91 - 100 of 201 results for: RELIGST

In 1633, the Italian mathematician Galileo was tried and condemned by the Roman Inquisition for advocating that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the cosmos. The Catholic Church did not formally admit that Galileo was right until 1992. Examines the many factors that led to the trial of Galileo and looks at multiple perspectives on this signal event in the history of science, politics, and religion. Considers the nature and definition of intellectual heresy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and examines the writings of Galileo's infamous predecessor Giordano Bruno (burned at the stake in 1600). Looks closely at the trial documents and related literature to explore the many different histories that can be produced from Galileo's trial. What, in the end, were the crimes of Galileo? Seminar meets regularly in Special Collections to give students hands-on experience of rare books and manuscripts, including Galileo's own works.

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.

In the first millennium, Christians writing in a dialect of Aramaic called Syriac thrived throughout the Middle East. Because Roman Catholic and Protestant churches later declared many of these Christians to be heretics, their stories have been excluded from the history of Christianity. This course challenges the assumption of Christianity as a "Western" religion and asks how our understanding of global Christianity changes when we include the history and perspective of middle eastern Christians. We will read in English translation sources such as accounts of trans-saints, a letter allegedly written by Jesus, the tale of a demon-possessed monastery, and the first Christian writings on Islam. Undergraduates wanting to enroll in this seminar need to have previously taken one of the following courses: "Exploring the New Testament," "What Didn't Make It in the Bible," or "Sex and the Early Church," or they must obtain permission from the instructor. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

This seminar focuses on the interrelationships between social constructions of race and social interpretations of religion in America. How have assumptions about race shaped religious worldviews? How have religious beliefs shaped racial attitudes? How have ideas about religion and race contributed to notions of what it means to be "American"? We will look at primary and secondary sources and at the historical development of ideas and practices over time.

Chinese Buddhist texts from the Han Dynasty onwards, including sutra translations, prefaces, colophons, story collections and biographies. Prerequisite: reading competence in Chinese. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

Introduction to Tibetan literature through reading texts in Tibetan. Prerequisite: intermediate level facility in classical Tibetan.Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units