Department of Religious Studies
Course Offerings: Spring, 2001
Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto - the essential beliefs, doctrines, institutions, and practices of the major religious traditions (or traditional world views) of Southem and Eastern Asia. Historical backgrounds and development will be surveyed briefly to provide context for the course’s central focus: understanding the distinctive worlds of meaning created and maintained and expressed in these religions. Reading and discussion of representative primary texts in translation will be emphasized in this effort to understand basic attitudes and beliefs. Particular attention will be devoted to answering questions about the persisting influence and vitality of these religious traditions - about the nature and significance of change and about the importance of these great religions in shaping the sense of identity, aspirations, and expectations of their adherents in the face of the technological and ideological challenges of the contemporary world.
Requirements: No prerequisites. Moderate reading load. Optional paper. In-class midterm and final examinations.
This course introduces students to the academic study of religion through consideration of the major religious traditions of the Western world. The religious expressions of the Ancient Near East will set the context of the living and intertwined belief systems of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Special emphasis will be placed on the historical and conceptual development and variety within each of these monotheistic traditions. The modem representations of these religions will be examined comparatively and in relation to the role of religion in modem society and the nature of institutional change and syncretism. There will be two lectures a week, which wiIl make use of film, music, and art. An added dimension will be the use of the extensive resources available on the Internet and the World Wide Web. The course fills a distribution requirement in History and Tradition.
This course will be an exploration of the intersections of literature and religion as we focus on two themes: the Spiritual Quest and the Underworld. Although our emphasis is on the Judeo-Christian tradition, we will also read works that draw on Native American and Eastern religious experience.
Among the works to be studied are Virgil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Divine Comedy, medieval legend of Saint Patrick’s Purgatory, Carlos Castaneda’s Journey to Ixtlan, Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and Maugham’s Razor’s Edge.
Readings will be supplemented by films.
Aristotle defined humans as rational animals. But perhaps it would be more accurate to describe ourselves as interpretive beings. To say that we are always interpreting and this includes the interpretation of specific texts and ideas but also of "existence" itself is to say that we are always coming upon the scene with presuppositions. This course will examine a number of interpretive frameworks and their presuppositions. The course will be organized around central themes including "history," "narrative," "existence," and "culture: high/low," with an emphasis on ethics, whether religious or post-religious. We will focus on some interpretation theories for each area. Readings will include Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Weber, Buber, Barthes, Gadamer, Levinas, Derrida, Foucault, Baudrillard.
Introduction to the role of women in major religious traditions, focusing on the relationship between religion and culture. Attention to views of women in sacred texts, and to recent feminist responses.
One of the great triumphs of the last century and a half has been the rediscovery of the ancient civilizations of what is now the Middle East. Some of these, like ancient Egypt, are household names. Others, though less known, still offer valuable contributions to our understanding of historical, cultural, and religious mileux which eventually gave rise to a number of faiths, including Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
The course will survey the religions of the ancient Middle East, situating each in its historical and socio-cultural context and focusing on the key issues of concem to humanity: creation and birth, the place of humans in the order of the universe, death and destruction. The course will cover not only the better-known cultures from the area, such as Egypt and Mesopotamia, but also some lesser known traditions, such as those of the Hurrians, or of the ancient Mediterranean town of Ugarit. Religion will not be viewed merely as a separate, sealed-off element of the ancient societies, but rather as an element in various cultural contexts - for example, the relationship between religion and magic and the role of religion in politics will be recurring topics in the survey. Background readings for the lectures will be drawn not only from the modem scholarly literature, but also from the worlds of the ancients themselves in the form of their myths, rituals, and liturgies. Course assessment will be based on mid- term and final examinations.
This course will use debates about evolution as a case study for exploring the dynamic relationship between science and religion. From a variety of scientific and religious perspectives, we will consider divergent interpretations of evolutionary biology. Why is evolution so controversial almost 150 years after Darwin’s Origin of species? Does evolution prove atheism? Does evolution change our understanding of the Divine? How do we understand traditional creation stories from diverse religious sources in conversation with evolutionary biology and sociobiology? Can evolutionary theory illuminate our understanding of human culture, including the origins and function of religion? What are contemporary debates within biology about the processes by which evolution occurs and does it matter to religion? How do we understand the contemporary moment in the epic of evolution, at a time when scientific and technological discovery seems to be accelerating? Is human creativity continuous or discontinuous with biological creativity? Is the anthropomorphizing of Earth’s future evolution a fulfillment of a Divine mandate or a blasphemy? With readings from Richard Dawkins, Philip Johnson, Leon Kass, Teilhard de Charden, E.O Wilson, Thomas Berry, Keith Ward, Mary Midgley, John Haught, and others, we will explore historical and contemporary problems in evolution at the dynamic interface between science and religion. There will be a number of guest speakers. Course work includes two short discussion-research papers, a midterm, and a final exam. Classes will include short lectures, student presentations, role-playing, and facilitated discussions. This course will be taught by Dr. Billy Grassie, Executive Director ofthe Philadelphia Center for Religion and Science. Course Web Page: http://www.voicenet.com/~grassie
Introduction to the study of religion through critical examination of contemporary accounts of personal experimentation with a variety of religious perspectives, e.g., the "Journey to the East" of Europeans and Americans, Islam in America, and the efforts by Jews and Christians to find their roots in their respective traditions. Background readings in Huston Smith’s The World Religions.
