images and interpretations of Jesus and the good news, the broader Hellenistic and Jewish contexts of the gospels, the processes of developing and transmitting gospels, and the creation of the canon. Readings include the Gospel of John, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and other canonical and non-canonical gospels.
Last offered: Winter 2013 | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

RELIGST 136: Buddhist Yoga

Buddhist models of spiritual practice emphasizing issues in the interpretation of the contemplative path.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:EC-GlobalCom
Instructors: ; Bielefeldt, C. (PI)

RELIGST 140: RELIGION AND ETHICS: The Limits of Dialogue

How do religious traditions address ethical problems? Although ¿the good¿ seems like a universal goal, religious traditions force us to consider non-universal ways of defining it. From marriage to genetic engineering, from abortion to organ donation, issues of community, faith, and practice continue to complicate our ethical thinking. Exploration of case-studies and concepts, with readings from Kant, Foucault, Butler and others, as well as Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Bible.
| Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas

RELIGST 144: John Calvin and Christian Faith

Close reading and analysis of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion as a classic expression of Christian belief.
Terms: Aut | Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: ; Pitkin, B. (PI)

RELIGST 156: Music and Religious Experience in the Contemporary World (MUSIC 186A, MUSIC 286A, RELIGST 256)

Explores the central role of music in the performance and experience of religion, positioning music not as an adjunct to silent rituals and liturgy, but as the catalyst and carrier of religious experience, indeed as religious experience itself. Topics include: trance, spirit possession, heightened religious experience, sacred sound and chant, shamanism, politics, and identity. Musical traditions include: Zimbabwean mbira music, African-American church music, Southeast Asian Buddhist ritual music, South Asian Hindu and Islamic devotional music, shamanistic music of Southeast Asia.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP

RELIGST 162: Spirituality and Nonviolent Urban and Social Transformation (CSRE 162A, URBANST 126)

A life of engagement in social transformation is often built on a foundation of spiritual and religious commitments. Case studies of nonviolent social change agents including Rosa Parks in the civil rights movement, César Chávez in the labor movement, and WIlliam Sloane Coffin in the peace movement; the religious and spiritual underpinnings of their commitments. Theory and principles of nonviolence. Films and readings. Service learning component includes placements in organizations engaged in social transformation. Service Learning Course (certified by Haas Center).
Terms: Spr | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
Instructors: ; Karlin-Neumann, P. (PI)

RELIGST 168: Philosophy of Religion

Course traces efforts within the Western tradition from Boethius through Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Kierkegaard to Camus to establish a rational foundation for theist belief and its consistency or coherence with everyday experience. We will deal extensively with the criticisms that that effort has cast up and then turn to investigate issues that extraordinary or mystical experience raises. We will incorporate a look at Buddhist traditions as well as those in the west to gain insight into these questions. And finally, we will look at the ethics of belief, at our responsibility toward our commitments, and some of the varying positions available to us.
| Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 170A: Biblical Hebrew, First Quarter (AMELANG 170A, JEWISHST 107A)

Establish a basic familiarity with the grammar and vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew and will begin developing a facility with the language. Students that are enrolled in this course must also enroll in Beginning Hebrew. This course requires no prior knowledge of Hebrew and will begin with learning the alphabet. By the end of the year, students will be able to translate basic biblical texts, will be familiar with common lexica and reference grammars, and will have sufficient foundational knowledge to enable them to continue expanding their knowledge either in a subsequent course or own their own.
Terms: Aut | Units: 2

RELIGST 170D: Readings in Talmudic Literature (JEWISHST 127D, JEWISHST 227D, RELIGST 270D)

Readings of the talmudic texts. Some knowledge of Hebrew is preferred. The ongoing seminar is designed to study the making of the talmudic sugya (unit of discourse), along with classic commentaries. Students will consider some of the recent developments in the academic study of Talmudic literature, introduced by the instructor. The goal of the ongoing seminar is to provide Stanford students and faculty with the opportunity to engage in regular Talmud study, and to be introduced to a variety of approaches to studying Talmudic texts. In 2013-14 sugyot will be selected from the context of civic and criminal law.
Terms: Win, Spr | Units: 1 | Repeatable 5 times (up to 5 units total)
Instructors: ; Fonrobert, C. (PI)

RELIGST 171A: Biblical Greek (CLASSGRK 5, JEWISHST 5)

This is a one term intensive class in Biblical Greek. After quickly learning the basics of the language, we will then dive right into readings from the New Testament and the Septuagint, which is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. By the end of the term everyone will be able to read the Greek Bible with ease. No previous knowledge of Greek required.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; McMullin, I. (PI)

RELIGST 174: Religious Existentialism-Kierkegaard

Existentialism is often understood to be a secular or anti-religious philosophy of life, a substitute for Christian ethics in a post-theistic world come of age. Yet this twentieth-century philosophical movement owes many of its concerns and much of its vocabulary to the hyper-Protestant Danish thinker Soren Kierkegaard, and much of the best Christian and Jewish thought in the 20th-century (Bultmann, Buber, Tillich) adopted existentialism as the 'best philosophy' for making sense of these traditions in a secular age. This course will examine the origins of existentialist thought in the writings of Kierkegaard and its appropriation by a handful of influential 20th-century religious thinkers.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

RELIGST 188A: Issues in Liberation: El Salvador

Within the context of US intervention in Central America the course investigates the history of liberation movements in El Salvador (including ¿liberation theology¿), as well as ethical questions relating economic, social, and political issues in that country. This class will likely include immersion travel to El Salvador over spring break and consequently the size of this course is limited. Students will be given an application by email. All applications will be reviewed to determine final class enrollment.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI

RELIGST 199: Individual Work

Prerequisite: consent of instructor and department. May be repeated for credit.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum | Units: 1-15 | Repeatable for credit (up to 99 units total)

RELIGST 201: Classical Islamic Law (RELIGST 301)

Emphasis is on methods of textual interpretation. History of premodern Islamic law, including origins, formation of schools of law, and social and political contexts. Laws of sale, marriage, divorce, and the obligation to forbid wrong.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: ; Sadeghi, B. (PI)

RELIGST 202A: Monsters, Ghosts and Other Fantastic Beings: The Supernatural and the Mysterious in Japanese Culture

Examine the development of strange and fantastic creatures in Japan. Mysterious creatures in folklore, literature, art, manga and movies. Through them see how the concept of the strange or mysterious have evolved and how they inform Japanese modernity.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 204: Paleography of Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts (CLASSGEN 311, DLCL 209, ENGLISH 209, HISTORY 309G)

Introductory course in the history of writing and of the book, from the late antique period until the advent of printing. Opportunity to learn to read and interpret medieval manuscripts through hands-on examination of original materials in Special Collections of Stanford Libraries as well as through digital images. Offers critical training in the reading of manuscripts for students from departments as diverse as Classics, History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, English, and the Division of Languages Cultures and Literatures.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; Treharne, E. (PI)

RELIGST 205: Religious Poetry

Religious poetry drawn from the Islamic, Christian, Confucian and Daoist traditions. Limited enrollment or consent of the instructor required.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

RELIGST 208C: Architecture, Acoustics and Ritual in Byzantium (ARTHIST 208C, ARTHIST 408C, CLASSART 108, CLASSART 208, MUSIC 208C, MUSIC 408C, REES 208C, REES 408C, RELIGST 308C)

Onassis Seminar "Icons of Sound: Architecture, Acoustics and Ritual in Byzantium". This year-long seminar explores the creation and operations of sacred space in Byzantium by focusing on the intersection of architecture, acoustics, music, and ritual. Through the support of the Onassis Foundation (USA), nine leading scholars in the field share their research and conduct the discussion of their pre-circulated papers. The goal is to develop a new interpretive framework for the study of religious experience and assemble the research tools needed for work in this interdisciplinary field.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 1-3 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II | Repeatable 3 times (up to 9 units total)
Instructors: ; Pentcheva, B. (PI)

RELIGST 209: Priests, Prophets, and Kings: Religion and Society in Late Antique Iran (CLASSGEN 106, CLASSGEN 206, RELIGST 309)

From India to the Levant and from the Caspian Sea to the Arabian Peninsula, the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE) was the dominant power in the Middle East till the advent of Islam. Diverse religious institutions and social practices of the Zoroastrians, Manicheans, Jews, and Christians in late antique Iran. Complex relationships between the Zoroastrian priesthood, the Sasanian monarchs, and these minority religions within the context of imperial rule. Profound religious and social changes that occurred with the Islamic conquests of Iran as well as examine the rich cultural continuities that survived from the Pre-Islamic past.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-SI
Instructors: ; Vevaina, Y. (PI)

RELIGST 209E: Imperishable Heroes and Unblemished Goddesses: Myth, Ritual, and Epic in Ancient Iran (CLASSGEN 189, CLASSGEN 289, RELIGST 309E)

Designed as a broad introduction to the world of ancient Iran, students will be introduced to the Indo-European inheritance in ancient Iranian culture; the shared world of ritual, religion, and mythology between Zoroastrianism in Iran and Vedic Hinduism in India; and to the contours of early Zoroastrian religious thought. We will also survey mythoepic literature in translation from the archaic Avesta through the late antique Zoroastrian Middle Persian corpus to the early medieval national epic of Iran, the Book of Kings of Ferdowsi.
Last offered: Spring 2013 | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-SI

