Committees of the Faculty and Areas of Study

 

Following are brief descriptions of the three committees of the faculty and the ten areas of study in the Divinity School, including faculty resources, general guidelines, area written examinations, and course offerings. The courses listed are illustrative, and there may be additions, deletions, or changes as the faculty deems advisable. In addition, some of the courses listed in a specific area may be cross-listed in other areas. Ministry courses are listed on the M. Div. Program pages. The courses of instruction in the various areas of study are numbered as follows:

30000-39900 Basic courses at the graduate level
40000-49900 Advanced and specialized courses at the graduate level
50000-59900 Reading, seminar, research, and dissertation courses

These course numbers are preceded by abbreviations indicating their areas of study:

Committee on Constructive Studies in Religion
DVPR	Philosophy of Religion
RETH	Religious Ethics
THEO	Theology
Committee on Historical Studies
BIBL	Biblical Studies
HCHR	History of Christianity
HIJD	History of Judaism
Committee on Religion and the Human Sciences
AASR	Anthropology and Sociology of Religion
HREL	History of Religions
RLIT	Religion and Literature
ISLM	Islamic Studies

For a listing of courses offered for the current academic quarter, please click here.

 

Committee on Constructive Studies in Religion

The Committee on Constructive Studies in Religion brings together faculty and students who understand their work to be largely in the service of constructive (rather than purely historical or exegetical) goals. Students will be expected to focus their work within one of the three areas comprised by the Committee, but they will also be expected to gain an understanding of the relations among these areas, and to do at least one of their written examinations outside the Committee.

The Committee on Constructive Studies in Religion supplements the written Ph.D. examinations offered in its areas with three Committee-wide examinations:

1. Metaphysics
2. Hermeneutics and Religious Reflection
3. Issues in Contemporary Theory

Subject to the requirements of his or her area of concentration, a Ph.D. student in the Divinity School may stipulate a Committee-wide examination as one of his or her four written examinations.

Faculty: D. Arnold, K. Culp, A. Davidson, J.Elshtain, M. Fishbane, F. Gamwell, W.C. Gilpin, K. Hector, D. Hopkins, M. Kapstein, J-L. Marion, F. Meltzer, P. Mendes-Flohr, M. Nussbaum, W. Otten, S. Schreiner, W. Schweiker, K. Tanner.

 

Philosophy of Religion

The Philosophy of Religion area considers philosophical issues arising from various religious beliefs and practices, and from critical reflection upon them. Work in this area requires historical understanding of the discipline as it developed in the West, but it is also possible to specialize in the philosophical thought of a non-Western religious tradition, as well as to do constructive philosophical work that draws upon the resources of more than one tradition.

Written Examinations
Ph.D. students concentrating in the Philosophy of Religion area are required to take three exams offered by the area. All students are required to take exam 1, “The Modern Background,” and one of two exams focused on particular thinkers and trends from the twentieth century: either exam 2, “Anglo-American Philosophy of Religion in the Twentieth Century,” or exam 3, “Continental Philosophy of Religion in the Twentieth Century.” A third exam emphasizing work in the field is also required, and its selection will typically be a function of the student's particular area of focus. For students pursuing a program of comparative work, this will normally be one of the exams under the rubric of exam 4, “Comparative Philosophy of Religion” (e.g., an exam in Indian Buddhist philosophy); for students not pursuing a program of comparative work, the third exam will normally be the other of the two twentieth-century exams. In some cases, students not pursuing a program in comparative work may select as the third exam one of those offered by the Committee on Constructive Studies (“Metaphysics,” “Hermeneutics and Religious Reflection,” or “Issues in Contemporary Theory”). The student’s examining committee should include at least four faculty examiners, three of whom should be members of the Philosophy of Religion faculty.

