151 - 160 of 201 results for: RELIGST

This 1-unit workshop will explore the intersection of religion and education across a variety of learning environments and demographics. It invites an ongoing conversation of the relationships between schools, congregations, religious bodies, learners, seekers, philanthropy, and public education. Advanced students and visiting scholars will have an opportunity to present their work for discussion. May be repeat for credit

Muslims invent, design, manipulate, consider, revere, and debate objects of all sorts, from the explicitly religious (prayer beads, prayer rugs, ritual clothing) to the contested (amulets, figural images, devotional offerings) to the seemingly mundane (books, daily dress and ornament, household wares, tools and instruments). As material objects are pervasive and valued elements of all Islamic cultures in diverse ways, this course will consider in what sense object creation, use, encounter, and interpretation can be understood in relation to religion in general and Islam in particular. From studies that consider objects as agents to technical considerations of the physical properties of artifacts to thick descriptions of human attachments to and uses of items of personal or collective significance, this course will look at both a variety of object classifications and a range of theoretical and methodological approaches. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

The marking off of sacred space is often posited as central to the production of the sacred as a generic category. Moving from Durkheim and Eliade's contrasting views of the sacred as either a collective imaginary reflecting society's self-image or the result of perceivable incursions of the divine into the mundane realm, this course will proceed to explore phenomenological (Lefebvre, Heidegger, Casey), anthropological (Basso, Albera, Couroucli), ritual studies (Smith, Bell), religious studies (Bigelow, Pesantubbee, Linenthal, Friedland & Hecht), and art historical (Flood) approaches, as well as primary sources (fa'il or praise literature, pilgrimage manuals). We will engage such questions as: What is sacred space? What are the possible relationships between sacred space and religion, politics, economies, material culture, and other social structures? Can sacred space be shared by multiple religious traditions and, if so, under what conditions? How does sacred space work as a repository of collective memory, a symbol of identity, a wellspring of community wisdom, a marker of spiritual or social division? Participants will study a particular site of their choosing (in time and space) and produce biographies of that place. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

Graduate student colloquium on issues in classical Protestant thought. Permission of instructor required. Please contact Prof. Pitkin about your interest in the course.

How are we to talk across religious and spiritual differences? What is the purpose of such dialogues? What do we hope to gain from them? How do such dialogues take shape on college campuses, and what do they indicate about how students cultivate spiritual, political, and civic commitments? This course will explore these questions and others through seminar discussions, fieldwork, and writing that will examine the concepts, assumptions, and principles that shape how we think about interfaith dialogue.

Among the extensive and influential writings of William James, from technical texts on psychology to popular essays on education, this course will focus on the 'Varieties of Religious Experience' and its importance for a contemporary understanding of religion. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units. Limited enrollment; consent of instructor required.

TO BE DETERMINED. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 unit.

Since Africans arrived on North American shores, their religious cultures have anchored them to the traditions of their originating homelands; offered outlets for communal innovation; and structured their responses to the everyday realities of life in the United States. More than a cornerstone of Black American culture, religion has helped to define U.S. African-American identities. At the same time, performances identified with Black religions have transcended racial barriers and become ubiquitous features of the American religious landscape. In this course, we will trace the history of African-descended peoples in the United States through their religious expressions, explore major questions in the study of African-American religions, and analyze representations of African-American religiosity in the popular imagination. Zigzagging across regions and through chronological periods, we will engage primary "texts" ranging from the antebellum "confessions" of Nat Turner to the contemporary rituals of a Vodou priestess, in order to interrogate the questions: "Are there continuities and/or features that mark U.S. Black religions?" "If so, what are they?" "If not, what is the function of the category?" In doing so, we aim to discover the histories of the diverse traditions subsumed under the category of Black religion and register our voices in debates that continue to preoccupy scholars in the field.Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

For two thousand years, Chinese people have written, talked, and thought about Buddhism, contemplating the workings of karma and rebirth, the nature of the self, and the social ramifications of monasticism. They made images, copied scriptures, formed devotional societies, made offerings in temples, worried about the future of the world, and at times even took the radical step of swearing off children, sex, meat and alcohol to become monastics - all in response to Buddhist ideas and practices. At the same time, critics of Buddhism, from the early days up until the present, have ridiculed its doctrines as preposterous, its origins as barbaric and its institutions as leeches on society. In this class, we will attempt to cover the full range of Chinese Buddhist history, reading a combination of scholarship and primary sources in translation, including scriptures, travel diaries, novels and autobiography from the first century of the Common Era to the present. The course will trace themes in three broad spheres: Buddhism at court, Buddhism in the monasteries, and Buddhism in the countryside. Along the way, we will cover the first Buddhist nuns, the discovery of medieval manuscripts at Dunhuang, the creation of monumental art, depictions of hells and paradise, the rise of Chan and the Buddhist encounter with modernity. Prerequisite: at least one course that treats either Buddhism or Chinese religion. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.