RELIGST 214: Yoga Ancient and Modern (RELIGST 114)

Originating in ancient India, yoga went through many developments over more than 4000 years in India and other parts of Asia. Having migrated to Euro-America in the late nineteenth century, today yoga is everywhere--studios, schools, gyms, malls, resorts, ashrams, retreat centers. It comes in many flavors¿austere, with meditative instructors and Sanskrit chants; stylish, in 105-degree heat, with portable-miked instructors loudly motivating students to go through poses with speed and intensity; niche-crafted to meet the needs of busy professionals, pregnant women, senior citizens, or people with back problems. It may appear as a spiritual path or as a heavily marketed commodity. It generates lawsuits as teachers dispute ownership of certain styles, or as some Americans oppose its teaching yoga in public schools. In the first half of the course we will study the history of yoga in India, reading primary texts composed between about 500 BCE and 1600 CE. In the second half we will learn about yoga¿s globalization in the last century. Participating in a yoga class is recommended. 4 units without yoga class, 6 units with yoga class and weekly short reflections on the experience.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4-6
Instructors: ; Hess, L. (PI)

RELIGST 217: Japanese Studies of Religion in China (RELIGST 317)

(Graduate students register for 317.) Readings in Japanese secondary sources on Chinese religions.
Last offered: Autumn 2007 | Units: 3

RELIGST 219: Gandhi and His Legacy: Violence and Nonviolence in the World and in Ourselves (RELIGST 119)

Gandhi, the pioneer of nonviolent political struggle in the first half of the 20th century, is used as a springboard to study violence more broadly¿what it is, what it does to individuals and societies, how it can be addressed and transformed. Special attention to connections between (non)violence on an individual/personal level and in the larger world. New format includes both academic study and experiential workshops
Terms: Win | Units: 4-5
Instructors: ; Hess, L. (PI)

RELIGST 22: Science and Ideology

Is science objective? Do ideologies shape knowledge? Do accepted theories reflect factors other than evidence, such as social values, political agenda, or philosophical assumptions? Can there be such a thing as Marxist/Christian/Islamic/Feminist science? Does religion hamper science? As part of an introduction to the philosophy of science, the course considers these questions, and examines the nature of knowledge and the relationship between theory and evidence. We focus on how scientific theories are formed and evaluated, examine the arguments for and against the objectivity of science, and explore the debates occasioned by religion, feminism, and Marxism. Several historical case studies are considered.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 221: The Talmud (RELIGST 321)

Strategies of interpretation, debate, and law making. Historical contexts. Prerequisite: Hebrew.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 224: Classical Islamic Texts (RELIGST 324)

Readings in key genres of pre-modern Islamic scholarship. Genre-specific historical research methods. The 'ad'th literature, tafs'r, biographical dictionaries, fiqh, ta'r'kh, and geographical works. Reading knowledge of Arabic is required.
Terms: Win | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II | Repeatable 3 times (up to 9 units total)
Instructors: ; Sadeghi, B. (PI)

RELIGST 233: The Ethics of Religious Politics (RELIGST 333)

Is it possible for a deeply committed religious person to be a good citizen in a liberal, pluralistic democracy? Is it morally inappropriate for religious citizens to appeal to the teachings of their tradition when they support and vote for laws that coerce fellow citizens? Must the religiously committed be prepared to defend their arguments by appealing to 'secular reasons' ostensibly accessible to all 'reasonable' citizens? Exploration of the debates surrounding the public role of religion in a religiously pluralistic American democracy through the writings of scholars on all sides of the issue from the fields of law, political science, philosophy, and religious studies.
Terms: Win | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
Instructors: ; Sockness, B. (PI)

RELIGST 234: Emmanuel Levinas: Ethics, Philosophy and Religion (JEWISHST 224, JEWISHST 324, RELIGST 334)

Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) is a major French philosopher of the second half of the twentieth century and is among the half-dozen most important Jewish thinkers of the century. Born in Lithuania, Levinas lived most of his life in France; he was primarily a philosopher but also a deeply committed Jewish educator who often lectured and wrote about Judaism and Jewish matters. Levinas was influenced by Bergson, Husserl, Heidegger, and others, like Buber and Rosenzweig. We will look at the philosophical world in which he was educated and explore his unique development as a philosopher in the years after World War Two. Levinas reacted against the main tendencies of Western philosophy and religious thought and as a result shaped novel, powerful, and challenging ways of understanding philosophy, religion, ethics, and politics. n In this course, we will examine works from every stage of Levinas's career, from his early study of Husserl and Heidegger to the emergence of his new understanding of the human condition and the primacy of ethics, the face-to-face encounter with the human other, the role of language and the relationship between ethics and religion, and finally his understanding of Judaism and its relationship to Western philosophy. We will be interested in his philosophical method, the relevance of his thinking for ethics and religion, the role of language in his philosophy and the problem of the limits of expressibility, and the implications of his work for politics. We shall also consider his conception of Judaism, its primary goals and character, and its relation to Western culture and philosophy.
| Units: 4
Instructors: ; Morgan, M. (PI)

RELIGST 235: Religion in Modern Society: Secularization and the Sacred (RELIGST 335)

What is the status of religion in modern life? Is the modern world "secular" in some fundamental, irreversible way and what does this mean? This course will explore these questions through variety of readings from leading sociologists, philosophers, and anthropologists. Our goal will be to understand in what ways industrialization, political liberalization, the rise of technology, and the success of modern science have been used to support the "secularization" thesis that the modern West rendered religion a thing of the past. A central question to be asked will be: do assessments of the place of religion in modernity necessitate a philosophy of history i.e., a theory not only of historical change, but of the meaning of this change as well?n The course will begin by looking at the origins of the theory of secularization from its beginnings in Enlightenment attempts to understand the meaning of history. We will then turn to contemporary debates over the term "secular" against its counterpart, "religious", and the problems with their application to non-Western societies. We will read works by Talal Asad, Saba Mahmood, Max Weber, Charles Taylor, Jürgen Habermas, and Pope Benedict XVI.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
Instructors: ; Woodford, P. (PI)

RELIGST 236: European Reformations (HISTORY 231G, HISTORY 331G, RELIGST 336)

Readings in and discussion of theological and social aspects of sixteenth century reformations: Luther, Radical Reform, Calvin, and Council of Trent, missionary expansion, religious conflict, creative and artistic expressions. Texts include primary sources and secondary scholarly essays and monographs.
Terms: Win | Units: 4-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI

RELIGST 237: Heavenly Bodies: Saints' Bodies, Relics and Miracles in Late Antique and Medieval Europe (HISTORY 207F, HISTORY 307F, RELIGST 337)

This seminar will use both written and visual sources to explore how the body mattered in the creation of saintly tropes and cults in late antique and medieval Europe. We will begin by reading the diary of an early Christian martyr to consider how a good death set the terms for an ideal Christian life. We will then explore a number of medieval vitae or saints' lives to uncover narrative devices used to describe an exemplary life and consider the role self-denial, bodily and otherwise, played in constructing those portraits. We will conclude by considering the power medieval people ascribed to the remains of saints' bodies and look at the cult of relics as well as miracle accounts describing the bodily healings and transformations ascribed to saints.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4-5
Instructors: ; Doyno, M. (PI)

RELIGST 246: Constructing Race and Religion in America (CSRE 246, HISTORY 256G, HISTORY 356G, RELIGST 346)

This seminar focuses on the interrelationships between social constructions of race, and social interpretations of religion in America. How have assumptions about race shaped religious worldviews? How have religious beliefs shaped racial attitudes? How have ideas about religion and race contributed to notions of what it means to be "American"? We will look at primary and secondary sources, and at the historical development of ideas and practices over time.
| Units: 4-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 247: Chinese Buddhist Texts (RELIGST 347)

Chinese Buddhist texts from the Han Dynasty onwards, including sutra translations, prefaces, colophons, story collections and biographies. Prerequisite: reading competence in Chinese.
Terms: Win | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum | Repeatable 5 times (up to 25 units total)
Instructors: ; Kieschnick, J. (PI)

RELIGST 251: Readings in Indian Buddhist Texts (RELIGST 351)

(Graduate students register for 351.) Introduction to Buddhist literature through reading original texts in Sanskrit. Prerequisite: Sanskrit.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum | Repeatable 5 times (up to 25 units total)
Instructors: ; Harrison, P. (PI)

RELIGST 252: Hearts and Diamonds: The Lives of Buddhist Sacred Texts

An exploration of two key Mahayana Buddhist scriptures (the Heart & Diamond Sutras) and their histories, looking at what they say and how they have been used, from the first millennium to the present day.
Last offered: Autumn 2012 | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 252A: The Story of a Buddhist Megascripture: Readings in the Avatamsaka (RELIGST 352A)

In this course we will explore the massive Mahayana Buddhist scriptural compilation known as the Avatamsaka Sutra (more correctly: Buddhavatamsaka Sutra). We will investigate the development of the text in India, study its contents, and consider its later reception in East Asia. Since much of the course will be devoted to reading sections of the Buddhavatamsaka, a reading knowledge of Chinese is required.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; Harrison, P. (PI)