1. The Modern Background
2. Anglo-American Philosophy of Religion in the Twentieth Century
3. Continental Philosophy of Religion in the Twentieth Century
4. Comparative Philosophy of Religion

Selected Courses
DVPR 30201   Indian Philosophy I. Kapstein
DVPR 30302   Indian Philosophy II. Arnold
DVPR 31202   Spiritual Exercises and Moral Perfectionism. Davidson
DVPR 34801   18th and 19th Century Philosophy of Religion. Brudney
DVPR 31500   History of Early Modern Philosophy. Marion
DVPR 33400   Knowledge of the Other. Marion
DVPR 34500   Spinoza and the Question of Being. Marion
DVPR 35200   Modern Philosophy of Religion: The Enlightenment. Arnold
DVPR 39400   Philosophical Thought and Expression, Twentieth-Century Europe. Davidson
DVPR 39500   Topics in Contemporary Continental Thought. Davidson
DVPR 40500   Twentieth-Century Continental Philosophy and Theology. Davidson
DVPR 40600   The End of Metaphysics. Marion
DVPR 42600   Buddhist Thought in Tibet. Kapstein
DVPR 43700   Theology and Philosophy. Gamwell
DVPR 44000   Readings in Philosophical Sanskrit. Kapstein

 

Religious Ethics

The Religious Ethics area is concerned with the meaning of religion for the lives of persons and the ordering of societies, and, therefore, with problems of the good life, justice, and the common good. Study in the history and methods of religious and non-religious ethics is essential to work in the area. The examination of specific moral problems and the study of comparative religious ethics require work in the relevant social and historical sciences or in the professions. Students are thereby encouraged to pursue work in pertinent areas of the University outside of the Divinity School.

Written Examinations
A student concentrating in Religious Ethics will take three examinations in the area, including at least two of the following: (1) Philosophical Ethics; (2) Theological Ethics; (3) Ethics and Political Life. The student must select another, third examination from those offered by the area.

A student concentrating in Religious Ethics will submit for the oral examination a twenty- to twenty-five-page paper that typically engages one major thinker, relevant primary materials, and also important secondary scholarship with respect to a question pertinent to the student's scholarly aspirations. This paper should, accordingly, explicate and assess the thinker(s) chosen and also advance, through that engagement, a constructive argument on the question. The paper should be distributed to examiners at least two weeks prior to the oral examination.

The distinctive purpose of the oral examination is to engage the submitted paper and pursue other lines of inquiry, especially, but not limited to, the written examinations.

1. Philosophical Ethics
2. Theological Ethics
3. Ethics and Political Life
4. Ethics and the Social Sciences
5. Comparative Religious Ethics
6. Moral Problems

Selected Courses
RETH 30500   Religion and Political Order: Basic Themes. Elshtain
RETH 30600   Introduction to Theological Ethics. Schweiker
RETH 31100   History of Theological Ethics I. Schweiker
RETH 31200   History of Theological Ethics II. Schweiker
RETH 31500   The Letters of Cicero and Seneca. Nussbaum
RETH 32000   Religion and Political Liberalism. Nussbaum
RETH 33300   Political Philosophy. Nussbaum
RETH 33500   Introduction to Ethical Theories. Gamwell
RETH 40200   Beyond Morality: Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. Schweiker
RETH 40500   Justice and Religion. Gamwell
RETH 41000   Feminist Philosophy. Nussbaum
RETH 41300   Modern Roman Catholic Moral Theology. Schweiker
RETH 41500   Decision Making: Principles and Foundations. Nussbaum
RETH 42100   Problems in Theology and Ethics. Schweiker
RETH 42500   Anger and Hatred in the Western Philosophic Tradition. Nussbaum
RETH 42800   Religious Freedom in United States Politics. Gamwell
RETH 42900   Religious Ethics: The Economic Order. Gamwell
RETH 43000   John Stuart Mill. Nussbaum
RETH 44000   Methods and Theories in Comparative Religious Ethics. Schweiker
RETH 44500   Contemporary Social Ethics. Gamwell
RETH 44800   Just War Tradition. Elshtain
RETH 45100   Communicative Ethics. Gamwell
RETH 45800   Politics, Ethics, and Terror. Elshtain
RETH 46100   Reinhold Niebuhr: Theology and Ethics. Gamwell
RETH 46200   Whitehead: Metaphysics and Ethics. Gamwell
RETH 46600   Self, World, Other: The Thought of Paul Tillich. Schweiker
RETH 48800   Seminar: Theological Ethics I. Schweiker
RETH 48900   Seminar: Theological Ethics II. Schweiker
RETH 49000   Seminar: Theological Ethics III. Schweiker
RETH 50200   Political Realism. Elshtain
RETH 50400   Freud’s Ethics. Elshtain
RETH 50500   War and Human Identity. Elshtain
RETH 50600   Politics, Ethics, and Embodiment. Elshtain
RETH 51400   Equality as a Political Value. Nussbaum
RETH 51900   Religion and Public Life. Elshtain
RETH 52000   Augustine or Rousseau? Elshtain

