Religious Studies

This course traces the historical development of Buddhism on the Korean peninsula, and explores how it changed over time. Topics include popular beliefs and practices, Buddhism’s place in society, and its organization and functioning.

For centuries, the Jewish mystical tradition was a highly guarded, orally transmitted body of knowledge. Today, Kabbalah is everywhere, from the internet, to Hollywood, to popular charms and amulets. This course presents both an introduction to the basic principles of Jewish mysticism, as well as the way in which Kabbalah and Jewish spirituality has entered diverse forms of contemporary spirituality, new-age thought, religious cross-fertilization, art, cinema, and even politics. It explores the nature of mystical experience and the unique approach of Kabbalah and Hasidism; studies Jewish texts, both ancient and modern, that seek to understand the nature of spirituality; and introduces living teachers of the Jewish esoteric tradition who are developing new philosophies and practices. The course examines how thinkers across the entire range of Jewish experience have drawn upon Kabbalistic ideas to enrich the spirituality of their adherents. Primary texts are read and discussed and guest speakers are invited regularly, providing a unique opportunity to meet leading spirituality thinkers in Israel and around the world.

The course provides an introduction to Islam, exploring key aspects of its thought and practice and early history. The course content is built on the structure of the Hadith of Gabriel, which presents the religion as comprising Islam, or submission (action), iman, or belief (understanding), ihsan, or doing what is beautiful (sincerity), and proper understanding of human history. Topics covered typically include the social and cultural setting in which Islam emerged, religious and political developments during and after the Prophet's life, internal divisions within the Muslim community, the authoritative texts, law, and major schools of Islamic thought.

This course takes a comparative perspective and highlights the theoretical and practical problems related to this field of study. The course explores several themes: 1) concepts and conceptualization 2) state, modernity and secularism, 3) Gender equality and plurality in religion and 4) capitalism and commercialization in religion. More than just faith, personal beliefs and practice, religion is also a site for many of these dynamics involving the power of the modern nation-state, gender relations and economic systems. The course also examines case studies of diverse religious and spiritual traditions in Southeast Asia. 

This course traces the development of both Theravāda and Mahāyāna Buddhism in Southeast Asia. Major topics include the spread of Buddhism, the rise of Buddhist kingdoms, the development of popular traditions, the impact of European colonialism, the relationship between Buddhism and nationalism, the emergence of modern reformist movements, and Buddhist minorities in maritime Southeast Asia.

This course provides a critical introduction to Buddhism and interrogates the origins and transhistorical resonances of Buddhist thought, practice, and praxis. It examines the possibility of the Buddhist turn in critical theory, one which must be irreverent and far reaching in its approach, and engages with a polyphony of voices ranging from lamas and practitioners to psychoanalysts and philosophers. The course explores whether Buddhism can function as a comprehensive framework for rethinking philosophy, politics, psychology, and the aesthetic in our current moment. It rethinks debates concerning what Buddhism really is (religion, psychology, empiricism, spirituality, tools for living, etc.) and explores how Buddhism problematizes commonplace understandings of belief and reason, mind and body, idealism and materialism, immanence and transcendence, ontology and anti-foundationalism, dream and reality, desire and gratification, and pain and pleasure. The radical Buddha is rediscovered as both a person and allegorical nexus for rethinking the condition of the world and the condition of being in the world.

This course is part of the LM degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on the main interdisciplinary theoretical, methodological, and technical tools of the historical-religious studies that deal with religious pluralism in urban contexts in the Modern and Contemporary Ages. The course focuses on different source materials to highlight and describe how religions create their worldviews and interact with the broader cultural, economic, and material context. The aim of this course is to investigate the relationship between religion and urban life, focusing on the theme of religious diversity, as it is organized and present in different urban contexts. A historical journey through different cities offers several different urban examples of how religion contributed to shape the environment, how religious interactions and encounters were established and negotiated, and ultimately how religious conflict and interactions might determine the future of cities.