RELIGST 256: The Brahma Net Sutra (Fanwang Jing) (RELIGST 356)

A study of an important Chinese Buddhist apocryphal work, with special attention to interpretation of content, impact on monastic codes in medieval China, transmissional history and commentarial tradition.
Terms: Win | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Funayama, T. (PI)

RELIGST 256: Music and Religious Experience in the Contemporary World (MUSIC 186A, MUSIC 286A, RELIGST 156)

Explores the central role of music in the performance and experience of religion, positioning music not as an adjunct to silent rituals and liturgy, but as the catalyst and carrier of religious experience, indeed as religious experience itself. Topics include: trance, spirit possession, heightened religious experience, sacred sound and chant, shamanism, politics, and identity. Musical traditions include: Zimbabwean mbira music, African-American church music, Southeast Asian Buddhist ritual music, South Asian Hindu and Islamic devotional music, shamanistic music of Southeast Asia.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5

RELIGST 258: Japanese Buddhist Texts (RELIGST 358)

Readings in medieval Japanese Buddhist materials. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: background in Japanese or Chinese.
Last offered: Winter 2013 | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 270D: Readings in Talmudic Literature (JEWISHST 127D, JEWISHST 227D, RELIGST 170D)

Readings of the talmudic texts. Some knowledge of Hebrew is preferred. The ongoing seminar is designed to study the making of the talmudic sugya (unit of discourse), along with classic commentaries. Students will consider some of the recent developments in the academic study of Talmudic literature, introduced by the instructor. The goal of the ongoing seminar is to provide Stanford students and faculty with the opportunity to engage in regular Talmud study, and to be introduced to a variety of approaches to studying Talmudic texts. In 2013-14 sugyot will be selected from the context of civic and criminal law.
Terms: Win, Spr | Units: 1 | Repeatable 5 times (up to 5 units total)
Instructors: ; Fonrobert, C. (PI)

RELIGST 271A: Dante's Spiritual Vision

Poetry, ethics, and theology in Dante's Divine Comedy. Supplementary readings from classical authors such as St. Thomas Aquinas, and from modern writers, such as Jorge Borges. Fulfills capstone seminar requirement for the Philosophy and Literature tracks. Students may take 271A without taking 271B. Consent of the instructor required.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: ; Yearley, L. (PI)

RELIGST 271B: Dante's Spiritual Vision

Poetry, ethics, and theology in Dante's Divine Comedy. Supplementary readings from classical authors such as St. Thomas, and from modern writers, such as Jorge Borges. Fulfills capstone seminar requirement for the Philosophy and Literature tracks. Prerequisite: 271A
Terms: Win | Units: 4-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors: ; Yearley, L. (PI)

RELIGST 273: Historicism and Its Problems: Ernst Troeltsch, the Study of Religion, and the Crisis of Historicism (RELIGST 373)

Examination of the early twentieth-century historian of religion, philosopher of culture, sociologist of religion, Christian theologian, and philosopher of history, Ernst Troeltsch, within the context of the late nineteenth-century "crisis of historicism," i.e., the historicization and relativization of religious, ethical, social, and political norms. Attention to seminal theorists of history (Herder, Kant, Ranke, Hegel, Nietzsche) in the post-Enlightenment German intellectual tradition and the attempts of Christian and Jewish thinkers in the Weimar era (Barth, Gogarten, Rosenzweig, L. Strauss) to "overcome" the crisis wrought by a radically historical approach to human culture.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: ; Sockness, B. (PI)

RELIGST 274: From Kant to Kierkegaard (RELIGST 374)

(Graduate students register for 374.) The main currents of religious thought in Germany from Kant's critical philosophy to Kierkegaard's revolt against Hegelianism. Emphasis is on the theories of religion, the epistemological status of religious discourse, the role of history (especially the figure of Jesus), and the problem of alienation/reconciliation in seminal modern thinkers: Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, and Kierkegaard.
Last offered: Spring 2006 | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

RELIGST 275: Kierkegaard (RELIGST 375)

(Graduate students register for 375.) Close reading of Kierkegaard's magnum opus, Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, in its early 19th-century context.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 279: Heidegger and the Philosophy of Religion (RELIGST 379)

Exploration of the end of the metaphysical quest for God in nineteenth and twentieth century thought. Seminal works of German philosopher Martin Heidegger, including Being and Time, What Is Metaphysics? Nietzsche's Saying `God is Dead.' Phenomenological method and its application to traditional and contemporary philosophy of religion, including works by John D. Caputo and Gianni Vattimo.
Terms: Win | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Sheehan, T. (PI)

RELIGST 281: Asian Religions in America; Asian American Religions (AMSTUD 281, ASNAMST 281, RELIGST 381)

This course will analyze both the reception in America of Asian religions (i.e. of Buddhism in the 19th century), and the development in America of Asian American religious traditions.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-EDP
Instructors: ; Lum, K. (PI)

RELIGST 283A: Heidegger, Hölderlin, and the Gods (RELIGST 383A)

The radical transformations in Western notions of God between the death of Hegel and the birth of historical materialism, arguing that questions about theism and atheism, humanism, and history formulated in the period 1831-50 are still pertinent. Texts from Hegel, the young Hegelians, Feuerbach, and Marx on issues of God, history, and the social dimensions of human nature.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 290: Majors Seminar

Required of all majors and joint majors. The study of religion reflects upon itself. Representative modern and contemporary attempts to "theorize," and thereby understand, the phenomena of religion in anthropology, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, and philosophy. WIM.
Terms: Win | Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: ; Gelber, H. (PI)

RELIGST 297: Senior Essay/Honors Essay Research

Guided by faculty adviser. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor and department.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 3-5 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 298: Senior Colloquium

For Religious Studies majors writing the senior essay or honors thesis. Students present work in progress, and read and respond to others. Approaches to research and writing in the humanities.
Terms: Win, Spr | Units: 5
Instructors: ; Pitkin, B. (PI)

RELIGST 300: Theory in the Study of Religion

This course explores how religious belief, ritual, and tradition, interact with, embed, or respond to aspects of social reality or human nature, such as economics, institutions, law, art, values, and psychology. The course examines a number of approaches to the study of religion, including sociological and anthropological ones. The course is intended for Religious Studies MA students and graduate students from other departments.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Sadeghi, B. (PI)

RELIGST 301: Classical Islamic Law (RELIGST 201)

Emphasis is on methods of textual interpretation. History of premodern Islamic law, including origins, formation of schools of law, and social and political contexts. Laws of sale, marriage, divorce, and the obligation to forbid wrong.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; Sadeghi, B. (PI)

RELIGST 304A: Theories and Methods

Required of graduate students in Religious Studies. Approaches to the study of religion. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Win, Spr | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Fonrobert, C. (PI)

RELIGST 306: Life, Love, and Death in Islamic Narratives

A wide-ranging engagement with Islamic perspectives on fundamental human preoccupations. We will utilize religious and literary sources spanning Islamic history to discuss topics such as: the ends of human life in the material world: pleasures and pains of love for God and human beings; death and dying; eschatology and resurrection; and skepticism regarding religious claims. Emphasis on original sources in translation considered in relation to theoretical perspectives in the humanities.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; Bashir, S. (PI)

RELIGST 308C: Architecture, Acoustics and Ritual in Byzantium (ARTHIST 208C, ARTHIST 408C, CLASSART 108, CLASSART 208, MUSIC 208C, MUSIC 408C, REES 208C, REES 408C, RELIGST 208C)

Onassis Seminar "Icons of Sound: Architecture, Acoustics and Ritual in Byzantium". This year-long seminar explores the creation and operations of sacred space in Byzantium by focusing on the intersection of architecture, acoustics, music, and ritual. Through the support of the Onassis Foundation (USA), nine leading scholars in the field share their research and conduct the discussion of their pre-circulated papers. The goal is to develop a new interpretive framework for the study of religious experience and assemble the research tools needed for work in this interdisciplinary field.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 1-3 | Repeatable 3 times (up to 9 units total)
Instructors: ; Pentcheva, B. (PI)

RELIGST 309: Priests, Prophets, and Kings: Religion and Society in Late Antique Iran (CLASSGEN 106, CLASSGEN 206, RELIGST 209)

From India to the Levant and from the Caspian Sea to the Arabian Peninsula, the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE) was the dominant power in the Middle East till the advent of Islam. Diverse religious institutions and social practices of the Zoroastrians, Manicheans, Jews, and Christians in late antique Iran. Complex relationships between the Zoroastrian priesthood, the Sasanian monarchs, and these minority religions within the context of imperial rule. Profound religious and social changes that occurred with the Islamic conquests of Iran as well as examine the rich cultural continuities that survived from the Pre-Islamic past.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4-5
Instructors: ; Vevaina, Y. (PI)

RELIGST 309E: Imperishable Heroes and Unblemished Goddesses: Myth, Ritual, and Epic in Ancient Iran (CLASSGEN 189, CLASSGEN 289, RELIGST 209E)

