GRADUATE DIVISION OF RELIGION                         SPRING 2001 COURSE OFFERINGS

Content: When a religion "spreads" or "moves" to another culture, missionaries have to make decisions about what elements of their religion are essential and what can be left behind. Converts have to figure out what elements of their own culture are consistent or inconsistent with the imported religion. These fundamental negotiations are not only matters of theological confession, but also involve the deep structures of cultural difference, representations of distant cultures, and the assimilation and discipline of bodies.

With just a few exceptions, no other group of people went to China in such large numbers, lived among the Chinese, spoke the language, argued in the streets, and wrote so much about their experiences. Missionaries introduced "the West" to China, and introduced "China" to the West. Whatever your opinion of their motivation, they went to save souls--not to buy and sell like traders, not to posture with the ruling elite like diplomats, not to point a gun like soldiers, and not to leave after a month like tourists. The study of missions thus gives us a uniquely well-articulated view into the real processes of inter-religious negotiation and the nature of cultural difference.

This course will explore aspects of missions, through a case study of Christian missions in China. Comparative perspective will come from shorter case studies of Christian missions in Japan, Korea, and India, and of Buddhist missions in China and America. The larger theoretical issues include:
--"nativization," "indigenization," or "accommodation" from foreign and native perspectives,
--issues of interpretation and representation associated with missions, and the critical role of the body,
--translation debates--how to translate "God" in Chinese--and views of the Chinese language,
--the dynamics of interactions between distant cultures, on the ground and in more general terms,
--the construction of other religions as "idolatry"
--transplanting into China the categories and memory of Western religious history, e.g. the Reformation, the Golden Calf, Paul's missions.
--a comparative, historical theory of missions?

Texts: May include: Jonathon Spence, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci; Matteo Ricci, The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven (Tianzhu shiyi); Daniel H. Bays, ed., Christianity in China From the Eighteenth Century to the Present; Paul A. Cohen, China and Christianity: The Missionary Movement and the Growth of Chinese Antiforeignism, 1860-1870; one of a selection of missionary biographies; selections from missionary journals and publications, including archival work.

Particulars: Consistent with my emphasis on writing as an ongoing process, throughout the semester students will write reactions, comments, and reviews, and read each others' work. Your research paper should be on Christian missions in China, but it could be a comparative paper involving another case study (e.g missions to India, etc.) There will also be a brief exam on terminology early in the semester.

Content: Few concepts are more central to ethics than love and justice, but none is more subject to varying interpretation than these two. The course seeks to clarify several philosophical and theological accounts of love and justice, with particular emphasis on how they interrelate. Is love ideally indiscriminate and/or sacrificial and therefore antithetical to justice? Is justice a single virtue equally binding on all human beings? Does God possess either virtue? How are we to conceive (and act on) such related values as rationality, creativity, human rights, and civil liberties? These will be some of the central concerns of our common reflection. Readings are selected from a broad range of perspectives, spanning historical, racial, and gender diversity. Readings include works by Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Niebhur, Rawls, West, Shklar, and Nussbaum. This course is designed for graduate students and presupposes some knowledge of ethical theory; it is, however, open to advanced undergraduates and Candler students.

Particulars: Substantial readings per week, class participation, and two 12-15 page papers.

Content: This course provides an advanced introduction to contemporary feminist religious and philosophical ethics. There will be 4 problem areas shaping the course: 1)what have been the key questions motivating feminist ethicists (a genealogy of feminist ethics)?; 2)how has feminist ethics engaged the intersecting forces of class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality?; 3)what is the significance of the current debates within feminist theory over the relative merits of postmodernism and critical theory?; 4)what is the relationship of feminist religious and philosophical ethics?

Texts: Readings will include works by Benhabib, Butler, Fraser, Haraway, Harrison, Levitt, Townes, Young.

Particulars: Each student will participate once as 1)discussion leader (with preparation of a short 3-page position paper to be distributed the week before); 2)respondent (with preparation of a 1-page position paper to be distributed before class; and 3)class recorder. A proposal, outline, and final research paper is also required.

Content: The seminar will be devoted to the Song of Songs, with limited attention to procedural issues, including linguistic ones.

Particulars: One half of the seminar will be devoted to two topics: (1) the relation of the Song to the Book of Hosea and (2) the relation of the Song to love songs elsewhere, including some of India that are especially close in content and (apparently) in social role and some that are different. Students who wish to write their annual paper as part of this seminar will omit this half of the seminar; of course, they can listen to reports emanating from it.

