RELI 250 - Across Religious Boundaries: Understanding Differences

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

The study of a selected topic or theme in religious studies that cuts across the boundaries of particular religions, allowing opportunities for comparison as well as contrast of religious traditions, beliefs, values and practices.

Topic for 2019/20a: African American Religions and the Practice of Social Criticism. (Same as AFRS 250) This class introduces students to the study of African American religions. Our focus is not only the historical variety of religious practices, but equally on the way the study of African American religious practices, serve to influence, wrestle with, protest, and critique constructions of race and racial identities. By considering topics such as the religious culture of the enslaved in the antebellum South, the development of independent black churches in the late 18th and 19th centuries, expressive culture in music, sermon, and song, and the intersections of religion and black political movements, we explore the ways the category of religion functions as a contested site to think through notions of black liberation, agency, and struggle. Jonathon Kahn.

Topic for 2019/20b: Zen and the West: Buddhism, America and the Culture of Enlightenment. (Same as ASIA 250) This course focuses on the encounter between Buddhist ideas and postmodern paradigms in both Science and the Humanities. How do Buddhist theories of perception relate to current paradigms in Theoretical Physics and Cognitive Science? What light does the Buddhist encounter with the West shed upon issues of gender, equality, and social justice? How have Buddhist teachings related to the teachings of major Western religions? Rick Jarow.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS