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121 - 130 of 150 results for: RELIGST

RELIGST 355: Perspectives on Caste and Religion in South Asia (RELIGST 255)

Caste, as a plurality of ideas about systemic exclusion or social hierarchy, has shaped the lifeworlds of South Asians past and present, across regions, languages, and religious boundaries. But is caste a unitary concept? And what does it have to do with religion? This seminar turns to the archive to explore a series of case studies about how caste, as an actively contested concept and set of social practices, has interfaced with meaning-making and community formation in Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Buddhist, and Christian traditions. We are interested both in the social history of religion as well as the phenomenology of oppression and liberation, taking a comparative approach that allows us to defamiliarize our assumptions about the varied relationships between religion, culture, hierarchy, and violence. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-5
Instructors: Schwartz, J. (PI)

RELIGST 356: Readings in Buddhist Tantra: Wheel of Time (RELIGST 256)

The emergence of tantric scriptures in medieval India marked a major turning point in the development of religious thought and practice throughout Asia. These scriptures introduced myths, rituals, contemplative techniques, and artistic expressions that transformed the religious traditions of India¿from Hinduism to Jainism and Buddhism. Tantric forms of worship subsequently shaped the religious traditions of Southeast Asia, China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, and everywhere else Indian religions spread. This seminar examines the history of Buddhist tantra through English translation of one of the most popular collections of tantric literature in the history of Buddhism: the Wheel of Time. The Wheel of Time blends models of the cosmos, time, embodiment, and aesthetics with rich contemplative and ritual techniques. Since its origin, the Wheel of Time and its associated body of texts and practices has become immensely popular throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world. The influence of the Wheel of Time continues to this day, as the current Dalai Lama frequently offers the Wheel of Time initiation as a blessing for world peace, and scholars and practitioners continue to study its literature and practice its contemplative techniques. Undergraduates are expected to have at least one prior course in Buddhism or the consent of the instructor. Undergraduates register for 256 for 5 units. Graduate students register for 356 for 3-5 units.
Last offered: Spring 2020 | Repeatable 5 times (up to 25 units total)

RELIGST 357: Women in Japanese Buddhism (RELIGST 257)

This seminar explores the role of women in Japanese Buddhism, starting from the earliest records until today. All readings will be in English. Prerequisites: Solid foundation in either Buddhist studies or East Asian Studies. You must have taken at least one other course in Buddhist Studies. NOTE: Undergraduates must enroll for 5 units; graduate students can enroll for 3-5 units.
Last offered: Winter 2022

RELIGST 357X: Female Divinities in China (FEMGEN 293E, HISTORY 293E, HISTORY 393E, RELIGST 257X)

This course examines the fundamental role of powerful goddesses in Chinese religion. It covers the entire range of imperial history and down to the present. It will look at, among other questions, what roles goddesses played in the spirit world, how this is related to the roles of human women, and why a civilization that excluded women from the public sphere granted them a dominant place, in the religious sphere. It is based entirely on readings in English.
Last offered: Autumn 2021

RELIGST 358: Readings in Japanese Buddhist Texts (RELIGST 258)

In this course, we will read premodern Japanese Buddhist texts. Prerequisite: Chinese and/or Japanese.
Last offered: Winter 2020 | Repeatable for credit

RELIGST 359A: American Religions in a Global Context: Proseminar

This 1-unit proseminar is open to graduate students interested in American Religions in a Global Context. We will meet once a month to discuss student and faculty work-in-progress and important books in the field. Enrollment in the proseminar is required for students pursuing the Graduate Certificate in American Religions.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 1 | Repeatable 10 times (up to 10 units total)
Instructors: Lum, K. (PI)

RELIGST 361: What Does It Mean to be Secular? (RELIGST 261)

"Secularism" and "secularization" are two concepts whose importance to modern life is only matched by their ability to elude our understanding. Our aim in this seminar, therefore, will be to make sense of them as historical and sociological phenomena, as well as objects of theoretical and philosophical inquiry. Among other issues, we will probe the question of religious decline in modern societies, the formation of secular identity and subjectivity, the theological underpinnings of the separation of religion and state, the politics of religious minorities, and the broader transformation of religion in the modern age. Our approach to the subject will consist primarily in the discussion of a wide range of primary sources and scholarly writings, which will span the disciplines of political theory, anthropology, theology, history, and literature.
Last offered: Spring 2022

