RELI 350 - Comparative Studies in Religion

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

An examination of selected themes, issues, or approaches u see in illuminating the religious dimensions and dynamics within particular cultures and societies, with attention to the benefits and limits of the comparative method. Past seminars have focused on such topics as myth, ritual, mysticisms, and iconography. May be taken more than once for credit when content changes.

Topic for 2016/17b: Dreams, Myths and Visions in the Religious Imagination. This seminar focuses on the understanding and utilization of dreams and myths in Eastern and Western religious traditions. It will explore dream and visionary passages in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic works as well as traditional interpretations of dreams, and their attendant myths in India and Tibet. In addition to working with traditional commentaries and interpretations, the course will consider contemporary theoretical approaches from structuralist and post-structuralist sources, depth psychology, and cognitive science. Readings include passages from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Book of Revelation, the Qur’an, the Bhagvata-Purana, and the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Critical materials include the works of Tsong Kha Pa, Freud, Jung, Laberge, and others. Rick Jarow.

Topic for 2016/17b: Higher Dimensions and Alternate Universes in History and Pop Culture. (Same as STS 350 ) This course examines the cultural history of American and British speculations about infinity, other dimensions and the physical and metaphysical energies that undergird the universe. We examine the history of math and physics, how American and British religious thinkers appropriate this scientific literature, and how ideas about infinite spacial dimensions are taken up in popular novels, science fiction and fantasy. Christopher White.

One 2-hour period.