Graduate Division of Religion - Fall 2007 Course Atlas

RLAR 737: Topics in Asian Religions: Psychoanalysis and the Religious Cultures of South Asia
Paul Courtright Thursday, 9:00 -12:00 MAX: 12

Content: The seminar will explore the psychoanalysis tradition in relation to its interpretations of religious cultures of South Asia. The course begins with a brief overview of major themes in psychoanalytic thought in its formative stages in the West. From there it turns to South Asian psychoanalytic writers and practitioners around issues of the application and limits of psychoanalytic theory as it applies to the South Asian contexts. The course concludes with some case studies in which psychoanalytic theorizing seems particularly useful in illuminating what is distinctive to South Asia and what appears to be more cross-cultural.

Readings include:

Gananath Obeyesekere, The Work of Culture
Sudhir Kakar, The Essential Writings of Sudhir Kakar
Ashis Nandy, The Essential Writings of Ashis Nandy
Wendy Doniger, Splitting the Difference
Stanley Kurtz, All Mothers are One
Jeffrey Kripal, Kali's Child
Salman Akhtar, ed., Freud Along the Ganges
T. G. Vaidyanathan and Jeffrey Kripal,eds., Vishnu on Freud's Desk
C. Harnak, Psychoanalysis in Colonial India
Katherine P. Ewing, Arguing Sainthood: Islam, Modernity and Psychoanalysis

Additional journal articles and films may be added.
Particulars: Students will present weekly reports on readings. A final journal article length paper will be required.

RLAR 737 (Topics in Asian Religions) Graduate Seminar: Emptiness
John Dunne Monday, 4pm -7pm Max 12

Content: In M āh āy āna philosophy, “emptiness” ( śūnyat ā) plays a key metaphysical role. Although present in the earliest technical vocabulary of Buddhism, emptiness undergoes a radical reinterpretation at the hands of N āg ārjuna (fl. c. 150 CE), for whom it consists in the radical negation of all essences, even the essence of emptiness itself. Soon after Nāgārjuna, Asa ṅga and Vasubandhu (fl. c. 350) reinterpret emptiness as a description of the ultimate nature of mind. These competing interpretations lead to two streams of metaphysics within the Mah āy āna: the M ādhyamika and the Yog āc āra. These streams likewise involve to two styles of contemplative practice that become most clearly thematized in Tibet.
This seminar will explore in depth some key issues in the metaphysics of emptiness for both the M ādhyamika and the Yog āc āra. Most of these issues will inquire into the way that the metaphysics of emptiness must remain grounded in the world of ordinary experience. The last third of the course will introduce some fundamental Buddhist theories of mind and cognition, and on this basis, the seminar will explore the divergent approaches to the realization of emptiness in the context of contemplative practice.

Readings include:

Mark Siderits, Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons
Jay Garfield, Empty Words.
Dan Brown, Pointing Out the Great Way
G. Fauconnier & M. Turner, The Way We Think
David Burton, Emptiness Appraised.
G. Dreyfus & S. McClintock, The Sv ā tantrika-Pr ā sa ṅ gika Distinction
Dan Arnold, Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief.
Various shorter works by some of these authors, as well as G. Dreyfus, J. Dunne, M.D
Eckel, B. Galloway, R. Hayes, Y. Kajiyama, M. Kapstein, G. Nagao, T. Tillemans, and others
Primary Texts include:
N āg ārjuna, Verses on the Middle Way, trans. by Dunne and McClintock.
Candrak īrti, Clear Words, trans. by Dunne and McClintock.
Asa ṅga, Distinguishing the Middle and the Extremes, trans. by Dunne.
Vasubandhu, Twenty Verses and Thirty Verses, trans. by Dunne
Kamala śīla, Stages of Meditation, trans. by M. Adam.
dKa’ Chen Ye Shes Rgyal Mtshan, The Necklace of Clear Understanding: Elucidation of Mind and Mental Functions, trans. by Dunne and Apple.

