Course Listing

2009 - 2010

Official Yale College program and course information is found in Yale College Programs of Study, available on line at http://students.yale.edu/oci/

Course Offerings Legend:

* Seminar and/or limited enrollment

a Fall Term Course

b
Spring Term Course
The absence of "a" and "b" indicates a year long course.

^U Superscript "U"-- Graduate Course w/ Undergraduate Number

^G Superscript "G"-- Undergraduate Course w/Graduate Number

FRESHMEN SEMINARS

*RLST 010b/*HIST 002b/*AMST 010b, The Rise of Religion in Modern America.
Jon Butler
MW 1.00-2.15
The survival and prosperity of religion in America from the 1870s to 2000. Topics include the relationship of religion to urbanization, industrialization, and American corporate life; efforts to realign religion to meet conditions of modernity; and ways that pluralism, gender equality, race, class, and expanding debates about values and culture challenged religion even as they expanded its influence in unexpected ways.
Enrollment limited to freshmen. Pre-registration required; see under Freshman Seminar Program.

*RLST 011b, Buddhist Saints and Sinners.
Phyllis Granoff
MW 2.30-3.45
This is a freshman seminar that is designed to introduce students to Buddhist doctrine and particularly Buddhist ethics through a reading of traditional biographies of very virtuous and very wicked Buddhists. Reading is from primary sources in translation.

UNDERGRADUATE LISTINGS

RLST 101a, World Religions in New Haven.
Ludger Viefhues-Bailey
TTh    11.30-12.45
Introduction to the religions studied as Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Afro-Caribbean Religion, with a focus on the interaction between the global representation of these traditions and local lived practice in New Haven. Thematic exploration of gender and sexuality in these traditions. Course work includes on-site visits, Internet research, and class presentations.

RLST 108b/HIST 145b/AMST 312b, The Rise of Religion in Modern America.
Kathryn Lofton
MW    9.25-11.15 + 1 HTBA
The transformations of religion in America from 1865 to the present. Topics include the relationship of religion to urbanization, industrialization, and American corporate life; efforts to realign religion to meet conditions of modernity; and ways that pluralism, gender equality, race, class, and expanding debates about values and culture challenged religious structures and reformatted the role of religion in American culture.

RLST 111a/AMST 111a/WGSS 111a, Sexuality and Religion.
Kathryn Lofton
TTh    11.35-12.25 + 1 HTBA
What is the sexuality of American religion? Through a series of case studies and theoretical expositions, we will discover the relationship between ideas about sex and ideas about religion, as well as sexual practices and religious practices. The purpose of this exploration is to map the relationship between sexuality and the texts, rituals, regulations, communities, and American religious cultures. Included in our survey will be tales of seductive ministers, pedophile priests, abstinent sects, and complex marriages. Are there particular patterns to the ways religious believers have innovated sexual practice? And what ways do sexual practices, and ideas about sexuality itself, influence religious ideas and practices? By the end of this course, you should be able to parse the multiple meanings of 'religion' and 'sexuality'; interpret the regulatory aspects of sexual and religious cultures; examine the American religious landscape as a particular site of sexual innovation; and hone your reading and analytical skills to prepare for an advanced level required for success in an upper-level seminar.

RLST 126a, Tibetan Buddhism.
Andrew Quintman
TTh    2.30-3.45
This course will introduce major themes of Tibetan Buddhist thought and practice, including Buddhist ethics, systems of monastic and ascetic life, ritual applications, sacred geography and pilgrimage, lay religion, as well as the status of Tibetan Buddhism under Chinese occupation and in the West.

*RLST 127b, Visual Worlds of Himalayan Buddhism.
Andrew Quintman
Th    9.25-11.15
This seminar will explore the ubiquitous role of images and imagining in the religious traditions of the Tibetan Buddhist world. The seminar aims to understand how Tibetan Buddhist cultures produce religious images and the ways of seeing that invest them with meaning. Classes will address specific modes of visual representation, the relationships between text and image, the social lives of images, as well as processes of reading and interpretation.

*RLST 128bG/*SAST 359b, Buddhism and Trade in Sri Lanka.
Osmund Bopearachchi
W    1.30-3.20
This course provides an introduction to Buddhist archaeology, art history, and architecture of South India and Sri Lanka and the role. One emphasis of the course is on the role that trade played in the development of Buddhism and its arts. Students study material remains and texts.

*RLST 129aG/*SAST 357a, Buddhism and Hinduism in Gandhara.
Osmund Bopearachchi
Th    9.25-11.15
This course explores the development of Buddhism and Hinduism through the archaeological record. In addition to well-known sculptures and structural remains, the course presents newly discovered material that challenges current reconstructions of the history of Buddhism and Hinduism in the region known as Gandhara.

RLST 130a/HUMS 418a, Saint to Samurai: Asian Classics.
Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara
MW    2.00-3.45
This course is a broad introduction to traditional Asian literature from India and East Asia (China and Japan). Readings, of primary sources in translation, range from religious and philosophical texts to literature of the court, poetry, drama, and epics.

RLST 134b/EALL 200b, Buddhism in China and Japan.
Koichi Shinohara
MW    11.35-12.50
This course is an introduction to Buddhism in East Asia through a close reading of original sources in translation. We focus on the lives of several leading monks and their teachings on meditation, faith, rebirth, and secret rituals.

*RLST 143aG/*JDST 124aG, Female Characters in the Hebrew Bible.
Meira Polliack
Th    9.25-11.15
This course focuses on complex female characters such as Tamar, Hannah and Rebecca. It explores the tension between their patriarchal depiction as marginal to male characters on the one hand, and their psychological and literary portrayal as dominant and active heroines on the other hand, who transcend the limited social and religious roles assigned to them in patriarchal society.

*RLST 144bG/*JDST 126bG, Genres of Biblical Literature and Their Interpretive History.
Meira Polliack
Th    9.25-11.15
This course focuses on two major genres of biblical literature: narrative and prophecy. It introduces students to the contemporary biblical study of literary, psychological, historical and ideational themes in the modern appreciation of these genres, while also exploring the pre-modern and medieval interpretive history.

