Religious Studies

This course explores the complex connections between religion and human rights, both in terms of the evolution of the contemporary human rights regime, and in relation to the specific disputed issue of gender. The relationship between religion and human rights is controversial and contested. On the one hand is the claim that human rights require a religious grounding. This course explores the complex connections between religion and human rights, both in terms of the evolution of the contemporary human rights regime, and in relation to the specific disputed issue of gender, and have their antecedents in religious traditions, while on the other hand is the view that human rights provide a necessary antidote to the prejudices and inequalities that are characteristic of religion. The course begins with a consideration of contemporary understandings of human rights, of the role of religion in the evolution of the language, values and norms of human rights, and of contemporary debates about orientalism, colonialism and post-colonialism in the articulation and implementation of human rights. The second section considers debates about the nature and politics of gender, the role that different religions play in the construction and maintenance of gender norms, and the manner in which different religions deal with the issue of women’s rights.

This course invites students to rethink their preconceptions about studying the complex modern topic of religion by introducing them to key approaches and debates in Religious Studies, including historical, sociological, and anthropological approaches. It uses these to examine through a comparative and theoretically informed perspective empirical examples and case studies of how religion/s are articulated by diverse people in multiple settings. The course gives prominence to people's everyday ideas and practices about religion, while also indicating the broader disciplinary shape of the Study of Religion/s.

This course pays special attention to issues of theory and method in the psychology of religion, in order to develop an understanding of personal identity, as well as mental and spiritual health in religious contexts. While recognizing the importance of gender, class, race, ethnicity and other social forms of identity, the course focuses on religious dynamics of personal identity and the formation of selfhood through case studies in consciousness, mysticism, embodiment, intertextual reading practices and cultural resources for being human. The course explores the various ways in which religion might inform personal, social and intersubjective notions of self, while providing conception of the good/the good life. Course entry requirements: Second-year status.

This course introduces students to the literary genres and theological contours of the Hebrew canon and its transmission, translation and interpretation in antiquity and in contemporary culture. The variety of terms used to designate the ‘Hebrew Bible’ (e.g. Old Testament, Hebrew Scriptures, Tanak) indicate the richness of traditions related to these writings, the various ways that they are viewed, and also their life within different communities at different times. This course orients students to the literary and theological contours of the Hebrew canon, introducing them to the rich variety of genres within. The exploration of the Pentateuch and Chronicler’s History provides a historiographical framework and develops students’ ability to identify literary themes while interrogation of the Prophets, Psalms and Wisdom Literature demonstrate the incredible diversity of literary and theological genres contained within the Hebrew Bible. 

Using direct engagement with Late Antiquity and medieval artworks housed in Berlin’s Staatliche Museen, this seminar introduces students to a solid method of interrogating images and objects. It focuses on the particularities of the Christian image, namely its capacity of figuring the invisible and its relationship with the Hebrew Scriptures. The way the Hebrew Scriptures were transformed into the “Old Testament” in images serves as the seminar’s guiding thread. By examining specific distinct objects, students trace the emergence of Christian imagery, explore the contradictions it struggled with, and consider the dynamics of artistic creation in the Middle Ages. The first sessions offer a brief introduction to the central themes. In the following sessions, students visit the Bode Museum and other state museums. During these sessions, each student presents an assigned object, followed by an open group discussion. The class also addresses questions regarding the ways of exhibiting medieval objects in museums.

This course introduces and engages in contemporary scholarly reflection on critical animal studies, posthumanism, and ecotheology. Students engage with theological perspectives on the definitions of “humanity,” “animality,” and “creatureliness.” They explore a number of theo-ethical topics in this area from animal conservation to food. Recent questions in ecological ethics swirl around “the question of the human” and “the question of the animal.” Theological and ethical concepts that define human beings as unique, with souls created imago dei, in the image of God with dominion over the planet are critiqued as being morally complicit with species decline, animal suffering, and habitat loss. On a planet undergoing the sixth great wave of animal extinction, this critique is no small matter. This course discusses how we understand the human in relation to other nonhuman creatures that occupy the planet. Students consider animal ethics, the blurry lines between wild and domestic, human and nonhuman, living and extinct, veganism and vegetarianism, human and posthuman and ask how these conversations cause us to rethink theological understandings of “creatureliness” and “creation” and “kinship.” The course asks how definitions of what it means to be “human” are already entangled in our theo-ethical and ecological concerns.

This course studies the basic ideas of the 27 books of the New Testament in their historical contexts. First, it explores he epistles of Paul, the oldest books in the New Testament, then study the four Gospels. Finally, it focuses on the second-Pauline epistles and the Revelation of John. 

This course provides an introductory survey of religion and politics in Islam, from its inception to the modern period. It introduces students to basic concepts and topics in Islamic Studies and societies, such as Islamic law, theology, governance, and politics.

This course covers selected topics in Qur’anic Studies: history of the text or specific themes in the Qur’an (gender issued, relations with others, ethical or legal issues). The course offers an examination of the principal different Muslim and Western approaches and opinions relevant to the chosen topic, illustrated with reference to an appropriate selection of primary sources in translation and in Arabic.