printer friendly pageRELIGST 20: Introduction to the Zoroastrian Religion
Introduction to Zoroastrianism through a survey of its defining themes, including an examination of the figure of the prophet Zarathustra, modes of transmitting sacred knowledge, the nature of good and evil, and the importance of ritual practice and practitioners. Discuss how Zoroastrianism views the individual with respect to the body, the life cycle, and issues of gender and sexuality. Also discuss the intersection of `religion¿ and `ethnicity¿ that has defined Zoroastrianism from its origins in the 2nd millennium BCE in Central Asia up to the present day.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Rose, J. (PI)
RELIGST 23: Exploring Judaism
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
Instructors:
Weitzman, S. (PI)
RELIGST 24: Exploring Christianity
The historical development of Christian religious thought and practice from Jesus to the present. Emphasis is on the formation of Christianity's major teachings and their transformation and diverse expressions in the medieval, reformation, and modern periods. Readings focus on primary texts.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Pitkin, B. (PI)
;
Gentzke, J. (TA)
RELIGST 27: Exploring Islam
Introduction to Islam through focusing on the life of Mohammed, Sunni-Shi'i differences, absorption of Greek philosophical knowledge, Islamization in parts of Asia and Africa, debates on gender, modernism, nationalism, and Islamism in recent decades. The question of unity and diversity in the historical development of Islamic ideas and practices.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom
Instructors:
Bashir, S. (PI)
;
Marcus-Sells, A. (TA)
RELIGST 37: Introduction to Japanese Religions
Major themes in Japanese religious culture, including gods, religious sites, and specialist and popular practices. Films and readings from literary, ethnographic, and historical sources in translation.
Last offered: Spring 2009
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
RELIGST 60: Nation, Diaspora, and the Gods of African American Religion (AFRICAAM 60)
The histories of religion and faith cultures among communities of the African diaspora. The religious traditions and historical experiences of black communities across the 19th- and 20th-century U.S. and a comparative view of South American, Caribbean and African histories. Close readings of music, film, literature and visual arts and the overlapping religious affiliations of nation and diaspora.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
| Repeatable
1 times
(up to 4 units total)
Instructors:
Hughes, B. (PI)
RELIGST 90: Buddhism and Gender
In the Buddhist tradition there are contradictory approaches to gender: in some cases, gender is described as an illusion; in others, the female body is an impediment to enlightenment. How do Buddhists - men and women, lay and monastic - interpret these divergent views? Different Buddhist approaches to the category of gender. Values associated with masculinity and femininity in Buddhist philosophy, the gendered symbolism surrounding buddhahood, images of the masculine and feminine in Buddhist texts, and the experiences of lay and monastic men and women.
RELIGST 95: How to Read the Bible
What does the Bible mean? Address this question not by surveying the contents of the Bible but by exploring the various ways in which selected texts like the Garden of Eden story and the Exodus narrative have been read over the last two thousand years. How modern scholars explain the origins and significance of the Bible, but also explores other kinds of readings--from ancient rabbinic and Christian exegesis to modern political and artistic interpretation--in order to deepen understanding not just of the Bible itself and of the art and power of reading.
Terms: Aut, Sum
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Weitzman, S. (PI)
RELIGST 101: Who is Allah?
Introduction to classical Islamic theology. How did notions about God's nature define theological communities? What made some ideas more likely than others to function as markers of group identity? Were the different sects distinguished by different methods of reading scriptures? Did differences in the interpretation of the Qur'ân generate the communal divisions, or did differing communal identities generate different interpretations of the Qur'ân? God's power (free will versus predestination) the age of the Universe (pre-eternal world vs coming into being at some point) roots of ethics (what makes an act right or wrong.) Readings of the greatest philosophers and theologians in classical Islam.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Sadeghi, B. (PI)
RELIGST 102: Modern Islam
How Muslims have engaged in diverse ways with the Modern World and with new ethical, social and global challenges? How Muslim thinkers have shaped or been shaped by current trends and events and met challenges of identity, secularization and the nation-state?
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Nanji, A. (PI)
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