HDS 3931: The Yoga Sutras: Text, Meaning
Instructor: Francis Clooney, Spring 2024 – Time: T – 3:00-5:30pm
The brief Yoga Sutras (only 195 sutras) of Patanjali (c 100 BCE-100 CE) is a vastly influential and fundamental text of yoga. It is the focus of the course, along with its primary commentary (Vyasa’s Bhasya), notes on other commentaries, and with some attention to BKS Iyengar’s famous Light on the Yoga Sutras. What was Patanjali up to? What are the Sutras for? What do the Sutras tell us about the meaning and purpose of yoga then and now? Though not a course about the practice of yoga or yoga in the modern world, it is always attentive to the implications for practice. Thus potentially of great use for practitioners and teachers today. Apt comparisons will be made with ancient Hindu and Buddhist parallels, Al-Biruni’s 11th c. Arabic translation, and modern Christian interpretations of the Sutras. Given our stressful situation, possibly some optional yoga practice together at start or end of class. Weekly written responses, plus two twelve-page course papers.
HDS 3175/RELG 1821: India Ocean Islam
Instructor: Ali Asani/Teren Sevea, Spring 2024, Time: Th – 3:00-5:00pm
Does thinking oceanically influence the study of Islam? Can we remember a people’s history of the Indian Ocean world? This course considers these questions and others as it focuses on religious worlds within port cities and the networks of Indian Ocean Islam. The course examines how religion in port cities and islands was centered upon a plethora of saints, missionaries, divinities and other agents of Islam, who have been marginalized in academic literature on the Indian Ocean. It simultaneously examines how oceanic religion was intimately connected to economic, political and technological developments. Students will be introduced to scholarship on oceanic Islam and monsoon Islam, before they are introduced to a variety of sources on transregional Islamic networks and agents of Islam, including biographies, hagiographies, travelogues, novels, poems and ethnographic accounts. Students will, moreover, be encouraged to consider ways in which approaches to studying Islam could be enhanced by a focus on religious economies and networks, as well as the lives of ‘subalterns’ who crossed the porous borders of the Indian Ocean world and shaped its religious worlds. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1821 and Islamic Civilizations 136.
GENED 1083: Permanent Impermanence: Why Buddhists Build Monuments
Instructor: Jinah Kim, Spring 2024 Time: 12:00-1:15pm.
Why do Buddhists build monuments despite the core teaching of ephemerality, and what can we learn from this paradox about our own conception of time and space?
Everything changes. This is, in its simplest and most fundamental formulation, one of the essential teachings of Buddhism. Buddhist communities throughout history have preached, practiced, and written about the ephemerality and illusoriness of our everyday lives and experiences. Ironically, however, many of these same communities have attempted to express these teachings in the form of monumental structures meant to stand the test of time. Some of the world’s greatest cultural heritage sites are a legacy of this seeming contradiction between the impermanence that is a central presupposition of Buddhist thought and the permanence to which these same monuments seem to aspire. If the world is characterized by emptiness and the Self is illusory, how does one account for the prodigious volume of art and architecture created by Buddhists throughout history? This Gen Ed course takes a multicultural and reflective engagement with the challenges presented by this conundrum through a study of Buddhist sites scattered throughout time and space. Pertinent topics such as cosmology, pilgrimage, materiality, relics, meditation, and world-making will be explored. Through these Buddhist monuments in South and Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, students will learn about the rich, diverse world of Buddhist practice and experience.