RLST 146b/JDST 202b, Judaism: Continuity & Change.
Christine Hayes
MW    10.30-11.20 + 1 HTBA
An examination of the enduring ideas, values, and cultural expressions of the Jewish people as found in the Bible, Talmud, and Midrash, and in medieval, mystical, and modern texts. How, since the time of the ancient Israelites, Jews and Judaism have not merely survived but responded creatively to the challenges of their history and encounters with pagan culture, Christian culture, Islamic culture, philosophy, modernity, and secularism - constructing a panoply of rich and variegated subcultures in various geographical locations over the millennia.

RLST 147b/JDST 235b/JDST 721b, Introduction to Judaism in the Ancient World: From Temple to Talmud.
Steven Fraade
TTh    11.35-12.50
The emergence of classical Judaism in its historical setting. Jews and Hellenization; varieties of early Judaism; apocalyptic and postapocalyptic responses to suffering and catastrophe; worship and atonement without sacrificial cult; interpretations of scriptures; law and life; the rabbi; the synagogue; faith in reason; Sabbath and festivals; history and its redemption. No prior background in Jewish history presumed.

RLST 148aG/HIST 219aG/JDST 200aG, History of the Jews to the Reformation.
Ivan Marcus
TTh    11.35-12.50
A broad introduction to the history of Jewish culture from its beginnings until the late Middle Ages, focusing on the formative period of classical rabbinic Judaism and on the symbiotic relationships between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. An overview of Jewish society and culture in its biblical, rabbinic, and medieval settings.
For History majors, counts toward either Middle Eastern or European distributional credit.

RLST 152b, Introduction to New Testament History and Literature.
Dale Martin
MW    2.30-3.45
A historical study of the origins of Christianity by analyzing the literature of the earliest Christian movements in historical context, concentrating on the New Testament. Although theological themes will occupy much of our attention, the course does not attempt a theological appropriation of the New Testament as scripture. Rather, the importance of the New Testament and other early Christian documents as ancient literature and as sources for historical study will be emphasized.

RLST 158aG/HIST 226aG/HUMS 422a, Jesus to Muhammad: Ancient Christianity to the Rise of Islam.
Stephen Davis
MW    10.30-11.20
The rise of Christianity and the development of Western culture into the early Middle Ages, including the creation of Christian orthodoxy; religious, political, social, gender, literary, and theological history of Christian religion in many forms.

RLST 170a/MMES 192a, Introduction to Islam.
Gerhard Bowering
TTh    2.30-3.45
The rise of Islam in Arabia; Muhammad and the Qur'an; Muslim tradition and religious law; crucial issues of Islamic philosophy and theology; basic beliefs and practices of the Muslim community; religious institutions and modern trends.

*RLST 184b/*SAST 358b, The Ramayana.
Hugh Flick
W    1.30-3.20
Exploration of the religious and ideological interpretations of this epic of ancient India as manifested in performance and in written texts. Emphasis on the religious and historical contexts from which the texts emerged.
All readings in translation.

*RLST 201a/*HUMS 392a/*HIST 232Ja/*JDST 270a, Medieval Jews, Christians, and Muslims Imagining Each Other.
Ivan Marcus
T    1.30-3.20
How members of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities thought of and interacted with members of the other two cultures during the Middle Ages. Topics include the cultural grids and expectations each imposed on the other; the rhetoric of otherness such as humans or devils, purity or impurity, and animal imagery; and models of religious community and power in dealing with the other when confronted with cultural differences.
For History majors, counts toward either European or Middle Eastern distributional credit, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.

RLST 215aG/JDST 280aG/HIST 148aG, America and its Jews.
Paula Hyman
MW    10.30-11.20
The history of Jews in America from the colonial period to the present. Topics include immigration, religious development, politics, and participation in culture. Special attention to how Jews, as a minority, have negotiated their place in American society.

*RLST 225aG/*JDST 385aG/*HIST 433aG/*WGSS 383a, Women in Modern Jewish History.
Paula Hyman
W    2.30-4.20
An exploration of the roles and representation of Jewish women in the modern period. Special attention to the role of gender in Judaism; the social, cultural, and political activity of women; and the development and impact of feminism.
For History majors, counts toward either European or U.S. distributional credit, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.

*RLST 240a, The Historical Jesus.
Dale Martin
MW    2.30-3.45
An introduction to the modern "quest for the historical Jesus," including analysis of modern historiographical method as applied to constructing a modern historical account of Jesus of Nazareth. The course includes analysis of presentations of Jesus in literature, scholarship, and film in ancient and modern times.

*RLST 257bG, Patristic Greek.
Stephen Davis
MW    1.00-2.15
Readings of Greek works produced in late antiquity by early Christian writers. Among the literary and theological genres to be studied: epistles, martyr narratives, biblical commentaries, hymns, theological treatises, sermons, and monastic sayings.

*RLST 263aG/*EVST 270a/*REL 810a, Indigenous Traditions and Ecology.
John Grim
T    3.30-5.30
Indigenous Religions and Ecology explores how particular indigenous peoples relate to local bioregions and biodiversity. Opening with an examination of such terms as "indigenous, " "religion," and "ecology," the course will proceed to investigate religious studies and ethnography related to small scale societies and the many ways in which they relate to local bioregions and biodiversity. The course will examine indigenous ethnic diversity and cultural relationships to place, and the ways values associated with physical places are articulated in symbols, myths, rituals, and other embodied practices. The emphasis on place and religious ecology in this course illustrates what indigenous peoples could bring to studies in environmental culture. Finally, this course on indigenous religions and ecology necessarily involves questions of environmental justice, namely, the imposition of environmentally damaging projects on a people whose voice in decision-making is diminished or totally eliminated.

RLST 268a/HIST 281a/HUMS 228a, Christian Mysticism, 1200-1700.
Carlos Eire
MW    2.30-3.45
An introductory survey of the mystical literature of the Christian West, focusing on the late medieval and early modern periods. Close reading of primary texts, analyzed in their historical context.

RLST 280bG/REL 817b/F&ES 80071b, World Religions and Ecology: Asian Religions.
Mary Evelyn & Tucker John Grim
T    3.30-5.30
This course will examine the various ways in which religious ideas and practices have contributed to cultural attitudes and human interactions with nature. Examples will be selected from Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism. The course will examine such topics as: symbols, images, and metaphors of nature in canonical texts, views of the divine as transcendent to the world, the indwelling of the sacred in the Earth, the ethics of using and valuing nature, ritual practices that link humans to the natural world, and cosmology as orienting humans to the world and embedding them in place.