RELIGST 362: Sex and the Early Church (CLASSICS 262, FEMGEN 262, FEMGEN 362R, RELIGST 262)

Sex and the Early Church examines the ways first- through sixth-century Christians addressed questions regarding human sexuality. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between sexuality and issues of gender, culture, power, and resistance. We will read a Roman gynecological manual, an ancient dating guide, the world's first harlequin romance novels, ancient pornography, early Christian martyrdom accounts, stories of female and male saints, instructions for how to best battle demons, visionary accounts, and monastic rules. These will be supplemented by modern scholarship in classics, early Christian studies, gender studies, queer studies, and the history of sexuality. The purpose of our exploration is not simply to better understand ancient views of gender and sexuality. Rather, this investigation of a society whose sexual system often seems so surprising aims to denaturalize many of our own assumptions concerning gender and sexuality. In the process, we will also examine more »
Sex and the Early Church examines the ways first- through sixth-century Christians addressed questions regarding human sexuality. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between sexuality and issues of gender, culture, power, and resistance. We will read a Roman gynecological manual, an ancient dating guide, the world's first harlequin romance novels, ancient pornography, early Christian martyrdom accounts, stories of female and male saints, instructions for how to best battle demons, visionary accounts, and monastic rules. These will be supplemented by modern scholarship in classics, early Christian studies, gender studies, queer studies, and the history of sexuality. The purpose of our exploration is not simply to better understand ancient views of gender and sexuality. Rather, this investigation of a society whose sexual system often seems so surprising aims to denaturalize many of our own assumptions concerning gender and sexuality. In the process, we will also examine the ways these first centuries of what eventually became the world's largest religious tradition has profoundly affected the sexual norms of our own time. The seminar assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, the bible, or ancient history. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3-5

RELIGST 363: The Religions and Cultures of Enslaved People in America (AMSTUD 263, RELIGST 263)

More than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery--its histories and legacies--remains the subject of heated debate among the institution's descendants and the millions of others who live in its wake. As a global institution predicated upon the exchange of human bodies, slavery helped to forge political and economic empires, divided nations, and crystallized racialized caste hierarchies that persist into the present. Yet, the politically and emotionally charged nature of conversations about slavery has obscured the lives of the women, men, and children who bore the legal status of "slave." In this course, we will explore the meanings of enslavement from the perspectives of those who experienced it, and in doing so, interrogate broader questions of the relationship between slavery and the construction of racialized group identities. Using autobiographical narratives, eyewitness accounts, slaveholder diaries, images, and archeological evidence from the United States, we wi more »
More than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery--its histories and legacies--remains the subject of heated debate among the institution's descendants and the millions of others who live in its wake. As a global institution predicated upon the exchange of human bodies, slavery helped to forge political and economic empires, divided nations, and crystallized racialized caste hierarchies that persist into the present. Yet, the politically and emotionally charged nature of conversations about slavery has obscured the lives of the women, men, and children who bore the legal status of "slave." In this course, we will explore the meanings of enslavement from the perspectives of those who experienced it, and in doing so, interrogate broader questions of the relationship between slavery and the construction of racialized group identities. Using autobiographical narratives, eyewitness accounts, slaveholder diaries, images, and archeological evidence from the United States, we will examine the religious, philosophical, and experiential orientations that grounded the enslaved psyche and found expression in bondspeople's music, movement, foodways, dress, and institutions. Although the United States South will be our primary region for interrogation, we will analyze the thought and culture formations of U.S. bondspeople in light of the discursive and aesthetic productions of African-descended peoples throughout the diaspora. In this way, we will endeavor to know the people who helped birth American culture. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3-5

RELIGST 364: Hindu Tantra (RELIGST 264)

What is Tantra? Tantric forms of ritual and philosophy have been integral to the practice of Hinduism for most of its history. Tantra has provided initiates with a spiritual technology for embodying the divine and transcending the cycle of rebirth; on a social and political level, Tantra has mediated the institutions of Hindu kingship and appealed to a diverse population of initiates. This course covers a number of influential and well-documented Hindu tantric traditions, exploring several prominent features of Tantric religion as they develop historically, including: tantric ritual practice (core technologies of the subtle body, mantras, ma, alas, etc., along with the more notorious elements of sex and transgression), theology and philosophical speculation, as well as Tantra's relationship to the outside world and state power.
Terms: Win | Units: 3-5
Instructors: Fisher, E. (PI)
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