RLST 10100. Introduction to Religious Studies. 100 Units.

This course introduces some of the central concerns, problems, and materials of Religious Studies. Students are exposed to a range of primary and secondary source material grouped around a set of themes chosen by the instructor. Possible themes include canon, prophecy, revelation, initiation, priesthood, sacred space, discipline, and ritual.

Instructor(s): L. Pick     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Required of students who are majoring in Religious Studies.
Equivalent Course(s): RELH 10100

RLST 11005. Jewish Thought and Literature I: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. 100 Units.

The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is a complex anthology of disparate texts and reflects a diversity of religious, political, and historical perspectives from ancient Israel, Judah, and Yehud. Because this collection of texts continues to play an important role in modern religions, new meanings are often imposed upon it. In this course, we will attempt to read biblical texts apart from modern preconceptions about them. We will also contextualize their ideas and goals through comparison with texts from ancient Mesopotamia, Syro-Palestine, and Egypt. Such comparisons will demonstrate that the Hebrew Bible is fully part of the cultural milieu of the Ancient Near East. To accomplish these goals, we will read a significant portion of the Hebrew Bible in English, along with representative selections from secondary literature. We will also spend some time thinking about the nature of biblical interpretation.

Instructor(s): J. Stackert     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 31000,JWSC 20004

RLST 12000. Introduction to the New Testament: Texts and Contexts. 100 Units.

Our main goal is a careful reading of the New Testament, while highlighting specific authors and specific passages.  We will gain some useful knowledge of the historical, geographical, social, religious,  cultural and political contexts of these documents and explore the major literary genres represented in the canon.  Some insights will be given in the history of research, and current methodologies will be reflected.  In the end, each participant should be able to find a personal way of dealing with these texts.

Instructor(s): H-J. Klauck     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 32500,FNDL 28202

RLST 20401-20402-20403. Islamic Thought and Literature I-II-III.

This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required.

RLST 20501. Islamic History and Society I: The Rise of Islam and the Caliphate. 100 Units.

This course covers the period from ca. 600 to 1100, including the rise and spread of Islam, the Islamic empire under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, and the emergence of regional Islamic states from Afghanistan and eastern Iran to North Africa and Spain.

Instructor(s): F. Donner     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Not open to first-year students
Note(s): Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required. This sequence meets the general eduation requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20501,HIST 25704,HIST 35704,ISLM 30500

RLST 20604. Jewish History and Society I: Ancient Jerusalem. 100 Units.

The course will survey biblical, archaeological, and other early sources, as well as scholarly literature, to trace a history of ancient Jerusalem and to probe the religious significance of the city, its king, the temple that stood there, the activities that took place in and around it, and ideas that developed about it. Along the way, the course will model the modern, academic study of biblical literature, of the history and society of ancient Israel and Judea, and of religion.

Instructor(s): S. Chavel     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 20001,CRES 20001,HIST 22113,NEHC 20401,NEHC 30401,BIBL 31400

RLST 20801. Introduction to Islamic Law. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to the structure and central concepts of Islamic law, and explores its implementation in practice through its long history. The course pursues two parallel strands of inquiry. One weekly class meeting is dedicated to a close reading and discussion of primary legal texts in translation. In the second meeting, we trace the historical role of Islamic law in Muslim societies, beginning with the emergence of localized normative traditions and ending with a consideration of the nature of Islamic law in the modern globalized world. All readings in English.

Instructor(s): A. El Shamsy     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20025,ISLM 30025,LAWS 80212

RLST 20910. Prophets in Jewish and Islamic Traditions. 100 Units.

In this course, we will study the tales of the prophets as found in the Bible, the Qur’an, and Jewish and Islamic interpretive traditions. By examining and enjoying the narratives of individual prophets, we will develop an understanding of prophecy as a broad religious phenomenon. The course offers opportunities for comparative enquiry into two sacred scriptures—the Bible and the Qur’an—and the rich interpretive literature that Jewish and Islamic communities created in order to understand them. All readings will be in English translation. Assignments include three short essays, an oral presentation, and a final exam.

Instructor(s): J. Andruss     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 20910,NEHC 20911

RLST 21801. Religion and Society in the Middle Ages. 100 Units.

This course examines some of the roles played by religion within medieval society. We consider topics such as the conversion of Europe to Christianity, monasticism, the cult of saints, the rise of the papacy, and the rise of heresy and religious dissent. We study medieval religious ideals as well as the institutions created to perpetuate those ideals. weighing the experience of the individual and the group. We read autobiographies, saints' lives, chronicles, miracle collections, papal documents, among other kinds of sources.

Instructor(s): L. Pick     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 27905

RLST 22101. Women, Gender, and Religion in America. 100 Units.

