This course will focus on the three related religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three religious traditions are often referred to as "western," although they all have origins in the "near east" and today have a global reach. These religions are sometimes called “Abrahamic traditions” as they all claim a special relationship with the biblical figure, Abraham. We will explore the historical development, belief systems, practices, sacred texts, and cultural influences of these three traditions, independently and in relation to each other. By the end of the course, you can expect to have a basic understanding of the essential characteristics of each tradition and how these essential characteristics both adapted to specific cultural/historical contexts and helped to shape new cultural/historical contexts. You can also expect to gain some facility with analytical approaches to thinking about religion in comparative context.
• Students are expected to attend all classes. If you know that you will miss class because you are sick or are away from school for an emergency, please try to let me know ahead of time, if possible, via phone or e-mail. More than three unexcused absences during the semester may result in a lowered overall grade in addition to an unsatisfactory class participation grade.
• Graded work for the class will consist of class participation (based on attendance, participation in class discussion, and the level of your preparedness and involvement in the course), three in-class exams, one four- to five-page essay responding to the introductory reading, a four- to five-page critique of a work of fiction or a film (from a list of options I will provide) , and a scheduled final exam. The grading for the course will be as follows: 10% for class attendance and participation, 15% for each of the three in-class exams, 10% for the first short paper, 15% for the fiction/film critique and 20% for the final exam. There will be several opportunities to earn extra credit over the course of the semester by attending relevant lectures and programs on campus or visiting public museums or exhibits that illuminate some aspect of the class. Instructions and a list of opportunities may be found in a folder on the Assignments page.
Classroom Etiquette: Out of respect for your fellow students as well as the instructor, please be on time! Late arrivals are distracting. For the same reason, I ask that students only leave the room in the middle of class if it is absolutely necessary. If you know that you will need to leave class early for some reason, please sit near the door and try to exit as quietly as possible. Do check to make sure that your cell phone is off before class starts. If you cannot resist the temptation to "multitask" on your laptop, please leave it at home! We all will appreciate these considerations.
Honesty and Fairness: All students should familiarize themselves with the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Conduct Code and adhere to it. Please see also my Plagiarism Policy. Note that I am required to report all cases of academic misconduct to the dean.
Make-up Exams: I will only give a make-up exam if a student misses a test because of a medical problem, death in the family, a religious holiday, or official university business. In all cases where you know in advance about a conflict, let me know as soon as possible.
Students with Disabilities: Any student with a documented disability who requires academic accommodations should contact Disability Services as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations. If you suspect that you may have an undiagnosed disability that is interfering with your success in your coursework, please come see me and I will help direct you to the appropriate resources at BU.
Religious Holidays: Students can make up work missed because of a religious holiday as long as they make arrangements in advance.
Required Textsavailable at Barnes and Noble Bookstore: • Eliezer Segal, Introducing Judaism (Routledge, 2009) • Sandra Frankiel, Christianity: A Way of Salvation (HarperOne, 1985) • Jamal J. Elias, Islam (Prentice-Hall, 1999) Also: a set of readings in pdf format on our blackboard site and a number of internet documents, linked to the syllabus Please bring reading materials to class on the day(s) they are assigned |
Schedule:
Introduction to "Western" Religions
Jan 19 Introduction, Boundaries, and Definitions
Jan 21 Thinking about Religion Malory Nye, Religion: Some Basics, 1-22 [Blackboard]
Jan 24 Thinking about Religion Malory Nye, Religion: Some Basics, 105-151 [this is divided into two documents on Blackboard]
Jan 26 "Abrahamic Religions": God and Creation The Jewish Study Bible, Genesis 1-3; The Oxford Study Bible, John 1:1-36; Qur’an Sura 21:30-35; 30:1-55; 39:1-9 [Blackboard]
Jan 28 Covenant and Collective Identity The Jewish Study Bible, Genesis 9:1-9:17; Genesis 12-22; Deuteronomy 5-11;The Oxford Study Bible, Romans 4; Galatians 4; Qur'an Sura 2:62-134; 3:65-139; excerpt from Ibn Ishaq, Sirah, in Gordon Newby, The Making of the Last Prophet: A Reconstruction of the Earliest Biography of Muhammad, 33-43; 65-82 [Blackboard]
Unit I Judaism
Jan 31 Ancient Israelite Religion Segal 11-20
First Paper Due
Feb 2 Judaism under Greeks and Romans (Second Temple Judaism) Segal 21-39; The Jewish Study Bible, Daniel 7-12 [Blackboard]
Feb 4 Diaspora and the Development of Rabbinic Judaism Segal 40-59; Account of the destruction of the Second Temple, Avot d'Rabbi Natan, in Jeffrey Rubenstein, ed., Rabbinic Stories 48-51; Pirkei Avot Chapters 1 and 2 [Blackboard]
Feb 7 Medieval Judaism Segal 60-69
Feb 9 Philosophy and Mysticism Segal 70-103; 158-159;188-194
Feb 11 Early Modernity: Three Jewish Lives: Glickl of Hameln (Excerpts from Marvin Lowenthal, ed., trans., The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln), Shabbetai Zevi (An Account of Shabbetai Zevi, in Jacob R. Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World: A Sourcebook, 261-269), and Baruch Spinoza (Rebecca Goldstein, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave us Modernity, 3-19; R. H. M. Elwes, trans., Benedict de Spinoza, Theologico-Political Treatise and a Political Treatise, 98-129)[Blackboard]
Feb 14 Enlightenment (Haskalah), Emancipation, and Reform Segal 106-131
Feb 16 Key Elements of Contemporary Judaism Segal 253-259; 266-274; 277-293; 295-304
Guest Speaker, Composer Matti Kovler
Feb 18 First Exam
Unit II Christianity
Feb 21 NO CLASS
Feb 22 [SUBSTITUTE MONDAY SCHEDULE] Jesus and Second Temple Judaism The Oxford Study Bible, The Gospel According to Matthew [Blackboard]; Frankiel 1-16
Note: Feb 22 is the Last Day to Drop without a “W”
Feb 23 St. Paul and the Formation of Christian Identity The Oxford Study Bible,Paul's Letter to the Romans; Caroline Johnson Hodge, If Sons Then Heirs: A Study of Kinship and Ethnicity in the Letters of Paul, 3-18 [Blackboard]
Feb 25 Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire Frankiel 16-28;
Feb 28 Medieval Christianity Frankiel 28-39
Mar 2 Philosophy and Mysticism Excerpts from Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica; Bernard McGinn, The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, xiii-xviii; 35-40; 172-179; 451-459; 529-534
Mar 4 Protestant and Catholic Reformations Frankiel 39-56
Mar 7 Mission: Proselytizing and the Global Reach of Christianity Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, 1-38
Mar 9 Key Elements of Contemporary Christianity Frankiel, 57-89; 120-126
Mar 11 Second Exam
Mar 12-20 SPRING BREAK!!!
Unit III Islam
Mar 21 The Prophet Muhammad and His World Jonathan E. Brockopp, Muhammad, 1-18 [Blackboard]
Mar 23 Beyond Arabia: The Geographic and Cultural Transformation of Islam Elias 12-43
Mar 25 Philosophy and Mysticism Elias 52-60; Excerpts from Qushayri, The Treatise, in Michael Sells, Early Islamic Mysticism, 97-150
Mar 28 Foundations of Scriptural and Legal Traditions in the Classical Period Elias 45-52; F. E. Peters, A Reader on Classical Islam, 212-256 [Blackboard]
Mar 30 Islam in South and Southeast Asia Ali S. Asani, "Satpanthi Ismaili Songs to Hazrat Ali and the Imams," in Barbara D. Metcalf,ed., Islam in South Asia in Practice, 48-61 [Blackboard]
Apr 1 Islam Under the Ottoman Empire Ira Lapidus, "Sultanates and Gunpowder Empires," in John Esposito, ed., Oxford History of Islam, 371-393 [Blackboard]
Note: April 1 is the LAST DAY TO DROP COURSES
Apr 4 European Colonialism and Its Impact on Islam Elias 82-89
Apr 6 No class
Apr 8 Key Elements of Contemporary Islam Elias 61-81
Unit IV Comparative Religious Expressions
Apr 11 Third Exam
Apr 13 Ritual Reenactments: Passover Excerpts from the Haggadah [Blackboard]
Apr 15 Ritual Reenactments: Easter Excerpts from Easter liturgies [Blackboard]
Apr 18 NO CLASS
Apr 20 Ritual Reenactments: Pilgrimage in Islam Farid Esack, "Pepsi Shows the Way," from On Being a Muslim: Finding a Religious Path in the World Today, 12-17;Michael Wolfe, "The Real Mecca," in Taking Back Islam: American Muslims Reclaim Their Faith, 206-213 [Blackboard]
Apr 21 [Substitute Monday Class]Adam Seligman: Religious Difference and Tolerance Seligman, "Tolerance, Tradition, and Modernity" [Blackboard]
Apr 22 Timothy Longman: Christian Churches and the Rwandan Genocide
Apr 25 Religion and the State: The American Context
Fiction/Film Critique Papers Due
Apr 27 Nahshon Perez: Religion and the State: The Case of Israel N. Perez and R. Gavison, “Days of Rest in Multicultural Societies: Public, Private, Separate?" in Law and Religion in Theoretical and Historical Context, edited by Peter Cane, Carolyn Evans and Zoe Robinson, Cambridge U.P. 2008,186-213 [Blackboard]
Apr 29 Gender, Sexuality, and Religious Experience Segal 259-265, Elias 105-107 [Blackboard]
May 2 Gender, Sexuality, and Religious Experience text [Blackboard]
May 4 Final discussion, final exam question distributed
Final Exam: Thursday, May 12, 3-5 PM