Designed as a broad introduction to the world of ancient Iran, students will be introduced to the Indo-European inheritance in ancient Iranian culture; the shared world of ritual, religion, and mythology between Zoroastrianism in Iran and Vedic Hinduism in India; and to the contours of early Zoroastrian religious thought. We will also survey mythoepic literature in translation from the archaic Avesta through the late antique Zoroastrian Middle Persian corpus to the early medieval national epic of Iran, the Book of Kings of Ferdowsi.
Last offered: Spring 2013 | Units: 3-5

RELIGST 309P: Readings in Indo-Persian Literature (HISTORY 397D, ICA 397D)

This course introduces the life, poetry, and mystical thought of the Indo-Persian poet Mirza Abd al-Qadir Bedil (1644-1720) through reading selections from his autobiographical work Chahar Unsur. In this work, composed in ornate prose interspersed with poetry, Bedil recounts episodes from his life: miraculous events, encounters with Sufis, the composition of poems, and elaborates on themes of mysticism. We will pay close attention to Bedil's peculiar linguistic and literary style and tackle his metaphysical views. Two years Persian language required.
Terms: Win | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; Kovacs, H. (PI)

RELIGST 313X: The Education of American Jews (EDUC 313X, JEWISHST 393X)

This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to the question of how American Jews negotiate the desire to retain a unique ethnic sensibility without excluding themselves from American culture more broadly. Students will examine the various ways in which people debate, deliberate, and determine what it means to be an "American Jew". This includes an investigation of how American Jewish relationships to formal and informal educational encounters through school, popular culture, religious ritual, and politics.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Kelman, A. (PI)

RELIGST 315A: Chinese Buddhism

This course provides an overview of the major themes and historical developments in 2000 years of Buddhist history in China, from its early transmission from India to contemporary developments in the PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Themes include monasticism, doctrine, popular devotion, state policy and the encounter with modernity.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; Kieschnick, J. (PI)

RELIGST 317: Japanese Studies of Religion in China (RELIGST 217)

(Graduate students register for 317.) Readings in Japanese secondary sources on Chinese religions.
Last offered: Autumn 2007 | Units: 3

RELIGST 321: The Talmud (RELIGST 221)

Strategies of interpretation, debate, and law making. Historical contexts. Prerequisite: Hebrew.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 324: Classical Islamic Texts (RELIGST 224)

Readings in key genres of pre-modern Islamic scholarship. Genre-specific historical research methods. The 'ad'th literature, tafs'r, biographical dictionaries, fiqh, ta'r'kh, and geographical works. Reading knowledge of Arabic is required.
Terms: Win | Units: 3 | Repeatable 3 times (up to 9 units total)
Instructors: ; Sadeghi, B. (PI)

RELIGST 332X: Religion and Modernity (ANTHRO 347)

What role has the category of religion played in the development of the modern state, both colonial and national? How have central concepts of liberal political thought, such as freedom, progress, and history, depended on certain normative ideas of religion? Through various genealogical, historical, and ethnographic inquires, this course examines how the category of religion has both subtended and disturbed formations of colonial and post-colonial modernity.
Terms: Spr | Units: 5
Instructors: ; Tambar, K. (PI)

RELIGST 333: The Ethics of Religious Politics (RELIGST 233)

Is it possible for a deeply committed religious person to be a good citizen in a liberal, pluralistic democracy? Is it morally inappropriate for religious citizens to appeal to the teachings of their tradition when they support and vote for laws that coerce fellow citizens? Must the religiously committed be prepared to defend their arguments by appealing to 'secular reasons' ostensibly accessible to all 'reasonable' citizens? Exploration of the debates surrounding the public role of religion in a religiously pluralistic American democracy through the writings of scholars on all sides of the issue from the fields of law, political science, philosophy, and religious studies.
Terms: Win | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; Sockness, B. (PI)

RELIGST 335: Religion in Modern Society: Secularization and the Sacred (RELIGST 235)

What is the status of religion in modern life? Is the modern world "secular" in some fundamental, irreversible way and what does this mean? This course will explore these questions through variety of readings from leading sociologists, philosophers, and anthropologists. Our goal will be to understand in what ways industrialization, political liberalization, the rise of technology, and the success of modern science have been used to support the "secularization" thesis that the modern West rendered religion a thing of the past. A central question to be asked will be: do assessments of the place of religion in modernity necessitate a philosophy of history i.e., a theory not only of historical change, but of the meaning of this change as well?n The course will begin by looking at the origins of the theory of secularization from its beginnings in Enlightenment attempts to understand the meaning of history. We will then turn to contemporary debates over the term "secular" against its counterpart, "religious", and the problems with their application to non-Western societies. We will read works by Talal Asad, Saba Mahmood, Max Weber, Charles Taylor, Jürgen Habermas, and Pope Benedict XVI.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Woodford, P. (PI)

RELIGST 336: European Reformations (HISTORY 231G, HISTORY 331G, RELIGST 236)

Readings in and discussion of theological and social aspects of sixteenth century reformations: Luther, Radical Reform, Calvin, and Council of Trent, missionary expansion, religious conflict, creative and artistic expressions. Texts include primary sources and secondary scholarly essays and monographs.
Terms: Win | Units: 4-5

RELIGST 337: Heavenly Bodies: Saints' Bodies, Relics and Miracles in Late Antique and Medieval Europe (HISTORY 207F, HISTORY 307F, RELIGST 237)

This seminar will use both written and visual sources to explore how the body mattered in the creation of saintly tropes and cults in late antique and medieval Europe. We will begin by reading the diary of an early Christian martyr to consider how a good death set the terms for an ideal Christian life. We will then explore a number of medieval vitae or saints' lives to uncover narrative devices used to describe an exemplary life and consider the role self-denial, bodily and otherwise, played in constructing those portraits. We will conclude by considering the power medieval people ascribed to the remains of saints' bodies and look at the cult of relics as well as miracle accounts describing the bodily healings and transformations ascribed to saints.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4-5
Instructors: ; Doyno, M. (PI)

RELIGST 340: Contemporary Religious Reflection

Focus is on normative and prescriptive proposals by recent and contemporary philosophers and theologians, as opposed to the domination of Religious Studies by textual, historical, cultural, and other largely descriptive and interpretive approaches. Do such normative and prescriptive proposals belong in the academy? Has Religious Studies exorcised its theological nimbus only to find contemporary religious reflection reappearing elsewhere in the university?
Last offered: Autumn 2008 | Units: 3-5

RELIGST 346: Constructing Race and Religion in America (CSRE 246, HISTORY 256G, HISTORY 356G, RELIGST 246)

This seminar focuses on the interrelationships between social constructions of race, and social interpretations of religion in America. How have assumptions about race shaped religious worldviews? How have religious beliefs shaped racial attitudes? How have ideas about religion and race contributed to notions of what it means to be "American"? We will look at primary and secondary sources, and at the historical development of ideas and practices over time.
| Units: 4-5

RELIGST 347: Chinese Buddhist Texts (RELIGST 247)

Chinese Buddhist texts from the Han Dynasty onwards, including sutra translations, prefaces, colophons, story collections and biographies. Prerequisite: reading competence in Chinese.
Terms: Win | Units: 3-5 | Repeatable 5 times (up to 25 units total)
Instructors: ; Kieschnick, J. (PI)

RELIGST 351: Readings in Indian Buddhist Texts (RELIGST 251)

(Graduate students register for 351.) Introduction to Buddhist literature through reading original texts in Sanskrit. Prerequisite: Sanskrit.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5 | Repeatable 5 times (up to 25 units total)
Instructors: ; Harrison, P. (PI)

RELIGST 352A: The Story of a Buddhist Megascripture: Readings in the Avatamsaka (RELIGST 252A)

In this course we will explore the massive Mahayana Buddhist scriptural compilation known as the Avatamsaka Sutra (more correctly: Buddhavatamsaka Sutra). We will investigate the development of the text in India, study its contents, and consider its later reception in East Asia. Since much of the course will be devoted to reading sections of the Buddhavatamsaka, a reading knowledge of Chinese is required.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; Harrison, P. (PI)

RELIGST 356: The Brahma Net Sutra (Fanwang Jing) (RELIGST 256)

A study of an important Chinese Buddhist apocryphal work, with special attention to interpretation of content, impact on monastic codes in medieval China, transmissional history and commentarial tradition.
Terms: Win | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Funayama, T. (PI)

RELIGST 358: Japanese Buddhist Texts (RELIGST 258)

Readings in medieval Japanese Buddhist materials. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: background in Japanese or Chinese.
Last offered: Winter 2013 | Units: 3-5 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 370: Comparative Religious Ethics

The difference that the word religious makes in religious ethics and how it affects issues of genre. Theoretical analyses with examples from W. and E. Asia. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 373: Historicism and Its Problems: Ernst Troeltsch, the Study of Religion, and the Crisis of Historicism (RELIGST 273)

Examination of the early twentieth-century historian of religion, philosopher of culture, sociologist of religion, Christian theologian, and philosopher of history, Ernst Troeltsch, within the context of the late nineteenth-century "crisis of historicism," i.e., the historicization and relativization of religious, ethical, social, and political norms. Attention to seminal theorists of history (Herder, Kant, Ranke, Hegel, Nietzsche) in the post-Enlightenment German intellectual tradition and the attempts of Christian and Jewish thinkers in the Weimar era (Barth, Gogarten, Rosenzweig, L. Strauss) to "overcome" the crisis wrought by a radically historical approach to human culture.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3-5
Instructors: ; Sockness, B. (PI)

