Religious Studies

Continued

Focus: Part One explores the history and archeology of the following: City of David; Canaanite cities: Megiddo, Hazor; Qumran; Herod's building projects: Temple Mount, Masada, Caesarea Maritima; early Christian foundations including Church of the Holy Sepulchre; desert monasteries, including Saint Catherine's; the idea of a holy land (as place of pilgrimage) This course is very closely linked with AK/HUMA 3434 3.0 LANDS OF THE BIBLE, PART TWO a course trip to Israel/Egypt that will be conducted during May 2001. Part One provides the historical and archeological background to the sites that will be studied in detail on a firsthand basis. Students may take Part One and not go on the course trip (in Part Two AK/HUMA 3434 3.0).

Term: W (January - April 2001) Monday evenings, 7-10 P.M.

Format: This course will be highly visual, utilizing slides and videos that highlight sites, artefacts and other archeological finds. Background lectures and workshops will be highly interactive and presuppose close reading of and reflection upon the assigned material for each class.

Representative Texts: AK/HUMA 3433 3.0 Course Kit (available from the York University Book Store); Hershel Shanks (editor), Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Destruction of the Temple (Washington DC: Biblical Archeological Society, 1999). Paperback; Hershel Shanks (editor), Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A Parallel History of Their Origins and Early Development (Washington DC: Biblical Archeological Society, 1992). In addition, students wishing to take the course trip should also purchase: Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, The Holy Land: Oxford Archeological Guide (1998 revised edition, paperback) as well as Baedeker's Israel (Prentice Hall, paperback).

Conducted in Israel/Egypt, this course examines selected biblical archeological sites including ancient cities (e.g. Megiddo, Hazor, Beth Shean), historic sites (e.g. Jerusalem's Western Wall, City of David), early Christian sites (Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jerusalem), desert foundations (e.g. Mar Saba, Qumran, Negev), and Mount Sinai.

Prerequisite: AK/HUMA3433 3.0

This course examines the Bible in interaction with surrounding societies--e.g. Canaanite, Babylonian and Greek. In so doing it explores how the biblical ideas of both the Old and New Testament took shape. The course also explores the varieties of Judaisms and early Christianities in 1st century CE/AD. The course draws on a wide range of Biblical and related material--from the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament and Gnostic literature.

Format: Background lectures and small interactive workshops during class time. Prior reading before each class. Choice of 2 essays (25% each) or 1 major paper (50%); 2 short tests (25% each).

Representative Texts: Abraham saga, Deuteronomy, some Canaanite poems, Joshua, Babylonian Creation Epic, flood narratives, Hosea, Ezra/Nehemiah, selections from Plato and Sophocles, Koheleth (Ecclesiastes), parts of 2 Maccabees, Ruth, Esther, Judith, parts of Book of Enoch, a Dead Sea Scroll or two, Matthew 5, James, Galatians, Gospel of Thomas and the mysterious "Q". Also to help link these readings, a modern version of the Bible. Hershel Shanks, Ancient Israel: A Short History from Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple and Burton Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament?

Time: M W 7-10, first class is on Mon May 3rd

How did inadequate education, greed, power struggles, and rapid change produce the literature, art, music, and science of the Renaissance? Was the key a return to classical education, culture, and institutions alongside religious renewal? Or the new social, political, and economic patterns shaping the modern world? Explore the intellectual and social concerns of early modern men and women, as they faced major, uncontrollable change.(Same as AK/HIST3780 6.0)

Lecture: Thursday, 7-10 P.M.

Format: Students attend a three-hour lecture/seminar

Assignments/Evaluation: Class participation: 15% (in class work, group work and presentations); short assignments: 25% (5% x 5 exercises based on readings and research skills); one essay, 10-12 pages: 30%; journal or commonplace book:30%

Representative Texts: Agrippa, Henry Cornelius. Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex. Alberti, Leon. On Painting. Castiglione, Balthasar. The Courtier Cellini, Benvenuto. The Life of Benvenuto Cellini Erasmus. Praise of Folly Galilei, Galileo. Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences Hale, John. The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance Luther, Martin. Selections from His Writing Machiaveli, Niccolo. The Prince More, Thomas. Utopia Shakespeare, William. The Tempest Sidney, Philip. Defense of Poetry.

An examination of the growth and development of the Jewish community of Canada from the 1700s to the present. Topics to be discussed include immigration and integration, anti-Semitism, Zionism, the Holocaust, agricultural settlements, trade-unionism and Socialism, culture, education and religious and organizational life.

