RELI W4731x. Reason and Revelation: Pascal. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission

This course will be devoted to a close reading of Pascal's enigmatic Pensees and related texts. We will be particularly concerned to understand the role that Pascal's critique of human reason plays in shaping his conception of faith in general, and Christian faith in particular.

RELI W4802x. The Church and the Jews. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010.

Tensions have been a constant and integral aspect of Christian-Jewish relations over the course of two millennia. This course will examine the underlying theological issues, the changing balance of power between the two groups, and the political, social and economic developments that have shaped those relations. It will focus on a limited set of critical junctures, and restrict itself to the orbit of Western Christendom.

RELI 107x. The History of Christianity I: The Church of the First Millennium. 2 pts.

An introductory survey of life and thought in the ancient and early medieval church from the Gnostic crisis to the parting of the Greek and Latin churches.

RELI 108y. The History of Christianity II: Intro to Western European Church History. 2 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010.

This course offers an introduction to the history of the Christian Church in the Western European tradition between the rise of the medieval Church in the West c. 1000 and the twentieth century. It includes some discussion of the high and late middle ages, the Reformation and Confessional era, the Enlightenment, the era of Romanticism, the movements of Higher Criticism and Liberalism, and the modern Church. It deliberately excludes the history of the churches in North America, which is addressed in CH 109.

RELI 303. The Construction of the Self: Theology and Autobiography in Early Christian and Byzantine Literature. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Christian autobiography as a mode of theological inquiry and apologetic. Special reference to works available in modern English translation: Gregory Nazianzen's poem De Vita Sua, Augustine of Hippo's The Confessions, Symeon the New Theologian's Hymns of Divine Love and his Catecheses.

RELI 361. The Development of Conciliar Christology: From Nicaea I (325) To Constantinople III (680. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. A review, with close attention to the writings of key protagonists, of how the early church developed its soteriological Christology. Major ecumenical councils serve as guiding structure.

RELI W4120x. Gender In Ancient Christianity. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

The function of gender in the construction of religious identity across Christianity's formative centuries. Close attention is paid to the alternative views of male and female writers and to the alternative models of the holy life proposed to male and female Christians.

RELI W4160y. Gnosis. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

This course will examine the religious and social worlds of ancient Mediterranean gnosis. Special attention will be paid to the shcolarly reconstructions of ancient "gnosticism" and on the theoretical problems associated with the division between "orthodoxy" and "heresy." Emphasis will be placed on reading primary gnostic sources in translation.

RELI W4170y. History of Christianity: Crusades. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

The late 11th-century expedition to the East and the world that produced it. Readings will be in primary sources - many are available in translation - and in recent secondary literature.

RELI 435x. Origen of Alexandria. Prerequisites: Knowledge of Greek required.

An advanced seminar on Christian Greek hermeneutical principles, using Greek text to study the relation of exegesis and systematics in early Christian theology, with particular reference to Origen and his On First Principles (Peri Archon).

RELI G6130. The Byzantine Christian Tradition. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. This seminar is based on central topics focusing on the religious world of early medieval Eastern Christianity and especially on the life, culture, and controversies, of the 'Great City', Constantinople, from the period of Justinian to the fall of Byzantium in 1453. Selected religious developments of this long era will be abstracted as exemplars, and we will attempt to set then in their respective political and social contexts.

RELI G6140y. Patterns of Christian Monasticism. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An examination of the chief episodic movements in Christian monastic evolution. We will discuss Eastern and Western developments in Christian liturgical practice, doctrinal articulation, spiritual writing and social reform as they were advanced by monks from Late Antiquity to the high Middle Ages. Intended for masters level students.

RELI G8130x. The First Crusade & Latin Christendom. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An examination of the origins and evolution of the crusading impulse in 11th-century Western Europe, culminating at the end of the century in the First Crusade, 1095-99.

RELI G8140. Introduction To the Sources of Canon Law In the Medieval Latin Tradition. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. An introduction to canon law as a source for medieval Christianity.

RELI G8141. Colloquium on Papal Councils. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Examination of papal councils and their influence on canon law.

RELI G8150. Colloquium In the History of Christianity. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Topics in the history of Christianity.

RELI G9103x-G9104y. Seminar In Law and Medieval Christianity. 3 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

The formation and use of the Corpus Iuris Canonici in medieval Latin Christendom.

