| source Northwestern (X) |
level |
department RELIGION Religion (X) |
This course will explore contemporary currents in religion and ecology, focusing on how the rise of environmentalism in American culture and the increasing give-and-take between ecological awareness and spiritual experience have become powerful forces in shaping the religious landscape. Particular attention will be paid to "greening" trends within religious institutions in light of tensions between philosophies of anthropocentrism and biocentrism, stewardship and deep ecology, bioregionalism and globalism. We will also examine the spiritual dimensions of ecofeminism, eco-kosher foodways, back-to-the-land movements, sacred agriculture, voluntary simplicity, and ecopsychology. Finally, we will analyze contemporary "ecotopian" and "eco-apocalyptic" visions for what broader insight they may afford us into American religion and culture. This course also counts toward the Environmental Policy and Culture minor at Northwestern.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This course examines major developments, movements, controversies, and figures in American religious history from the end of the Civil War, as the nation struggled to make sense of the carnage of war and to apportion responsibility, to the 1930s, when economic crisis strained social bonds and intimate relations and challenged Americans to rethink the nature of public responsibility. US religion from the Civil War to the economic crisis of the 1930; topics include urban religion; religion and changing technologies; African American religion; religion and politics; the religion of immigrants and migrants.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This course will consist of extensive readings and discussions of translations of the primary texts depicting the doctrine and practice of Zen (Chan) Buddhism in classical Chinese and Japanese culture, with a focus on the philosophical and religious dimensions of these texts. These will include classical Indian Buddhist materials, an introduction to the rise of the Mahayana movement, of which Zen is a part, and close analysis of the Surangama Sutra, the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, the Recorded Sayings of eminent Chan and Zen masters, Koan literature, and meditation manuals.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This course will examine the central issues in early and medieval Christian thought. We will begin with two works that show Christian thinkers struggling with theological issues that arise largely from their own experience: St. Augustine's Confessions and Julian of Norwich's Showings. Then we will examine the teachings on God, Christ, and justification. We will also to some extent ask how modern and contemporary Christian theology has criticized and reinterpreted traditional notions.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
No aspect of the Catholic faith has been so deeply shaped by popular pietyÂÂthe will of the peopleÂÂas the veneration of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Official Catholic teaching holds that devotion directed toward Mary is a way of worshipping Christ, while Protestant polemics have blasted the VirginÂs cult as non-biblical and a form of idolatry. Yet during the Renaissance, much of the mythology and pageantry surrounding Elizabeth I, the ÂVirgin Queen of Protestant England, was based on the cult of Mary. Today, some feminists and religionists see Mariology as Goddess-worship by another name. In the first part of this class we will explore the many manifestations of the VirginÂs cult at the height of its popularity in the Middle Ages. We will investigate not only texts (legends of MaryÂs life, miracle stories, visions, poems, prayers, and plays), but also liturgical celebrations, pilgrimages, hymns, icons, altarpieces, rose windows, and statues of the Virgin. In the second portion we will look at the widely varying modern interpretations of Mary, including the conservative piety surrounding the apparitions of Fatima and Medjugorje, the appropriation of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a symbol of Mexican nationalism, and the place of Mary in liberation theology, feminist spirituality, and archetypal psychology. The course will include art-historical lectures, musical performances, and showings of two very different films: the Catholic devotional classic, Song of Bernadette (1943), and Jean-Luc GodardÂs postmodern masterpiece, Hail Mary (1985).
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
It is generally acknowledged that the Sufi ordersÂi.e., the organizational expression of Islamic mysticismÂhave played a crucial role in the spread of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa. Since the 1960s, however, many observers, both Muslim and non-Muslim, have claimed that the influence of the Sufis is bound to decline, as they are ill prepared to meet the challenges of modernity. The course will examine these and other assessments of the role of Sufism in Africa. After giving an overview of the history and the basic teachings of Sufism in general, the course will deal with the rise of the Sufi orders in sub-Saharan Africa from the 18th century onwards, paying particular attention to their doctrines and modes of organization. Case studies from East and West Africa will guide our inquiry into the social, political and economic background to the success story of the Sufi orders. Finally, the course will explore the encounter between Sufism and modernity, highlighting the relationship between Sufis and reformist Muslims, the alleged decline of the Sufi orders, and the question of whether Sufism is simply an expression of Âpopular Islam.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
What is "theory"? What does it mean to have a theory about something? How are theories helpful? What do theories do? What is "religion"? How do things get excluded or included in this category? What counts as "religious" and why? Who gets to decide? This course is an introduction to foundational theories of religion and to the history of the construction of the category of Âreligion over time. Throughout the term, you will be working on formulating your own theory of religion, which you will articulate and defend in your final seminar paper. In this course, you will gain (as ritual theorist Catherine Bell says) Âthe skills and tools to make sure that very complicated situations and ideas can be put into words, thereby making it possible to have discussions about issues that can only be discussed if there is language for reflexivity, nuance, counter-evidence, and doubt. In the process, you will be asked to make theory translatable to your peers by actively engaging theoretical concept in creative ways. Professor Taylor is out to prove in this course that not only is theory indispensable to our work as religion scholars but itÂs also fun!
