RELI 330 - Religion, Critical Theory and Politics

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

Advanced study in selected aspects of religion and contemporary philosophical and political theory. May be taken more than once for credit when content changes.

Topic for 2014/15a: States of Emergency: Religion, Empire, and Sovereignty. (Same as ASIA 330 ) In this seminar we explore connections between ostensibly normative, modern, discursive, and universal categories, such as human rights, religion, and various protected freedoms, along with the language of nation-states (constitutional language, legal discourse, etc.), claims to sovereignty, territorialization and the sanctioned violence that goes along with all the above. Though this class is comparative and global in its coverage, we give special attention to China. Some questions we consider include the following: Why do so many nation-state constitutions claim to be secular but enshrine religion as an inalienable human right? Is there really a separation between church and state? Why is sovereignty inherently so violent? Is there a connection between religion and violence? Do human rights in fact do what they claim? Mr. Walsh.

In 2014/15 this topic of ASIA 330 /Religion 330 serves as the required Senior Seminar for Asian Studies majors. It also is open to other students.

Topic for 2014/15b: Religion, Race, and Democracy. (Same as AFRS 330 ) This seminar in religious ethics examines the way certain goods and virtues potentially crucial to a just democracy—hope, reverence, other-regard, memory, community, and even love—have historically been in short supply. Of particular interest is the way that race in America is a crucial frame through which to look at this set of questions. How do democracies teach their citizens about the sorts of virtues that democratic existence may require? How do religious resources contribute to this conversation? Ultimately we consider whether democracy is capable of expressing and training its citizens in the sorts of virtues that the pluralistic conditions of democratic life—conditions centrally rooted in the conflict over the nature of racial justice—would seem to require. Mr. Kahn.

No prerequisites.

One 2-hour period.