HDS 3391/RELG 1040: Can We Still Read Religious Classics? An inquiry with Christian, Hindu, and Confucian Classics
Instructor: Francis Clooney, Spring 2024 – Time: M,W – 10:30-11:45am
Theology is grounded in belief in God, or some Transcendent Reality that engages normatively our minds, hearts, bodies, lives. It is the practice of faith seeking understanding, exploring all manner of realities, human, all other worldly life form, and the divine. And, pertinent to this course, it is very often preserved primarily in classic religious texts that have for millennia been normative for believers. Today, such texts cannot be taken for granted. Our reading of them must be purified by the hardest critical questions, such as expose biases and systemic injustice, uncover elite power structures and exclusions and, in our interreligious world, undercut overdependence on the ideas, words, and methods of the Christian West. This course experiments with the retrieval of the reading of religious classics by taking seriously classics of three normative traditions: tentatively, in Christianity, Augustine’s Instructing Beginners in Faith (4th century CE, North African Christian); in Hinduism, Sankara’s Crest Jewel of Discrimination (8th century CE, orthodox Hindu), and in Confucianism, Confucius’s Great Learning (6th century BCE, Chinese). We will read each carefully, and consider each in terms of its portrayal of the human, the transcendent (God, the One), the nature of learning, and, indeed, Truth such as survives our critiques of it. Each text is taken seriously, in light of critiques, and each is comprehended in light of the other two. Yes, we can still read the classics, but only if we work really hard at doing so, with the questions of the 21st century. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1040PPM.
MUSC 194R: Special Topics: Proseminar
Instructor: Richard Wolf, Spring 2024 – Time: Th – 12:45-2:45pm
Music and Politics in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Drawing from the recent political experiences and musicality of the Afghan artist-in-residence Dawood Pazhman, the course will explore music in Afghanistan and neighboring countries, especially with respect to state and religious control. Expert guest lectures will outline key moments in the political history of the region. Week-to-week discussion, reading and listening will delve into the texts, tunes, and motivations of public and private music making, institutions for teaching music, censorship, and other topics. Students will have the opportunity to learn to play the kashgar rubab and sing in the Dari language. No prior experience playing a stringed instrument is required.
PHIL 192: Buddhist Philosophy
Instructor: Parimal Patil, Time: M,W – 12:00-1:15pm
In this course, we will discuss topics in Indian Buddhist epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of action, and philosophy of mind. We will pay particular attention to the arguments that Buddhist philosophers used to defend their views and respond to their critics. In addition to understanding these arguments in their historical contexts, we will ask what we can learn from then today and, when relevant, assess how they are being used in contemporary philosophy.
HDS 3760/RELG 1060: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary
Instructor: Francis Clooney, Spring 2025 – Time: M,W – 10:30-11:45am
This course explores gender and divinity by reading hymns praising Hindu goddesses Sri Laksmi, the great Goddess (Devi), the Tamil Apirami, and Bengal’s Kali, while asking how feminine divinity is constructed in an environment where gods and goddesses flourish. The course at the same time explores the cult of the Virgin Mary, theologically, historically, through key texts. This approach is sharpened by some attention to performative, social, visual dimensions, and through contemporary feminist and theological insights. Not a survey, but an in-depth introduction. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1060.
HDS 3750 / RELG 1615: The Bhagavad Gita and Its Greatest Commentary
Instructor: Francis Clooney, Spring 2025 – Time: Tu.- 3:00pm-5:59pm
Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu classic of devotion and theology, has received extensive classical and contemporary commentary. The seminar reads the Gita itself, with the classic Vedanta commentary of Madhusudana Sarasvati (16th century), who sought to synthesize liberative knowledge, detached action, yoga, and love of Krishna. This course is meant for students interested in closely reading Indian/Hindu texts, with attention to textual analogues from other religions. Sanskrit useful but not required. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1615.
HDS 3391: Introduction to Hindu Spiritual Care
Instructor: Francis Clooney, Fall 2024. schedule + details TBD
HDS 3625/RELG 1820 — Islamic Civilizations 178:
Instructor: Ali Asani, Fall 2024 – Time: W – 12:45-2:45pm.
Details TBD
First Year Seminar 37 Contemporary Muslim Voices in World Literatures
Instructor: Ali Asani, Fall 2024
Details TBD. Undergraduate only.
Gen Ed 1087: Multisensory Religion: Rethinking Islam
Instructor: Ali Asani, Spring 2025
Details TBD. Undergraduate only.
HDS 3070/RELG 64: Krishna and Christ: Does it Matter?