RELIGST 374: From Kant to Kierkegaard (RELIGST 274)

(Graduate students register for 374.) The main currents of religious thought in Germany from Kant's critical philosophy to Kierkegaard's revolt against Hegelianism. Emphasis is on the theories of religion, the epistemological status of religious discourse, the role of history (especially the figure of Jesus), and the problem of alienation/reconciliation in seminal modern thinkers: Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, and Kierkegaard.
Last offered: Spring 2006 | Units: 3-5

RELIGST 375: Kierkegaard (RELIGST 275)

(Graduate students register for 375.) Close reading of Kierkegaard's magnum opus, Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, in its early 19th-century context.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 379: Heidegger and the Philosophy of Religion (RELIGST 279)

Exploration of the end of the metaphysical quest for God in nineteenth and twentieth century thought. Seminal works of German philosopher Martin Heidegger, including Being and Time, What Is Metaphysics? Nietzsche's Saying `God is Dead.' Phenomenological method and its application to traditional and contemporary philosophy of religion, including works by John D. Caputo and Gianni Vattimo.
Terms: Win | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Sheehan, T. (PI)

RELIGST 381: Asian Religions in America; Asian American Religions (AMSTUD 281, ASNAMST 281, RELIGST 281)

This course will analyze both the reception in America of Asian religions (i.e. of Buddhism in the 19th century), and the development in America of Asian American religious traditions.
Terms: Win | Units: 4
Instructors: ; Lum, K. (PI)

RELIGST 383A: Heidegger, Hölderlin, and the Gods (RELIGST 283A)

The radical transformations in Western notions of God between the death of Hegel and the birth of historical materialism, arguing that questions about theism and atheism, humanism, and history formulated in the period 1831-50 are still pertinent. Texts from Hegel, the young Hegelians, Feuerbach, and Marx on issues of God, history, and the social dimensions of human nature.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 385: Research in Buddhist Studies

Independent study in Buddhism. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum | Units: 1-15 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 386: Research in Islamic Studies

Independent study in Islamic Studies. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum | Units: 1-15 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 387: Research in Jewish Studies

Independent study in Jewish Studies. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum | Units: 1-15 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 388: Research in Modern Religious Thought, Ethics, and Philosophy

Independent study in Modern Religious Thought, Ethics, and Philosophy. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum | Units: 1-15 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 391: Teaching Religious Studies

Workshop/seminar for doctoral students in Religious Studies and adjacent fields designed to cultivate methods for teaching Religious Studies in an academic setting.
Terms: Win | Units: 3
Instructors: ; Weitzman, S. (PI)

RELIGST 392: Paper in the Field

Prerequisite: consent of graduate director. May be repeated for credit.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 1-15 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 62: Philosophy of Religion

Classic and modern questions in the philosophy of religion traced through Western and Eastern traditions: the coherence of theism, relativism, verification and ethics of belief, and mystical experience. Readings from traditional and modern texts.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 801: TGR Project

(Staff)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 0 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 82: Approaches to the Study of Religion: Exploring Christianity

Historical and contemporary Christianity from four viewpoints: ritual and prayer; sacred texts and creeds; ethics and life; and community governance.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 107: Hindus and Muslims in South Asia

Hindus and Muslims have lived together in the subcontinent for over 1000 years, joined by Sikhs in the last 500. Contrasting narratives may emphasize composite cultures and interdependent societies, or separation and conflict. In the first half we will introduce these traditions and communities and highlight composite cultures in religion, literature, and music. In the second half we will examine key moments of conflict: the 11th-century invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni and narratives about them in Hindu and Muslim sources; the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan; the Khalistan movement and the 1984 massacre of Sikhs after Indira Gandhi's assassination; the 2002 Gujarat riots. Learning goals: critically examine the categories `Hindu,' `Muslim,' `Sikh,' `religion'; analyze differing narratives of the same events; clarify the complex factors involved in violent `religious' conflict.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom

RELIGST 110: Islam, Art, Modernity (RELIGST 310)

Taught in conjunction with a major exhibition of modern Islamic art at the Cantor Museum. We will consider theoretical discussions regarding art and modern Muslim identities and examine the use of Islamic motifs in art and architecture in detail.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 113B: Japanese Religion Through Film

Themes in premodern and modern Japanese religion though animations, movies and documentaries
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 128: The Five Books of Moses

A survey of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy¿that will explore their authorship, form and meaning.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 132: Jesus the Christ

How did Jesus of Nazareth, who never claimed to be Christ or divine, become the son of God after his death? Sources include the history of first-century Judaism and Christianity.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 132C: How Jesus the Jew became God

Contemporary historical-critical methods in investigating how one might study Jewish and Christian texts of the 1st century CE. Social contexts including economic realities and elite ideological views. What can be known historically about 1st-century Judaism and Jesus' part it in it. How Jewish apocalyptic messianism shaped the birth of Christianity and its trajectory through the 1st century.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 133: Inventing Christianity in Late Antiquity

The transformation of an apocalyptic sect into an imperial religion from 200 to 600 C.E. Shifts in structures of authority, worship, and belief mapped against shifts in politics, economics and religion in the larger Roman empire. Cultural visions of this history including Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Dan Brown's conspiracy theory in The Da Vinci Code, and Elaine Pagels' The Secret Gospel of Thomas.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 134: Sacred Space

Religions throughout history have marked certain spaces as out-of-the-ordinary, as places where the gods reveal themselves, where special events have taken place, where one can see and experience things not possible in ordinary space. Individuals and groups who enter and create these sacred spaces create the opportunity to transcend the everyday world. Some of these spaces are natural--mountains, rivers, deserts. Others are constructed--temples, churches, tombs. This course will explore such sacred spaces: how they come to be, what distinguishes them from ordinary space, what happens in them. Part of the course will be theoretical, looking at different approaches to sacred spaces developed by recent scholars of religion; part of it will be focused on specific sacred spaces, especially in Israel and America, and the course will conclude with a chance for students to explore the variety of sacred spaces found in our own community.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 146: Religious Mystery and Rational Reflection

Explores the boundaries of rational knowledge about Christian faith through a careful reading of the transcendental project of Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner. Rahner¿s thought, informed by various sources (e.g., the mystics, Aquinas, Kant, Hegel and Ignatius Loyola), results in an interpretation of Christian faith that strives for intellectual honesty in the face of challenges from science, atheism and post-modern culture. Yet it leaves room for a fundamental human openness to the source and goal of self-transcendence, what Rahner calls Holy Mystery. Weekly short position papers will be required to stir both reflection and discussion.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 148: From Jesus to Paul

Jesus considered himself God's definitive prophet, but he did not think he was God, and had no intention of founding a new religion. How did this Jewish prophet become the gentile God and the founder of Christianity? The role of Paul.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 148A: St. Paul and the Politics of Religion

The major letters written by Paul, the Apostle, and his biography, Acts of the Apostles. Historical context in first century Jewish cultural politics. Origins of Christianity, and the split into Judaism and Christianity. The relationship between Jews and non-Jews. The juxtaposition of law and faith. Origins of cultural universalism. Paul as Jewish radical versus Paul, the first Christian thinker and theologian. Recent philosophical readings of Paul (Taubes, Badiou, and Agamben).
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 150: The Lotus Sutra: Story of a Buddhist Book

The Lotus school of Mahayana, and its Indian sources, Chinese formulation, and Japanese developments.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom

RELIGST 161: Modern Religious Thought: From Galileo to Freud

The three centuries following the Protestant Reformation led to a gradual clarification of the notions of the religious and secular and gave rise to a new genre of religious thought, ideally freed from theology, church or synagogue-a secular philosophy of religion, or in some cases a religiously-imbued philosophy. We will examine some of the foundations of religious thought in modernity, including Galileo, Spinoza, Diderot, Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud.
| Units: 4-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 170C: Reading in Biblical Hebrew

Third of a three quarter sequence. Readings and translation of biblical narratives emphasizing grammar and literary techniques. Prerequisite: AMELANG 170B.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 173: What is Enlightenment? Religion in the Age of Reason

Many contemporary attitudes towards religion were forged in 17th- and 18th-century Europe in the midst of heated debates over the meaning and value of Christianity in a world 'come of age': Liberal calls for justice, toleration, and pluralism in matters religious; secular suspicions about religious superstition, fanaticism, and ideology; skepticism regarding the solubility of ultimate questions of meaning and metaphysics. Seminal readings on religion from Descartes, Pascal, Leibniz, Voltaire, Hume, Mendelssohn and Kant.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 176: Religious Diversity: Theoretical and Practical Issues

What does it mean for a religion to be true? If one religion is true, what about the truth of other religious possibilities? How, and why, should religious traditions be compared? Readings address tolerance and pluralism, relativism, comparative theory, and new religious virtues.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 183: Atheism: Hegel to Heidegger

The radical changes in ideas of God between Hegel and Heidegger, arguing that their questions about theism and atheism are still pertinent today. Texts from Hegel, Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche, and Heidegger: on God, history, and the social dimensions of human nature. N.B.: Class size limited. Apply early at tsheehan@stanford.edu.
| Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 185: Prophetic Voices of Social Critique