This course looks at the historical development of Greek and Roman religions from the Bronze Age through the establishment of Christianity as the Empire’s official religion. These traditions offer the opportunity for examining internal dynamics as well as the phenomenon of cultural exchange and give entry into larger questions of how religion is defined. Topics will include gender, ethnicity, urbanization, death and dying, and philosophy. All texts will be in translation.
This course is designed to discover Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish ethics, their contribution to the values and practices of the citizenry, as they relate in creative tension, competitive values, or conflicts of interest with contemporary medical, legal, educational, and social questions bearing upon such personal, interpersonal, and social issues as sex, abortion, euthanasia, marriage, divorce, child abuse, civil rights, care óf the dying, fetal research, test tube babies, political conscience, war and peace. Students will be able to work through their own understanding of a critical issue through the development of a problem-oriented paper bearing down upon the perspectives and teachings of Jewish ethics in relation to an ethical problem, or an individual Judeo-Christian ethicist in relation to a moral problem.
"Wisdom" is a familiar female personification in both Judaism and Christianity, in biblical and extra-biblical materials. This course explores these connections and asks questions about their roles in the development of these religious traditions. What does it mean for "Lady Wisdom" to be described as the consort of God from the beginning? How does this Wisdom imagery play into the presentation of Jesus as God's "Word"? Or of the "Holy Spirit" as his mother? How do "Wisdom Literature" and related genres function in the development of scriptural and related authoritative writings and traditions?
Sigrid Peterson is completing a dissertation in Religious Studies, and has a previous doctorate in Psychology. This is the second time she has taught Lady Wisdom, Wisdom Personified: the course web page is at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rs113/
This course will survey Jewish mysticism from its earliest expressions in the Bible to the modern Hasidic movement. Topics to be discussed include the nature of the mystical experience, the relationship between magic and mysticism, the similarities between Kabbalistic hermeneutics and modern literary theory, and sexual symbolism.
A comprehensive exploration of the Indian conceptions of Karma and rebirth and their roles and application in Indian history, culture, and religion.
An examination of the fundamentals of Buddhist thought and practice. In addition to reading and discussing selected primary Buddhist sources (in English translation), we shall review the history and development of Buddhism from its Indian origin through its spread to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. Primary sources and historical materials will be supplemented by some ethnographic readings dealing with the actualities of Buddhist life in contemporary Southeast and East Asia. This course provides basic background for more advanced courses on Buddhism.
Taking note of the fact that central teachings and core problems of Buddhism have been of interest to film directors and scriptwriters both in Asia and in the West this course critically examines that phenomenon. Questions about reality, about the status of the self, about eros and desire, about the finality of death or possibility of multiple lives, about time and nature, about violence, and about religion and aesthetics have all been important within the Buddhist tradition. Whether or not screenwriters and directors have captured or distorted the usual Buddhist views on these matters will receive close scrutiny. Contemporary Western and Asian critics, especially those attentive to cinema, will be read and evaluated, not only for what they say about film but also about religion, about society, and about Asia and the West. The interesting presence of Buddhist themes in Japanese cinema will also be examined.
This course will survey the diversity of Jewish music. Since the Jewish people have been dispersed around the world, and investigation of the music of this tradition affords the opportunity to view music of a similar religion in a variety of cultural settings. Issues to be raised include: defining "Jewish Music" and "Jewish Culture," investigating tradition and transmission, and exploring change and innovation. The music of religious practices and secular art forms will provide the basis for viewing Jewish music both in the past and in the present. Music from both Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions will be considered. Ashkenazic music to be covered will include: European synagogue music, cantorial, klezmer, Yiddish, and popular music. Sephardic music will be discussed through comparing Moroccan, Syrian, Yemenite, Turkish, and Spanish and Portuguese liturgical, para-liturgical and popular musical practices. The course will conclude with an investigation of the variety of popular and artistic traditions in Israel. Audio and video recorded materials will be used to demonstrate the music and situate it within a cultural setting.