RLST 283b/HIST 215b/HUMS 322b/REL 700b, Reformation Europe, 1450-1650.
Carlos Eire
MW    2.30-3.45
Examination of a series of religious revolutions in Europe between 1400 and 1650 that altered the lives of its inhabitants in profound ways. The causes and nature of the reformations that changed the religious, political, social, and economic landscapes of early modern Europe and shaped the course of Western civilization as a whole.

RLST 287bG/MMES 391b, Islamic Theology and Philosophy.
Frank Griffel
MW    10.30-11.20
A historical survey of major themes in Muslim theology and doctrine from the Qur'an to contemporary Muslim thinkers. Topics include the systematic character of Muslim thought and of the arguments given by thinkers; reason vs. revelation; the emergence of Sunnism in the tenth through eleventh centuries; the reaction of Muslim theology (from 1800) to the challenges of the West; and contemporary Muslim thought.

*RLST 292bG/*MMES 291b, Salafiyya Movement in Islam.
Frank Griffel
W    2.30-4.20
Close study of the development of the Salafiyya movement, the widely spread modernist reform movement of Muslim intellectuals during the 18th and 19th century and its further development during the 20th century that led to the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism.
By permission of instructor only.

*RLST 311aG/*AMST 392a, Religion and Popular Culture.
Kathryn Lofton
TTh    2.30-3.45
Why does Ned Flanders go to church? What does a bracelet have to do with medieval Judaism? And is Brad Pitt a divine? So much of consumer culture encourages passivity and easy irony. This course explores the religious dimensions of that consumption, and of the products we consume. Religion is never merely institutions or texts, pulpits or liturgy. Popular arts and media not only explicitly portray religion and religious ideas, but also serve the ‘religious’ purpose of conveying meaning in the people and values it represents. Meanwhile, religious institutions market goods and purportedly ‘secular’ goods frequently incorporate religious imagery. What do we make of this messy landscape of faith and capital, image and representation? What meanings might we ascribe to cartoon caricatures, religious accessory, or tabloid frenzy?   This course provides a profile in the vexing connections between religion and popular culture. Through readings, film screenings, and investigative projects, we will develop a vocabulary and an analytical structure by which you can interpret media objects and the religious mediations they include. Students will develop a portfolio of cultural criticism through four reviews as well as a research study of a particular cultural event and its religious significations.

*RLST 400aG/*JDST 255aG, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Ancient Judaism: The Damascus Document.
Steven Fraade
W    9.25-11.15
Study of one of the most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Attention to its place within the history of biblical interpretation and ancient Jewish law, the nature and rhetorical function of its textual practices, both narrative and legal, its ideological formulations, literary history, and relation to the central sectarian writings of the Qumran community.
Prerequisite: reading fluency in ancient Hebrew.
**This course should carry an L5 designation**

*RLST 401a/*ASTR 171a/*HUMS 472a, Religion and the Big Bang.
Ludger Viefhues-Bailey & Charles Bailyn
W    3.30-5.20
An exploration of the boundary between modern scientific cosmology and religion, and the efforts of scientific, philosophical and religious thinkiers to define and bridge this boundary. Scientific topics include Steady State vs. Big Bang cosmologies; the Anthropic principle, and Multiverse theories. Theological/philosophical issues include conceptual schemes; objectivity and intentionality in epistemology; meaning and creation; matter and spirit; divine action.
Pre-requisites: one introductory course in cosmology (e.g. ASTR 120, 160, 170 or 220); prior experience in either philosophy or religious studies.

RLST 402b/PHIL 326n/REL 820b, The Philosophy of Religion.
John Hare
W    11.35-12.25 + 1 HTBA
A study of the relation between religion and ethics, traditional arguments for the existence of God, religious experience, the problem of evil, miracles, immortality, science and religion, and faith and reason.

*RLST 405aG/*JDST 392aG, Mishnah Seminar: Tractate Sanhedrin.
Steven Fraade
M    9.25-11.15
Study of a major early rabbinic legal text treating religious courts and their jurisprudential practice. Dual attention to the historical significance of the institutions of law represented and to the cultural significance of the rhetoric of that representation.
Prerequisite: reading fluency in ancient Hebrew.
By permission of instructor only.
**Course carries L5 designation**

*RLST 407bG/*JDST 391bG, Midrash Seminar: The Theophany at Sinai.
Steven Fraade
W    9.25-11.15
The giving of the Torah to Israel as seen through rabbinic eyes. Close readings of midrashic texts. Views of revelation, tradition, interpretation, law, and commandment in their literary and historical contexts. Interpretations and interpretive strategies compared and contrasted with those of other ancient biblical exegetes (Jewish and non-Jewish).
Prerequisite: reading fluency in ancient Hebrew.
Permission of instructor only.
**Course carries L5 designation**

*RLST 413a, Buddhist Traditions of Mind and Meditation.
Andrew Quintman
Th    9.25-11.15
This seminar will survey a broad range of Buddhist meditation practices in the context of traditional theories of mind, perception, and cognition.

RLST 414b, Reading Tibetan Buddhist Texts.
Andrew Quintman
TTh    2.30-3.45
This course will explore the foundational doctrinal systems of Tibetan Buddhism, combining a systematic study of traditional Buddhist exegetical works in English translation with an immersion in the basic vocabulary and grammar of classical Tibetan.

*RLST 420bG/*HIST 211Jb/*NELC 380bG, The Making of Monasticism.
Bentley Layton
T    3.30-5.20
The social and intellectual history of Christian monasteries, hermits, ascetics, and monastic institutions and values in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, as seen in classic texts of monastic literature and in monastic archaeology.
By permission of instructor only.

*RLST 423bG/*CPTC 102bG/*EGYP 137b/*NELC 341bG, Introduction to Gnostic Texts in Coptic.
Bentley Layton
MW    9.00-10.15
Extensive reading in Gnostic literature in various subdialects of Coptic, mainly from Nag Hammadi.

