1 - 10 of 35 results for: RELIGST

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.

Religious themes and topoi are ubiquitous in Japanese anime and manga. In this course, we will examine how religions are represented in these new media and study the role of religions in contemporary Japan. By doing this, students will also learn fundamental concepts of Buddhism and Shinto.WIN '24: This class will be meeting in room 338 in the East Asia Library.

The question is how to approach and evaluate different perspectives on the good life, especially when those perspectives are beautifully, and elusively, presented to us as texts. We will consider both classic and modern writers, from the West and from China; some are explicitly religious, some explicitly secular; some literary, some philosophical. Most of the class will revolve around our talk with each other, interpreting and questioning relatively short texts. The works we will read - by Dante, Dickenson, Zhuangzi, Shklar, and others - are not intended to be representative of traditions, of eras, or of disciplines. They do, however, present a range of viewpoint and of style that will help frame and re-frame our views on the good life. They will illustrate and question the role that great texts can play in a modern 'art of living.' Perhaps most important, they will develop and reward the skills of careful reading, attentive listening, and thoughtful discussion. (Note: preparation and participation in discussion are the primary course requirement. Enrollment at 3 units requires a short final paper; a more substantial paper is required for the 4-unit option.

Explorations, like those of the so-called New World, have historically aimed at capturing the object of their discoveries, which may explain why the word appears to have been originally used within the context of the hunt. It is in this sense that we will attempt to uncover how Islam continues to be "explored" by observers in the West. Yet in doing so; that is, by collapsing the dam of secular discourse which would attempt to contain Islam in order to regulate its movement, we will also be able to "explore" Islam so as to cause it to flow once again, as the other etymology of the term would suggest (pluere). This (de)constructive task?of analyzing Islam as both a discursive object and a way of life?will be achieved through a collective historical-philosophical study of Islamic texts, performances, practices, sounds, events, communities, and images.

Can religions get along, and can interreligious relations be used to achieve positive social change in a complex global world? Efforts to pursue interfaith cooperation by a number of development agencies, policy think tanks, non-profit organizations, and local activists have become ever-more popular in the past decades, producing an avalanche of materials and approaches on how to promote and achieve interfaith harmony. These efforts come with a new set of thorny questions: who gets to be included at the interfaith table? How do religious worldviews change the aims and methods of peacebuilding? How do global relations of power affect the aims and means of justice? This class will travel around the world to explore the promises and limitations of changing the world through interfaith relations. We will explore groups attempting to preserve the Amazonian rainforest, Indian sacred sites shared by Hindus and Muslims, the work of interfaith icons like the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, the challenges of LGBTQ+ interfaith organizers, and the utopian visions of large interfaith organizations like the Parliament of the Worlds' Religions. We will take a hands-on approach based on case studies in order to assess best practices, persistent challenges, and limitations in the work of leveraging religion to foster global peace and justice. Guest speakers and active class discussion will encourage students¿ own reflections on what religion is, its political import, and the historical and ongoing challenges of applying the lens of interfaith relations to conflict resolution and transformation.

This course will provide an introduction to the Hebrew Bible as well as later, classical Jewish literature. We will examine ancient Jewish texts in their social context and explore both the history of Ancient Israel as well as later, diasporic forms of Jewish practice and culture. The class will begin at 11:00 am. This course is under review for WAYS SI and EDP.

What happens when you put a group of smart undergraduates - many of whom are alienated from "organized religion," some of whom consider themselves "spiritual" - into conversation with the most sophisticated (and honest) Christian theologian of the past three centuries? This reading group aims to find out. We will focus on a single, recent proposal in constructive theology, paying special attention to its philosophical and methodological underpinnings. Just what "theology" was, is, or should be will be central to the conversation. This is an un-course, even an anti-course: Bleeding-edge classroom technology, innovative pedagogical practices, the cesspool of opinion that is social media, the instructor's politics, and even Canvas will be quietly ignored. Our syllabus will fit on a page and take shape as we go - depending on student interest and where the shoe pinches. The amount of reading will be modest, given the subtlety of the proposal under consideration. Students who attend all meetings and participate actively will receive 1 unit of credit. Those wishing to pursue something in more depth may receive a second unit of credit by writing a short paper. It goes without saying in a non-sectarian university that all interested brains and minds, bodies and souls, are welcome. Enrollment limited; permission of the instructor required. Please complete this brief survey before December 25: https://forms.gle/PPG5Tm3abDdSSGty7.

Prerequisite: consent of instructor and department. May be repeated for credit.