RELI W4736y. Time, Event, Rupture. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010.

This course will investigate theories of temporality, paying particular attention to the concept of an 'event' and the causes and implications of irruptions in consciousness. The inquiry will consider the relatinships between time and truth, knowledge, subject/object, transencdence, origin, history, memory, and spirit, as well as approaches to temporal cohesiona nd rupture. Readings include texts by Husserl, Schelling, Benjamin, Heidegger, Lacan, Ricoer, Blanchot, Derrida, Stiegler, Foucault, and Badiou.

RELI W4800y. The Science-Religion encounter in contemporary context. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

This course focuses on differing models for understanding the relationship between religion and science, with emphasis on how the models fare in the light of contemporary thinking in science, philosophy, and religion.

RELI W4810y. Mysticism. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An introduction to the comparative study of mysticism. Students read primary texts against the backdrop of various theories of the nature of mysticism, addressing issues such as the relationship of mysticism and tradition and the function of gender in descriptions of mystical experiences.

RELI W4811. Mystical dimensions of Islam and Judaism. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

This course will explore mystical dimensions that have evolved in Judaism and Islam in a comparative perspective with the aim of pointing to similarities and differences between the two major religions of Abraham. Topics to be discussed include: mystical experience and the possibility of union in a theistic tradition; the sancitity of scriptural language and the limits of speech; meditation, prayer, and contemplative ascent; erotic asceticism and ascetic eroticism; hermeneutics of secrecy and cultivation of occult fraternities; ethical dualism and mystical antinomianism; mystical quest and the blurring of social boundaries.

RELI W4825x. Religion, Gender, and Violence. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

This seminar brings together the concerns of Religious Studies and Women's Studies to consider relations among religion, gender and violence in the world today. The course explores background and context for thinking about contemporary issues in the field.

RELI W4830y. Pilgrimage In Asian Practice. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An examination and reinterpretation of pilgrimage as an aspect of lived practice of religion in Asia, with an emphasis on non-European conceptions of the religious journey.

RELI G6810. The Conflict Between Medieval Mysticism and Orthodoxy: Four Case Studies. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Background in the study of religion, medieval history, or Islam; working knowledge of French or German and at least one of the following: Arabic, Latin, Persian, or Italian. Key figures in Sufism and Christian mysticism have come into conflict with religious and political establishments. Explores the reason for this incompatibility in terms of both religious ideas and political realities.

RELI G6820. Manners and Morals: Comparative Approaches To Religion and Politics In Medieval Advice. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. The seminar focuses on medieval advice literature as a window to cultural, religious and political life in the medieval period. We will study the many functions of the mirrors (medieval manuals for the edification of the ruling prince) in the Middle Ages.

RELI G8830y. Colloquium on Comparative Religions: Networks. 3 pts. Prerequisites: Completion of Theory and Method requirement.

This seminar will examine various kinds of networks and explore their relationship to social, political and cultural ideas and practices. Consideration will be given to role of networks in industrial, consumer and financial capitalism through an investigation of railroads, typewriters, telephones, television, Internet, the World Wide Web, and cell phones. Special attention will be given to the ways in which recent theories of emergent complex adaptive systems can illuminate the distinctive structure and operational logic of networks.

RELI G8850y. Comparative Scriptural Exegesis. 3 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Knowledge of Hebrew.

Comparative study of texts in the Jewish and Christian traditions.

RELI G9800. Muslim and Christian Mysticism: a Comparative Analysis. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Knowledge of French, Latin and/or Persian. An analysis of major mystical writings of Farîd ad-Dîn cAttâr and Bernard of Clairvaux. Attention paid to the social and religious milieu of 12th-century France and 12th/13th-century Nîshâpûr/Irân.

RELI G9810. Religious Conversion In History. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An exploration of a variety of approaches to understanding religious conversion, from the quantitative to the psychological, with a constant emphasis on the nature and interpretation of historical evidence. Greater emphasis on broad changes in social identity over long periods of time on individual experiences.

RELI W4320. The Qur'an. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An advanced undergraduate seminar that studies the concept, history, and function of scripture in Islam. In addressing three problematic representations in the Qur'an, those of idols, prophets, and women, it emphasizes original Quranic and exegetical narrative read in translation.