*RLST 490b, Seminar on Approaches to the Study of Religion.
Ludger Viefhues-Bailey
T    3.30-5.20
Introduction to the study of religion in anthropology, sociology, phenomenology, philosophy, psychology, and history. Focus on current debates about how religion should be approached and on issues crucial to the investigation of religion in an academic setting.
Required for all junior majors; open to others with permission of the instructor.

OTHER COURSES

RLST 488a and 489b, Individual Tutorial
Stephen Davis
HTBA
For students who wish, under faculty supervision, to investigate an area in religious studies not covered by regular departmental offerings. This course may be used for research or for directed reading. A long essay or several short ones are required. To apply, students should present a prospectus with bibliography of work they propose to undertake to the director of undergraduate studies together with a letter of support from the faculty member who will direct the work.

RLST 491, The Senior Essay
Stephen Davis
TBA
Students writing their senior essay meet periodically in the fall and weekly in the spring for the colloquium directed by the director of undergraduate studies. The essay, written under the supervision of a member of the department, should be a substantial paper between 12,500 and 15,000 words.

GRADUATE LISTINGS

RLST 512b/WGSS 721b, Feminst Philosophy of Religion.
Ludger Viefhues-Bailey & Siobhan Garrigan
Th    3.30-5.20
An exploration of current feminist philosophy of religion. Topics include: Feminist Epistemology and philosophy of religion, the role of desire, of practices and ritualizing in the philosophy of religion, and feminist/womanist ethics and religion. Authors: Pamela Anderson, Sandra Harding, Ellen Amour, Grace Jantzen, Julia Krisetava, Katie Cannon, Kelly Brown Douglas, Amy Hollywood, Wendy Farley, and others.

*RLST 548bU/*SAST 359b, Buddhism and Trade in Sri Lanka.
Osmund Bopearachchi
W    1.30-3.20
This course provides an introduction to Buddhist archaeology, art history, and architecture of South India and Sri Lanka and the role. One emphasis of the course is on the role that trade played in the development of Buddhism and its arts. Students study material remains and texts.

*RLST 549aU/*SAST 357a, Buddhism and Hinduism in Gandhara.
Osmund Bopearachchi
Th    9.25-11.15
This course explores the development of Buddhism and Hinduism through the archaeological record. In addition to well-known sculptures and structural remains, the course presents newly discovered material that challenges current reconstructions of the history of Buddhism and Hinduism in the region known as Gandhara.

RLST 557a, Medieval Indian Texts.
Phyllis Granoff
T    1.30-3.20
This is an advanced course in reading Sanskrit religious texts.

RLST 559b, Readings in Jain Prakrit.
Phyllis Granoff
T    1.30-3.20
This is an advanced course in reading Jain Prakrit, canonical and post-canonical literature.

*RLST 568b, Ritual in Asian Religions.
Koichi Shinohara
M    1.30-3.20
In this seminar we will explore the implications of recent theoretical literature on ritual for the study of ritual practices in Asia. As we read through both theoretical literature and sample studies of Asian rituals, each student will study a specific example and present the findings to the class.

*RLST 574a, Chinese Buddhist Texts.
Koichi Shinohara
M    1.30-3.20
Close reading of selected Chinese Buddhist texts in the original.

RLST 579a, Religious History of Central Asia and Northwest India from Darius I to Sharpur I.
Osmund Bopearachchi
W    1.30-3.20
This course will be a study of the history of religions in Central Asia and North-West India taking into account literary evidence, archaeology, plastic art, epigraphy, and numismatics. The focus is on the Indo-Greeks and Gandhara.

RLST 580b, Recent Archaeological Discoveries and the Religions of Afghanistan and Bactria.
Osmund Bopearachchi
W    9.25-11.15
The focus of this course is new archaeological finds from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan that have been made by Uzbek, Afghan, Pakistani, Russian, French, Italian and Japanese archaeologists. These finds throw light on the complex religions of the region. Since many of the publications are in Russian, the course will provide summaries in English of major discoveries.

*RLST 601b, Required Seminar for New Testament Studies and Ancient Christianity: Sacrifice.
Dale Martin
W    4.30-6.30
This is a required seminar for Ph.D. students in New Testament Studies and Ancient Christianity. The topic and instructor of the seminar change yearly. For Spring 2010, the topic will be sacrifice in the Greco-Roman world, ancient Judaism, and early Christianity.

RLST 606/REL 685b, Greek Exegesis of Luke.
Adela Collins
WF    1.30-2.50
We will read and analyze the Greek text of Luke with attention to its relations to Mark and Matthew and its use of the Greek version of the Jewish scriptures. In addition we will use the methods of textual criticism, form criticism, the history of ancient religions, redaction criticism, and literary criticism. We will also consider the text in light of its cultural contexts.

*RLST 622b/*REL 691b, History and Methods of the Discipline of New Testament Studies.
Adela Collins
TBA
This course will be taught in seminar format. Students will be expected to prepare a critical review of an article, several articles, a monograph or part of a monograph for a number of the sessions and to engage in discussion of their own reviews and those presented by the other students.

RLST 651aU/HIST 555aU/HUMS 422a, Jesus to Muhammad: Ancient Christianity to the Rise of Islam.
Stephen Davis
MW    10.30-11.20
The rise of Christianity and the development of Western culture into the early Middle Ages, including the creation of Christian orthodoxy; religious, political, social, gender, literary, and theological history of Christian religion in many forms.

*RLST 653bU/*CPTC 502bU/*EGYP 137b/*NELC 741bU, Introduction to Gnostic Texts in Coptic.
Bentley Layton
MW    9.00-10.15
Extensive reading in Gnostic literature in various subdialects of Coptic, mainly from Nag Hammadi.

RLST 655a, Christianity in the Second Century.
Bentley Layton
T    3.30-5.20
Philological problems in the study of the second century and its aftermath. Required of all doctoral students in New Testament Studies and Ancient Christianity. Open to others by permission of the instructor.

*RLST 659bU/*HIST 211Jb/* NELC 534bU, The Making of Monasticism.
Bentley Layton
T    3.30-5.20
The social and intellectual history of Christian monasteries, hermits, ascetics, and monastic institutions and values in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, as seen in classic texts of monastic literature and in monastic archaeology.
By permission of instructor only.