Judges, Samuel, Amos, and Isaiah depict and question power, strong leaders who inevitably fail, the societal inequities and corruption inevitable in prosperity, and the interplay between prophet as representative of God and the human king. How these texts succeed in their scrutiny of human power and societal arrangements through attention to narrative artistry and poetic force, and condemnation of injustice. Includes service-learning component in conjunction with the Haas Center.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 201A: Gender in Classical Islamic Law (RELIGST 301A)

The course examines classical Islamic society and law. It covers historical development, the unity and diversity of Muslim legal traditions, and the relationship between laws and values. Constructions of gender in law are examined through rituals, marriage, divorce, birth control, child custody, and sexuality.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 203: Myth, Place, and Ritual in the Study of Religion (RELIGST 303)

Sources include: ethnographic texts and theoretical writings; the approaches of Charles Long, Jonathan Z. Smith, Victor Turner, Michael D. Jackson, and Wendy Doniger; and lived experiences as recounted in Judith Sherman's Say the Name: A Survivor's Tale in Prose and Poetry, Jackson's At Home in the World, Marie Cardinal's The Words to Say It, and John Phillip Santos¿ Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 208A: Ex Oriente Lux: Orientalism and the Study of Religion (RELIGST 308A)

This seminar is designed to expose students to issues relating to discourse and subjectivity within the textual constructions of Oriental religions in the colonial era. We will begin with Edward W. Said¿s provocative work on notions of representation and power embedded in the discourse on the Orient that established, produced, and, ultimately, perpetuated western knowledge about the Other. We will then discuss the impact of the Oriental Renaissance and the vital role that Eastern wisdom played in constructing the field of Comparative Religious Studies. In addition, students will also read ethnographies, fables, and travelogues that both support and undermine Said¿s thesis of an active West constructing a largely passive East.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 209A: Sugar in the Milk: Modern Zoroastrianism as Race, Religion, and Ethnicity (RELIGST 309A)

Modern Zoroastrian experience¿as race, religion, and ethnic identity. Some 60,000 Zoroastrians now live in India and have resided there for a millennium. In the 19th century, these peoples from Persia¿Parsis¿became colonial elites yet were acutely aware that they were not quite Indian, British, or Persian. Diverse ways this experience of dislocation has served as a defining characteristic in Parsi communal identity and contrast these South Asian experiences with the minority socio-politics of those who remained in Iran. Survey the colonial and post-colonial communities in England, East Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, and North America and examine the expression of these global diasporic experiences in literature and the arts.
| Units: 4-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 209D: `Crow Eaters' & `Fire Worshippers': Exploring Contemporary Zoroastrianism Thru Reading Parsi Lit (RELIGST 309D)

In the past three decades Parsi fiction has rapidly emerged as a unique and creative voice in modern Anglophone literature from South Asia. From Bapsi Sidhwa to Thrity Umrigar to Rohinton Mistry, Parsi novelists address the most poignant concerns of Zoroastrians living in an era of rapid social, political, and religious transformation. The erosion of tradition; the breakdown of the Parsi family; the demise of religion among the young; and the cultural losses and gains of living in diaspora are common themes in their works. The unique vantage point of the Parsis; neither Hindu nor Muslim, neither quite Indian nor quite British; will serve as a lens for examining the inherent tensions in multicultural societies both East and West.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 212: Chuang Tzu

The Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) in its original setting and as understood by its spiritual progeny. Limited enrollment.
| Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 216: Japanese Buddhism

Focus on the religious lives of lay people in medieval Japan, as evidenced in collections of Buddhist stories (setsuwashu), narrative picture scrolls (emaki), and related historical materials. All readings are in English, but the instructor will also work with students interested in reading the original Japanese.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 221B: What is Talmud? (RELIGST 321B)

In what sense can Talmud be studied as literature? Which voices can be identified? Concepts of author, editor, or redactor. The basic textual units of Talmud: sugya, chapter, and tractate. The sugya as literary genre. The aesthetic of talmudic dialectics.nnPrerequisite: reading Hebrew with some understanding of biblical Hebrew
| Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 222B: Sufism Seminar (RELIGST 322B)

Sufism through original texts and specialized scholarship. Prerequisite: ability to read at least one major language of Islamic religious literature (Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu).
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 223: Studying Islam: History, Methods, Debates

Islam as a subject of academic inquiry since the 19th century. Origins and critiques of major methodological perspectives in Islamic studies such as philology, religious studies, history, art history, and anthropology. Landmarks in the development of the field and the work of major scholars. Academic debates regarding unity versus diversity, orientalism, fundamentalism and Islamism, Sufism, and gender. Current trends in scholarship on medieval and modern Muslim societies. Prerequisite: course work in Islamic studies or methodology in religious studies.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 224B: Unveiling the Sacred: Explorations in Islamic Religious Imagination (RELIGST 324B)

Poetry and prose in translation as well as historical studies. Islamic movements invested in the idea that the sensory world has a hidden or esoteric counterpart that can be understood or experienced through following particular religious programs. Various forms of Shi'ism and Sufism, millenarian and apocalyptic movements, the Nation of Islam and its offshoots. Philosophical propositions, historical contexts, and the role of ritual in the construction of religious systems.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 226A: Judaism and Hellenism (RELIGST 326A)

interactions and conflicts between Jews and Greeks in the centuries following the conquests of Alexander the Great and the cultural/religious repercussions of their encounter. In what ways were Jews influenced by Greek culture? In what ways, and for what reasons, did they resist it? And how the interaction of these cultures shape the subsequent development of Judaism and Christianity? Jewish texts in the Greco-Roman period, including Jewish-Greek writers like Philo of Alexandria, the Apocrypha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, selected writings from the New Testament, and the Passover Haggadah.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 226D: Jewish-Christian Relations in Antiquity (CLASSGEN 126B)

Constructions of identity, community, ethnicity: these nnconsiderations frame the investigation of ancient Christian rhetoric nnand theology contra Iudaeos. This historical project will be set nnwithin the larger intellectual and cultural context of a) learned nnGraeco-Roman traditions of ethnic stereotyping; b) forensic nnrhetoric; and c) philosophical paideia; and these nntraditions will be considered within their larger social context of the Mediterranean nncity (I-III). Specifically, various Christian, and especially Latin nntraditions contra Iudaeos (IV-VI) will be studied.
| Units: 1-2

RELIGST 227: The Qur'an (RELIGST 327)

Early history, themes, structure, chronology, and premodern interpretation. Relative chronology of passages.
| Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 229: Winged Bulls and Sun Disks: Religion and Politics in the Persian Empire (CLASSGEN 159, CLASSGEN 259, RELIGST 329)

Since Herodotus in the 5th century BCE, the Persian Empire has been represented as the exemplar of oriental despotism and imperial arrogance, a looming presence and worthy foil for the West and Greek democracy. History of the Achaemenid Empire, beginning with the rise of the Medes in the 7th century BCE to the fall of the Achaemenids to Alexander the Great's armies in 331 BCE. Focus on the intimate relationship between religion and empire and will also survey the diverse cultural institutions and religious practices found within the Empire. Evaluate contemporary representations of the Persians in politics and popular culture, such as the recent film "300" and the graphic novel on which it is based, in an attempt to better appreciate the enduring cultural legacy of the Greco-Persian wars.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 230B: Zen Studies (RELIGST 330B)

Readings in recent English-language scholarship on Chan and Zen Buddhism
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 231X: Knowing God: Learning Religion in Popular Culture (EDUC 231X, JEWISHST 291X)

This course will examine how people learn religion outside of school, and in conversation with popular cultural texts and practices. Taking a broad social-constructivist approach to the variety of ways people learn, this course will explore how people assemble ideas about faith, identity, community, and practice, and how those ideas inform individual, communal and global notions of religion. Much of this work takes place in formal educational environments including missionary and parochial schools, Muslim madrasas or Jewish yeshivot. However, even more takes place outside of school, as people develop skills and strategies in conversation with broader social trends. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to questions that lie at the intersection of religion, popular culture, and education.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 238: Christian Neo-Platonism, East and West (RELIGST 338)

Christianity's shift to neo-Platonic Greek philosophical categories and its significance for contemporary spirituality. Readings from Plotinus, Proclus, Greek fathers such as Pseudo-Dionysus, and from Ambrose and Augustine.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 239: Luther and the Reform of Western Christianity (RELIGST 339)

Luther's theology, ethics, biblical interpretation, and social reforms and their significance for the remaking of Western Christianity. Readings include Luther's own writings and secondary sources about Luther and his world.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 245: Religion, Reason, and Romanticism

The late 18th-century European cultural shift from rationalist to romantic modes of thought and sensibility. Debates about religion as catalysts for the new Zeitgeist. Readings include: the Jewish metaphysician, Mendelssohn; the dramatist, Lessing; the philosopher of language and history, Herder; the critical idealist, Kant; and the transcendental idealist, Fichte.
| Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 247B: Readings in Chinese Religious Texts: The Lingbao Scriptures (RELIGST 347B)