RLAR 738: Topics in Islam: Gender, Sexuality, Islam (Same as MESAS 570R and HIST 585)
Ruby Lal MAX: 15 Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30 - 3:45

RLAR 738: Topics in Islam: The Rise of Islam in a Jewish-Christian Environment
(Cross-listed with MES 570R, HIST 585)
Newby Wednesday 1:00-4:00 MAX: 5

Content: This course will examine the rise of Islam against the background of the Jewish and Christian Late Ancient world. We will pay particular attention to the problems of cultural and religious comparisons, the historiography of the period, issues of periodicity and the general methods of constructing the histories of religious traditions within culturally plural environments. This course is intended for students interested in the religious traditions of the East Mediterranean in Late Ancient times and the beginnings of the modern Middle East

Texts:
Sample Course Bibliography:

Alfred Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1955
Arkoun, Mohammed. Rethinking Islam. Westview Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8133-2294-4 (pbk.)
Bell , Richard, The Origins of Islam in its Christian Environment. London: Cass Reprints, 1968
Crone, Patricia & Michael Cook, Hagarism. Cambridge University Press, 1980.
Geiger, Abraham, Judaism and Islam. New York: Ktav, 1970
Goldziher, Ignaz, Muslim Studies, 2 vols., Chicago: Aldine, 1966
Humphreys, R. Stephen. Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry. Princeton University Press, 1991 (paper) ISBN 0-691-00856-6 (pbk.)
Ibn Ishaq (A. Guillaume, trans.) The Life of Muhammad. Oxford U. Press, 2002. ISBN 0-196-36033-1
Marshall G.S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, vols. 1 & 2, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977
Martin, Richard, Islamic Studies: A History of Religions Approach, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; prentice Hall, 1995
Muhammad B. Jarir at-Tabari, History, Albany: Suny University Press, SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies, selected volumes.
Newby, G. D. A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. Oneworld Press, 2004. ISBN 1-85168-295-3 (pbk.)
Newby, Gordon, A History of the Jews of Arabia, Columbia: U of South Carolina Press, 1989
Newby, Gordon, The Making of the Last Prophet, Columbia: U of South Carolina Press, 1989.
Pickthall, Mohammed M. The Meaning of the Glorious Koran. Plume (Reprint Edition), 1997. ISBN 0-452-01180-9 (pbk.)
Rosenthal, Franz, A History of Muslim Historiography, Leiden: Brill, 1968

RLE 700J:Character and Moral Judgement (same as RLPC 749, PSYC 749)
John Snarey Thursday, 2:30-5:30 MAX: 4

Prerequisites: Doctoral student in psychology, religion, or ethics

Content :A fundamental dimension of being human is the inevitable necessity of making moral judgments. This course initially approaches moral judgment (also known as social-moral cognition) from the perspectives of philosophically-oriented developmental psychologists, Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan. The corrective contributions of cultural psychology are then considered before moving to the field’s frontier--the neural foundations of moral cognition and development, which will be mapped using recent brain imaging research.

Readings :Weekly assignments, usually on e-reserve, and regular participation in discussions of the readings.

Papers-presentations: Each participant will present and lead discussion of specific texts, selected from topics outlined in the syllabus. There is a final term project.

Exams: None

RLE 701R: Social Justice/Social Theory
Jon Gunnemann Wed 2:30-5:30 MAX: 12

Content: Topic: Social Justice and Social Theory

We will read contemporary theories of justice, including Rawls, Walzer, MacIntyre, and Habermas, and critical responses to these, such as Benhabib, Fraser, and Young. Central themes and questions will include the following: the social-theoretical perspective implied in each normative theory; the explicit or implied understanding of religion, and of religion’s role in relation to justice, in each; the possibilities and limits of the appropriation of secular theories of justice in theological ethics; questions of adequacy in relation to specified critical norms. Some background in ethics, social philosophy and/or social theory (e.g., 18 th century moral and social philosophy, including social contract theory; Marxist theory; sociological theory; classical theories of justice) is highly recommended.

RLE 735: (Phil 789/WS 585): Narratives and Female Selfhoods
Pam Hall Monday 9:00-12:00 Max 5

Content: We will begin with a discussion of narrative as it has been used in ethics, to help describe the nature of human experience and self-understanding. We will then consider discussions of subjectivity within feminist theory, concerning the unitary or multiple nature of the self and addressing interpretations of the risks and dangers to selfhood. Finally, we will take these questions about narrativity and selfhood to selected representations of women's lives -- and beyond.

Texts:

After Virtue (chapter 15), Alasdair MacIntyre
On Stories, Richard Kearney
Selected essays by Judith Butler, bell hooks, Sharon Welch
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Aftermath by Susan Brison
Love’s Work by Gillian Rose
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

(Note: This is a tentative list of texts.)