Time: T 11:30-2:30

Assignments/Evaluation: Seminar participation/presentations - 30%; first-term essay - 20%; final research paper - 50%

The contemporary "women's spirituality movement" may be divided into those who seek reform within traditional religious institutions and those who are creating new forms through such practices as goddess worship. We will apply the social scientific perspectives of Durkheim, Jung, Berger and Geertz to the work of such authors as Rosemary Ruether, Judith Plaskow and Carol Christ. Topics include: definitions and theories of religion,; myth; ritual; mystic experience; Goddess literature; feminist critiques of traditional religion. While this course has no prerequisite, a background in Sociology would be helpful.

Degree Credit Exclusions: GL/SOCI 3010E 3.0(W'93); GL/SOCI/WMST 3010E 3.0 (W'94); GL/SOCI 3010E 3.0 (W'95)

Format:

This course deals with the major writings of Augustine and his contemporaries and the dominant issues of the years 350-450 C.E.: the barbarian invasions and fall of Rome; the suppression of paganism; the growth of ascetic life styles; and the creation of Christian orthodoxy and education.

Lecture: Tuesday 7-10 P.M.

Format: Students attend a three-hour lecture/seminar

Assignments/Evaluation: First Term Test: 10%; Second Term Test: 15%; Essay I: 15% 6-8 pp.; Essay II: 20% 8-10 pp.; Essay III: 20% 8-10 pp. ; Final Exam: 20%

Representative Texts: St. Augustine, City of God. Saint Augustine, Confessions. Saint Augustine, On Christian Doctrine. Augustine, Against the Academicians and The Teacher. John Cassian, Conferences. J.N. Hillgarth, ed., Christianity and Paganism, 350-750.

Focus: The early, radical alternative version of Christianity and Judaism based on mystical self-knowledge (gnosis), and the challenge it posed to orthodox views on such issues as authority, the role of women, wisdom, and organizational structure.

Term: F (September - December 2000)

Lecture: Monday 7-10 P.M.

Format: Students attend a three-hour lecture/seminar. Informal lectures and class-discussions.

Representative Texts: J.M. Robinson (ed.) The Nag Hammadi Library, E. Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels. Course-kit

What is "Jewish" and what is "modern" about "Modern Jewish Women's Literature"? What particular issues and attitudes concern the diverse body of works written by Jewish women in the twentieth century, especially after World War II? What connects Jewish women writers in and out of Israel, and what distinguishes their literary cultures from one another? The course addresses such issues as immigrant and post-immigrant experiences, gender and "the Other," identity, exile and home, responses to the past and to Jewish tradition. Readings will be in English, and classes conducted in English.

Format: Three seminar hours per week.

Assignments/Evaluation: Two short papers (each worth 25% = 50%); one longer, research paper - 35%; participation and class assignments - 15%.

Prerequisite: None

Representative Texts: Readings include writing by Eva Hoffman, Cynthia Ozick, Marge Piercy, Anne Roiphe, and others.

Modern Hebrew literature developed out of a unique situation: an ancient language rapidly brought into modernity; a set of diaspora cultures meeting to develop a new Israeli culture. Modern Hebrew writers faced the challenge of reinventing a language and culture during a century of upheaval and change. Because of this, modern Hebrew literature plays a major role in not only reflecting but in helping to invent important ideas about "Israeliness." Through close readings of a variety of literary genres, this course will look at such issues as attitudes toward the diaspora past and present, personal and collective identities, ideas of "home" and "homeland," responses to the Holocaust, modern uses of biblical themes, and images of the Other. Readings will be in translation, and classes will be conducted in English.

Format: Three seminar hours per week

Prerequisite: None

Assignments/Evaluation: Two papers (25% each) - 50%; participation and class assignments - 25%; final exam 25%.

Representative Texts: Readings include writing by S.Y. Agnon, Aharon Appelfeld, Yehuda Amichai, Dvora Baron, David Grossman, and others.

This course studies, in a comparative fashion, the rise, consolidation and decline of the three major Islamic empires during the period from 1500 to 1800. Through a combination of lectures and various forms of student participation (discussion, document analysis and presentations) several themes are examined. Much attention is paid to the importance of the Mongol invasions and the slow rise of their various successor states including the powerful empire of Timur Lang. The Egyptian and Delhi Sultanates are also examined as part of the background to the rise of the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia and the Balkans, the Safavid Empire in Persia, and the Mughal Empire in India. Among the themes examined are the role of nomads in the formation of the empires, the manner in which Islam interacted with the local religious traditions, the different administrative and military structures, economic and class relations, aspects of everyday life including gender relations, cultural, scientific and artistic developments, the early role of European merchants, crisis and change, and the question of decline and rising European hegemony. The course ends with the establishment of British colonialism in India, the collapse of the Safavid state, and the beginning of the reform movement in the Ottoman Empire. Among the questions raised throughout the course: what are the distinguishing features of each empire; what are the causes for their collapse (with the exception of the Ottomans); and how did such once powerful states eventually succumb to European domination?

Assignments/Evaluation: Two exam 40%; quiz 10%; presentation 10%; research paper 30%; participation 10%

From the very beginning, it has been true of "the Christian life" that it has taken on a public, group, social form and mode of operation; Christians have always assembled themselves into a "church" - in fact, they have always made conformity to "church" standards and membership in the "church" a requirement for a full and adequate participation in the salvation-through Christ which is, for them, the essence of the present age.

Thus, from the times of the Acts of the Apostles, belief in Christianity as a saving faith necessitated definable membership in a Christian society. The history of the Church is the history of the variety of possibilities which human culture has created to define "church", and the history of the choices mankind has made in the face of those possibilities. Despite the variety, the history of the church from the beginning until about 1517 (or perhaps until about 1821-22) reveals that all Christians were in strong agreement on certain core principles, which constituted the defining norms whereby "the Christian life" could actually be recognized, and "christian, saintly choices" could be made; in fact, it can be said that the turbulent, competitive history of the Church is the direct result of these agreed-upon norms, because the application of these norms to life requires an act of interpretation.

This course traces the history of such acts of interpretation, which led to the evolution of the New Testament Church into that complex of institutions and society which constituted "the church" in 1500. Key issues include: the development of administrative structures; the increasing importance of canon law; the rise of a formal clergy and of the papacy; the idea of sacraments and their history; the development of liturgy, pastoral care, and preaching; monasticism; the laity and lay piety; the changing notion of charity; the rise of the idea of purgatory, and the role of formal education. The course also considers the relationship between developments in the formal church and the secular world, and the history of "sainthood"; biographies will be important for these topics. Finally, the course briefly treats the arts (especially architecture and painting, but also some music) in church life and practice.

Lecture: W 2:30-5:30

Assignments/Evaluation: 6 quizzes on factual data 30%, mid-term examination 20%, final examination 20%, tutorial participation 5%, 3 essays 5% + 5% + 15%.

REQUIRED Summer Preparation: (1) the entire New Testament read once; then learn in detail: Acts, 1 Cor., I-II Tim, Titus, I Pet. Hebrews, James, Rev. (2) If you are not already thoroughly familiar with basic medieval history, learn Edward Peters, Europe and the Middle Ages, 2nd ed. (or any comparable book). (3) Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, (4) R.W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages.

The medieval and early modern periods saw critical developments in the unfolding of Jewish national and religious history. This course surveys Jewish history during these periods, defined in terms of the seventh-century rise of Islam on one hand and eighteenth-century era of Jewish emancipation, enlightenment, and spiritual crisis on the other. Topics considered include the history of particular Jewish communities (Babylonian, Spanish, northern and eastern European, incipient North American, and so forth); diverse religious developments (e.g., theological creativity, messianic activism), and the place of Jews in larger socioreligious mosaics, both actually and symbolically (e.g., the legal position of Jews in Christendom and Islam, interreligious disputation and dialogue, graphic representations of Jews, issues of "anti-semitism"). In terms of method, the course stresses analysis of original historical documents and religious literature in translation. It emphasizes not only retention and understanding of basic facts and ideas but, in addition, a variety of more sophisticated analytical skills including the drawing of conclusions from diverse historical and literary materials (legal texts, chronicles, moralistic tales, etc.). The course poses a number of basic historiographic questions along the way as well: is the term "medieval" even applicable to Jewish history and if so how? Is there a single "history of the Jews" or only multiple histories of diverse Jewish communities? What is the nature of the interplay between "internal" and "external" factors in Jewish history?

Lecture: TR 1:00-2:30

Assignments/Evaluation: In-class exercise 15%, test 30%, essay 40%, (5% for outline submitted more than 2 weeks prior to due date) conscientious preparation 5%, class participation 10%,

In this course, the students will learn about the Sephardi communities and a different way of life from the shtetl of Eastern Europe.

We will first study such sociological concepts as minority group, prejudice, assimilation, identity maintenance and ethnic boundaries.

We will go on with a brief historical synopsis of the rise of Islam and the Arab-Muslim conquests in Africa, Asia and Europe. The emphasis, however, will be mostly on the Jews under Islam and the social mechanisms they devised in order to survive as Jews and to maintain their Jewish way of life.

Format: three-hour seminar

Assignments/Evaluation: Two take-home essays (worth 35% each) - 70%; participation - 30%

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