RELI W4321. Islam in the 20th Century. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

This course will investigate the debate around the "origins" of Arab nationalism and various strands of modernist/reformist thought in the contemporary Islamic world-with a particular emphasis on developments in Egypt and Iran.

RELI W4330x. Seminar on Classical Sufi Texts. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

Close study of pivotal texts from the classical periods of Islamic mysticism, including works by Hallaj, Attar, Rumi, In Arabi, and others (all texts in English translation).

RELI W4350. Orality & Textuality In Islam. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

A study of the interface between the written and oral traditions in Islam, both in the idealized religion preserved in the texts, as well as its variegated cultural expressions.

RELI W4360. The Legal Culture of Islam. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An advanced lecture course, designed to introduce students to the emergence of legal systems in Islam, the genesis of the shar'ia as divine law, and the impact of secularization and modernity on the functional aspects of Islam.

RELI G8310. The Persian Mystics: Attar & Rumi. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Analysis of the writings of the Persian mystics, Attar and Rumi. Knowledge of Persian required.

RELI G9300. Narratives & Commentaries: Readings In Religious Perception.. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. This colloquium will explore medieval Islamic exegetical and historical narratives in the original languages. At least two years of Arabic and two years of Persian, as well as instructor's permission, are required.

RELI W4305x. Readings from the Sephardic Diaspora. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: instructor's permission

In this seminar we will devote ourselves to a close reading (in Hebrew) of excerpts from some seminal texts to have come out of the diaspora of the Spanish and Portugese Jews in the centuries after their expulsion or flight.

RELI W4505. The Begginings of Jewish Mysticism. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

The biblical and Hellenistic foundations of Western mysticism.

RELI W4510x. The Thought of Maimonides. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

A close examination of Maimonides' major ideas, with emphasis on the relationship between law and philosophy; biblical interpretation; the nature of God; creation and providence; human nature; ethics and law; human perfection.

RELI W4511y. Jewish Ethics. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010.

This course is divided into two parts-- theoretical and practical. In the first part we will examine major philosophical issues concerning the nature and basis of Jewish ethics; in the second, we will examine a selected group of practical ethical issues. All assignments will be in English, and any Hebrew phrases used in course discussion will be translated.

RELI W4513y. Homelands, Diasporas, Promised Lands. 4 pts.

This seminar will explore religious, political and philosophical aspects of homelands, collective exile from homelands and the question of whether or not return is possible or desirable.

RELI W4520y. Patriarchal and Rabbinic Authority in Antiquity. 4 pts.

This course will try to solve the problem of the origins and roles of the rabbis in antiquity through careful study of rabbinic, Christian, and Roman sources.

RELI W4535y. Ancient Jewish Texts. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor required.

Close reading in the original languages of ancient Jewish texts including Aristeas, 1 and 2 Maccabees, selections from Philo and Josephus, selected tractates from Mishnah, Tosefta, Palestinian Talmud and early midrash collections. Permission of instructor required; course may be taken more than once.

RELI W4537y. Talmudic Narrative. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor permission is required.
Background in Talmud and Hebrew is encouraged.

This course examines the rich world of Talmudic narrative and the way it mediates between conflicting perspectives on a range of topics: life and death; love and sexuality; beauty and superficiality; politics and legal theory; religion and society; community and non-conformity; decision-making and the nature of certainty. While we examine each text closely, we will consider different scholars' answers - and our own answers - to the questions, how are we to view Talmudic narrative generally, both as literature and as cultural artifact?

RELI W4720x. Religion & Pragmatism. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

Seminar on American pragmatism, with special attention to the ways in which pragmatist philosophers have addressed religious questions.

RELI W4730. Exodus & Politics: Religious Narrative As a Source of Revolution. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An examination of how a single biblical story, the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt, has influenced modern forms of political and social revolution, with emphasis on political philosopher Michael Walzer's claim that the Exodus provides a paradigm of soical democratic politics. We will examine how the story has functioned and been used in a variety of contexts, such as the construction of early American political identity, the African-American religious experience, Latin American liberation theology, Palestinian nationalism and religious feminism.

RELI W4734y. Religious Concepts: The Holy Fool. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructors permission

This course will examine critically the concept of 'conversion' as it appears in Western thought through an examination of religious, philosophical, and political texts.

