Discussion #1 (Sept 28/29): submit essay
CHRIST AND COSMOLOGY: Like the other cosmologies we have looked at, the Christian cosmological texts found in the New Testament (John 1:1-18; Philippians 2:5-11; and Revelation 21-22) help illuminate the Christian conception of cosmological space: in what ways do you think these texts do so? (try to be as specific as possible). Even more important, however, is the way these texts illuminate the Christian conception of cosmological time: try to use them to describe the way Christian time is divided into various era. Finally, try to identify the axis mundi of Christian tradition.
Discussion #2 (Oct 5-6): submit essay
READING COSMOLOGICAL TEXTS
As we have seen in many of the religious traditions we have examined, a religion's cosmology is often well revealed by its cosmogony. What can you learn about Hopi cosmology by reading "The Hopi Myth of Creation?" How is space organized according to Hopi religion? Time? Also, what *can't* you learn by reading the cosmogony: are there features of Hopi cosmology that the cosmogony doesn't reveal?
Finally, in class we would like you to consider how would you compare the Hopi sense of space and time to other cosmologies we have studied? Are there cosmologies we have studied that particularly remind you of Hopi tradition?
Discussion #3 (Oct 12-13): submit essay
THE BUDDHA'S LIFE: We have described the problem of soteriology in lectures. How do you see the soteriological problem in the life of the Buddha? What is his soteriological solution? Bear in mind that the life of the Buddha begins long before the life of Sakyamuni.
Discussion #4 (Oct 19-20): submit essay
THE DEATH OF AL-HUSAYN: Husayn b. Ali's life poses the ultimate thedicy problem: How can terrible things happen to the best of men? Please consider what answer devoted members of "The People of the House" would give to this question. Explain how their answer would be a soteriological stance.
Discussion #5 (Oct 26-27): submit essay
SAMSKARA: At first, Samskara may read like the story of a particular man. Yet when we consider Praneshacaraya as a ritual specialist and member of a community, we realize that his problem is a communal problem as well. Please explain how Praneshacaraya's situation poses a ritual and communal problem for various Hindu communities.
Discussion #6 (Nov 2-3): submit essay
THE JEWISH RITUAL COMMUNITY: The Passover Haggadah is the ritual text used in conjunction with the Jewish celebration of the Passover holiday (in the spring). The text both tells the story that led to the celebration of the Passover (the story of the Israelites' escape from enslavement in Egypt) and prescribes certain ritual actions that are to be done, in a certain order, in conjunction with the telling. Such rituals, we have argued in class, serve both as models of community and as models for community; in other words, they both represent and re-present community. Using specific examples, describe some ways in which you think the Haggadah might model community. Based on its text, where would you locate Judaism on Mary Douglas' "grid" of community structure? Also, do you see ways that participation in the Passover ritual might help the Jewish community gain access to the experience of communitas?
Discussion #7 (Nov 9-10): submit essay
NIGHT: "Was he going to wipe out a whole people? Could he exterminate a population scattered throughout so many countries? So many millions! What methods could he use? And in the middle of the 20th century?" These are questions that occur to the protagonist of NIGHT. The answer to these questions is of course clear. Please view the film NIGHT AND FOG, and read NIGHT, and answer this question: What is distinctively MODERN about the mass murders of Jews in the 1940's? The answer is not: "They used modern technology." Rather, think about the worldview of the killers, the perspective from which these acts made sense. How is this view religious; how is it "post-religious."
Discussion #8 (Nov 16-17): submit essay
WHAT HAPPENED AT WACO? In lecture, we have discussed fundamentalism as a movement that is counter-modern in many respects, that is, a movement that often positions itself in opposition to many things that modernity represents. Yet, as we have also discussed in lecture, fundamentalist communities are often very "at home" within certain niches in the modern environment (e.g., in the use of mass media to promote a fundamentalist agenda). In what ways do you see either or both of these descriptions of fundamentalism manifesting themselves within the fundamentalist Branch Davidian community? Try to give specific examples.