RELIGST 1: Religion Around the Globe
This course surveys major religious traditions of the world in all of their complexity, in relation to philosophy and politics; liturgy and literature; identity and social hierarchies; art, community, and emotion. Through examination of a variety of materials, including scriptures and other spiritual writings, religious objects and artifacts, and modern documentary, fiction and film, we explore Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Daoism as rich historical and living traditions.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI, GER:EC-GlobalCom, GER:DB-Hum, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Mayse, E. (PI)
;
Mross, M. (PI)
RELIGST 6N: Religion in Anime and Manga
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.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Mross, M. (PI)
RELIGST 23X: Democracy and Disagreement (COMM 3, CSRE 31, HISTORY 3C, PHIL 3, POLISCI 31, PSYCH 31A, PUBLPOL 3, SOC 13)
Deep disagreement pervades our democracy, from arguments over issues ranging from foreign policy, free speech, and reparations to college admissions policy and the professionalization of college athletics. Loud voices drown out discussion. Open-mindedness, humility, and critical thinking seem in short supply among politicians, citizens, and other residents alike. Yet constructive disagreement is an essential feature of a democratic society. This class explores and models respectful, civil disagreement. Each week features scholars who disagree - sometimes quite strongly - about major policy issues. Students will have the opportunity to probe those disagreements, understand why they persist, and improve their own understanding of the facts and values that underlie them. The course may be taken for one or two units. The basic, one-unit class is open to all Stanford students, with other members of the Stanford community welcome to audit individual classes. The requirements are to do readin
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Deep disagreement pervades our democracy, from arguments over issues ranging from foreign policy, free speech, and reparations to college admissions policy and the professionalization of college athletics. Loud voices drown out discussion. Open-mindedness, humility, and critical thinking seem in short supply among politicians, citizens, and other residents alike. Yet constructive disagreement is an essential feature of a democratic society. This class explores and models respectful, civil disagreement. Each week features scholars who disagree - sometimes quite strongly - about major policy issues. Students will have the opportunity to probe those disagreements, understand why they persist, and improve their own understanding of the facts and values that underlie them. The course may be taken for one or two units. The basic, one-unit class is open to all Stanford students, with other members of the Stanford community welcome to audit individual classes. The requirements are to do readings in advance of each class, attend, and listen attentively and critically. Because the topics are different, students who took the course in 2023-24 may enroll this year as well. A limited number of undergraduates may take a second unit of credit. Students enrolled in the two unit course will participate in weekly small group discussion seminars about the topics discussed by guest presenters in the course that week. The discussion seminars will be led by peer facilitators, with the goals of developing critical thinking skills and discourse skills, such as active listening and curiosity. The peer facilitators are undergraduate students who have completed training in dialogue facilitation. Each discussion seminar will have a maximum of 10 students. If interest in discussion seminars exceeds the number offered, students will be chosen by lottery.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-2
| Repeatable
4 times
(up to 8 units total)
Instructors:
Brest, P. (PI)
;
Satz, D. (PI)
RELIGST 41: Just Religion: Spirituality, Social Action, and the Climate Crisis (JEWISHST 41)
This course explores how certain religions--Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism--have addressed the ecological crisis, and how they might be drawn upon to address climate change in the future. Preserving the distinctiveness of each religious tradition, this seminar examines: the issue of religion as the cause of the environmental crisis; the resources for ecological responses within each tradition; the emergence of new religious ecologies and ecological theologies; the contribution of world religions to environmental ethics; and the degree to which the environmental crisis has functioned--and will function--as the basis of inter-faith collaboration. We will work to develop a shared vocabulary in environmental humanities, and special attention will be given to the contribution of religion to animal studies, ecofeminism, religion and the science of ecology, and the interplay between faith, scholarship and activism. But this class will be more: students will learn by engag
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This course explores how certain religions--Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism--have addressed the ecological crisis, and how they might be drawn upon to address climate change in the future. Preserving the distinctiveness of each religious tradition, this seminar examines: the issue of religion as the cause of the environmental crisis; the resources for ecological responses within each tradition; the emergence of new religious ecologies and ecological theologies; the contribution of world religions to environmental ethics; and the degree to which the environmental crisis has functioned--and will function--as the basis of inter-faith collaboration. We will work to develop a shared vocabulary in environmental humanities, and special attention will be given to the contribution of religion to animal studies, ecofeminism, religion and the science of ecology, and the interplay between faith, scholarship and activism. But this class will be more: students will learn by engaging in social action. As our readings are put into practice through community campaigns that address real-world problems, my hope is that your knowledge of these sources will be deepened -- and challenged -- by what you learn in your social action campaigns, and that you will develop a more critical and thoughtful understanding of public issues and community change through action and reflection. Thus, this course is an action-oriented, solutions-based, course on community activism and an exercise in civic democracy. Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
Instructors:
Lavole, O. (PI)
;
Mayse, E. (PI)
RELIGST 50: Exploring Buddhism
A comprehensive historical survey of the Buddhist tradition, from its beginnings to the 21st century, covering principal teachings and practices, institutional and social forms, and artistic and iconographical expressions. (Formerly
RELIGST 14.)
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-GlobalCom, GER:DB-Hum, WAY-SI, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Harrison, P. (PI)
RELIGST 116X: The Hebrew Bible: Readings in religion and culture (JEWISHST 116)
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.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Aranoff, D. (PI)
RELIGST 167: Reading the Quran
The first word of the Quran said to have been revealed to the Prophet Muhammad is the imperative: "Read!". This is what we will do in this course, albeit in English translation. Each session will focus on a specific theme (e.g., law, violence, nature, death) and will consist of a close reading of Quranic passages alongside philosophical and historical commentary. Specific emphasis will be placed on reading the Quran in relation to the biblical tradition and the contemporary world.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Abbasi, R. (PI)
RELIGST 196: Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
Undergraduate interns will assist in the publication of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., the authoritative fourteen-volume edition of Dr. King's most historically significant speeches, sermons, correspondence, and other works. Since Mrs. Coretta Scott King sponsored the Project in 1985 and with the help of hundreds of undergraduates, we have published seven volumes of the edition, which have become essential reference works. Research consists of archival, library, internet, and database research; analyzing primary-source materials for use in scholarly writing; and basic processes of scholarly publication. Interns receive individual supervision from an assigned Project staff member. This course may be repeated for credit and students may count up to a total of 2 units toward their major or minor in Religious Studies. Prerequisite: Instructor consent required.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 1-3
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 3 units total)
RELIGST 199: Individual Work
Prerequisite: consent of instructor and department. May be repeated for credit.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-15
| Repeatable
for credit
(up to 99 units total)
Instructors:
Abbasi, R. (PI)
;
Bigelow, A. (PI)
;
Fisher, E. (PI)
...
more instructors for RELIGST 199 »
Instructors:
Abbasi, R. (PI)
;
Bigelow, A. (PI)
;
Fisher, E. (PI)
;
Fonrobert, C. (PI)
;
Gentry, J. (PI)
;
Harrison, P. (PI)
;
Kieschnick, J. (PI)
;
Lum, K. (PI)
;
Martin, L. (PI)
;
Mayse, E. (PI)
;
Mross, M. (PI)
;
Penn, M. (PI)
;
Pitkin, B. (PI)
;
Sockness, B. (PI)
;
Wells-Oghoghomeh, A. (PI)
;
Willburn, S. (PI)
;
Yearley, L. (PI)
RELIGST 235: Sacred Space (RELIGST 335)
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 repositor
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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.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
Instructors:
Bigelow, A. (PI)
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