CLWR 181: Introduction to Religion
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Lisa Battaglia, Gene Blocker, Elizabeth Collins, Loren Lybarger
Course Schedule: Fall 2008
What is “religion”? How do we study it?What does it mean to be “religious”?Is religion universal?Is religion everywhere religion in the same way?Though the answers may seem obvious, scholars of religion do not readily agree on a definition of religion, much less comprehensive theories about religion.In this course, we will try to get a handle on these questions by exploring the relationship between religion and a range of other social factors and phenomena: community, identity, colonial domination, ethnicity, gender, politics, and economics. Our approach will be inductive: we will draw our conclusions from actual case studies (historical accounts, ethnographies, cultural critiques, films, websites).
CLWR 221: Difficult Dialogues: Religious Beliefs
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Steve Hays
Course Schedule: Fall 2008
Introduction to serious, informed discussion of basic intellectual issues in religious belief.
CLWR 222: Religion, Gender, Sexuality
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Elizabeth Collins
Course Schedule: Fall 2008
Religion, Gender, and Sexuality promotes dialogue on conflicts made divisive because of significant differences involving religious beliefs and assumptions about gender and sexuality. The course will emphasize the search for understanding of others whose beliefs are rooted in different religious or secular humanist traditions. Students are asked to engage in disciplined, self-critical thinking. The course draws on methods and content from intellectual and religious history, the philosophy of religions, and contemporary religious dialogue.
CLWR 269B: Religion, Gender and Sexuality
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Elizabeth Collins
Course Schedule:
Religion, Gender, and Sexuality promotes dialogue on conflicts made divisive because of significant differences involving religious beliefs and assumptions about gender and sexuality. The course will emphasize the search for understanding of others whose beliefs are rooted in different religious or secular humanist traditions. Students are asked to engage in disciplined, self-critical thinking. The course draws on methods and content from intellectual and religious history, the philosophy of religions, and contemporary religious dialogue.
CLWR 301: Old Testament
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): George Weckman
Course Schedule:
Survey of the writings of the Hebrew Bible and also of ancient Greek Jewish writings which are included in some Christian Bibles. Emphasis is given to the history of ideas and practices in ancient Israel and Judah, and to the interpretation of these texts by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Requirements: At least five exegetical commentaries, two midterm exams, and a final exam or research paper.
CLWR 302: New Testament
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): George Weckman
Course Schedule:
This course surveys the writings in the New Testament plus selected early Christian texts which were not included in the canonical collection, e.g. the Gospel of Thomas. Review of historical, literary, ritual, moral, and theological issues in these books, including interpretations by Muslims and various Christian groups. Exegetical reports, two mid-term exams, and a final exam or research paper.
CLWR 305: Asceticism: Virgins, Monks, and Hermits
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Jackie Maxwell
Course Schedule:
This course will examine the ideas and practices of self-denial in Greek and Roman society, as well as Medieval Europe. Asceticism (the rejection of material comforts, sexuality, and/or human society) as a means of reaching higher truth appears in a range of texts, including Greek and Roman philosophical works, the Jewish community of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and early and medieval Christian saints’ lives. We will try to understand the connections among these different cultures, the reasons why this worldview became so important during the Roman Empire, and the extent to which it left its mark on later religious and philosophical traditions. The class will include an oerview of contemporary and worldwide ascetic ideas and practices.
CLWR 306: Religion and Violence
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Jackie Maxwell
Course Schedule:
This course will examine the problem of religious violence by drawing case studies from different religious traditions, primarily Greco-Roman paganism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It should be noted that members of all of these religions will be studied as both the victims and the perpetrators of religious violence at different points in history. Major themes of the course include martyrdom, forced conversions, conflicts over sacred space, and notions of holy war. Most of the class will focus on the ancient and medieval periods, which were crucial in the development of the major Western and Middle Eastern religions.
CLWR 311/511: Islam
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Loren Lybarger
Course Schedule: Fall 2008
This course introduces Islam as a religious and cultural system. Topics include pre-Islamic Arabia, the Prophet Muhammad and the first Muslims, the Qur’an and shari’a, basic ritual practices, mysticism, theology and philosophy, Shi’ism, the visual and musical arts, women, modernism, fundamentalism, and Islam in the USA. The course draws on historical, sociological, anthropological, and literary-critical approaches and utilizes a range of primary and secondary material to examine the development of Islamic religious practices and ideals as they interact with larger social and cultural processes. While we will be concerned to understand how practitioners of Islam interpret their beliefs and actions, we will also place “insider” perspectives in a broader social and historical context. Religion is a segment of culture, and thus undertake our inquiry into Islam in the spirit of the Quranic injunction that “humanity consider from what it is created”.
CLWR 321/521: Hinduism
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Elizabeth Collins
Course Schedule:
This course provides a survey of Hinduism from its Vedic and indigenous roots to its medieval and modern forms in philosophical works, literature, rituals, the arts, and political movements.We will explore key philosophical ideas and religious texts, and look at diverse examples of Hindu deities from the Hindu pantheon. Graduate students will meet an extra hour and write a research paper.