Content: This seminar will meet weekly and focus on selected issues pertaining to the history of ancient Israel. It presupposes a general knowledge of ancient history and especially of Middle Eastern history during biblical times.

Particulars: There will be weekly assignments for all participants in the seminar, rather than a single research paper or final examination.

Content: This seminar, offered every other year, takes up a rotating series of classic and current issues in the study of the Hebrew Bible. For Spring, 2001, the issues will be focused on issues of textuality and interpretation. Possible units include hermeneutics of biblical texts, the textualization of ritual, comparison of texts across cultural boundaries, the problem of divergent text histories, and issues in the recovery of antecedent texts from composite works. Faculty from across the department will participate in various of the units.

Texts: Readings will include both particular studies from the discipline of Hebrew Bible and theoretical materials of an interdisciplinary nature.

Particulars: Students will present a series of reading reports and case studies but no major paper.

Content: This seminar will focus on Thomas Aquinas's concept of the nature, methods and purpose of theology. Topics include theology as a science, theological epistemology, the limits of reason, and theological language (the "divine names"). The seminar will also consider the cultural and institutional background of Thomas's work.

Texts: The central texts of the seminar are from Thomas's Summa theologiae. Texts for philosophical, cultural and historical background include: M.D. Chenu, Toward Understanding St Thomas; J.P. Torrell, Saint Thomas and his Work; E. Gilson, History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages; and J.W. Baldwin, The Scholastic Culture of the Middle Ages. Students may follow the primary sources in English translation or in the original Latin. (If they have Latin, they should use it, but they don't need to know Latin to take the course.)

Particulars: The central method is the course is close reading and discussion of rather small sections of Thomas's Summa. In addition, each student chooses a topic in Thomas or an historically related field (such as the University of Paris), prepares a bibliography of secondary literature on this topic over the last 15 years, summarizes one article and one book from this list, and presents these summaries to the rest of the group. Assessment will be based partly (20%) on these summaries but mainly (80%) on a final paper based on primary sources.

Content: This seminar will explore religious history by focusing on death, and particularly the various cultures of death that have emerged on the American social landscape. We will cover both familiar cultural forms of expression, such as the Puritan way of death and the popularity of spiritualism, as well as more unusual forms, such as the material culture of cemeteries and the hip hop genre identified as "requiem rap."

Texts: Ann Braude, "Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America"; Kristin Ann Hass, "Carried to the Wall: American Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial"; Janice Hume, "Obituaries in American Culture"; Gary Laderman, "The Sacred Remains: American Attitudes Toward Death, 1799-1899"; Thomas Lynch, "The Undertaking: Life Studies From the Dismal Trade"; Greil Marcus, "Dead Elvis: A Chronicle of a Cultural Obsession"; Jessica Mitford, "The American Way of Death Revisited"; David Stannard, "The Puritan Way of Death"

Particulars: Students will be expected to do the reading, lead seminar sessions, and present on research in progress, which will include bringing in primary material for analysis and discussion.

Content: The offering of this seminar reflects the interest of the academy, and increasingly of Emory, in issues of identity and diversity among American Muslims, a situation that has been described as "a pluralism within a pluralism" by one American Muslim leader. In keeping with Emory's current academic year theme of "Year of Reconciliation," this first offering of the seminar will focus on the growing diversity of the American Muslim communities, the impact of the globalization of Islam and the American social milieu on Islam in America, and the role of both traditional (e.g., pilgrimage to Mecca) and modern (internet and media) possibilities for establishing a common identity among Muslims, with a special focus on Atlanta and the Southwest. The seminar will begin with a discussion of the philosophical issues raised by Columbia University philosopher Akeel Bilgrami in his 1992 article in Critical Inquiry, "What is a Muslim? Fundamental Commitment and Cultural Identity." We will then read and discuss an interdisciplinary variety of recent works on the social, economic, legal, cultural and religious history and development of African American and immigrant Muslim communities and their interruptions with each other within the North American ethos. Some of the authors and public figures we read will be invited to meet with the seminar, in person or possibly in televideo conference.

Texts: During the course of the semester, students will collaborate to build a comprehensive bibliography of library, internet and other materials that would belong in a contemporary archive. Select works about Islam in America will be read, analyzed and, and critiqued in seminar. Special effort will be made to discover writings in the fields of law, economics, the social sciences, gender studies and other fields that increasingly pertain to issues of Muslim identity in America, in addition to the now standard works by such scholars as Yvonne Haddad and Richard Turner on Islam in American religious history.