Requirements : One final essay, two reflection papers, and a class presentation

RLE 790R: Ethnography, Reproductive Health and Religious Ethics:
An Interdisciplinary, Cross-Cultural Exploration
Don Seeman (Dept. of Religion/Jewish Studies/Global Health)
Iman Hammady Rhashid (Post-Doctoral Fellow, SPH) Monday, 1:30-4:30

Content: This new seminar grows out of research sponsored by the Emory University Initiative in Public Health and Religion, and is open to graduate students in religion and the humanities as well as the health sciences. We will be exploring not only the ways in which different religious traditions understand particular reproductive health issues, but also how disciplines like ethnography and bioethics can shed light on what different communities actually do in practice. Some of the issues that we will tackle include:

How do Judaism, Christianity and Islam view the use of reproductive technologies like IVF, surrogacy or cloning, and what is behind their differences?
Why are issues like abortion or prenatal genetic screening controversial in some societies but not in others, and how does this affect public
policy?
In what ways does the actual practice of religious communities conform or not conform to their official religious teachings, and why should this matter to policy makers or those interested in bioethics?
How can qualitative ethnographic research contribute to bioethical or health policy debates in different settings?

In addition to theoretical exploration, we will also discuss qualitative research methodology and encourage students to undertake their own “mini-ethnographies.” Qualified students who are interested may be able to participate in current research on the role of religion in local women’s reproductive health choices.

RLHB 792: Critical Methods of Hebrew Bible Study
David Petersen Wednesday, 2:00-5:00 MAX: 12

Content : Analysis of selected Hebrew Bible texts in order to establish competence in the use of diverse methods and perspectives (e.g., textual criticism, redaction criticism, literary criticism, post-critical perspectives) within the field of biblical studies.

Texts: (readings will be drawn from monographs [a representative sample is listed below], commentaries, and journal articles)

A. Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative
M. Nissinen, Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East
T. Römer, The So-Called Deuteronomistic History
J.-L. Ska, Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch
E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible
E. Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible

Particulars: The course is a seminar in which students are expected to complete assigned readings prior to each session, to participate in class discussions, and to write a research paper using a clearly articulated method or perspective.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing in the Graduate Division of Religion or permission of the instructor, good reading knowledge of biblical Hebrew.

RLHB 790R: Medieval Art as a Bible for the Illiterate (same as ARTHIST 739)
Elizabeth Pastan Thursday 1:00-4:00 MAX: 6

Content : This seminar examines the implications of Pope Gregory I’s statement, “What Scripture is to the educated, images are to the ignorant,” (Letter to Serenus of Marseille, c. 600 CE). Frequently cited throughout the Middle Ages, this statement became the standard defense of figural painting and sculpture, a rationalization for the expense of art making, and an implicit argument about the power of images. In this course, we will explore the both textual tradition and image cycles that could be construed as affirming or contradicting Gregory’s dictate. Other issues to be considered include: how one “reads” a medieval image, recent scholarship on the varieties and kinds of literacy, and the discrepancies or slippage between the intentions of a patron and meanings imparted to beholders. Case studies are focused on, but not limited to, arts of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, a period corresponding to the explosion of imagery in cathedrals, treasury arts and manuscript illuminations.

Texts: Reserve readings.

Particulars: Weekly seminar discussions, seminar presentations, and a research paper.

RLHT 736K: Reformation Theology and Historiography (same as HIST 585)
Jonathan Strom Wednesday 2:00-5:00 Max: 12

Content: This course will approach problems in recent Reformation studies through careful reading of primary texts and current historiography on the Reformation. Throughout the course, we will read central theological texts concurrently with interpretations of the Reformation. In particular, we will examine the relationship of theology, religious reform, and popular or "lived" religion. We will explore a number of methodological approaches to the Reformation and religious cultures in the early modern period, including social history, confessionalization theory, and gender studies. Facility with French, German, or Latin would be helpful.

Texts:

Luther, Calvin, Zwingli
Mntzer, Eck, Canons of Trent
Hsia, Schilling
Wiesner, Ozment
Oberman, Pelikan
Goertz, Scribner

Particulars: All participants will be expected to engage in critical discussion of the material. Twice during the semester, each participant will also be asked to lead discussions of specific texts. Writing assignments include two review essays and a final term paper.