CLWR 331/531: Introduction to Buddhism
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Lisa Battaglia, Elizabeth Collins
Course Schedule: Fall 2008
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a survey of Buddhist beliefs, texts, and practices, as well as to introduce them to some important questions raised and addressed in the critical study of religion. An important focus of the class will be on the spread and development of Buddhism across Asia and beyond, with an eye toward examining how core Buddhist beliefs and practices have taken shape in specific places and in particular historical contexts. This course will survey the history and diversity of Buddhist traditions, from the lifetime of the Buddha in fifth century BCE India to contemporary Buddhist communities in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and North America.
CLWR 341/541: Taoism
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Gene Blocker
Course Schedule:
How should we (in the West) classify and treat Taoism? Is it a religion? A philosophy? A science? All of the above, or none of the above? In this class we will examine the more religious aspects of this ancient indigenous Chinese system of thought and practice, tracing its historical development from Laozi in the Third Century B.C.E. to its full flowering in the late Tang Dynasty (Ninth Century).
CLWR 361: American Religions
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): George Weckman
Course Schedule:
This course is a survey of the many religions and religious groups in the United States. The ideas, practices, norms, and social structures of religions are described and analyzed. Notice is taken of the history and background of American religions in various immigrant groups and their roots or parallels elsewhere. Attention is given to the distinctive ways in which North Americans are religious and how foreign traditions change in this environment. Note is also taken of the phenomenon of civil or national religiosity. Some contemporary issues are discussed.
CLWR 385J: Writing about Religion
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): George Weckman
Course Schedule:
Fulfills Junior-level Tier I writing requirement. Weekly writing projects in exegesis, description, analysis, and research on religious ideas, texts, and rituals.
CLWR 387: Theories of Religion
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Elizabeth Collins
Course Schedule:
This course introduces students to the major theories of religion, the Hermeneutics of Suspicion, the Hermeneutics of the Sacred, the Sociology of Religion, Historical Approaches to the Study of Religion, and the Feminist Critique.
Prerequisite: Junior, or by permission.
CLWR 412/512: Political Islam
4 credit hours
Instructor(s):Loren Lybarger
Course Schedule:
Why have some Muslims turned to religion as a source for political identity in the contemporary world? Which individuals and groups have embraced this religio-political renewal, and why have they done so?What forms have the renewal movements taken?In what directions have they developed? This course addresses these questions by exploring a range of case studies in different national/cultural context—Palestine, Lebanon, Europe—as well as broader post-Islamist transnational developments.Through the case studies, the course probes what we mean by “political Islam” and what its implications are for the putative West and a wider globalized modernity.
CLWR 442/542: Confucianism
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Gene Blocker
Course Schedule:
What is Confucianism? Is it a religion? A philosophy? None of the above? In this class, we will look at the historical development of Confucianism, beginning with Confucius in the 6th century BCE and continuing today in the ongoing attempt to reinterpret Confucianism to better accommodate the Western world.
CLWR 471/571: African Religions
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Gene Blocker
Course Schedule:
Should traditional (i.e., pre-Colonial) African thought systems be classified and treated as religion, philosophy, or science as these terms are understood in the Western tradition? What is a religion? Is there a single indigenous religion throughout the African continent? In this class we will raise these questions as we examine widespread practices and beliefs of pre-Colonial, sub-Saharan Africa, and look to see how such beliefs and practices are being woven into the fabric of modern Africa.
CLWR 481/581: Myth and Symbolism
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Elizabeth Collins
Course Schedule:
Characteristic expressions of thought in primitive societies and theories concerning primitive mentality.
CLWR 482/582: Thinking about Death
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): George Weckman
Course Schedule:
This course surveys the myths, doctrines, and rituals involving death, the dead, and afterlife in the major world religions and sacred texts.
CLWR 483/583: Contemporary Religious Thought
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Elizabeth Collins
Course Schedule: Fall 2008
Since the end of World War II new movements have arisen in every major religious tradition. This resurgence of religion as a political and social force responds to a widespread and profound concern at the failure of modernity and secular nationalism to bring prosperity. Many of these movements have been called fundamentalist, some are militant and justify the use of violence. Other movements have developed in response to the new fundamentalisms. We will see how religious leaders have turned to the sacred texts of their traditions to find guidance in resisting the impact of a secular economic world order. This course will have an international focus. Students will do a research paper on a major thinker or contemporary movement in one of the great world religious traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
CLWR 484: Women and Religion
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Lisa Battaglia
Course Schedule:
This course examines images and roles of women in major world religious traditions. We will study religious ideology and its role in shaping social life, the many ways in which women exercise authority in religious traditions, the ways in which women have been innovative in those traditions, and the ways in which women have reinterpreted and re-appropriated patriarchal texts and structures. Students will be able apply the insights gained in this examination to a project of their own choosing, which should result in a research paper. Students will also have opportunities to increase their understanding of their own religious choices and of religious phenomena more generally. Prerequisite: 3 courses in CLWR.
CLWR 485: Religious Experience: an Interdisciplinary Approach
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Loren Lybarger
Course Schedule:
Why have Muslims turned to religion as a source for political identity? What types of individuals and groups have embraced this religio-political renewal? In what directions have the renewal movements developed? What concepts and concerns animate this revitalization? This course addresses these questions by exploring the historical and intellectual background of Islamist revival relative to specific case studies (e.g. the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, al-Qa’ida, the Taliban).
CLWR 531: Expressions of Buddhism in Southeast Asia
4 credit hours
Instructor(s): Elizabeth Collins
Course Schedule: