RELIGST 231X: Learning Religion: How People Acquire Religious Commitments (AMSTUD 231X, EDUC 231, JEWISHST 291X)
This course will examine how people learn religion outside of school, and in conversation with popular cultural texts and practices. Taking a broad social-constructivist approach to the variety of ways people learn, this course will explore how people assemble ideas about faith, identity, community, and practice, and how those ideas inform individual, communal and global notions of religion. Much of this work takes place in formal educational environments including missionary and parochial schools, Muslim madrasas or Jewish yeshivot. However, even more takes place outside of school, as people develop skills and strategies in conversation with broader social trends. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to questions that lie at the intersection of religion, popular culture, and education. May be repeat for credit.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 8 units total)
Instructors:
Kelman, A. (PI)
RELIGST 251: Readings in Indian Buddhist Texts (RELIGST 351)
(Graduate students register for 351.) Introduction to Buddhist literature through reading original texts in Sanskrit. Prerequisite: Sanskrit. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
| Repeatable
5 times
(up to 25 units total)
Instructors:
Harrison, P. (PI)
RELIGST 262: Sex and the Early Church (CLASSICS 262, FEMGEN 262, RELIGST 362)
Sex and the Early Church examines the ways first- through sixth-century Christians addressed questions regarding human sexuality. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between sexuality and issues of gender, culture, power, and resistance. We will read a Roman gynecological manual, an ancient dating guide, the world's first harlequin romance novels, ancient pornography, early Christian martyrdom accounts, stories of female and male saints, instructions for how to best battle demons, visionary accounts, and monastic rules. These will be supplemented by modern scholarship in classics, early Christian studies, gender studies, queer studies, and the history of sexuality. The purpose of our exploration is not simply to better understand ancient views of gender and sexuality. Rather, this investigation of a society whose sexual system often seems so surprising aims to denaturalize many of our own assumptions concerning gender and sexuality. In the process, we will also examine the ways these first centuries of what eventually became the world's largest religious tradition has profoundly affected the sexual norms of our own time. The seminar assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, the bible, or ancient history.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Chaves, K. (PI)
;
Penn, M. (PI)
RELIGST 264: Hindu Tantra (RELIGST 364)
What is Tantra? Tantric forms of ritual and philosophy have been integral to the practice of Hinduism for most of its history. Tantra has provided initiates with a spiritual technology for embodying the divine and transcending the cycle of rebirth; on a social and political level, Tantra has mediated the institutions of Hindu kingship and appealed to a diverse population of initiates. This course covers a number of influential and well-documented Hindu tantric traditions, exploring several prominent features of Tantric religion as they develop historically, including: tantric ritual practice (core technologies of the subtle body, mantras, ma, alas, etc., along with the more notorious elements of sex and transgression), theology and philosophical speculation, as well as Tantra's relationship to the outside world and state power.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Fisher, E. (PI)
RELIGST 297: Senior Essay/Honors Essay Research
Guided by faculty adviser. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor and department.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 3-5
| Repeatable
for credit
RELIGST 304A: Theories and Methods
Required of graduate students in Religious Studies. Approaches to the study of religion. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. May be repeat for credit.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 8 units total)
Instructors:
Fonrobert, C. (PI)
RELIGST 319: Readings in Hindu Texts
Readings in Hindu texts in Sanskrit. Texts will be selected based on student interest. Prerequisite: Sanskrit.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
Instructors:
Fisher, E. (PI)
RELIGST 351: Readings in Indian Buddhist Texts (RELIGST 251)
(Graduate students register for 351.) Introduction to Buddhist literature through reading original texts in Sanskrit. Prerequisite: Sanskrit. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-5
| Repeatable
5 times
(up to 25 units total)
Instructors:
Harrison, P. (PI)
RELIGST 362: Sex and the Early Church (CLASSICS 262, FEMGEN 262, RELIGST 262)
Sex and the Early Church examines the ways first- through sixth-century Christians addressed questions regarding human sexuality. We will pay particular attention to the relationship between sexuality and issues of gender, culture, power, and resistance. We will read a Roman gynecological manual, an ancient dating guide, the world's first harlequin romance novels, ancient pornography, early Christian martyrdom accounts, stories of female and male saints, instructions for how to best battle demons, visionary accounts, and monastic rules. These will be supplemented by modern scholarship in classics, early Christian studies, gender studies, queer studies, and the history of sexuality. The purpose of our exploration is not simply to better understand ancient views of gender and sexuality. Rather, this investigation of a society whose sexual system often seems so surprising aims to denaturalize many of our own assumptions concerning gender and sexuality. In the process, we will also examine the ways these first centuries of what eventually became the world's largest religious tradition has profoundly affected the sexual norms of our own time. The seminar assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, the bible, or ancient history.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Penn, M. (PI)
RELIGST 364: Hindu Tantra (RELIGST 264)
What is Tantra? Tantric forms of ritual and philosophy have been integral to the practice of Hinduism for most of its history. Tantra has provided initiates with a spiritual technology for embodying the divine and transcending the cycle of rebirth; on a social and political level, Tantra has mediated the institutions of Hindu kingship and appealed to a diverse population of initiates. This course covers a number of influential and well-documented Hindu tantric traditions, exploring several prominent features of Tantric religion as they develop historically, including: tantric ritual practice (core technologies of the subtle body, mantras, ma, alas, etc., along with the more notorious elements of sex and transgression), theology and philosophical speculation, as well as Tantra's relationship to the outside world and state power.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Fisher, E. (PI)
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