RELI W4735y. Ideology and Masses. 4 pts. Prerequisites: instructors permission

This seminar will consider Marxian conceptions of religion--the sigh of the oppressed, heart of a heartless world, halo of the vale of tears, and beyond--and critically examine theories of knowledge, interpretation, agency, and culture that are associated with them. The inquiry will be directed at defining and prescribing the role of religion in social analysis, as well as examining the use of Marxian concepts such as illusion, alienation, and fetishism. Texts include writings by Marx, Engels, Lukacs, Gramsci, Adorno & Horkheimer, Marcuse, Bataille, Althusser, Foucault, and Zizek.

RELI G9710x. Seminar In the History and Philosophy of Religion: Hegel, Shelling & Kierkegaard. 3 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An exploration of the philosophical and theological writings of Hegel, Shelling, and Kierkegaard. Special attention will be given to the way in which these three pivotal figures frame issues for subsequent philosophers, theologians, writers and artists. Works to be considered include: Hegel, Early Theological Writings; Lectures on Religion and Phenomenology of Spirit; Kierkegaard, Either-Or; Philosophical Fragments; Concept of Anxiety; Fear and Trembling.

RELI G9720. Politics, Cultural Identity & Moral Philosophy. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. An examination of genealogical and pragmatic approaches to religious beliefs and social practices. Readings include Jonathan Edwards, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Peirce, James, Dewey, Rorty, and Bernard Williams.

RELI 301y. Patterns of Biblical Exegesis in the Early Church.

RELI W4011x. The Lotus Sutra in East Asian Buddhism. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Open to students who have taken one previous ocurse in either Buddhism, Chinese religions, or a history course on China or East Asian.

The course examines some central Mahayana Buddhist beliefs and practices through an in-depth study of the Lotus sutra. Schools (Tiantai/Tendai, Nichiren) and cultic practices such as sutra-chanting, meditation, confessional rites, and Guanyin worship based on the scripture. East Asian art and literature inspired by it.

RELI W4012y. Buddhist Auto/Biography. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: instructors permission

The goal and nature of this course is to refine our abilities to critically examine the nature of writing about the self and its position in Buddhist contexts.

RELI W4013x. Buddhism and Neuroscience. 3 pts.

With the Dalai Lama's marked interest in recent advances in neuroscience, the question of the compatibility between Buddhist psychology and neuroscience has been raised in a number of conferences and studies. This course will examine the state of the question, look at claims made on both sides, and discuss whether or not there is a convergence between Buddhist discourse about the mind and scientific discourse about the brain.

RELI 402y. The Doctrine of the Trinity form Origen to Augustine.

RELI W4020. Religion, Science and Health In Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

A reexamination of modern Western concepts of religion and science from a comparative perspective. The historical development and recent applications of three cumulative paradigms of scientific psychology and medicine from the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition will be explored.

RELI W4171y. Law and Medieval Christianity. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An introduction to the importance of Church law for the study of medieval Christianity through readings in both primary and secondary sources (all in English or English translations). Topics will be selected, as the sources permit, to illustrate the evolution of Western canon law and its impact both as a structural and as an ideological force, in medieval Christianity and in medieval society in general.

RELI W4401y. Mountains and Sacred Space In Japan. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's Permission

This course explores the role that mountains have payed in Japanese cosmology, particularly in religion and folklore. We will examine various aspects of mountain veneration such as mountains as portals to the world of the dead, as the embodiment of the universe, as ascetic training ground, as mandalized space, as restricted ground, and as space transformed by history.

RELI W4402x. Shinto in Japanese History. 4 pts.

This course examines the development of Shinto in Japanese history and the historiography of Shinto.We will cover themes such as myth, syncretism, sacred sites, iconography, nativism, and religion and the state.

RELI W4501. Psalms Through the Commentary of the Baal Shem Tov. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's Permission

In this seminar, we will do close reading of selected psalms along with the commentary attributed to the Ba'al Shem Tov, one of the founders of Hasidism. Open to both graduate and advanced undergraduate students, the course will offer an opportunity to gain experience in close reading of major Jewish texts in the original language (Hebrew). The seminar will provide students simultaneous exposure to a major biblical book, Psalms, which has a long and rich reception history, both textually and spiritually, as well as to a significant text of Hasidic thought. The two texts and their historical/discursive framings will be read complementarily or against one another. Additional readings will give supplementary perspectives, raising questions that will include the production history of the Book of Psalms, comparative mythology, the liturgical and ritual use of psalms historically, and mystical readings of the Book of Psalms. Through the combination of perspectives we will learn about the variety of the interpretive approaches to a canonical text such as the Book of Psalms; the dense web of meanings and uses given to one biblical text over the course of Jewish history; the methods and goals of Hasidic exegesis of the Bible.

RELI W4502y. Jewish Rites of Passage. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's Permission

This course will undertake an interdisciplinary exploration of historical and contemporary Jewish rites of passage and life-cycles events, focusing on the interplay between ritual and gender, sexuality and power. Our examination of the tensions between tradition and modernity will encompass not only traditional rites of passage, such as the Brit Milah, wedding ceremonies, and the miqveh but also more modern Jewish rituals, such as the zeved bat(female baby-naming ceremony), Rosh-Hodesh(new moon) rituals, and others. The course will seek to provide students with an understanding of the historical origins of these rituals. In addition, students will acquire some basic training in anthropological theory, sociological theory, and Jewish feminist thinking as analytical frameworks through which to process the subject matter of Jewish ritual. In addition to the required reading, we will review documentary films and do primary research and and fieldwork in the rich Jewish laboratory of the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. Our goal, over the course of the semester, will be to develop critical thinking about ritual as a powerful tool which both reflects and reproduces social structure, including the hierarchies and complex cultural life of Jewish society.

RELI W4515x. Jews in the Later Roman Empire. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's approval

This course will explore the background and examine some of the manifestations of the first Jewish cultural explosion after 70 CE. Among the topics discussed: the Late Roman state and the Jews, the rise of the synagogue, the redaction of the Palestinian Talmud and midrashim, the piyyut and the Hekhalot.

RELI W4630y. African American Religion. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010.

Explores a range of topics in African-American Religion, which may include the African background and the transmission of African cultures, religion under slavery, independent black churches, religion and race relations, and modern theological movements. In Spring 2008, the course will focus on the religious lives of African immigrants to the US, emphasizing field and documentary methods.

RELI W4710x. Kant and Kierkegaard on Religion. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010.

Readings will include Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and Religion Within the Boundaries of Reason Alone, and Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, Philosophical Fragments, parts of Concluding Unscientific Postscript, and Sickness Unto Death.

RELI W4722y. Nothing, God, Freedom. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

This course is designed for advanced undergraduates and graduate students working in different fields and disciplines. The inquiry will focus on three interrelated issues that lie at the heart of various religious, literary and artistic traditions. The approach will introduce students to rigorous cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary analysis. The aim of the inquiry will be to explore the similarities and differences of contrasting considerations of the problems of nothing, God and freedom in different religious traditions as well as alternative modes of interpretation and expression. Students in Religion & Philosophy will be given preference.

RELI W4733x. Classics of Religious Thought: Conversion Narratives. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

The aim of the course is to understand the intellectual assumptions governing how different individuals conceive of their conversion experiences. Through the study of classic and lesser known accounts we will examine some common metaphors and images (rebirth, awakening, being lost and found) and how they shape narratives of one's life.

RELI W4803x. Religion versus the Academy. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: One course in religion.

This seminar examines the apparent conflict between religion and the academy, with particular attention to recent cases in the United States and India. These countries are two of the world's largest democracies and, as such, struggle with the issue of pluralism, especially religious pluralism. We will consider such matters as textbooks, freedom of expression, and whether or not to teach religion in public schools. Majors, seniors and students with strong backgrounds will be given preference.

RELI W4804y. Ecology, Religion, and Culture. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's Permission

In Collapse, Jared Diamond examines a wide range of human civilizations that have collapsed or been on the brink of collapse due to overpopulation and environmental degradation. He argues that understanding the ecological role of cultural factors, including religious beliefs and practices, are crucial if we are to negotiate the growth-limits of our own civilization. In this course we look at the interdependence of ecology, culture, and religion using a variety of critical approaches. In the first part of the course we survey historical examples of this interdependence in diverse environments: Greenland, Pacific Island Societies, Japan, and China. In Part II, we turn to the relationship between economic systems and attitudes toward the natural world. Technological, political, and economic dilemmas and alternatives are explored by a culturally diverse selection of writers and activists. In the third part of the course we focus on constructions of religious or spiritual frameworks for an ecological world-view.

RELI G6015y. Chinese Buddhist Texts. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

Readings in Chinese Buddhist thought.