RLHT 738: Topics in the History of Religions: The History, Ideology, and Politics of Holocaust Denial
(same as JS 730R and HIST 585)
Deborah Lipstadt Wednesday, 11:45 – 2:00 Max: 12

Content: This seminar will examine the phenomenon of Holocaust denial. Topics to be covered include the evolution of denial in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the resurgence of denial in the 1980”s with the establishment of the Institute of Historical Review and the publication of the Journal of Historical Review, the Zundel trial in Canada, Irving v. Penguin and Lipstadt, the evolution of Holocaust denial laws in Europe, Arab/Muslim Holocaust denial, and denial on the Internet.

Texts: Among the texts to be used will be:

Evans, Richard Lying About Hitler
Lipstadt, Deborah Denying the Holocaust
Lipstadt, Deborah History on Trial
Shermer, Michael and Grobman, Alex Denying history: who says the Holocaust never happened and why do they say it?
Van Pelt, Robert Jan The Case for Auschwitz
Vidal-Naquet, Pierre, Assassins of memory: essays on the denial of the Holocaust
Zimmerman, John, Holocaust Denial: Demographies, Ideologies and Testimonies

RLHT 741P: Hamann, Jacobi and Schleiermacher
David Pacini Friday 9:00-12:00 MAX: 12

Content: This seminar will explore what might be called the “Pietist re-occupation” of Humean skepticism by Jacobi, Hamann, and Schleiermacher as a counter to Kantian critical philosophy and philosophical theology. Focusing upon variant interpretations of “immediacy,” the seminar will trace one of the contributing lines of post-Kantian argumentation to the development of Schleiermacher’s Glaubenlehre. The seminar will also attempt to delineate the sense in which the line of argumentation is “Pietist.” Readings will be drawn from Hume, Kant, Jacobi, Hamann, and Schleiermacher.

RLHT 750: Theology in America (Same as HIST 534)
Brooks Holifield Tuesday, 2:30-5:30 Max: 10

Content:For Fall 2007 the seminar will look at the question of the relation between Protestant and Catholic theological traditions and popular culture (or lived religion) in placecountry-regionAmerica. We will read excerpts from theological texts alongside articles and books that will help us understand more about the ways in which academic theological traditions have—and have not—had an influence on broader streams of American culture. The texts will range from the seventeenth through the twentieth century.

Students will make classroom presentations on articles and essays. In addition, we will spend the final two or three sessions carefully reading and discussing student papers, giving attention to the construction of historical arguments and the rhetoric of historical writing.

Texts will include:

Mark G. Toulouse and James O. Duke, eds., Sources of Christian Theology in Americai
E. Brooks Holifield, Theology in America: Christian Thought from the Age of the Puritans to the Civil War
Mark Noll, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln
Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Minister’s Wooing
selected articles and essays

RLL 703: Advanced Hebrew Grammar
David Lambert, Wednesday, 9:00-12:00 MAX: 12

Content: This course aims to develop students’ fluency in reading biblical Hebrew. It will also serve as an introduction to philology, i.e. how to think critically about what words mean in an ancient language. Towards these goals, we will read a range of biblical and post-biblical Hebrew texts (pre-70 C.E.) from various genres.

Particulars: The course’s focus will be on rapid reading and translation. Students will be expected to come to each meeting prepared to read and translate from assigned chapters. Some class time will also be devoted to discussion of finer points of grammar and translation, as well as student presentations reviewing existing language-oriented studies. Students will be expected to write a modest research paper with a linguistic focus and take a final exam.

Prerequisites: The course is designed to give doctoral students in Bible the advanced Hebrew skills necessary for original research, but a student with at least two years of any form of Hebrew may enroll with the permission of the instructor.

Texts: TBA

RLL 704: Aramaic
Jacob Wright Thursday, 11:00 – 12:30 MAX: 12

RLL 797R: Advanced Tibetan Readings
Geshe Lobsang Negi Wednesday & Friday, 1:30- 2:45 MAX: 12

RLNT 740: The Jewish Milieu of the New Testament
Carl Holladay Monday, 1:30-4:30 MAX: 12

Content: This course, which is designed primarily for doctoral students in New
Testament, explores social, historical, and religious aspects of Second
Temple Judaism, especially as they relate to Christian origins. It is
intended to provide a broad intellectual framework for understanding the complexities of Judaism during the Hellenistic-Roman period and how these affect scholarly research in the New Testament. Topics include Judaism in the Hellenistic Period; Judaism Under Roman Rule; Septuagint; Judaism and Hellenism; Varieties of Judaism in the Hellenistic-Roman Period; Apocalyptic; Rabbinic Judaism; Philo and Josephus. Each student
is required to do a seminar presentation on one of the main sections of the syllabus, which includes selecting 50-75 pages of primary texts related to the topic, reviewing relevant primary and secondary bibliography, identifying some of the main issues in the current scholarly debate, especially as they relate to New Testament interpretation. The course will be closely coordinated with the Cradle of Christianity exhibit at the Carlos Museum, which runs from June 16 through October 14, 2007.

RLNT 760: New Testament Theology
Steve Kraftchick Thursday: 2:00-5:00 MAX: 12

Content: The definition of New Testament (NT) theology and the methods used to determine its constitutive elements vary significantly. NT theology can be understood in four senses: (1) the beliefs and convictions that gave rise to the expressions found in the NT; (2) the theology (ies) found in the NT; (3) the theology (ies) derived from the NT; and (4) the systematic study of the first three uses, which constitutes the academic discipline of NT theology. Understanding these various uses requires historical research but also hermeneutical approaches that move beyond history. Central questions include: How should the NT be read and interpreted? Does the NT contain elements that are essential or fundamental for other constructive theological work? How do the different NT writings relate to each other? How do different conceptions of Jesus Christ in the NT influence our understanding of God and the human condition?
This course will review the major approaches to the discipline of NT theology, identify fundamental problems in developing a NT theology, and discuss how NT theology relates to other theological work.

Texts : Select readings will be drawn from the works of

Gabler,
Wrede
Ebeling
Bultmann
Käsemann
Schlatter
Caird
Morgan
Räisänen
Strecker
Via

RLPC 720G: Intercultural Pastoral Care
Emmanuel Lartey Tuesday: 2:00-5:00 Max 12

RLPC 749 : Character and Moral Judgement (same as RLE 700J, PSYC 749)
John Snarey Thursday, 2:30-5:30 Max 4

Content: A fundamental dimension of being human is the inevitable necessity of making moral judgments. This course initially approaches moral judgment (also known as social-moral cognition) from the perspectives of philosophically-oriented developmental psychologists, Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan. The corrective contributions of cultural psychology are then considered before moving to the field’s frontier--the neural foundations of moral cognition and development, which will be mapped using recent brain imaging research.

Readings : Weekly assignments, usually on e-reserve, and regular participation in discussions of the readings.

Papers-presentations: Each participant will present and lead discussion of specific texts, selected from topics outlined in the syllabus. There is a final term project.

Exams: None

Prerequisites: Doctoral student in psychology, religion, or ethics

RLSR 730: Sociology of Religion (Same as SOC 725)
Steve Tipton Thursday 7:00-10:00 pm Max 12

Content: What do religious phenomena mean to their participants, seen as members of society? We explore answers to this question over successive generations of development in the work of classical social thinkers (e.g. Weber, Durkheim, Du Bois, Marx, Freud) and contemporary theorists (Bellah, Geertz, Douglas, Bourdieu, Foucault, Abu-Lughod). Topics include the culturally constitutive meaning of religion as symbolic action and embodiment, theodicy and soteriology, powerful hegemony and prophetic transformation; the social and moral functions of ritual, myth, and religious experience; religious evolution, social modernization, globalization and nationalism; contemporary religious fundamentalism, politicization, secularization, class differences, and cultural conflict. Particular attention is given to the Black Churches, American Evangelicalism, global Catholicism and Islam, U.S. mainline Protestantism, and Zen meditation as a moral and social practice.

Texts include

Weber, The Sociology of Religion
Geertz, Islam Observed
Douglas, How Institutions Think
Asad, Genealogies of Religion
Bourdieu, "The Genesis and Structure of the Religious Field"
Campbell, The Romantic Ethic & the Spirit of Consumerism
Wuthnow, The Restructuring of American Religion
Smith, American Evangelicalism
Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World
Frederick, Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith
Ellingson,The Megachurch and the Mainline
Preston, The Social Organization of Zen Practice

Particulars: Active participation in seminar discussion; one short paper and class presentation; term paper.

RLTS 710: Theological Problems: The Use of the Bible in Theology
Ian McFarland Friday, 9:30-12:30 MAX: 12

Content: This course is designed to provide an introduction to the various ways in which Christian writers have deployed the Bible in order to sustain particular theological positions. Working from the analytical framework presented by David Kelsey in his book Proving Doctrine, it examines a range of writers from the patristic age to the present with the aim of helping the student identify major hermeneutical trends and options in the history of Christian use of the Bible in theological argument, including both formal debates over the scope and interpretation of the canon and more informal shifts in hermeneutical sensibility. The knowledge gained in this course is intended to provide a basis for further thinking on the relationship between biblical scholarship and theological argument at an advanced level.

