171 - 180 of 240 results for: RELIGST

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.

Early history, themes, structure, chronology, and premodern interpretation. Relative chronology of passages.

Readings in recent English-language scholarship on Chan and Zen Buddhism

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

Shared cosmologies, trade routes, and political systems. Prerequisite: background in Chinese or Japanese.