Fall 2010 Courses

1 (11) Patterns of Religious Experience (Instructors: Ackerman and MacEvitt)

A comparative study of some of the basic patterns of religion. The course will focus upon such themes as religious experience, myths of creation, stories of religious founders and heroes, the origin and resolution of human suffering, and the structure and meaning of religious community and ritual. Source material for these themes will be taken from the literary and artistic resources of the following religious traditions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV or INT.

5 (2) Early Christianity: The New Testament (Instructor: Ackerman)

An examination of primitive Christianity as witnessed by the writings of the New Testament. Emphasis will be given to the literary and historical analysis of the Gospels and Epistles and to an understanding of the pre-Christian and non-Christian religions of the Hellenistic world. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.

6 (10) Introduction to Judaism (Instructor: Benor) (Identical to Jewish Studies 6)

This course offers an introduction to Judaism by examining three of its central spiritual manifestations: (1) development, observance, and study of the Halaka (religious law); (2) philosophical contemplation; and (3) mystical experience and theosophical speculation. Ancient and modern challenges to the tradition will be studied in some detail, and an attempt will be made to determine what might constitute a unity of such a diverse tradition.  Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.

31 (10A) Sex, Celibacy and the Problem of Purity: Asceticism and the Human Body in Late Antiquity (Instructor: MacEvitt) Identical to WGST 43.2 X Classical Studies 11

Late Antiquity (c. 300-500 AD) was a time when Christians struggled to understand how gender, family life, and religion could intermesh. Did virgins get to heaven faster than those who marry? Can a chaste man and woman live together without succumbing to lust? Were men holier than women? What about women who behaved like men? This course examines the changing understanding of the body, marriage, sexuality, and gender within Christianity through reading saints' lives, letters, polemical essays, and legal texts. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.

80 (2A) Maimonides:12thC Enlightenment (Instructor: Benor)