Particulars: All participants will be expected to engage in critical discussion of the material. In addition, each participant will be asked to lead the seminar once during the semester, submit two review essays, and compose a final term paper.

RLTS 710q: The Philosophy and Praxis of Paulo Freire
Carol Lakey Hess Tuesday, 2:30-5:30 MAX: 12

Content : This course will examine the philosophy and liberatory praxis of Paulo Freire. We will consider the sources for his philosophy and praxis and the contexts in which they emerged. The course will be divided into three major sections: Context and Influences; Major Texts; Contemporary Heirs. 1) Context and Influences: we will consider the historical situation in Brazil as Freire was working and emerging, and we will read major influences on his work (such as Marx/ists, Fromm, Jaspers and Popper); 2) Major Texts: We will read Paulo Freire’s major texts – focusing on major themes (for example, ‘generative themes,’ ‘conscientization,’ ‘political nature of education,’ ‘dialogue,’ ‘praxis,’ etc.) as well as the continuities and the changes/development in his work; 3) Heirs (for example,: bell hooks; Ira Shor; Antonia Darder; Daniel Schipani; Augusto Boal): we will look at the ways in which varied scholars have appreciatively and critically continued Freire’s work. Course participants will be asked to: create a final philosophy/praxis project and to lead a one hour session that overviews one of Freire’s heirs.

Texts: will be along the lines of Major Texts of

Freire: Education for Critical Consciousness
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
The Politics of Education
The Politics of Education
Pedagogy of Hope
Pedagogy of Freedom
A Pedagogy for Liberation (with Ira Shor)

Learning to Question
Secondary Source: John Elias, Paulo Freire
Pedagogue of Liberation
Influences: Will include portions of: Marx, Communist Manifesto
Fromm, Escape from Freedom
Popper, The Open Society

Jaspers, selections. Heirs:
class participants will select from

Hooks, Teaching to Transgress
Shor, Empowering Education: Critical Teaching for Social Change
Darden, Reinventing Paulo Freire: A Pedagogy of Love
Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed
Schipani, Religious Education Encounters Liberation Theology

RLTS 752: The Black Church: Caribbean & African American
Noel Erskine Monday 6:30-9:30 Max 12

Content: This course seeks to look at the interaction of religion and culture in the development of the Black Church in the U.S. and Caribbean. The Black Church was formed through the traffic of Africa’s children across the Atlantic. The year 2007 marks the bicentenary of the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This course provides an opportunity to consider the history and theology of this church inter-regionally and intra-regionally. If “religion is the soul of culture and culture is the form of religion” how did and how does the Black Church function as black sacred space in combating oppression on the one hand and in sustaining “soul” on the other hand?

Texts

C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence Mamiya The Black Church in African American Experience
Andrew Billingsley Mighty Like a River: The Black Church and Social Reform
William L. Andrews Sisters of the Spirit
Rosetta E. Ross Witnessing & Testifying
Arthur Charles Dayfoot The Shaping of the West Indian Church
Dale Bisnauth History of Religions in the Caribbean
Francis Henry Recclaiming African Religions in the Caribbean
Dianne Stewart Three Eyes for the Journey

Particulars: The course will be seminar format, with readings and discussion of texts. Each student will present a research paper to the seminar on the history or theology of the Black Church

RLTS 750: Dialogism and Ethics (same as CPLT 751R)
Jill Robbins Wednesday, 1-4:00 Max 12

Content: The seminar considers the conceptual figure of dialogue and its variations within Russian Formalism, philosophical hermeneutics, and philosophical ethics. We will discuss the status of what Mikhail Bakhtin terms “ dialogism,” its difference from “dialogue,” and its promise of mediation between hermeneutic and formalistic approaches to text interpretation. We will also ask whether, as a structure, dialogism is ethical in Emmanuel Levinas’s sense of the putting into question of the self by the other. In the process, we will explore the possible convergence of Bakhtin’s philosophical anthropology and Levinas’s ethical thought.

Texts: Readings include:

Mikhail Bakhtin: Problems in Dostoevsky’s Poetics; Toward a Philosophy of the Act
and selected essays; Tzvetan Todorov, The Dialogical Principle;
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method, Pt. II;
Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and Infinity, Section I;
Paul Ricoeur, Oneself as Another.

Other Courses of Interest: