Four class hours. This is a full-year course.

By permission of the department, normally for senior majors who have had four semester courses above the introductory level.

By permission of the department, normally for senior majors who have had four semester courses above the introductory level.

Topics course. Buddhists the world over understand the Buddha as an enlightened being and Buddhahood as the highest goal of Buddhist practice, but there is little agreement beyond this. What do Buddhas know? Is enlightenment our innate nature or a nurtured quality? Is nirvana a state of joyous ecstasy or the elimination of all passions and pleasures? Can women be Buddhas? How can a Buddha simultaneously be free from all desire yet want to save all beings? Can Buddhas be found in the world today? Does this ideal still make sense in light of contemporary psychology?

Topics course. Advanced readings, critical discussion and directed research into specific biblical books or larger tomes within the Hebrew Bible. Prerequsite: REL 210, 215, and any other college-level Bible course, or permission of the instructor.

This course is an introduction to the literature, thought, and practice of religious traditions in India, from ancient times to the medieval period. Readings will include materials from the Vedas, Upanishads, and epics, from plays and poetry, as well as Buddhist and Jain literature. Particular consideration will be given to the themes of dharma, karma, love, and liberation as they are articulated in Classical Hinduism.

This course considers the development of the Daoist religious tradition, beginning with a close reading of the Laozi and Zhuangzi, the two great classics of Daoist philosophy from the 3rd century BCE. We will also survey a wide of variety of Daoist materials and movements over the last two millennia -- including poetry, hagiography, and scriptures -- in considering topics such as the cult of the immortals, esoteric revelations, millenarian communities, alchemy, and various technologies of spiritual transcendence.

"When you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha." Sayings such as this are often found in Zen koan, one of the main forms Zen instruction. By examining the origin, development, and use of koan in the Zen tradition, this course will explore the ways in which koan express major teachings of the tradition. Enrollment limited to 30 students.

From media to policy discussions, we are presented with images of oppressed and victimized Muslim women segregated from public life. Yet, ethnographic accounts of the lived experiences of Islamic women complicate and confound such stereotypes. In this course, we will read ethnographies detailing Muslim women's lives in various contexts -- from Shi'a women in Lebanon to African-American Muslims in the US. We will explore how their lives are informed by Islamic texts and practices and also by politics, sectarianism, nationalism, migration, class, ethnicity and race.

The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked one of the most brilliant yet destructive periods in Russia's history. This course examines the broad range of spiritual and philosophical ideas that fueled a renaissance in the arts as well as a political revolution, both of which had enormous influence worldwide. It also considers the religious thought of Russian philosophical luminaries who found themselves in the West after the 1917 Russian Revolution.