Global Arc

This course is a thematic exploration of Mexican religion from the sixteenth century on. Students will read secondary and primary readings and will think through concepts like: "popular" and local religion; "spiritual conquest" vs. religious negotiation; visual devotional culture; and spiritual geography. They will learn about histories of: religious orders and Native Americans; religion and "American Baroque" religiosity; the impact of Bourbon Reforms on religious practice; the Church and state in the post- independence period; and popular participation in religious rebellion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Are Zen and other religions stable entities with identifiable essences? Or do they lack a core, gradually vanishing as each layer is peeled away? Do they take on different forms in relation to cultural and power configurations? Or can they themselves shape social and political structures? In order to understand these questions and ask better ones, we will examine Zen in diverse contexts, including China, Japan, Korea, Germany, and the United States, to consider the tensions between romanticized ideals and practice on the ground. We will grapple with studying complex religious traditions with complicated and sometimes troubling histories.

An introduction to the Indian Buddhist philosophical tradition from the time of the Buddha until its decline (c. 400 B.C.E - 1200 C.E.). Topics include Buddhism's view of the world, the person, and the path to nirvana; equanimity, compassion and meditation as core elements in Buddhist ethics; early Buddhist metaphysics; the doctrine of "emptiness" and its various interpretations in the Great Vehicle schools; Buddhist epistemology and philosophy of language; and modern attempts to apply Buddhist philosophy to contemporary philosophical issues.

Atheisms come in kinds, the distinctions between them being based partly on the grounds of the rejection of God, partly on the distinctive form of the theism that is rejected: for theisms come in kinds too. Correspondingly, theisms may be distinguished at least in part by reason of the forms of atheism they confront. There is, therefore, a symbiotic relationship between theisms and atheisms, and they frequently mirror-image one another. Four styles of atheism are considered, represented by Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche and Derrida with a view to determining how far a 'classical' Christian theism is capable of a response to these critiques.

In this course, we will examine music and the religio-political imagination of the Black Atlantic, focusing on Jamaica and the US. We will examine the ways that the various cultures of hip-hop and reggae offer critique to our contemporary religious and political arrangements. Listening to the perspectives expressed in these cultural formations we will question whether the music provides a prophetic challenge to the status quo. Giving attention to the music, from the Negro Spirituals, to contemporary Hip Hop and Dancehall, we will contextualize it with an interest in understanding the relationship between their religious and political visions.

The course is to serve as an introduction to the theology of one of the greatest minds in the Western Christian tradition, Thomas Aquinas (1224/5-1274). Based on his most systematic work, the Summa Theologiae as the main source, the course will cover some of the central themes of his theology, mainly through readings of the primary source itself, and some secondary readings. Thomas Aquinas has in recent decades become a source common to most of the mainstream Christian theological traditions. Aquinas is an essential resource for any who simply want to study a dominating intellectual force within the wider cultures of the Western middle ages.

Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement in the world, spreading especially in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, having a major impact on the religious, social, and economic practices in those regions. This course looks into the religious and cultural sources of the movement from its birth in Los Angeles in 1906, focusing on such distinctive features as healing, expressive bodily worship, "speaking in tongues," and its special appeal to people on the margins of society.

An in-depth study of existentialist philosophies of, among others, Søren Kierekgaard, Martin Buber, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Emmanuel Levinas. The course will focus on their respective arguments about the relations between philosophy and existence, reason and revelation, divine law and love, philosophy, religion and politics, and Judaism and Christianity. One three-hour seminar.

A comparative study of the primary texts of Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas. Topics include: the problem of evil, human nature, the existence of God, freedom and grace, ethics and politics, and the relation of theology to philosophy. Attention also given to the legacy of these influential and contested thinkers. One three-hour seminar.

Hinduism is often regarded as one of the world's most ancient living religions, and its oldest scriptures were composed more than 3000 years ago. It may therefore come as a surprise that people did not start calling themselves Hindus until the 15th century. How should we understand the late appearance of this term as a self-referential category, and what does it tell us about religion in South Asia? In this course, we will trace Hinduism's roots from the earliest period up to the 15th century, examining not only continuity in religious thought and practice but also diversity in the traditions that came to form a single Hindu community.