*RLST 660/*EGYP 513a, Research Seminar on the Monastic Federation of Shenoute.
Bentley Layton
M    1.30-3.20
Exploration of Shenoute's Canons, book 4, in Coptic.

*RLST 665bU, Patristic Greek.
Stephen Davis
MW    1.00-2.15
Readings of Greek works produced in late antiquity by early Christian writers. Among the literary and theological genres to be studied: epistles, martyr narratives, biblical commentaries, hymns, theological treatises, sermons, and monastic sayings.

*RLST 703b/*AMST 719b, Interrogating the Crisis of Islam: Seminar.
Zareena Grewall
T 1.30-3.20
In official and unofficial discourses in the U.S., diagnoses of Islam’s various “crises” are ubiquitous, and Muslim “hearts and minds” are viewed as the “other” front in the War on Terror. Since 9/11, the U.S. State Department has made the reform of Islam an explicit national interest, pouring billions of dollars into USAID projects in Muslim-majority countries, initiating curriculum development programs for madrasas in South Asia, and establishing the Arabic Radio Sawa and the satellite TV station Al-Hurra to propagate the U.S. administration’s political views as well as what it terms a “liberal” strain of Islam. Muslim Americans are also consumed by debates about the “crisis” of Islam, a crisis of religious authority in which the nature and rapidity of change in the measures of authority are felt to be too difficult to assimilate. This course maps out the various and deeply politically charged contemporary debates about the “crisis of Islam” and the question of Islamic reform through an examination of official U.S. policy, transnational pulp Islamic literature, fatwas and essays authored by internationally renowned Muslim jurists and scholars, and historical and ethnographic works that take up the category of crisis as an interpretive device.

RLST 705b/AMST 705b/HIST 720b, Readings in Religion and American History, 1600-2000.
Harry Stout & Kathryn Lofton
M    1.30-3.20
This seminar explores intersections of religion and society in American history from the colonial period to the present as well as methodological problems important to their study.

*RLST 706aU/*AMST 392a, Religion and Popular Culture.
Kathryn Lofton
TTh    2.30-3.45
Why does Ned Flanders go to church? What does a bracelet have to do with medieval Judaism? And is Brad Pitt a divine? So much of consumer culture encourages passivity and easy irony. This course explores the religious dimensions of that consumption, and of the products we consume. Religion is never merely institutions or texts, pulpits or liturgy. Popular arts and media not only explicitly portray religion and religious ideas, but also serve the ‘religious’ purpose of conveying meaning in the people and values it represents. Meanwhile, religious institutions market goods and purportedly ‘secular’ goods frequently incorporate religious imagery. What do we make of this messy landscape of faith and capital, image and representation? What meanings might we ascribe to cartoon caricatures, religious accessory, or tabloid frenzy?   This course provides a profile in the vexing connections between religion and popular culture. Through readings, film screenings, and investigative projects, we will develop a vocabulary and an analytical structure by which you can interpret media objects and the religious mediations they include. Students will develop a portfolio of cultural criticism through four reviews as well as a research study of a particular cultural event and its religious significations.

RLST 717bU/MMES 391b, Islamic Theology and Philosophy.
Frank Griffel
MW    10.30-11.20
A historical survey of major themes in Muslim theology and doctrine from the Qur'an to contemporary Muslim thinkers. Topics include the systematic character of Muslim thought and of the arguments given by thinkers; reason vs. revelation; the emergence of Sunnism in the tenth through eleventh centuries; the reaction of Muslim theology (from 1800) to the challenges of the West; and contemporary Muslim thought.

*RLST 720a, Seminar on the Qur'an.
Gerhard Bowering
TBA
Intensive study of the Qur'an. Readings in Sufi commentaries on the Qur'an. Special emphasis on textual and hermeneutical problems. Prerequisite: reading knowledge of Arabic; permission of instructor.

*RLST 721b, Seminar on Islamic Religious Thought.
Gerhard Bowering
TBA
The development of Islamic civilization in the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, Iran, and India from Muhammad through the Mongol invasions to the rise of the Ottoman, Safavid and Timurid empires (600-1500 C.E.). Emphasis on the intellectual and religious history of the Arabs and Iranians.

*RLST 723bU/*MMES 291b, Salafiyya Movement in Islam.
Frank Griffel
W    2.30-4.20
Close study of the development of the Salafiyya movement, the widely spread modernist reform movement of Muslim intellectuals during the 18th and 19th century and its further development during the 20th century that led to the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism.
By permission of instructor only.

*RLST 751bU/*JDST 728bU, Midrash Seminar: The Theophany at Sinai.
Steven Fraade
W    9.25-11.15
The giving of the Torah to Israel as seen through rabbinic eyes. Close readings of midrashic texts. Views of revelation, tradition, interpretation, law, and commandment in their literary and historical contexts. Interpretations and interpretive strategies compared and contrasted with those of other ancient biblical exegetes (Jewish and non-Jewish).
Prerequisite: reading fluency in ancient Hebrew.
Permission of instructor only.
**Course carries L5 designation.**

*RLST 752aU/*JDST 727aU, Mishnah Seminar: Tractate Sanhedrin.
Steven Fraade
M    9.25-11.15
Study of a major early rabbinic legal text treating religious courts and their jurisprudential practice. Dual attention to the historical significance of the institutions of law represented and to the cultural significance of the rhetoric of that representation.
Prerequisite: reading fluency in ancient Hebrew.
By permission of instructor only.
**Course carries L5 designation.**

*RLST 757aU/*JDST 725aU, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Ancient Judaism: The Damascus Document.
Steven Fraade
W    9.25-11.15
Study of one of the most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Attention to its place within the history of biblical interpretation and ancient Jewish law, the nature and rhetorical function of its textual practices, both narrative and legal, its ideological formulations, literary history, and relation to the central sectarian writings of the Qumran community.
Prerequisite: reading fluency in ancient Hebrew.
**This course should carry an L5 designation.**

RLST 764aU/JDST 789aU/HIST 765aU, America and its Jews.
Paula Hyman
MW    10.30-11.20
The history of Jews in America from the colonial period to the present. Topics include immigration, religious development, politics, and participation in culture. Special attention to how Jews, as a minority, have negotiated their place in American society.

