2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024
Browse
by subject...
    Schedule
view...
 

681 - 690 of 775 results for: all courses

RELIGST 13Q: Mystical Journeys: Beyond Knowing and Reason

What makes a mystic a mystic? This question has many sides. Why do we call someone a mystic? Is there such a thing as mystical experience? Do experiences make a mystic? Do beliefs? Practices? Many religious traditions have records of visionaries whose lives and writings open windows on the more hidden and aspirational aspects of belief and practice. These writings also take many forms: poems, letters, teachings, and accounts of visions, which we will encounter in the course of the quarter. Readings for the course will cover a cross-section of texts taken from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Native American sources.
Last offered: Winter 2015 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP, Writing 2

RELIGST 26: The Bible and its Interpreters

Introduction to major stories, figures, and themes of the Christian Bible and their retellings in theological writing, art, literature, film, and music throughout the ages.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: Pitkin, B. (PI)

RELIGST 31: The Religious Life of Things

Temples, prayer beads, icons, robes, books, relics, candles and incense, scarves and hats, sacred food and holy water; objects of all sorts play a prominent role in all religions, evoking a wide range of emotional responses, from reverence, solace and even ecstasy, to fear, hostility and violence. What is it about these things that makes them so powerful? Is it beliefs and doctrines that inspire particular attitudes towards certain objects, or is it the other way around? Many see a tension or even contradiction between religion and material pursuits and argue that the true religious life is a life without things. But is such a life even possible? This course adopts a comparative approach, drawing on a variety of traditions to examine the place of images, food, clothing, ritual objects, architecture and relics in religious thought and practice. Materials for the course include scholarship, scripture, images and at least one museum visit.
Last offered: Winter 2017 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP

RELIGST 32: Spiritualism and the Occult

This course will examine the popular mystical practices of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when millions of people in Europe and America described themselves as spiritualists and shared a recognizable set of practices. These served as a platform for spiritual immediacy guided by the central questions: What is the relationship between seen and unseen? How can the living communicate with the dead? What technologies apply to our inner lives?
Terms: Aut | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
Instructors: Willburn, S. (PI)

RELIGST 32S: Buddhism in America (ASNAMST 32, CSRE 32H)

This course examines the transmission, growth, and transformation of Buddhism in America from the nineteenth century to the present day. We will treat American Buddhism as a distinct regional variety of Buddhism with its own history, characteristics, and debates. Through select readings, films, discussions, and research, students will explore the main events and issues that have shaped the American encounter with Buddhism. We will learn the history of Buddhism in the United States, major traditions of American Buddhism, and contemporary issues and debates. Topics covered will include Orientalism, gender, race, science and meditation, and Buddhism in classrooms and prisons.
Terms: Sum | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP

RELIGST 36: Philosophy of Religion (PHIL 77S)

(Formerly RELIGST 62S) Explores fundamental questions about the existence of God, free will and determinism, faith and reason, through traditional philosophical texts. Course is divided into four sections: first asks what is religion; second surveys the western philosophical tradition from Boethius through Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Kierkegaard regarding the foundation for theist beliefs; third investigates questions mystical experience raises through both western and Buddhist materials; and fourth takes up the ethics of belief, what we have a right to believe, through the Clifford and James debate and the opposing stances of Camus and Pascal.
Last offered: Autumn 2014 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

RELIGST 53: Exploring Jewish Spirituality (JEWISHST 53)

It was once accepted as fact that Judaism is a purely rational religion devoid of any authentic mystical tradition. But the past century of scholarship has reversed this claim, demonstrating that the spiritual life has been integral to Judaism's vital heart since ancient times. This yearning for a direct immediate experience of God's Presence, a longing to grasp the mysteries of the human soul and know the inner dynamics of the Divine realm, has taken on many different forms across the centuries. This course will introduce students to the major texts and core ideas of Jewish mysticism and spirituality, tracking their development from the Hebrew Bible to the present day. Close attention will be paid to the sources¿ historical context, and we will also engage with broader methodological questions regarding the academic study of religion and the comparative approach to mysticism.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors: Mayse, E. (PI)

RELIGST 55: Exploring Zen Buddhism

This course is an introduction to Chan/Zen Buddhism. We will study the historical and doctrinal development of this tradition in China and Japan and examine various facets of Zen, such as the philosophy, practices, rituals, culture, and institution. For this aim, we will read and discuss classical Zen texts in translation and important secondary literature. This course will further feature a fieldtrip to a local Zen center.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP

RELIGST 61: Exploring Islam

This course introduces some of the most important features of the Islamic religious tradition. It explores the different ways in which Muslims have interpreted and practiced their religion. The main subjects of discussion --- including the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur¿an, law, ritual, mysticism, theology, politics, and art --- will be considered with reference to their proper historical contexts. Some of the topics covered include abortion, gender, rebellion and violence, and the visual vocabulary of paintings. Students will be exposed to important theories and methods in the academic study of religion. No prior knowledge is required.
Last offered: Autumn 2015 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP

RELIGST 71: Jews and Christians: Conflict and Coexistence (JEWISHST 71)

The relationship between Judaism and Christianity has had a long a controversial history. Christianity originated as a dissident Jewish sect but eventually evolved into an independent religion, with only tenuous ties to its Jewish past and present. Since the Holocaust, Jews and Christians have begun the serious work of forging more meaningful relationships with each other. This course explores the most significant moments that have shaped the relationship between Judaism and Christianity and examines some of the theological complexities imbedded in these traditions, while searching constructive ways of situating oneself amidst such complexities.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Filter Results:
term offered
updating results...
teaching presence
updating results...
number of units
updating results...
time offered
updating results...
days
updating results...
UG Requirements (GERs)
updating results...
component
updating results...
career
updating results...
© Stanford University | Terms of Use | Copyright Complaints