RELI G6040y. Topics in Chinese Buddhist Studies. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010.

Reading on recent scholarship in English on the studies of Chinese Buddhism.

RELI G8900x. Field Methods for Religious Studies. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission

This course will introduce graduate students in Religion to several qualitative, empirical research methods and related epistemological and ethical issues. In addition to introducing basic research techniques, we will also deal with several issues of central importance to many scholars who conduct ethnographic research in religion, including representations of religious agents in ethnographic writing, interpreting testimony and conversion narratives, and integrating historical and textual material and interpretations into ethnographic writing. Religion graduate students will be given preference.

RELI G9031x-G9032y. Buddhist Texts. 3 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Knowledge of Tibetan.

Selected readings in Tibetan and Sanskrit texts. Knowledge of Tibetan and Sanskrit required.

RELI G9033y. Mahayana Buddhist Scripture. 3 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Knowledge of Chinese/Japanese.

Advanced seminar in reading and translating major scriptures of East Asian Buddhism. Key doctrinal concepts, figurative strategies and hermeneutical theories underlying canonical texts.

RELI G9035. Japanese Buddhist Literature. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Knowlege of Japanese. Selected readings in Japanese literature. Knowledge of Japanese required.

RELI G9721y. Hegel & Derrida. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission

This seminar will be devoted to a close reading of major texts written by Hegel and Derrida. Special attention will be paid to the intersection of theological, aesthetic and philosophical and literary issues that have implicitly and explicitly shaped critical analysis for the past several decades. The course will begin with careful examination of Hegel's and proceed to a consideration of his Phenomenology of Spirit. The second half of the course will be devoted to a careful reading of Derrida's reading of Hegel. Graduate students and Philosophy of Religion students will be given preference.

RELI W4200. Philosophies of India. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Corequisites: Instructor's permission.

The course will introduce students to certain important topics in Indian thought, classical and contemporary. The method will comprise theoretical and practical treatment in the tradition to major issues in metaphysics, knowledge-making, and the end-goal of liberation or enlightenment. Textural-hermeneutical and philosophical inquiry are combined in this approach, with attention to contemporary forays in linguistic analysis and deconstruction.

RELI W4203y. Krishna. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

The study of a single deity in the Hindu pantheon as illuminated in art, music, dance, drama, theological treatises, patterns of ritual, and texts both classic and modern. Special attention to Krishna's consort Radha, to Krishna's reception in the West, and to his portrayal on Indian television.

RELI W4215. Hinduism Here. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

Historical, theological, social, and ritual dimensions of "lived Hinduism" in the greater New York area. Sites selected for in-depth study include several worshipping communities, a retreat center, a national organization, a foundation. Significan fieldwork component.

RELI G6210y. Issues in the study of South Asian Religion. Not offered in 2009-2010.

Consideration of critical themes or major issues in the study of South Asian religions, especially those having major methodological implications. Themes vary from year to year. May be repeated for credit.

RELI G8215. Hindu Poet-Saints of North India. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. An examination of the poet saints of northern India.

RELI G8225y. Bhakti Texts In North India. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

Close study of Bhakti texts of North India.

RELI G8230. Surdas and the Devotional Literature of Krishna. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Reading and analysis of selected portions of the Sursagar and hagiographic materials about Surdas as an introduction to the devotional literature of Krishna in pre-modern Hindi. Textural and literary criticism; study of manuscripts; theological issues.

RELI W4010x. Chan/Zen Buddhism. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010.

Follows the historical development of Chan/Zen, with selections from the Chinese Chan classics, high points of Japanese Zen, and contemporary writings on Zen.

RELI W4030y. Topics in Tibetan Philosphy. 4 pts.

Examination of topics in the religious philosophy of Tibet.

RELI W4040x. Women and Buddhism in China. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Open to students who have taken one previous course in either Buddhism, Chinese religions, or a history course on China or East Asian.

Nuns and laywomen in Chinese Buddhism, Buddhist atttitudes toward women, ideals of female sanctity; gender and sexuality, women leaders in contemporary Chinese Buddhism.

RELI W4403y. Bodies & Spirits in East Asia. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Instrucotor's permission.