 

Theology

The Theology area is concerned with the historical study of the self-understanding of a religious tradition, mainly Christianity and Judaism, and with the constructive interpretation of its meaning and truth for the contemporary world. Students in theology must, thereby, address questions of the history of theology, the definitive characteristics of theological claims and discourse, the criteria of meaning and of truth within a tradition, methods of theological reflection, the warrant (if any) for revision within traditions, and the manifold ways to answer or to sustain the criticism of theological ideas and religious beliefs. Students in theology thereby demonstrate their historical competence, methodological sophistication, and also grounding in some specific form of theological reflection.

Written Examinations
Students concentrating in Theology take three exams from those offered by the area. These choices should be determined, in consultation with the relevant faculty, on the basis of the student’s intended scholarly focus in the field. All students are required to take at least two of the three offered examinations in the History of Christian Thought (i.e., exams 1, 2, and 3). In all Theology examinations attention will be given to the use of scripture in the pertinent tradition as a theological source and norm, and the student will be expected to know the exegetical foundations of the theological positions discussed. The examinations will also test historical understanding and the ability to deal critically and, when appropriate, constructively with theological texts.

Given the purpose of the examinations in the Theology area stated above, all examinations will have “set bibliographies,” meaning that examinations are not tailored to the student’s dissertation topic. Additionally, a student may not take an examination of a perspective, theologian, or doctrine that is the principle focus of his or her intended dissertation.

1. History of Christian Thought, 150–1325 (Ancient and Medieval)
2. History of Christian Thought, 1277–1600 (Early Modern)
3. History of Modern Religious Thought (1600–1950)
4. A Constructive Theological Perspective (e.g., liberation, feminist, mystical, process theologies)
5. Theological Ethics/Moral Theology
6. A Major Theologian or Doctrine (e.g., Augustine; Christology)

Research Paper
In addition to taking the written examinations, a student concentrating in Theology will submit for the oral examination a research paper that typically engages a thinker or problem, relevant primary materials, and also important secondary scholarship with respect to the student’s scholarly aspirations. This paper is to be no longer than twenty-five, double-spaced pages, and must follow rubrics of The Chicago Manual of Style. Students should consult with their adviser about the most suitable paper for submission for the examination. If possible, the paper should represent some preliminary thoughts about a possible thesis topic.

As a preface research paper, the Theology area would like each student to submit a one-page summary of the significance of the paper in light of the student’s future work in the area. This statement should include: (1) a summary of the thesis of the paper; (2) a statement of how this paper relates to the student’s current theological interests. The completed paper with preface should be distributed to all of the examiners at least two weeks prior to the time of the oral examination.