*RLST 765aU/*JDST 724aU, Female Characters in the Hebrew Bible.
Meira Polliack
Th    9.25-11.15
This course focuses on complex female characters such as Tamar, Hannah and Rebecca. It explores the tension between their patriarchal depiction as marginal to male characters on the one hand, and their psychological and literary portrayal as dominant and active heroines on the other hand, who transcend the limited social and religious roles assigned to them in patriarchal society.

*RLST 767bU/*JDST 726bU, Genres of Biblical Literature and Their Interpretive History.
Meira Polliack
Th    9.25-11.15
This course focuses on two major genres of biblical literature: narrative and prophecy. It introduces students to the contemporary biblical study of literary, psychological, historical and ideational themes in the modern appreciation of these genres, while also exploring the pre-modern and medieval interpretive history.

RLST 770b/JDST 792b, Cultural Theories: Methodological Aspects.
Hizky Shoham
Th    1.30-3.20
This course offers a closed and detailed acquaintance with classic and current approaches to "culture" and "cultural studies." The students will be introduced to the different and unsettled meanings of the concept of culture, and to the variety of methods, research topics, and theoretical issues in the field. Although sociological-anthropological classics on culture will be the core of the readings, the scope will be also broadened to tangent disciplines such as philosophy, linguistics, literature, theatre theory and intellectual history, thus demonstrating interdisciplinary thought. Designate to graduate students from all humanities and social science, the seminar will emphasize methodological issues, and will equip the students with effective research tools. Back in their own field, the students will be able to navigate through the multiple and contradictory uses of the concept of culture, and to overcome the vagueness of "cultural studies," while keeping its actual relevance and the tools' potential sharpness.

RLST 772b/JDST 760b, Rabbinics Research Seminar.
Christine Hayes
M    1.30-3.20
An in-depth survey of research debates and of methods and resources employed in the study of classical (pre-Geonic) rabbinic literature of all genres. Prerequisite: knowledge of Hebrew and Aramaic; ability to read academic Hebrew. Seminar is required of graduate students in Ancient Judaism. By permission of instructor only.

RLST 773aU/HIST 535aU/JDST 761aU, History of the Jews to the Reformation.
Ivan Marcus
TTh    11.35-12.50
A broad introduction to the history of Jewish culture from its beginnings until the late Middle Ages, focusing on the formative period of classical rabbinic Judaism and on the symbiotic relationships between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. An overview of Jewish society and culture in its biblical, rabbinic, and medieval settings.
For History majors, counts toward either Middle Eastern or European distributional credit.

*RLST 795aU/*JDST 787aU/*HIST 950aU/*WGSS 383a, Women in Modern Jewish History.
Paula Hyman
W    2.30-4.20
An exploration of the roles and representation of Jewish women in the modern period. Special attention to the role of gender in Judaism; the social, cultural, and political activity of women; and the development and impact of feminism.
For History majors, counts toward either European or U.S. distributional credit, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.

RLST 798b/HSAR 731b/REL 836b/JDST 692b, Witnessing Remembrance Commemoration.
Margaret Olin
Th    2.30-4.20
The interconnecting concepts of Witnessing, Remembrance, and Commemoration are investigated through discussions of writings chosen from the works of Sigmund Freud, the authors of the Book of Genesis, Pierre Nora, and others, as well as contemporary visual practices that engage these concerns.

RLST 801a, Hebrew Bible Seminar: Problems in the Book of Isaiah.
Robert Wilson
M    1.30-3.20
A close reading of selected chapters of the Hebrew text of Isaiah in order to test recent theories of the book's compositional history.

RLST 805a/REL 654a, History of Biblical Interpretation.
Adela Collins & Denys Turner
Th    3.30-5.20
This course will explore the history of the reception, interpretation, and exegesis of the Bible from the New Testament through the end of the Middle Ages. The class will be conducted as a seminar and will be limited to 20 students. Texts to be examined will include the Deutero-Pauline literature, extra-canonical Christian literature, patristic and medieval commentaries and homilies. Topics will include rival claims to Pauline authority, creative appropriations of Paul’s letters in new syntheses, and rival claims to the identity of Israel.

*RLST 808/*JDST 756b, Second Temple Seminar: Formation of Authoritative Literature.
John J. Collins
W    1.30-3.20
Required seminar for Hebrew Bible/Ancient Judaism. The course will deal with the formation of the Hebrew canon, and the different ways in which literature became authoritative in the Second Temple period. rmission of instructor only.

RLST 845a/REL 829a/AFAM 779a, Metaphors of Evil.
Emilie Townes
M    1.30-3.20
This course is an examination of the ways in which metaphors and symbols function at the intersections of various forms of oppression that coalesce into lifestyles of misery to produce social patterns of domination and subordination. We will consider how conversations between Christian ethics and theology as well as other disciplines help frame possible trajectories of justice and justice making.

*RLST 850b/*REL 828b/*AFAM 845b, What's in a Text?: Clash of Civilizations.
Emilie Townes
Th    3.30-5.20
A detailed examination of one formative text for moral discourse to explore a thinker’s ideas and how he or she states a theme, develops an argument, and is able to argue his or her case in a persuasive manner. Attention to consistency, reasoning, style, and rhetoric are also a part of the course. Finally, we consider the book in relation to the renewal of the church, its implication for ministry, and it’s place in enriching scholarly debate and thought. Students may repeat the course as different texts are studied. The text we consider this time is the classic text by Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations.

RLST 852b/REL 778b, Agape and Special Relations.
Gene Outka
TBA
A study of the love commandments and the urgencies of special relations, especially the bonds among co-religionists, family members, friends, and compatriots. A focus on contemporary Christian and philosophical literature. Permission of instructor required.

RLST 872bU/REL 817b/F&ES 80071b, World Religions and Ecology: Asian Religions.
Mary Evelyn & Tucker John Grim
T    3.30-5.30
This course will examine the various ways in which religious ideas and practices have contributed to cultural attitudes and human interactions with nature. Examples will be selected from Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism. The course will examine such topics as: symbols, images, and metaphors of nature in canonical texts, views of the divine as transcendent to the world, the indwelling of the sacred in the Earth, the ethics of using and valuing nature, ritual practices that link humans to the natural world, and cosmology as orienting humans to the world and embedding them in place.