Instructor: Francis Clooney, Fall 2023 – Time: M,W – 10:30-11:45am
Krishna, a supreme deity of Hindu tradition, and Jesus Christ, the central figure of Christian faith, have been compared and contrasted for well over two centuries. They been understood as similar divine persons, who descend into this world and are embodied here, gather followers, offer wise instructions, save their devotees, and are best approached by love and devotion. But differences have often been emphasized. For centuries, missionaries, scholars, and many ordinary believers have seen Krishna and Christ as competitors., pushing similarities and differences in contexts (most often in India but not only) where true religion, salvation, and conversion were at stake. Questions arose such as these: Are Krishna and Christ mythical or historical figures? The former mythical and the latter historical? Is either divine? Both? Did they truly come into this world, by incarnation or avatara? If they save, how does that happen – and save from what? Are they moral role models? Can a Hindu love Christ, and a Christian love Krishna?
Such were “hot” questions for a very long time, and even today for some. But for many, such questions have lost their urgency in the 21st century. It is good that competition is largely a thing of the past, but it may not be good that the urgency of the comparison — Krishna and Christ, Christ or Krishna? – no longer matters to most people. Do we have something to gain by taking both Krishna and Christ seriously? Facing this question sheds light on many larger questions regarding spirituality, religion, and cross-cultural learning.
The course proceeds by key readings, discussed vigorously in class, but experience, practices, and images are important as well. Course requirements include brief weekly written responses to readings, and two 12-page course papers, but no final examination. Jointly offered with the Divinity School as HDS 3070.
PHIL 155: Topics in Philosophy of Religion
Instructor: Parimal Patil, Time: M,W – 12:00-1:15pm
A discussion of problems in philosophy of language, epistemology, metaphysics, and mind that are directly relevant to issues in philosophy of religion. We explore the surprising, if not shocking, connections between so-called “core areas” of philosophy and philosophy of religion. We consider the views of a range of philosophers; assess their arguments; debate their conclusions; and uncover the surprising range of philosophical issues on which they depend.
HDS 3392/RELG 1040PPM: Interreligious Theology in a Post-Post-Modern Era
Instructor: Francis Clooney, Fall 2023 – Time: M,W – 10:30-11:45am
Theology is grounded in belief in God, or some Transcendent Reality that engages normatively our minds, hearts, bodies, lives. It is the practice of faith seeking understanding, attentive to the canonical scriptures and traditions, yet also to ritual, ethical and experiential learning. Today theology must be purified by contemporary critical questions, as honest theologians expose biases and systemic injustice, learn to be more suspicious of elite power structures and exclusions and, in our interreligious world, hesitant about overdependence on the ideas, words, and methods of the Christian West. Theology is also committed to learning from the past, even after legitimate critiques. This new course aims at a critical but still faithful theology that seeks to be post-post-modern: defending belief in God (the immanent transcendent, divine power/s); refusing to reduce spiritual realities to ordinary experience and values; honoring truth, beauty, and goodness as inklings of the divine; being grounded in some home tradition, however large or personalized; confessional, of a tradition, yet deeply interreligious; and reading religious classics slowly and deeply. This course experiments with the retrieval of theology by taking seriously three classics of three normative traditions: the prose part of Sankara’s Thousand Teachings (8th century CE, orthodox Hindu), part of Augustine’s Instructing Beginners in Faith (4th century CE, North African Christian), and Confucius’s Great Learning (6th century BCE, Chinese) — considering each in terms of its portrayal of the human, the transcendent (absolute, God), the nature of learning, and, indeed, Truth. Each text is taken seriously, and each is comprehended in light of the other two. The course also importantly includes readings that challenge the very idea of learning from such texts, plus readings that argue that such reading is still crucial, despite the many ways in which we must be sadder but wiser theologians in the 21st century . Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1040PPM.
HDS 3919: Introduction to the Upanisads
Instructor: Francis Clooney, Fall 2023 – Time: T – 3:00-6:00pm
This seminar introduces the ancient Indian Upanisads, some of the oldest and most famous primary texts of Vedic and Hindu India, ranging from before 700 BCE to 200 BCE and later. Select later Upanisads too will be considered, and the reception of the Upanisads in the Advaita Vedanta tradition. Topics include: the nature of self and of absolute reality; knowledge as transformative; the limits of language; the role of God in a nondualist worldview; meditation practice; death and rebirth; knowledge and ethics. Texts will be read in translation. No language or course prerequisites, but students will be encouraged to make use of any such expertise. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1061.
MUSC 207R: Ethnomusicology: Seminar
Instructor: Richard Wolf, Time: M, Th – 3:00-5:00pm (half-semester)
Creative Ethnographic Practice: Sound, Film, Photography. Students will explore the “art” side of ethnographic writing and documentary film-making, learning to represent musical life through the camera lens, the microphone, and the pen. How, we ask, can different modes of documenting sound and human interaction inflect our understanding of music-making, culture, and our surroundings more generally? Students will build toward their final project through a series of weekly exercises and experiments. The final project will be a creative work accompanied by a short paper. Students will learn how to record, edit, and create narratives and arguments, using sound and video. Writers and photographers will also be invited to employ and expand their skills in creative non-fiction projects. Although no particular background is needed, students interested in music, anthropology, and any kind of visual or sound art are particularly welcome. A special feature of the course this year is the residency of a musician from northern Afghanistan, who will allow us to document his first months in the United States.
Ling 107: Introduction to Indo-European
Instructor: Jay Jasanoff, Spring 2025– schedule + details TBD
LING 123: Intermediate Indo-European
Instructor: Jay Jasanoff, Fall 2023 – Time: T- 9:45 – 11:45am
Designed as a sequel to Linguistics 107. A detailed overview of Indo-European comparative grammar, with emphasis on recent developments and discoveries.
LING 220AR: Advanced Indo-European
Instructor: Jay Jasanoff, Spring 2024
The course will be organized as a linguistic introduction to the Rigveda, with reading of selected hymns (out of Lanman and beyond) and linguistic discussion.
HAA 81: Art of Monsoon Asia: Interconnected Histories
Instructor: Jinah Kim, Time: M,W – 1:30-2:45pm
Monsoon Asia refers to the area of the globe where climates are determined or profoundly affected by the monsoon, from the Himalayas, to the islands of Indian Ocean, all the way to the Japanese archipelago. Focusing on the impact of monsoons in South and Southeast Asia, the course explores the common patterns and traits of the art of Monsoon Asia. How was the monsoon and its impact conceptualized in art? The main learning goal of the course is to understand how artistic means were harnessed to conceptualize, cope with, and tame environmental challenges posed by monsoons and long-distance travels, often facilitated by the monsoon winds, in pre-modern times. From water management to water symbolism, from impressive temples that mark auspicious arrivals to itinerant objects like ivories and amulets that moved with travelers across Monsoon Asia, we will look at diverse sites and objects that date between the fifth through the sixteenth centuries and attempt to connect the dots between ports and uncover hidden narratives of long-distance travels and travails of dealing with environmental challenges in pre-modern times. The course challenges the diffusionist model of influence in understanding trans-regional interactions and introduces ways to discuss interconnected histories using digital tools. The course will introduce basic tools of digital art history and students will be asked to contribute to a course exhibition site with annotated maps and research pages as part of their final projects.
GENED 1166: Pluralism: Case Studies in American Diversity
Instructor: Dianna Eck, Fall 2023, Time: T, Th – 12:00-1:15pm
How does our society deal with religious, ethical, and cultural diversity, and what challenges do we face as people of different faith communities encounter one another in cities and public institutions, schools and businesses, neighborhoods and families?
Who do we mean when we say “we?” These are urgent questions in many nations today, but in this course we focus on the United States. We explore, discuss, and analyze the changing multi-cultural and multi-religious landscape of America with an eye to the growing Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and Sikh communities in the most recent period of post-1965 immigration. In what contexts do these and other minority communities encounter America’s secularism, its commitment to religious freedom, and its long-dominant Christian and Jewish communities? Our approach will be through the study and in-class discussion of case-studies enabling you to enter into some of the controversies and dilemmas that confront schools, universities, town councils, zoning boards, and places of work. You will be challenged to take the perspective of mayors and concerned citizens, teachers and executives, religious and civic leaders –all confronting the choices and changes of a dynamic society. You will inevitably consider your own perspective on the issues we engage. You will gain a deeper understanding of the religious complexity of America and a new sense of the challenges confronting “we the people.”