This course asks how religious communities have shaped gender roles in colonial North America and the United States, and how individuals have both reproduced and challenged the dominant gender discourses of their time. Among other topics we will discuss witchcraft accusations in early America, the ideology of “Republican motherhood” during the American Revolution, the controversies over women’s religious leadership in the nineteenth century, the rise of “muscular Christianity” at the turn of the twentieth century, and recent debates over homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and women’s ordination. Requirements: class attendance and participation, a class presentation, a midterm exam, and a final exam.

Instructor(s): C. Brekus     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 27706

RLST 22400. Tolkien: Medieval and Modern. 100 Units.

J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is one of the most popular works of imaginative literature of the twentieth centruy. This course seeks to understand its appeal by situating Tolkien's creation within the context of Tolkien's own work as both artist and scholar alongside its medieval sources and modern parallels. Themes to be addressed include the problem of genre and the uses of tradition; the nature of history and its relationship to place; the activity of creation and its relationship to language, beauty, evil, and power; the role of monsters in imagination and criticism; the twinned challenges of death and immortality, fate and free will; and the interaction between the world of "faerie" and religious belief.

Instructor(s): R. Fulton     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Must have read The Lord of the Rings prior to first day.
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 24901,HIST 29902

RLST 23403. What Is Enlightenment? 100 Units.

What is enlightenment? How does one become enlightened, and who is enlightened? In Euro-American civilization, the eighteenth-century Age of Enlightenment championed the powers of human reason against religion and superstition to achieve scientific progress. Buddhism in the nineteenth century was represented by the heirs of Enlightenment as a religion for the Enlightenment to the point of not being a religion at all. Both traditions offer pathways to freedom (or liberation?) that draw on our rational capabilities, and both sponsor the production of knowledge that re-visions our place in the world. But they seem to be opposed: how could reason reject “religious” beliefs but also take part in “religious” traditions that aim to bring certain kinds of persons into being? We compare the mental models, discourses, methods of analysis, world-images, and practices of these traditions of enlightenment to assess the kinds of disciplines that their theoreticians and practitioners acquire and use.

Instructor(s): M. Browning, Staff     Terms Offered: Not Offered 2013-2014
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing
Equivalent Course(s): BPRO 28100

RLST 23603. Cosmos and Conscience: Looking for Ourselves Elsewhere. 100 Units.

Science and religion are two ways, among many others, that people can seek to know about reality: how do we construct ordered pictures of the whole—cosmos or civilization—and how do we relate to them in terms of action? How do we know what we do not know, and what does that kind of “knowledge” mean for the orientation and direction of human existence? How would cultural biases be affected by knowing that there are others “out there” in the universe, should we discover them? From various perspectives, this course addresses these questions of the origins, structures, and ends of reality as we look for ourselves—seek understanding of the human condition—in the cosmos but also in complex religious and cultural traditions. Whereas in our popular culture, science is often identified with the realm of knowledge and religion is simply “belief” or “practice,” the course also seeks to trace the rational limits of science and the rational force of religion with respect to the ethical problem of the right and good conduct of human life.

Instructor(s): W. Schweiker, D. York     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing
Equivalent Course(s): BPRO 23000,ASTR 23000

RLST 23605. Aquinas on God, Being, and Human Nature. 100 Units.

This course considers sections from Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica. Among the topics considered are God's existence; the relationship between God and Being; and human nature.

Instructor(s): S. Meredith     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 20700,CLCV 23712

RLST 23802. The Problem of Evil. 100 Units.

The course will examine the problem of evil from a historical perspective, which includes such authors as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and some contemporary literary authors.

Instructor(s): S. Schreiner     Terms Offered: Winter

RLST 23803. The Problem of Evil and the Forbidden. 100 Units.

This course undertakes the problem of evil in two ways. We will read treatise by various theologians in the Christian tradition who tried to define evil and to reconcile the problem of evil with the goodness of God. The course also will examine how people often experienced the presence of evil in the world; that is, the dangerous and forbidden people and practices that were believed to allow the entrance of dark forces into the world. Therefore we will be looking at phenomena such as the nature and work of the devil, demonic possession and exorcism, witchcraft, and certain kinds of magic. We will conclude with the book by Delblanco, The Death of Satan: How Americans have Lost the Sense of Evil.

Instructor(s): Schreiner, Susan      Terms Offered: Spring

RLST 23903. Jainism: An Indian Religion and its Contributions to Philosophy. 100 Units.

The course will introduce the history and doctrines of the Jaina religion and, in the second half of the quarter, turn to consider a selection of recent writings on Jaina philosophy in particular. Though there is no formal prerquisite, the course will presuppose a basic background in the study of Indian religions and philosophies, as is given, for instance, in Indian Philosophy I & II  (RLST 24201, RLST 24202). Please contact the instructor (m-kapstein@uchicago.edu) if you are uncertain as to your prior preparation.

Instructor(s): M. Kapstein     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Open only to Juniors and Seniors

RLST 24713. Augustine's Confessions. 100 Units.