A survey of the original Lingbao scriptures. Composed in the late-4th / early 5th century, these texts radically revised Daoist practice, incorporated elements of Buddhist thought and practice, and created liturgies that are still used in Daoist communities today. (Reading knowledge of Literary Chinese ¿¿ required).
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 248: Chinese Buddhism in World Historical Perspective (RELIGST 348)

Shared cosmologies, trade routes, and political systems. Prerequisite: background in Chinese or Japanese.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 248A: Chinese Buddhism Beyond the Great Wall (RELIGST 348A)

The thought, practice, and cultural resonance of the sorts of originally Chinese Buddhism that flourished to the north and northwest of China proper during the two to three centuries following the fall of the Tang - i.e., under the Khitan Liao (907-1125) and the Tangut Xixia (1032-1227) dynasties - with special emphasis on the later fortunes of the Huayan, Chan, and Mijiao (Esoteric) traditions. Prerequisite: reading knowledge of Chinese.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 250: Classics of Indian Buddhism

Texts in English translation includING discourses (sutras), philosophical treatises, commentaries, didactic epistles, hymns, biographies, and narratives.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 253: Mountains, Buddhist Practice, and Religious Studies (RELIGST 353)

The notion of the sacred mountain. Readings from ethnographic and theoretical works, and primary sources.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 254: Recent Contributions to Buddhist Studies

May be repeated for credit.
| Units: 4 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 257: Readings in Daoist Texts (RELIGST 357)

Readings from primary sources. Prerequisite: classical Chinese.
| Units: 4 | Repeatable 20 times (up to 99 units total)

RELIGST 259: Religion and Music in South Asia (MUSIC 186, MUSIC 286)

How music and other arts in South Asia are intertwined with religion. Classical, devotional, folk, and popular examples introduce Gods as musicians, sound as God, music as yoga, singing as devotion, music as ¿ecstasy¿-inducing, music as site for doctrinal argument, music and religion as vehicles for nationalism. Co-taught by professors of Music and Religious Studies, focusing Hinduism and Islam in India, Pakistan, and the diaspora. Music practice along with academic study; guest artists and films; no background required.
| Units: 4-5

RELIGST 261A: Belief (in a post-Christian Age)

The post-Chritain (or post-modern) age has given rise to new forms of faith, ranging from secular humanism and cultural atheism to rediscovery of the transcendent in the cosmos and quantum mechanics. However, unlike the era of "Christendom," belief is no longer necessarily hinged to faith. This course explores the origins of this phenomenon in Thomas Aquinas, and then newer philosophical approaches to understanding belief, ranging from Charles Taylor and Talal Asad and their theories of the secular, to Catherine Bell and the role of practice in believing. Finally, we turn to the work of three contemporary theorists of religious belief: Gianni Vattimo, Jean-Luc Marion, and Richard Kearney, who endeavor to cast believing outside established theological categories, yet still speak of "god."
| Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 263: Judaism and the Body

Representations and discourses of the body in Jewish culture; theories of body and ritual. Case studies of circumcision, menstrual impurity, and intersexuality. Readings include classical texts in Jewish tradition and current discussions of these textual traditions.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender

RELIGST 272: Kant on Religion (RELIGST 372)

Critical examination of Kant¿s principle writings on religion against the background of his general theoretical and practical philosophy and guided by the hypothesis that his philosophy of religion continues to offer significant insights and resources to contemporary theories of religion. Recent reassessments of Kant on religion in the secondary literature will also be read and discussed
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 277: The Later Heidegger: Art, Poetry, Language (PHIL 234B, RELIGST 377)

Lectures and seminar discussions of the problematic of the later Heidegger (1930 - 1976) in the light of his entire project. Readings from "On the Origin of the Work of Art" and Elucidations of Holderlin's Poetry.
| Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 278: Heidegger: Confronting the Ultimate (RELIGST 378)

Heidegger's work on meaning, the self, and the sacred. Texts include Being and Time, courses and opuscula up to 1933, the Letter on Humanism, and Contributions of Philosophy.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 279A: Heidegger on human being and God (RELIGST 379A)

This lecture-seminar first raises the question of essential characteristics of human being, such as temporality, mortality, hermeneutics and the relation to meaning, and then, via readings from Karl Rahner, asks whether human being is open to a possible relation to a supernatural divinity.
| Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 280: Schleiermacher: Reconstructing Religion (RELIGST 380)

Idealist philosopher, Moravian pietist, early German Romantic, co-founder of the University of Berlin, head preacher at Trinity Church, translator of Plato's works, Hegel's opponent, pioneer in modern hermeneutics, father of modern theology. Schleiermacher's controversial reconception of religion and theology in its philosophical context.
| Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

RELIGST 282: King Solomon and the Search for Wisdom (RELIGST 382)

What is wisdom according to the Bible? The course addresses this question by surveying various biblical and post-biblical texts associated with King Solomon. Other topics include the on-going debate over the historical existence of a Solomonic kingdom, the origins and history of the Jerusalem Temple, and Solomon's role in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 293X: Church, State, & Schools: Issues in Education & Religion (EDUC 293X)

This course will examine interactions between religion and education, focusing on both formal and experiential sites in which people and communities explore, articulate, encounter, and perform religious ideologies and identities. The class will focus on different religious traditions and their encounters the institutions and structures of education in American culture, both in the United States and as it manifests in American culture transnationally.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 301A: Gender in Classical Islamic Law (RELIGST 201A)

The course examines classical Islamic society and law. It covers historical development, the unity and diversity of Muslim legal traditions, and the relationship between laws and values. Constructions of gender in law are examined through rituals, marriage, divorce, birth control, child custody, and sexuality.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 302: Islamic Studies Proseminar

Research methods and materials for the study of Islam. May be repeated for credit.
| Units: 1-5 | Repeatable 3 times (up to 5 units total)

RELIGST 303: Myth, Place, and Ritual in the Study of Religion (RELIGST 203)

Sources include: ethnographic texts and theoretical writings; the approaches of Charles Long, Jonathan Z. Smith, Victor Turner, Michael D. Jackson, and Wendy Doniger; and lived experiences as recounted in Judith Sherman's Say the Name: A Survivor's Tale in Prose and Poetry, Jackson's At Home in the World, Marie Cardinal's The Words to Say It, and John Phillip Santos¿ Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 304B: Theories and Methods

Required of graduate students in Religious Studies. Approaches to the study of religion. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 308: Medieval Japanese Buddhism

Japanese religion and culture, including Buddhism, Shinto, popular religion, and new religions, through the medium of film.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 308A: Ex Oriente Lux: Orientalism and the Study of Religion (RELIGST 208A)

This seminar is designed to expose students to issues relating to discourse and subjectivity within the textual constructions of Oriental religions in the colonial era. We will begin with Edward W. Said¿s provocative work on notions of representation and power embedded in the discourse on the Orient that established, produced, and, ultimately, perpetuated western knowledge about the Other. We will then discuss the impact of the Oriental Renaissance and the vital role that Eastern wisdom played in constructing the field of Comparative Religious Studies. In addition, students will also read ethnographies, fables, and travelogues that both support and undermine Said¿s thesis of an active West constructing a largely passive East.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 309A: Sugar in the Milk: Modern Zoroastrianism as Race, Religion, and Ethnicity (RELIGST 209A)

Modern Zoroastrian experience¿as race, religion, and ethnic identity. Some 60,000 Zoroastrians now live in India and have resided there for a millennium. In the 19th century, these peoples from Persia¿Parsis¿became colonial elites yet were acutely aware that they were not quite Indian, British, or Persian. Diverse ways this experience of dislocation has served as a defining characteristic in Parsi communal identity and contrast these South Asian experiences with the minority socio-politics of those who remained in Iran. Survey the colonial and post-colonial communities in England, East Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, and North America and examine the expression of these global diasporic experiences in literature and the arts.
| Units: 4-5

RELIGST 309D: `Crow Eaters' & `Fire Worshippers': Exploring Contemporary Zoroastrianism Thru Reading Parsi Lit (RELIGST 209D)

In the past three decades Parsi fiction has rapidly emerged as a unique and creative voice in modern Anglophone literature from South Asia. From Bapsi Sidhwa to Thrity Umrigar to Rohinton Mistry, Parsi novelists address the most poignant concerns of Zoroastrians living in an era of rapid social, political, and religious transformation. The erosion of tradition; the breakdown of the Parsi family; the demise of religion among the young; and the cultural losses and gains of living in diaspora are common themes in their works. The unique vantage point of the Parsis; neither Hindu nor Muslim, neither quite Indian nor quite British; will serve as a lens for examining the inherent tensions in multicultural societies both East and West.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 310: Islam, Art, Modernity (RELIGST 110)

Taught in conjunction with a major exhibition of modern Islamic art at the Cantor Museum. We will consider theoretical discussions regarding art and modern Muslim identities and examine the use of Islamic motifs in art and architecture in detail.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 312: Buddhist Studies Proseminar

Research methods and materials for the study of Buddhism. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: reading knowledge of Chinese or Japanese.
| Units: 1-5 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 315: Third Bhavanakrama & the Writings of Héshang Moheyan: Scripture in Buddhist Scholastic Polemics

Readings in the original languages (Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese) of materials from the debates of late 8th Century Tibet (so-called debate at Bsam-yas). The course focuses on the use of scriptural quotations in those passages where the arguments of Kamalasila, the leading Indian representative at the debates, best map on to the arguments of his Chinese rival, Héshang Moheyan.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 321B: What is Talmud? (RELIGST 221B)