*RLST 875aU/*EVST 270a/*REL 810a, Indigenous Traditions and Ecology.
John Grim
T    3.30-5.30
Indigenous Religions and Ecology explores how particular indigenous peoples relate to local bioregions and biodiversity. Opening with an examination of such terms as "indigenous, " "religion," and "ecology," the course will proceed to investigate religious studies and ethnography related to small scale societies and the many ways in which they relate to local bioregions and biodiversity. The course will examine indigenous ethnic diversity and cultural relationships to place, and the ways values associated with physical places are articulated in symbols, myths, rituals, and other embodied practices. The emphasis on place and religious ecology in this course illustrates what indigenous peoples could bring to studies in environmental culture. Finally, this course on indigenous religions and ecology necessarily involves questions of environmental justice, namely, the imposition of environmentally damaging projects on a people whose voice in decision-making is diminished or totally eliminated.

*RLST 902b, Literature, Theology, and History in the Middle Ages: an Interdisciplinary Seminar.
Denys Turner
F 3.30-5.20
This seminar course is confined to PhD students in the fields of medieval literatures (Latin and vernacular), theology, and history. The purpose is to explore points of contact between literature, theology, and historical context which will serve the research purposes of the students participating. For this reason, the precise content of the seminars will be negotiated by the participating students together with the instructor before the beginning of the academic year 2009-10.

RLST 914a/PHIL 709a/REL 831a, Kant's Philosophy of Religion.
John Hare
TTh    3.30-5.20
The purpose of the course is to look at Kant's writings in the philosophy of religion. The principal readings are from Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (especially the Ideal and the Canon), the Lectures on Ethics, The Critique of Practical Reason (especially the Dialectic), the Critique of Judgment (especially the Methodology), Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, and The Conflict of the Faculties.

RLST 915b, Ethics and Human Nature.
Gene Outka & Frederick Simmons
TBA
We examine how beliefs about human nature and moral judgments about character and conduct may combine and may cross-fertilize. Theological estimates about creation, the fall, and salvation, and anthropological estimates of human powers and possibilities and failings, bear on the first side. Ethical estimates about equality, evil, and perfectibility, and capacities for virtue and vice, right and wrong conduct, bear on the second side.

RLST 916b/PHIL 710b/REL 832b, Kierkegaard's Philosophy of Religion.
John Hare
M    3.30-5.20
This seminar explores a number of texts focusing on the relation between religious faith and the ethical life. We read the following texts (in whole or in part): Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, Fragments, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Works of Love. Restricted enrollment.

APPENDIX

FRESHMEN SEMINARS

RLST 010b/HIST 002b/ *AMST 010b	The Rise of Religion in Modern America	Jon Butler
*RLST 011b	Buddhist Saints and Sinners	Phyllis Granoff

UNDERGRADUTATE LISTINGS

RLST 101a	World Religions in New Haven	Ludger Viefhues-Bailey
RLST 108b/HIST 145b/ AMST 312b	The Rise of Religion in Modern America	Kathryn Lofton
RLST 111a/AMST 111a/ WGSS 111a	Sexuality and Religion	Kathryn Lofton
RLST 126a	Tibetan Buddhism	Andrew Quintman
*RLST 127b	Visual Worlds of Himalayan Buddhism	Andrew Quintman
RLST 128bG/SAST 359b	Buddhism and Trade in Sri Lanka	Osmund Bopearachchi
RLST 129aG/SAST 357a	Buddhism and Hinduism in Gandhara	Osmund Bopearachchi
RLST 130a/HUMS 418a	Saint to Samurai: Asian Classics	Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara
RLST 134b/EALL 200b	Buddhism in China and Japan	Koichi Shinohara
RLST 143aG/JDST 124aG	Female Characters in the Hebrew Bible	Meira Polliack
RLST 144bG/JDST 126bG	Genres of Biblical Literature and Their Interpretive History	Meira Polliack
RLST 146b/JDST 202b	Judaism: Continuity & Change	Christine Hayes
RLST 147b/JDST 235b/ JDST 721b	Introduction to Judaism in the Ancient World: From Temple to Talmud	Steven Fraade
RLST 148aG/HIST 219aG/JDST 200aG	History of the Jews to the Reformation	Ivan Marcus
RLST 152b	Introduction to New Testament History and Literature	Dale Martin
RLST 158aG/HIST 226aG/HUMS 422a	Jesus to Muhammad: Ancient Christianity to the Rise of Islam	Stephen Davis
RLST 170a/MMES 192a	Introduction to Islam	Gerhard Bowering
RLST 184b/SAST 358b	The Ramayana	Hugh Flick
RLST 201a/HUMS 392a/HIST 232Ja/ JDST 270a	Medieval Jews, Christians, and Muslims Imagining Each Other	Ivan Marcus
RLST 215aG/JDST 280aG/HIST 148aG	America and its Jews	Paula Hyman
RLST 225aG/JDST 385aG/HIST 433aG/ WGSS 383a	Women in Modern Jewish History	Paula Hyman
*RLST 240a	The Historical Jesus	Dale Martin
*RLST 257bG	Patristic Greek	Stephen Davis
RLST 263aG/ EVST 270a/*REL 810a	Indigenous Traditions and Ecology	John Grim
RLST 268a/HIST 281a/ HUMS 228a	Christian Mysticism, 1200-1700	Carlos Eire
RLST 280bG/REL 817b/ F&ES 80071b	World Religions and Ecology: Asian Religions	Mary Evelyn & Tucker John Grim
RLST 283b/HIST 215b/ HUMS 322b/REL 700b	Reformation Europe, 1450-1650	Carlos Eire
RLST 287bG/MMES 391b	Islamic Theology and Philosophy	Frank Griffel
RLST 292bG/MMES 291b	Salafiyya Movement in Islam	Frank Griffel
RLST 311aG/AMST 392a	Religion and Popular Culture	Kathryn Lofton
RLST 400aG/JDST 255aG	The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Ancient Judaism: The Damascus Document	Steven Fraade
RLST 401a/ASTR 171a/ *HUMS 472a	Religion and the Big Bang	Ludger Viefhues-Bailey & Charles Bailyn
RLST 402b/PHIL 326b/ REL 820b	The Philosophy of Religion	John Hare
RLST 405aG/JDST 392aG	Mishnah Seminar: Tractate Sanhedrin	Steven Fraade
RLST 407bG/JDST 391bG	Midrash Seminar: The Theophany at Sinai	Steven Fraade
*RLST 413a	Buddhist Traditions of Mind and Meditation	Andrew Quintman
RLST 414b	Reading Tibetan Buddhist Texts	Andrew Quintman
RLST 420bG/HIST 211Jb/*NELC 380bG	The Making of Monasticism	Bentley Layton
RLST 423bG/ CPTC 102bG/EGYP 137b/ NELC 341bG	Introduction to Gnostic Texts in Coptic	Bentley Layton
*RLST 490b	Seminar on Approaches to the Study of Religion	Ludger Viefhues-Bailey

OTHER COURSES

RLST 488a and 489b	Individual Tutorial	Stephen Davis
RLST 491	The Senior Essay	Stephen Davis

GRADUATE LISTINGS

RLST 512b/WGSS 721b	Feminst Philosophy of Religion	Ludger Viefhues-Bailey & Siobhan Garrigan
RLST 548bU/SAST 359b	Buddhism and Trade in Sri Lanka	Osmund Bopearachchi
RLST 549aU/SAST 357a	Buddhism and Hinduism in Gandhara	Osmund Bopearachchi
RLST 557a	Medieval Indian Texts	Phyllis Granoff
RLST 559b	Readings in Jain Prakrit	Phyllis Granoff
*RLST 568b	Ritual in Asian Religions	Koichi Shinohara
*RLST 574a	Chinese Buddhist Texts	Koichi Shinohara
RLST 579a	Religious History of Central Asia and Northwest India from Darius I to Sharpur I	Osmund Bopearachchi
RLST 580b	Recent Archaeological Discoveries and the Religions of Afghanistan and Bactria	Osmund Bopearachchi
*RLST 601b	Required Seminar for New Testament Studies and Ancient Christianity: Sacrifice	Dale Martin
RLST 606/REL 685b	Greek Exegesis of Luke	Adela Collins
RLST 622b/REL 691b	History and Methods of the Discipline of New Testament Studies	Adela Collins
RLST 651aU/HIST 555aU/HUMS 422a	Jesus to Muhammad: Ancient Christianity to the Rise of Islam	Stephen Davis
RLST 653bU/ CPTC 502bU/ EGYP 137b/ NELC 741bU	Introduction to Gnostic Texts in Coptic	Bentley Layton
RLST 659bU/HIST 211Jb/ * NELC 534bU	The Making of Monasticism	Bentley Layton
RLST 660/EGYP 513a	Research Seminar on the Monastic Federation of Shenoute	Bentley Layton
*RLST 665bU	Patristic Greek	Stephen Davis
RLST 703b/AMST 719b	Interrogating the Crisis of Islam: Seminar	Zareena Grewall
RLST 705b/AMST 705b/HIST 720b	Readings in Religion and American History, 1600-2000	Harry Stout & Kathryn Lofton
RLST 706aU/AMST 392a	Religion and Popular Culture	Kathryn Lofton
RLST 717bU/MMES 391b	Islamic Theology and Philosophy	Frank Griffel
*RLST 720a	Seminar on the Qur'an	Gerhard Bowering
*RLST 721b	Seminar on Islamic Religious Thought	Gerhard Bowering
RLST 723bU/MMES 291b	Salafiyya Movement in Islam	Frank Griffel
RLST 751bU/JDST 728bU	Midrash Seminar: The Theophany at Sinai	Steven Fraade
RLST 752aU/JDST 727aU	Mishnah Seminar: Tractate Sanhedrin	Steven Fraade
RLST 757aU/JDST 725aU	The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Ancient Judaism: The Damascus Document	Steven Fraade
RLST 764aU/JDST 789aU/HIST 765aU	America and its Jews	Paula Hyman
RLST 765aU/JDST 724aU	Female Characters in the Hebrew Bible	Meira Polliack
RLST 767bU/JDST 726bU	Genres of Biblical Literature and Their Interpretive History	Meira Polliack
RLST 770b/JDST 792b	Cultural Theories: Methodological Aspects	Hizky Shoham
RLST 772b/JDST 760b	Rabbinics Research Seminar	Christine Hayes
RLST 773aU/HIST 535aU/JDST 761aU	History of the Jews to the Reformation	Ivan Marcus
RLST 795aU/JDST 787aU/ HIST 950aU/ WGSS 383a	Women in Modern Jewish History	Paula Hyman
RLST 798b/HSAR 731b/ REL 836b/JDST 692b	Witnessing Remembrance Commemoration	Margaret Olin
RLST 801a	Hebrew Bible Seminar: Problems in the Book of Isaiah	Robert Wilson
RLST 805a/REL 654a	History of Biblical Interpretation	Adela Collins & Denys Turner
RLST 808/JDST 756b	Second Temple Seminar: Formation of Authoritative Literature	John J. Collins
RLST 845a/REL 829a/ AFAM 779a	Metaphors of Evil	Emilie Townes
RLST 850b/REL 828b/ *AFAM 845b	What's in a Text?: Clash of Civilizations	Emilie Townes
RLST 852b/REL 778b	Agape and Special Relations	Gene Outka
RLST 872bU/REL 817b/ F&ES 80071b	World Religions and Ecology: Asian Religions	Mary Evelyn & Tucker John Grim
RLST 875aU/EVST 270a/ *REL 810a	Indigenous Traditions and Ecology	John Grim
*RLST 902b	Literature, Theology, and History in the Middle Ages: an Interdisciplinary Seminar	Denys Turner
RLST 914a/PHIL 709a/ REL 831a	Kant's Philosophy of Religion	John Hare
RLST 915b	Ethics and Human Nature	Gene Outka & Frederick Simmons
RLST 916b/PHIL 710b/ REL 832b	Kierkegaard's Philosophy of Religion	John Hare

Yale University

Religious Studies