Particulars: The seminar will meet and discuss select texts for the first six weeks or so. In the second stage of the semester, students will meet individually with the instructor (occasionally in special gatherings with guest speakers) as they prepare and write their research projects. This second phase will also be a time for field work in the Atlanta area. After the first of April, the seminar will resume meeting to hear presentations of student research papers. Thus, aggressive and well-prepared class participation as well as the final paper will constitute the main obligation of students in fulfilling the requirements of the seminar.

Content: Basic study of the language and grammar of Akkadian.

Content: The focus of the seminar is exegetical: it provides an opportunity for close reading of the Greek text of Acts, giving attention to text-critical questions, especially the distinctive readings of the Western text, but also to historical and literary dimensions of the text. Attention is also given to the history of scholarship on Acts.

Particulars: Sessions will be devoted to translation and discussion of the Greek text, reports on assigned readings and topics, and presentations of student research projects.

Content: This seminar will serve as an intensive introduction to the literature and material culture of the Greco-Roman period. To that end, the course will focus on primary sources as a means of evaluating and understanding the various components of ancient culture. Secondary sources will be utilized to expand upon primary readings and to provide resources for further study.

Texts: Outside of the primary texts, the following is a sampling of texts that will be used: David Potter, Literary Texts And The Roman Historian; Roger Bagnall, Reading Papyri, Writing Ancient History; Peter Garnsey, Food And Society in Classical Antiquity; Mark Golden and Peter Toohey, Inventing Ancient Culture; and James Jeffers, the Greco-Roman World of the New Testament.

Particulars: The seminar will explore methods and strategies for historical reconstruction and evaluation drawing largely upon the readings. Students will be evaluated on class participation (including one presentation) and one major paper. Students will be encouraged to explore and employ one strategy of historical reconstruction of their choice--developing a proposal, conducting research, and analyzing and interpreting the research.

Content: "Willing the well-being of victim and violator in the context of the fullest possible knowledge of the nature of the violation . . . holds the possibility of breaking the chain of violence." In such terms Marjorie Suchocki formulates her prescription for 'curing violence' in her book on "relational" theology, The Fall to Violence. Other course texts emphasize the causes of violence instead of (or alongside of) its cures. Focal for the course are systemic, structural, and institutional forms of victimization and violence that persist in human affairs from the mundane to the cataclysmic. A central consideration will be the theory of chronic scapegoating, mimetic desire, and sacred violence developed by Rene Girard (Stanford emeritus) and currently under research and critique by members of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion (COV&R; see website).

A key framework for the course is the idea of "futuring": assume that a visionary goal--here, for example, managing systemic violence--has been achieved at some point in the future however hopeless its actual achievement may seem under current conditions. Then speculate: How was that achievement possible? From the vantage point of projected future achievements, hypothesize: What theories and practices await development from within the current state of affairs to enable a shift toward that goal? Summary considerations in the course will include: What are next steps along a trajectory toward that ventured future, "after violence"?

Texts: Required:
Gil Bailie, Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads
Christine Gudorf, Victimization: Examining Christian Complicity
Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence
Alice Miller, For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing/the Roots of Violence
James Williams, ed. The Girard Reader
Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers:Discernment & Resistance in a World of Domination

Suggested:
J. Beversluis, ed. Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions
Pearl Oliner, ed., Embracing the Other: Philosophical, Psychological, and Historical Perspectives on Altruism
David Smock, Perspectives on Pacifism: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Views on Nonviolence and International Conflict
Marjorie Suchocki, The Fall to Violence: Original Sin in Relational Theology

Video: "A Conversation on Christian Nonviolence," Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, Lecture (cf. his tract "The Nonviolent Eucharist")
"It's Always Possible"; Kiran Bedi on Transforming One of the Largest Prisons in the World (India Vision Foundation, New Delhi)
"Mother Teresa," Ann & Jeanette Petrie, narr. Richard Attenborough; SF: Dorsan Corp.
"Vectors in Understanding and Healing Our Society's Violence," Lecture/Workshop, Thee Smith, Emory Ethics Center, Mar. 26, 1996
"Violence, Victims and Christianity," Rene Girard, The D'Arcy Lecture, Oxford Univ., Nov. 5, 1997
"Violence Unveiled:The Gospel at Work in History," Video Lecture Series; Bailie and Rohr
"Waging Peace, 1996," The Carter Center, Atlanta (cf. United States Institute of Peace)
"Working It Out: Blacks and Jews on the College Campus," National Coalition Building Institute, Washington, D.C. (cf. NCBI-Atlanta/Emory chapters "Prejudice Reduction" workshops)

Particulars: (1) 2 class presentations on required readings (above);  (2) a midterm practicum or media presentation (sample practicums available in course; multimedia resources available on campus; see course syllabus); (3) a final term paper incorporating elements of the above or major themes of the course.

RLPC 710K - James: Psychology, Pragmatism, and the Religious Life          Snarey             M 2:30 - 5:30
Max: 12       

Content:  We will examine carefully and critically the psychological, religious, and philosophical perspectives of  physiologist-psychologist-philosopher William James.  The course aims to forge a conversation between his psychological, philosophical, and theological reflections.
 
Texts:      The Principles of Psychology; The Varieties of Religious Experience; Pragmatism
 
Particulars:   Active participation in seminar discussions; at least two seminar presentations; a final 15 page paper.
 

Content: This course will focus on religion and nationalism in the reading of sacred texts in two different cultures. Both of these cultures gained independence at around the same time (1947 and 1948 respectively), and both are struggling with the nature of secular and religious identity. Both have been the focus of religiously motivated violence in the last decade, and have seen the ascendancy of conservative religious groups (Hindu and Jewish) into mainstream politics. Both construct their identity over and against the Muslim outsider. Our question for the graduate seminar will be: How are religious texts read in these highly charged religious and political contexts? What lessons can be learned from Israel about India, and from India about Israel? How do these contexts affect the formation of religious identity, and the practices of religious reading in each culture?

Texts: Primary Sources: The Tanakh, The Talmud, The Rg Veda, The Upanisads, The Ramayana

Secondary Sources may include:
A. Rivitzky, Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism
Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Judaism, Human Values, and the Jewish State
D. Sharansky, Modern Israel and Ancient Israel
E. Luz, Parallels Meet
Y. Harkabi, Israel's Fateful Hour
Roald Hoffman, Old Wine, New Flasks: Reflections on Science and the Jewish Tradition
Larson, India's Agony of Religion
Thomas Blom Hansen, The Saffron Wave
Dalmia and Von Steitencron, Representing Hinduism
Uma Chakravarty, "Whatever Happened to the Vedic Dasi?" In Rethinking Women
Tanika Sarkar, Women and the Hindu Right: A Collection of Essays
Laurie Patton, ed., Jewels of Authority: Women, Text, and Tradition in Hindu India
 

Content: This graduate seminar introduces students to current quantitative and qualitative research on the demographics, organizational forms, and diversity of religion in the United States. The course will use three contemporary theoretical axes in the sociology of religion, i.e., debates surrounding secularization theories, social movement theories, and organizational theories, for developing frameworks for interpreting data on religion.

Texts: Robert Wuthnow, The Restructuring of American Religion; Jay Demerath, Peter Dobkin Hall, Terry Schmitt, and Rhys Williams, eds. Sacred Companies; R. Stephen Warner and Judith Wittner, Gatherings in Diaspora; Phillip Hammond, Religion and Personal Autonomy; extensive reading packet.

Particulars: Full seminar preparation and participation. Students will present seminar discussion papers at least once during the course. Students will make a second presentation either on 1) original research in contemporary American religion, e.g., ethnographic field study, or 2) an overview and evaluation of current research in an area of interest in contemporary American religion, e.g., new age religiosity, Messianic Jews, African-American Islam. Students will be expected to develop the second presentation into a major term paper (20-25 pages).

Content: Beginning with key figures, philosophical and theological, who define certain "classical" approaches to human subjectivity, this seminar explores the centrality of emotions, passions and feelings in religious practice and experience.  We will examine the claim: "the language of religious faith is the language of the human heart."  Drawing on resources and methods of interpretation from both analytic and phenomenological traditions, especially from recent work in philosophical psychology,  the seminar traces complex relationships between belief, knowledge, religious practices and human subjectivity in a select range of texts.

Texts:  Special attention will be given to Augustine's Confessions, Jonathan Edwards' Treatise on Religious Affections, Kierkegaard's Edifying Discourses, Scheleirmacher's Speeches, and selected religious poets (Donne, Herbert, Eliot,  Denise Levertov, and others). Other resources from Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Spinoza, Hume, Wittegenstein, Amelie Rorty and recent articles.
 

Content: This seminar will explore some of the classical paradigms for interpreting the human condition. We will focus our attention on the variety of ways Christian thinkers have described bondage and freedom including, e.g. fallenness, woundedness, transformed desire, etc.

Texts: May include: Dorotheus of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings; Athanasius, Life of Anthony; On the Incarnation, Origen, On First Principles, Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity, Augustine, On Music, Teresa of Avilla, The Interior Castle, Julian of Norwich, Showings, Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections.

Particulars: Short papers on selected readings, term paper putting these texts in conversation with contemporary theology and experience.