In what sense can Talmud be studied as literature? Which voices can be identified? Concepts of author, editor, or redactor. The basic textual units of Talmud: sugya, chapter, and tractate. The sugya as literary genre. The aesthetic of talmudic dialectics.nnPrerequisite: reading Hebrew with some understanding of biblical Hebrew
| Units: 5

RELIGST 322B: Sufism Seminar (RELIGST 222B)

Sufism through original texts and specialized scholarship. Prerequisite: ability to read at least one major language of Islamic religious literature (Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu).
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 324B: Unveiling the Sacred: Explorations in Islamic Religious Imagination (RELIGST 224B)

Poetry and prose in translation as well as historical studies. Islamic movements invested in the idea that the sensory world has a hidden or esoteric counterpart that can be understood or experienced through following particular religious programs. Various forms of Shi'ism and Sufism, millenarian and apocalyptic movements, the Nation of Islam and its offshoots. Philosophical propositions, historical contexts, and the role of ritual in the construction of religious systems.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 326A: Judaism and Hellenism (RELIGST 226A)

interactions and conflicts between Jews and Greeks in the centuries following the conquests of Alexander the Great and the cultural/religious repercussions of their encounter. In what ways were Jews influenced by Greek culture? In what ways, and for what reasons, did they resist it? And how the interaction of these cultures shape the subsequent development of Judaism and Christianity? Jewish texts in the Greco-Roman period, including Jewish-Greek writers like Philo of Alexandria, the Apocrypha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, selected writings from the New Testament, and the Passover Haggadah.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 327: The Qur'an (RELIGST 227)

Early history, themes, structure, chronology, and premodern interpretation. Relative chronology of passages.
| Units: 5

RELIGST 328S: The Study of the Midrash

Two-week block seminar; four sessions. Talmudic philology; development and transmission of the Talmudic text and manuscripts. Relationship between Midrash and Mishnah and between Mishnah and Tosefta; development of talmudic sugiot; relationship between the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmud.
| Units: 1-2

RELIGST 329: Winged Bulls and Sun Disks: Religion and Politics in the Persian Empire (CLASSGEN 159, CLASSGEN 259, RELIGST 229)

Since Herodotus in the 5th century BCE, the Persian Empire has been represented as the exemplar of oriental despotism and imperial arrogance, a looming presence and worthy foil for the West and Greek democracy. History of the Achaemenid Empire, beginning with the rise of the Medes in the 7th century BCE to the fall of the Achaemenids to Alexander the Great's armies in 331 BCE. Focus on the intimate relationship between religion and empire and will also survey the diverse cultural institutions and religious practices found within the Empire. Evaluate contemporary representations of the Persians in politics and popular culture, such as the recent film "300" and the graphic novel on which it is based, in an attempt to better appreciate the enduring cultural legacy of the Greco-Persian wars.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 330B: Zen Studies (RELIGST 230B)

Readings in recent English-language scholarship on Chan and Zen Buddhism
| Units: 4

RELIGST 334: Emmanuel Levinas: Ethics, Philosophy and Religion (JEWISHST 224, JEWISHST 324, RELIGST 234)

Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) is a major French philosopher of the second half of the twentieth century and is among the half-dozen most important Jewish thinkers of the century. Born in Lithuania, Levinas lived most of his life in France; he was primarily a philosopher but also a deeply committed Jewish educator who often lectured and wrote about Judaism and Jewish matters. Levinas was influenced by Bergson, Husserl, Heidegger, and others, like Buber and Rosenzweig. We will look at the philosophical world in which he was educated and explore his unique development as a philosopher in the years after World War Two. Levinas reacted against the main tendencies of Western philosophy and religious thought and as a result shaped novel, powerful, and challenging ways of understanding philosophy, religion, ethics, and politics. n In this course, we will examine works from every stage of Levinas's career, from his early study of Husserl and Heidegger to the emergence of his new understanding of the human condition and the primacy of ethics, the face-to-face encounter with the human other, the role of language and the relationship between ethics and religion, and finally his understanding of Judaism and its relationship to Western philosophy. We will be interested in his philosophical method, the relevance of his thinking for ethics and religion, the role of language in his philosophy and the problem of the limits of expressibility, and the implications of his work for politics. We shall also consider his conception of Judaism, its primary goals and character, and its relation to Western culture and philosophy.
| Units: 4
Instructors: ; Morgan, M. (PI)

RELIGST 338: Christian Neo-Platonism, East and West (RELIGST 238)

Christianity's shift to neo-Platonic Greek philosophical categories and its significance for contemporary spirituality. Readings from Plotinus, Proclus, Greek fathers such as Pseudo-Dionysus, and from Ambrose and Augustine.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 339: Luther and the Reform of Western Christianity (RELIGST 239)

Luther's theology, ethics, biblical interpretation, and social reforms and their significance for the remaking of Western Christianity. Readings include Luther's own writings and secondary sources about Luther and his world.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 341: Comparative Perspectives on Classical Chinese Texts

Classical Chinese texts, in prose and poetry, interpreted through comparative perspectives drawn from both inside and outside China. Consent of the instructor required.
| Units: 4-5

RELIGST 347B: Readings in Chinese Religious Texts: The Lingbao Scriptures (RELIGST 247B)

A survey of the original Lingbao scriptures. Composed in the late-4th / early 5th century, these texts radically revised Daoist practice, incorporated elements of Buddhist thought and practice, and created liturgies that are still used in Daoist communities today. (Reading knowledge of Literary Chinese ¿¿ required).
| Units: 4

RELIGST 348: Chinese Buddhism in World Historical Perspective (RELIGST 248)

Shared cosmologies, trade routes, and political systems. Prerequisite: background in Chinese or Japanese.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 348A: Chinese Buddhism Beyond the Great Wall (RELIGST 248A)

The thought, practice, and cultural resonance of the sorts of originally Chinese Buddhism that flourished to the north and northwest of China proper during the two to three centuries following the fall of the Tang - i.e., under the Khitan Liao (907-1125) and the Tangut Xixia (1032-1227) dynasties - with special emphasis on the later fortunes of the Huayan, Chan, and Mijiao (Esoteric) traditions. Prerequisite: reading knowledge of Chinese.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 349: Meditation and Mythology in Chinese Buddhism

Readings in Chinese texts and English scholarly literature on issues such as specific techniques and hagiographical imagery in Chinese Buddhist traditions of self-cultivation. Prerequisite: background in Chinese or Japanese.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 350: Modern Western Religious Thought Proseminar

Selected topics in recent and contemporary religious thought. May be repeated for credit.
| Units: 1-5 | Repeatable 3 times (up to 15 units total)

RELIGST 353: Mountains, Buddhist Practice, and Religious Studies (RELIGST 253)

The notion of the sacred mountain. Readings from ethnographic and theoretical works, and primary sources.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 357: Readings in Daoist Texts (RELIGST 257)

Readings from primary sources. Prerequisite: classical Chinese.
| Units: 4 | Repeatable 20 times (up to 99 units total)

RELIGST 372: Kant on Religion (RELIGST 272)

Critical examination of Kant¿s principle writings on religion against the background of his general theoretical and practical philosophy and guided by the hypothesis that his philosophy of religion continues to offer significant insights and resources to contemporary theories of religion. Recent reassessments of Kant on religion in the secondary literature will also be read and discussed
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 377: The Later Heidegger: Art, Poetry, Language (PHIL 234B, RELIGST 277)

Lectures and seminar discussions of the problematic of the later Heidegger (1930 - 1976) in the light of his entire project. Readings from "On the Origin of the Work of Art" and Elucidations of Holderlin's Poetry.
| Units: 3

RELIGST 378: Heidegger: Confronting the Ultimate (RELIGST 278)

Heidegger's work on meaning, the self, and the sacred. Texts include Being and Time, courses and opuscula up to 1933, the Letter on Humanism, and Contributions of Philosophy.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 379A: Heidegger on human being and God (RELIGST 279A)

This lecture-seminar first raises the question of essential characteristics of human being, such as temporality, mortality, hermeneutics and the relation to meaning, and then, via readings from Karl Rahner, asks whether human being is open to a possible relation to a supernatural divinity.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 380: Schleiermacher: Reconstructing Religion (RELIGST 280)

Idealist philosopher, Moravian pietist, early German Romantic, co-founder of the University of Berlin, head preacher at Trinity Church, translator of Plato's works, Hegel's opponent, pioneer in modern hermeneutics, father of modern theology. Schleiermacher's controversial reconception of religion and theology in its philosophical context.
| Units: 3-5

RELIGST 382: King Solomon and the Search for Wisdom (RELIGST 282)

What is wisdom according to the Bible? The course addresses this question by surveying various biblical and post-biblical texts associated with King Solomon. Other topics include the on-going debate over the historical existence of a Solomonic kingdom, the origins and history of the Jerusalem Temple, and Solomon's role in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition.
| Units: 4

RELIGST 399: Recent Works in Religious Studies

Readings in secondary literature for Religious Studies doctoral students. May be repeated for credit.
| Units: 1-2 | Repeatable for credit
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