| source University of Toronto, Mississauga (X) |
level |
department History of Religions (X) |
Theories about the variety and nature of religious experience, personal and collective. How religious life is expressed in such forms as myth, narrative and ritual, systems of belief and value, morality and social institutions. [
Score: 11.832913 Details | Listing | Web page
This course studies Jewish religious thought and activity in both ancient and modern times through selected biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish writings. It explores the roots of Jewish religion, the variety of Jewish traditions, and how these traditions worldwide have been transformed throughout history in response to major political and religious crises. [
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This course introduces the diverse history of the Christian religious tradition, from Jewish sect to global movement. How has the essence of Christianity been defined through the centuries? Why have various people from very different times and places, and from very different social strata, become, or remained, Christians? How have Christian beliefs and practices adapted to changing historical circumstances? How have various churches related to ruling powers? These are the main questions we will be focussing on throughout the year. In pursuing answers to these questions, the emphasis will be on how and why Christianity has been shaped by various social and cultural environments throughout its long history, as well as how it has helped to shape society and culture. [
Score: 11.832913 Details | Listing | Web page
The faith and practice of Islam: historical emergence, doctrinal development, and interaction with various world cultures. [
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An historical and thematic introduction to the Hindu religious tradition as embedded in the socio-cultural structures of India. [
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The teachings of the Buddha and the development, spread, and diversification of the Buddhist tradition from southern to northeastern Asia. [
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A survey of the historical development of Zoroastrianism and its canonical texts, doctrines, rituals, and observances from the time of Zoroaster to the present. It also explores the emergence of Zoroastrian diasporic communities in India, Europe, and North America. [
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This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See
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An investigation of the spiritual traditions in Islam, covering the development of Sufism and other esoteric schools of Islamic thought. The historical evolution of devotional traditions, philosophical schools and scriptural hermeneutics are explored. [
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This course explores aesthetic traditions in the Muslim world, including art, architecture, music and literature. Case studies may range from the majestic Taj Mahal to the sonorous voice of Umm Kulthum, from the enthralling worlds of the
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An exploration of the history, thought and institutions of the Shi'i interpretation of Islam. The early Shi'i milieu, Zaidi, Ismaili and Twelver Shi'ism and the development of the Shi'i school of thought from early to modern times will be studied in this course. [
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A general introduction to Indian scholasticism through the organizing rubric of the human ends (purusarthas): pleasure, power, moral order, and liberation. Intellectual traditions covered may include the science of desire, aesthetics, the science of power, analysis of the socio-moral order, hermeneutics, and metaphysics. [
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A survey of Vaisnava, Saiva, and Jaina traditions in the Vijayangara empire of late-medieval South India, this course explores the use of historical data in the study of religion. [
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A study of the Ramayana of Valmiki in translation. Themes include aesthetic, ethical, and socio-political issues in the text, as well as commentary and the rise of Rama worship. [
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A team-taught course which examines the historical emergence of the discipline of religious studies, representative works of the nineteenth- and twentieth- centuries, and the application of theoretical and methodological approaches to one or more religious tradition. (Required of specialists and majors) [
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The Hebrew Bible (i.e. the Old Testament) is not a single book, but an anthology selected from a larger body of ancient Jewish literature reflecting different authors, historical circumstances, literary genres, and religious agendas. This course familiarizes the student with critical study of the Hebrew Bible and related literature of ancient Jewish communities (Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls). Among the topics to be examined are the basic forms of ancient Hebrew literature, the issues of textual development, the process of canonization, and the ancient Near Eastern cultural environment from which this literature emerged. [
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Examination of gender as a category of understanding of religious roles, symbols, rituals, deities, and social relations. Survey of varieties of concepts of gender in recent feminist thought, and application of these concepts to religious life and experience, in particular to the gendered nature of symbols, gender hierarchies and ideologies in religions, and the relationship between religious symbols and concepts of gender, on one hand, and the social relations within societies on the other hand. Examples will be drawn from a variety of religious traditions and groups, contemporary and historical. [
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Ancient Jewish sages understood wisdom as a "skill in living." Wisdom for them was an approach to life, a way of looking at the world, and a quest for meaning and purpose in the relationships with God and fellow human beings. Some of history's most enduring collections of ancient wisdom are included in the Hebrew Bible (i.e., Old Testament) books of Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Wisdom perspectives are also found in the Song of Songs and many of the Psalms. Sometimes joyful and exultant, at other times cynical and fatalistic, the ancient sages wrestled with the ups and downs of life, and grappled with them rationally from the perspective of experience and community wisdom. This course investigates the genre of wisdom literature - its style, language, and historical and theological backgrounds - and explores the pluriformity of the biblical heritage. [
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A detailed study of selected topics of religion in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Topics may have an historical, historiographical or systematic focus and vary from year to year. [
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An examination of the role of ritual in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Individual topics vary from year to year and may focus on ancient rituals such as divination, magic, prayer, sacrifice, temple cult practices, etc. Attention will be paid to their performative structure, function and meaning in ancient society. Please note that this course may be taken only once for credit. [
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Analytic and comparative study of the earliest accounts of Jesus; the "historical Jesus," viewed in the light of Jewish Messianic expectations. [
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The literary form of Paul's letters, the sources of his thought, and the theological view that emerges. [
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Apocalyptic literature, concerned with the expectation of imminent, radical and transforming intervention of the divine into human history, flourished between 200 BCE and 200 CE. This course provides an introduction to the study of the origin, form and function of ancient Jewish and related apocalyptic literature understood in its cultural and literary contexts. [
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The course will focus on the following concepts and their historical developments in the ancient world of religion: heavenly ascent, messiah, revelation, martyrdom, redemptive suffering and divine-human being. Students will read a wide variety of texts from the following collections: Gnostic literature, Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudipigrapha, Apocrypha, Old Testament, New Testament, Desert Fathers, and Rabbinic literature. [
Score: 11.832913 Details | Listing | Web page
A detailed study of selected aspects of Judaism. [
Score: 11.832913 Details | Listing | Web page