Augustine’s Confessions recount not only his own conversion(s), but seek to facilitate a conversion in his readers and, thereby, inaugurate a new form of meditative reading. Like Cicero’s Hortensius, the text which prompted his long return to God, they thus belong to a genre of discourse known as protreptic in antiquity and designed to turn the reader towards the pursuit of wisdom. Of course, the Confessions as a confession participate in a number of other genres, and, thus, our analysis will have to take into account its generic complexity in order to understand how seeks to be read.

Instructor(s): C. Wild     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 24713,CLCV 26512

RLST 24913. Marginalized Theologies. 100 Units.

This course considers texts from 20th century authors who represent paradigms of "marginalized theologies," roughly organized around the categories of class, race, and gender: Gustavo Gutiérrez, James Cone, and Mary Daly. We will consider the constructive and normative claims that these authors make about responsibility, liberation, and religious (or areligious) self-understanding, as well as their appropriation of traditions and resources that have often been used to marginalize them. We will be equally concerned, though, to come to a cultural and analytical understanding of the topics involved, such as the forms of connection between one's social location and theological self-understanding.

Instructor(s): R. Elgendy     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 24913,LACS 24913

RLST 25110. Maimonides and Hume on Religion. 100 Units.

This course will study in alternation chapters from Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed and David Hume's Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, two major philosophical works whose literary forms are at least as important as their contents. Topics will include human knowledge of the existence and nature of God, anthropomorphism and idolatry, religious language, and the problem of evil. Time permitting, we shall also read other short works by these two authors on related themes. (II)

Instructor(s): J. Stern     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 26100,HIJD 35200,PHIL 25110

RLST 25112. Philosophy, Talmudic Culture, and Religious Experience: Soloveitchik. 100 Units.

Joseph Soloveitchik was one of the most important philosophers of religion of the twentieth century. Firmly rooted in the tradition of Biblical and Talmudic texts and culture, Soloveitchik elaborated a phenomenology of Jewish self-consciousness and religious experience that has significant implications for the philosophy of religion more generally. This course will consist of a study of some of his major books and essays. Topics to be covered may include the nature of Halakhic man and Soloveitchik’s philosophical anthropology, the problem of faith in the modern world, questions of suffering, finitude, and human emotions, the nature of prayer, the idea of cleaving to God. Soloveitchik will be studied both from within the Jewish tradition and in the context of the classical questions of the philosophy of religion. Some previous familiarity with his thought is recommended. (I)

Instructor(s): A. Davidson     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 25112,DVPR 35112,HIJD 35112,PHIL 35112

RLST 26150. Introduction to Buddhism. 100 Units.

This course will be an introduction to the ideas and meditative practices of the Theravada school of South and Southeast Asian Buddhism, from ancient to modern times. It will study both classical texts and modern ethnography.

Instructor(s): S. Collins     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 29700

RLST 26801. Many Ramayanas. 100 Units.

This course is a close reading of the great Hindu Epic, the story of Rama's recovery of his wife, Sita, from the demon Ravana on the island of Lanka, with special attention to the changes in the telling of the story throughout Indian history. Readings are in Paula Richman, Many Ramayanas and Questioning Ramayanas; the Ramayanas of Valmiki (in translation by Goldman, Sattar, Shastri, and R. K. Narayan), Kampan, and Tulsi; the Yogavasistha-Maharamayana; and contemporary comic books and films.

Instructor(s): W. Doniger     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): HREL 42501,FNDL 22901,SALC 42501,SCTH 40701

RLST 26901. Gender Norms and Deviations in South Asian Texts. 100 Units.

Beginning with the baseline of heteronormative Sanskrit texts, we will go on to consider texts and films that challenge that order, from Sanskrit epics and Puranas to Tamil and Malayalam fiction and films, as well as ethnographic studies of contemporary alternative South Asian sexualities.

Instructor(s): W. Doniger, N. Kommattam     Terms Offered: Winter

RLST 28900. Magic, Science, and Religion. 100 Units.

A critical examination of anthropological approaches to the analytic categories “magic,” “science,” and “religion” from the discipline’s evolutionist beginnings to contemporary research.

Instructor(s): A. Doostdar     Terms Offered: Winter

RLST 29700. Reading and Research Course. 100 Units.

Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): Consent of faculty supervisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

RLST 29800. BA Paper Seminar. 100 Units.

This class meets weekly to provide guidance for planning, researching, and writing the BA paper.

Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Consent of faculty supervisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Note(s): RLST 29800 and 29900 form a two-quarter sequence that is required of fourth-year students who are majoring in Religious Studies. Students will register via pink slip.

RLST 29900. BA Paper. 100 Units.

This class meets weekly to assist students in the preparation of drafts of their BA paper, which are formally presented and critiqued.

Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): RLST 29800 and 29900 form a two-quarter sequence that is required of fourth-year students who are majoring in Religious Studies. Students will register via pink slip.