This seminar will focus on the role of early conceptions of both the body and demonology in the development of Chinese and Japanese religious traditions. By focusing on the development of ritual responses within these traditions to disease and spirits, the course will highlight the degree to which contemporaneous understandings of the body informed religious discourse across East Asia.

RELI G6030. Japanese Esoteric Buddhism. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. An examination of the theoretical and ritual system of Mikkyo, or Esoteric Buddhism, as a major passage through which Buddhism took root in Japanese culture.

RELI G6212x. Religious Formations in Mughal Times. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's approval

This seminar is an effort to bring into focus a series of key developments in the religious history of Mughal times, that is, 1526-1750, ranging from those prominently reflected in records associated with the Mughal courtly, Sufi, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Sant, and Sikh formations and in the process of doing so re-evaluate some of the principal categories that have been used to describe these formations.

RELI G6400. Readings in Tokugawa religious and intellectual history. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. An examination of the current state of hte field of Tokugawa religious and intellectual history through a survey of recently published sholarship on the period. The course covers intellectual history, Buddhism, Shinto and folk religion.

RELI G9036x. Chinese Buddhist Literature. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

Selected readings in Chinese Buddhist literature. Buddhist apologetics: miracle tales; biographies of monks, nuns, and lay devotees; poems and novels with Buddhist themes; "precious volumnes"; Tunhuang documents; monastic rules, ritual and meditation manuals; writings of modern Buddhist masters and sholars. Knowledge of Chinese is required.

RELI W4611x. Alterities of Religion in American Culture. 4 pts.

An interdisciplinary exploration of some of the many ways that religion in America has been mutually constituted in opposition to various entities identified as being the opposite of religion. Counterparts explored include the marketplace, fraudulence, atheistic rationalism, the secular, the state, totalitarianism and the study of religion.

RELI W4620y. Religious Worlds of New York. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

A seminar-workshop exploring religious diversity in New York City with emphasis on the current historical moment. Meetings will focus on the impact of immigrant and migrant cultures, on New York's religious landscape, and on the texts that explore the experiences and histories of religious communities in New York.

RELI W4640x. Religion and the American Public Sphere. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

Students learn sociological concepts and methods used to analyze the changing place of religion in American public life. Approaches the issue from cultural and institutional perspectives, focusing on such topics as civil religion, church-state relations, the role of congregations in local communities, and religious voluntary and philanthropic concerns.

RELI W4645x. American Protestant Thought. 4 pts.

In this seminar we will look at the relation between inquiry and imagination in selected religious writers and writers on religion in the American Protestant tradition. How does imagination serve inquiry? What are the objects of inquiry in these writings? Most of these authors reflect explicitly on imagination and inquiry, in addition to providing examples of both at work on religious topics.

RELI W4650y. Religion and Region In North America. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

Examination of some regional variations of religious life in North America, with an emphasis on the interaction of religious communities with their surrounding cultures.

RELI W4670. Native American Religions. 4 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An examinatin of the varieties of Native American religions and spirituality, from contact to the present, including a look at the effects of European religions on Native American traditions.

RELI W4805x. Secular and Spiritual America. 4 pts. Prerequisites: Majors and concentrators receive first priority

Are Americans becoming more secular or more spiritual (not religious), or both? What are the connections between secularism and what is typically called non-organized religion or the spiritual in the United States? We will address these questions by looking at some of the historical trajectories that shape contemporary debates and designations (differences) between spiritual, secular and religious.

RELI G8655y. Topics In American Religious History. 3 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

An exploration of major themes, movements and historical periods in American religious history.

RELI G8660. American Evangelicalism. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. An examination of the theology, the popular beliefs and the folkways of American evangelicalism, including fundamentalists, Pentecostals and charismatics. The diverse nature of the evangelical movement, exploring congregations from California to the deep South, thus erasing the misconception that evangelicals are a homogeneous group.

RELI G8901y. Topics in Contemporary Religious Identity. 3 pts. Not offered in 2009-2010. Prerequisites: Intructor's permission.

This seminar examines how both identities (and/or subjects, agent,s individuals) and "religions" are constructed in recent theoretical discussions about identites and narrative, practice, body, and structure, and related case studies.

RELI G6901x-G6902y. Theory and Method in the Study of Religion. 3 pts.

Major theories of religion and principal approaches to the study of religion.

RELI G9901x-G9902y. Research in Religion. 1-6 pts. Prerequisites: Instructor's permission.

Guided individual research.