Global Arc

The relative novelty of American scriptures allows us entry into the most essential questions of scriptures' meaning, function and use: What is a scripture? How does a text become one? We will discuss selections from The Book of Mormon, Science and Health, Message to the Blackman in America, and Dianetics, along with several other new-world scriptures and, by way of comparison, the American histories of some old-world scriptures. Emphasis will be on reading and reflecting on these texts as primary sources, investigating their internal logic, discursive influences, and rhetorical effects to think about how communities have formed around them.

The course begins with the intertwined history of Muslims in America and America itself. We will then apply that foundation to topics in contemporary Muslim American life - for example, authority in mosques, fashion and coolness, and representation in movies. Students will encounter primary as well as secondary sources. For example, students will read an 1831 autobiography of an enslaved Muslim named Omar ibn Said and analyze a Chicago-based Ahmadi newspaper from the 1920s. We will use a range of media, including film and material culture, to emphasize the varieties of Muslim experience in America.

Have you ever wanted to change the world? So have lots of other people. In this course, we'll explore how American Christians have participated in social movements since the early 20th century, and we'll see how religion fits into their mobilization strategies. We'll focus on four case studies: the Catholic Worker movement; Black church women during the Civil Rights movement; the early Christian Right; and advocacy around HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ rights. This course centers ethnographic research methods in the study of religion, and students will learn skills such as data coding, participant observation, and qualitative interviewing.

First semester junior majors participate in a non-credit colloquium with a member or members of the faculty. In addition to short assignments throughout the term that prepare majors to research and write a junior paper (JP), students are expected to produce a five to seven-page JP proposal. The grade for the colloquium is factored into the final grade for the junior independent work.

This course assumes a basic knowledge of Coptic language, and will provide an introduction to early Christianity in Late Antique Egypt. Our starting point will be the Nag Hammadi Library; as such, this course will survey a number of literary genres (letters, gospels, magic, and apocalypse) and sectarian groups (Sethians, Hermetists, and Valentinians) contained in the collection. Depending on student interests, this course will also consider a number of possible topics relating to Late Antique Egypt, such as Manichaeism, monasticism, Neo-Platonism, demonology, ecumenical councils, and indigenous religious beliefs and practices.

A seminar on Kant's ethics, metaphysics, and social/political philosophy insofar as they relate to his thinking about religion. Kant famously criticizes traditional theistic proofs as illegitimate speculation, but his own positive project involves God in important ways, even in the Critical period. In this course, we look at the pre-Critical theology, the Critical arguments against dogmatic and ecclesiastical religion, the positive arguments for "practico- theoretical" and "moral" faith, and the roles played by the concepts of evil, grace, hope, and progress in an enlightened, moral religion.

This course offers to students with significant background in Jewish Studies orientation to the critical tools for studying the Jewish tradition and its development in multiple geographical and historical contexts. We begin with the Hebrew Bible, go through Rabbinic Literature, continue through Kabbalah and the Early Modern period. Knowledge of Hebrew and Aramaic and background in Bible and Talmud is necessary.

In this course the different types of manuscripts, languages and texts from Ancient Egypt will be discussed. Papyrus is a prominent material from Ancient Egypt and we will study several examples in Princeton Collections. We will also discuss the use of modern techniques in manuscript studies like databases, ink analysis, x-ray and computer tomography. An overview will be given of the different materials including those from Elephantine Island. At the end, the students will curate a small exhibition demonstrating the specialties of ancient Egyptian manuscripts.

This course is intended for students who already have experience with the Talmud and want to expand their engagement with the text by acquiring modern research methods. It addresses the use and significance of manuscripts of the texts; the relationship between the Bavli and the Yerushalmi; the sources of the Talmud and the way in which it was put together. We will trace the development of Talmudic ideas, laws, and stories and determine how and why different versions developed. We will also examine the text in its historical context. Students will be introduced to the online and offline databases and bibliographic tools.

This seminar provides a survey of Islamic political thought from its beginnings in the 7th century to the present. What are the key debates in the history of Islamic political thought - on conceptions of government, on religion and politics, on power, on non-Muslims? How did political thought develop in various Arab, Iranian, and Indian contexts? What transformations has it undergone since the late 19th century? How does the legacy of political thought inform political and religious contestations among Muslims today? These are among the questions we will address in this seminar.