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
Present events in the Middle East have served to underscore the importance of understanding Islamic civilization, particularly the manner in which Muslim memories of the past, whether real or invented, serve as a guide to contemporaneous behavior and a means of anticipating the future. This course begins by analyzing an evolving Western scholarship on Islam and how it differs from the outlook of traditional Muslim views as well as that of Muslims encountering Western scholarship first hand. It then moves to an analysis of the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the birth of the early Muslim community; the expansion of Islam and its emergence as a world religion that rivaled the Roman Empire at its height in territory and cultural influence; the establishment and growth of Islam's political order and institutions; the split between the Shiiites and Sunnites; and the development of those religious institutions that still serve as the foundation for current Muslim belief and behavior.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
In this course, we will investigate the basic concepts and gradual evolution of Buddhist traditions from its inception in ancient India two and a half millennia ago. Our focus will be on the historical and social developments of Buddhism, with an eye to the unity as well as diversity of the tradition. There are two sections to the course. In the first, we deal with the primarily Indian manifestations and principles of Buddhism. In the second, we "tour" the various geographic areas to which the tradition has spread and look at the different forms it has taken over the centuries.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This lecture course gives you a sampling of 2000 years of Christianity, interspersing art, architecture, and lived experience with an overview of Christian history Âand a few theological highlights (or, as Dostoyevsky would call them, Eternal Questions). You will be required to visit at least two actual church services (in the Chicago area) which will be the basis for the short paper you will write. In addition, there will be midterm and final exams.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This highly interactive discussion course will explore four great Christian visionary texts imaginatively as well as analytically. You will discuss and perform the Book of Revelation, and portions of DanteÂs Commedia, Jacob BoehmeÂs Threefold Life of Man, and William BlakeÂs Jerusalem. You will also write essays about these rather esoteric texts. No theatrical experience is required but creative curiosity is necessary. Visionary texts have clarity when you enter into them imaginatively.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
In this seminar, we will study a tractate of TalmudÂtractate MakkotÂin its original form (not in English translation). Our class discussion will be conducted in English, but we will spend considerable time discussing texts written in Hebrew. The seminar is limited to students who either are enrolled in second year Hebrew or have background Hebrew reading and comprehension skills that have been certified by the instructor. This course will introduce students to Talmud Criticism by reading the Talmudic discussion of the laws of false testimony in light of prior and contemporaneous Jewish literature on this topic, the historical realities of Rabbinic Culture and questions raised within the lengthy history of Talmudic commentary. Students need not have a background in Talmud to take this class, though students with such background are also encouraged to attend.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This course provides an introduction and overview to political Islam in the contemporary world. We consider the relationship of politics and governance over time in the Islamic tradition, the development of modern states in the postcolonial Muslim world, and Islamism in various historical and contemporary contexts in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America, including secular states, Islamic states, and conflict zones. Particular attention will be devoted to the questions of political Islam and increased transnational interconnections and the importance of new media technologies.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This course is an introduction to the study of religion in sub-Saharan Africa as a contemporary phenomenon as well as the outcome of historical processes. We will examine so-called African traditional religions, spirit possession, Islam, Christianity, and African religions in the diaspora. Through the close reading and discussion of selected articles and monographs and viewing of films/videos, religions in various societies, past and present, will be explored in their complexity and diversity. The course familiarizes students with research methods and identifies empirical and theoretical shifts in the anthropological, comparative, and historical study of religion in Africa.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
Beginning in the 1890s with the papal encyclical Rerum novarum but stretching roots back to the medieval period, modern and contemporary Roman Catholic ecclesiastical teaching and academic reflection have self-consciously and systematically engaged important domestic and international issues. This course will follow the trajectory of official ecclesiastical, academic, and popular Catholic social ethics from the late 19th century to the present in their social and political contexts. Among the trends and topics studied are the living wage movement, the Catholic Worker movement, peace and justice initiatives, liberation ethics, race, immigration, and environment. The transformation of sexuality and gender from Âprivate to Âsocial ethics will also be discussed. This is one of the core courses for the Catholic Studies minor.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This course focuses on the main developments and expressions of Hinduism in India. Following the cultural history of Hinduism in India, we will explore a number of different forms of Hindu religiosity. We will begin our study with an analysis of classical Brahmanism. This section will include a discussion of the pre-Aryan Indus Valley Civilization, the role and function of the Vedic sacrifice, the philosophical and ascetic literature of the Upanishads, and the development of key Hindu ideas about the relationship between the self, community, and cosmology. We will then turn our attention to the development and expression of devotional Hinduism. In this section we will examine the pantheon of gods and goddesses, the epic literature, and bhakti ritual and poetry. At the end of the course, we will discuss the viability of the term "Hinduism" as a category, and examine its role in modern forms of religious nationalism.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This course attempts to answer the questions, What is Judaism? and Who is a Jew? by surveying the broad arc of Jewish history, reviewing the practices and beliefs that have defined and continue to define Judaism as a religion, sampling the vast treasure of Jewish literatures and analyzing the unique social conditions that have made the cultural experience of Jewishness so significant. The class will employ an historical structure to trace the evolutions of Jewish literature, religion and culture through the ages.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
Since the age when the maritime explorers searched for a passage to India and a shorter route to the East, Asia has held a fascination for the West. While the West may have influenced Asia overtly through colonization and commerce, Asia has also influenced the West more subtly through art, literature and religion. This course explores Asian Religions specifically, Hinduism and Buddhismby examining their expression in literature and film. The two main goals of the course are: First, to examine some of the central themes of Hinduism and Buddhism and the ways that they are depicted in classical Asian texts and in some contemporary Asian films. Second, by studying Western literature and films dealing with Asia, the course seeks to understand some of the ways that Asia and its religions have been imagined and interpreted in the West and the influences that they have had on Western thought and culture.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page
This class explores the rich diversity of and the interaction between contemporary Islamic movements in Africa. These include Wahhabism, Salafism, Islamism, Shiism, and also several Sufi organizations. Case studies will be drawn from various areas of Africa, and particular attention will be paid to theoretical and methodological questions.
Score: 12.732181 Details | Listing | Web page