printer friendly pageRELIGST 2N: Theories of Ethics in Classical Islamic Thought
Preference to freshmen. Premodern Islamic theories of ethics. Homegrown ethical theories and adaptations of Greek thought. How various groups molded their ethical theories to fit their respective theological outlooks, including dialectic theologians, the Greek-inspired philosophers, and the mystics.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Sadeghi, B. (PI)
RELIGST 3N: Jesus the Jew and the Origins of Christianity
Preference to freshmen. 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.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Sheehan, T. (PI)
RELIGST 4N: The Creation of Woman
Preference to freshmen. The biblical story of human creation and its Greek equivalent, the myth of the creation of Pandora as told by Hesiod and in later Roman literature; contemporary commentaries. How the master stories of Eve and Pandora have been used, interpreted, retold, and readapted in later settings. Historical and intellectual context, and the ideas about gender and women's roles that they reflect and attempt to influence. Readings include New Testament selections, Jewish and Christian commentaries, the Qur'ân, Kabbalah, art and film, and contemporary interpretations by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim feminists.
Last offered: Autumn 2006
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender
RELIGST 7N: The Divine Good: Secular Ethics and Its Discontents
Preference to freshmen. What is the good and how does it orient human choice and activity? Is it natural to human beings, or in some way transcendent? How do people come to know it? Why do people often fail to do the good they know? What human capacities and dispositions enable its enactment or attainment? What resources does religion offer for its reparation? Classical and modern readings in moral theory emphasizing the difference that religious aspiration makes for moral reflection.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas
Instructors:
Sockness, B. (PI)
RELIGST 9N: Transgression and Transcendence: Exploring Tantric Buddhism
Preference to freshmen. Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism, its historical development and primary doctrines, ritual practices, and iconography. Focus is on their transgressive aspects, broader Indian background, and contemporary representations.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Harrison, P. (PI)
RELIGST 11: Religious Classics of Asia: India's Ramayana Epic
The
Ramayana as one of the most important religious and cultural texts of India. Its heroes, Rama and Sita, as incarnations of the supreme God and Goddess and models for ideal manhood and womanhood. Textual and performative versions including Valmiki's 2,000-year-old Sanskrit poem, medieval vernacular versions, rural women's folk songs, and the TV serial of 1988-89.
Ramayana traditions through the lenses of religion, literature, performance, popular culture, gender, and politics.
Last offered: Winter 2005
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom
RELIGST 14: Introduction to Buddhism
From its beginnings to the 21st century. Principal teachings and practices, institutional and social forms, and artistic and iconographical expressions.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-EDP
RELIGST 17SI: Meditation across Traditions
Academic and experiential approach to studying Buddhist meditation traditions, including Burmese Vipassana, Chinese Pure Land, Tibetan Vajrayana, and Japanese Zen. The cultural and historical context of these traditions in addition to the study of their primary texts. Scholarly approaches to the study of meditation and four experiential meditation labs led by meditation teachers of diverse traditions in the Bay Area.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 1
Instructors:
Bielefeldt, C. (PI)
RELIGST 18: Introduction to Zen Buddhism
Classical Zen thought in China, and its background, origins, and development.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom
RELIGST 19S: Angels in America: Western Religion and Contemporary Culture
How religion is presented in the media. Cultural representations that shape and disrupt this image of the relationship between being religious and being modern. How believers and doubters in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are portrayed in popular culture. Sources include the music of Dar Williams and M.I.A., the plays of Tony Kushner, and the Canadian sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie. How gay believers, agnostic leaders, terrorists, and born-again children of secular parents complicate the notion of religious belief in today¿s world.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Rosenberg, J. (PI)
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