In this course we will study the literary structure of the Haggadah, and its historical development from the Bible down to contemporary times. Readings will include, in addition to the Haggadah itself, selections from the Mishnah, the Tosefta, the Two Talmuds, medieval Geniza fragments and commentaries on the Haggadah, and modem revisions of the traditional text. We will also consider the history of the Haggadah as a book, and in particular the role that artistic illustration has played in its career as a book.
No previous background in Rabbinic literature is required, nor is any particular liking for matzah. In addition to studying the history of this fascinating text and its connection to Jewish historical experience, this course will also use the Haggadah and other texts we study as a basis for introducing students to the historical-critical study of classical Jewish literature.
The relationship between religion and society in the Middle East is significantly different from other parts of the world, and especially from the West. It is perhaps the single most significant factor that distinguished the Middle East from other parts ofthe world. The study of this relationship is therefore an excellent way to enter the study of the Middle East in general. Since it is a relationship which anthropology specializes in, it is a particularly useful anthropological gateway to religion.
This course is an introduction to the use of computers in the humanities. The focus will be upon consideration of issues and techniques involved in developing quality resources for use in the student's field of study. A major project will be the creation of a web site related to the student's major. The class will utilize a combination of lectures, discussion, presentations and practical lab experience. Techniques will include the basics of HTML (for the development of humanities web pages), graphics, and a brief introduction to simple programming concepts. The course will also consider methodological issues such as the movement from text to multimedia, ethical/legal problems, and the phenomenon of "cybercu1ture."
Course web page: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rs302
Required for honors majors. See department for section numbers.
The English language, including contemporary discourse, is full of quotations from and allusions to biblical passages and images. The aim of this course is to raise consciousness by identification of such phenomena and discovery of the biblical settings from which they derive. The class will explore some of the ways in which such language and imagery has been passed along in the everyday lives of religious communities, by examining local records that might reveal the extent to which recent generations have been exposed to biblical themes (e.g. in sermon titles, hymns, special events and reports, etc.). Students will examine current and archival evidence and present research reports on their findings. This will usually include direct contact with at least one religious community in West Philadelphia, to examine the use of biblical language/symbols there.
An explication de texte of Aristotle’s Treatise on Rhetoric in the context of his total thought, especially in relation, on the one hand, to the Organon and, on the other hand, to the Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and Poetics. Close reading in class, plus research paper. No foreign language requirement.
Please obtain section numbers from the department office or from the faculty member with whom you will be working.
A study of the various ways of interpreting religion as a phenomenon in human life. Analysis of the presuppositions involved in psychological, sociological, and phenomenological approaches. Authors include James, Weber, Freud, Otto, Eliade, and contemporary writers offering historical, anthropological and philosophical perspectives.
This course will be an in-depth investigation of life and culture in the Netherlands (modern Holland, Belgium, Northern France) at the eve ofthe Middle Ages, considering the political, social, religious, and artistic developments of this culture. Lectures will be divided between the three professors, who hail from the departments of Religious Studies, History of Art, and History. Topics covered will include the political development ofthe Kingdom of Burgundy, Huizinga’s thesis of "the waning of the Middle Ages," Beguine spirituality and mysticism, the Devotio Moderna, and the reflection of these cultural currents in art. There are no prerequisites, but a knowledge of a European foreign language will be helpful. Course requirements will include opportunities for independent research.
Christianity and Judaism are often called "Biblical religions" because they are believed to be founded upon the Bible. But the truth of the matter is that it was less the Bible itself than the particular ways in which the Bible was read and interpreted by Christians and Jews that shaped the development of these two religions and that also marked the difference between them. So, too, ancient Biblical interpretation Jewish and Christian laid the groundwork for and developed virtually all the techniques and methods that have dominated literary criticism and hermeneutics (the science of interpretation) since then. The purpose of this course is to study some of the more important ways in which the Bible was interpreted by Jews and Christians before the modern period, and particularly in the first six centuries of the Common Era. We will make a concerted effort to view these interpretive approaches not only historically but also through the lens of contemporary critical and hermeneutical theory in order to examine their contemporary relevance to literary interpretation and the use that some modern literary theorists (e.g. Bloom, Kermode, Derrida, Todorov) have made of these ancient exegetes and their methods. All readings are in English translation, and will include selections from Philo of Alexandria, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Rabbinic midrash, the New Testament and early Church Fathers, Gnostic writings, Origen, and Augustine. No previous familiarity with Biblical scholarship is required, although some Familiarity with the Bible itself would be helpful.
Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Jewish history. The instructors are visiting scholars at the Center for Judaic Studies.
Topic for Section 401: 20th Century Jewish Thought
Topic for Section 402: Jewish Culture in Europe and America
Paul thought of himself as Jewish. Others have credited/blamed him as the real founder of Christianity! The purpose of this course is to learn how to understand a noted author/thinker of the past on his own terms and in relationship to his own world. The specific subject matter is PAUL, a Jewish adherent and spokesman for the "Jesus movement," in the Greco-Roman world during the first century of the Common Era (CE). The larger historical context is Judaism and Christianity in the first two centuries CE.
This is a seminar. Intelligent class participation will be important. Each student will also prepare at least one carefully researched written paper of about 3000-4500 words based mainly on information culled from ancient sources by or about PAUL, and at the end of the course each student will participate in an oral evaluatory encounter (approximately 30 minutes) with the teacher, dealing with everything covered in the course. Access to the Internet is crucial.
Although many have attributed modern medicine's success to its liberation from the ancient association of healing with religion, recent research has shown that spirituality (the personal aspect of the sacred) and religion (the institutional forms of spiritual belief and practice) and are powerful influences in health decision-making and that most American patients want spiritual matters discussed with their medical care. Additional research has documented effects of spiritual belief and religious practice on physical and mental health, ranging from general effects of religiosity on overall health and longevity to double-blind studies of intercessory prayer. At the same time critics argue that the research is flawed and that clinical involvement in religious matters is unethical. This topic, once marginal, now appears in the pages of major medical journals and has drawn the attention of the National Institutes of Health.
This course will examine a variety of spiritual traditions in relation to health, including major world religions (Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism) and those groups with highly specific health teaching such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science and shamanic traditions. Representatives of various religious groups will visit the class, and students will do term projects that include interviews with believers and health professionals. Competing points of view will be considered in ethical, medical and cultural terms.
This course will offer students the opportunity to critically examine representative complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) health beliefs and practices found within the United States and their cultural position in American society. These will range from cosmopolitan systems such as chiropractic and traditional Chinese medicine to folk medicine. Theh philosophical theoretical conventional, Western medicine and to one another. This will include a description and discussion of current models for understanding health behavior.
Ethical issues and practical applications of this knowledge will also be discussed. The materials and methods of the course will draw on the literatures of the social sciences, history, philosophy, and the allied health professions and medicine.
A study of methods that have been used to compare Judaism and Christianity and of possible venues for future inquiries. Focusing on case studies from the beginnings of Christianity until the High Middle Ages, we will read theoretical works on methods of comparison together with research on specific historical examples. We will look at the development of liturgy, rituals, commentaries and understandings of social hierarchies in Jewish and Christian society. The examination of ideas as well as social practices will enable sharper formulations of the possibilities of comparision between the societies. A main focus of our inquiry will be the ways in which comparison can be made between a majority culture and a minority culture. Although the focus of the course will be Judaism and Christianity and all the case studies will be from this context, the implications of the discussion should be applicable to any comparative study of religion, and some of the methodological studies will stem from other traditions.
This course is a graduate level of Religious Studies 193. See Religious Studies 193 for course description.
Theories of myth are the center of modern and post-modern, structural and post-structural thought. Myth has served as a vehicle and a metaphor for the formulation of a broad range of modern theories. In this course we will examine the theoretical foundations of the these approaches to myth focusing on early thinkers such as Vico, and concluding with modern twentieth century scholars in several disciplines that make myth the central idea of their studies.
This course focuses on social and cultural processes in those parts of the Middle East in which the majority of the population is Muslim (whether or not the respective national government is explicitly styled "Islamic Republic"). It deals with the basic conditions of everyday life, and explores ideas and institutions that may distinguish these Middle Eastern societies from other parts of the world. Finally, it investigates how Islamic ways of thinking are reflected differently in the day-to-day life of culturally different communities in various parts of the Middle EAst from Morocco to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Selected recent anthropological monographs will be discussed.
Topic: Papyrology, Textual Criticism
Permission of instructor is required.
Online course materials can be accessed through the instructor's home page.
Please obtain section numbers from the department or from the faculty member with whom you will be working.
Please note: Many of these offerings are cross-listed with other departments. Please consult the SAS Spring 2001 Course Roster for cross-listings.