Selected Courses
THEO 30100   History of Christian Thought I. Staff
THEO 30200   History of Christian Thought II. Staff
THEO 30300   History of Christian Thought III. Schreiner
THEO 30400   History of Christian Thought IV. Tanner
THEO 30500   History of Christian Thought V. Tanner
THEO 30600   Introduction to Theological Ethics. Schweiker
THEO 30700   History of Christian Thought VI. Hopkins
THEO 30800   Introduction to Theology. Hopkins
THEO 30900   Politics and Culture of Black Religion. Hopkins
THEO 31100   History of Theological Ethics I. Schweiker
THEO 31200   History of Theological Ethics II. Schweiker
THEO 32100   Theology and Black Folk Culture. Hopkins
THEO 35900   African Thought and Worldview. Hopkins
THEO 36500   God in Relation to the World: Creation and Providence. Tanner
THEO 36600   God in Relation to the World: Salvation. Tanner
THEO 37500   Spirituality of the Sixteenth Century. Schreiner
THEO 40200   Beyond Morality: Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. Schweiker
THEO 40400   The Concept of ‘Religion’ in Modern Theology. Hector
THEO 40500   Black Theology: First Generation. Hopkins
THEO 40600   Black Theology: Second Generation. Hopkins
THEO 41000   Protest and Liberation: Protestant Theologies. Culp
THEO 41300   Calvin’s Institutes. Schreiner
THEO 41400   Modern Roman Catholic Moral Theology. Schweiker
THEO 41701   The Problem of God-Talk. Hector
THEO 41800   Justin Martyr. Martinez
THEO 42100   Problems in Theology and Ethics. Schweiker
THEO 42300   Readings in Luther. Schreiner
THEO 42500   Religion and Slavery: Theological and Historical Perspectives. Hopkins/Brekus
THEO 43000   Christology. Tanner
THEO 43100   The Catholic Reformation. Schreiner
THEO 43301   Contemporary Trinitarian Theology. Hector
THEO 43900   Luther and the Old Testament. Schreiner
THEO 44301   Pilgrimage and Exodus as Christian Theological Themes. Culp
THEO 44500   Black Theology and Womanist Theology. Hopkins
THEO 44600   Theology of Schubert M. Ogden. Gamwell
THEO 44901   Materiality and Christian Community. Culp
THEO 45301   Theology and Spirituality of the Late Middle Ages. Culp
THEO 45601   World Christianity (1): Asian Theologies. Hector
THEO 46600   Self, World, Other: The Thought of Paul Tillich. Schweiker
THEO 48800   Seminar: Theological Ethics I. Schweiker
THEO 48900   Seminar: Theological Ethics II. Schweiker
THEO 49000   Seminar: Theological Ethics III. Schweiker
THEO 49300   Christianity and Social Power. Tanner
THEO 49801   Exile in Jewish Thought and Literature. Mendes-Flohr/Brinker
THEO 50400   Friedrich Schleiermacher: The Christian Faith. Tanner
THEO 50901   Hermann Cohen’s Religion and Reason. Mendes-Flohr
THEO 51400   Augustine on the Trinity. Marion

Committee on Historical Studies in Religion

The Committee on Historical Studies in Religion concentrates on the development of Western religious traditions, primarily Judaism and Christianity, from their origins to the present. Special areas of interest include the formation and interpretation of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, the history of Jewish thought, as well as the social, cultural, and intellectual history of Christianity in all periods.

The Committee on Historical Studies in Religion supplements the written Ph.D. examinations offered in its areas with one Committee-wide examination: History of Comparative Exegesis: Jewish and Christian. Subject to the requirements of his or her area of concentration, a Ph.D. student in the Divinity School may stipulate the Committee-wide examination as one of his or her four written examinations.

Faculty: C. Brekus, M. Fishbane, W. C. Gilpin, H-J. Klauck, D. Martinez, P. Mendes-Flohr, M. Mitchell, W. Otten, L. Pick, J. Robinson, S. Schreiner, M. Sells.

 

Biblical Studies

The Biblical Studies area seeks to understand and interpret the Jewish and Christian scriptures and related texts in their historical and cultural settings as well as in their subsequent roles as canonical texts for Judaism and Christianity. Contributing to these goals are four distinct areas of research: the historical contexts of these scriptures from ancient Israel to the Roman empire, the history and transmission of biblical and post-biblical literature, the history and methods of exegesis, and biblical and post-biblical theology.

Written Examinations
The area offers two Ph.D. exams in Hebrew Bible and two in New Testament. Ph.D. students concentrating in Biblical Studies must take the two exams offered in one of these, and select their third exam from the two offered in the other.

1. History and Religion of Israel
2. Hebrew Scripture
3. Christian Origins
4. New Testament and Related Texts

Selected Courses
BIBL 30601   Introduction to Judaic Civilization. Robinson
BIBL 32400   Introduction to Hebrew Bible. Staff
BIBL 32500   Introduction to New Testament: Texts and Contexts. Staff
BIBL 33900   Elementary Hebrew. Staff
BIBL 34000   Intermediate Hebrew I. Staff
BIBL 34100   Intermediate Hebrew II. Staff
BIBL 35100   Elementary Koine Greek. Staff
BIBL 35300   Intermediate Koine Greek. Staff
BIBL 35400   Advanced Koine Greek. Staff
BIBL 36300   Plutarch: Isis and Osiris. Martinez
BIBL 39900   Song of Songs. Fishbane
BIBL 43400   Science and Scripture: Jewish Philosophical Exegesis in the Middle Ages. Robinson
BIBL 45200   Studies in Midrash: Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer. Fishbane
BIBL 45700   Studies in Midrash: Leviticus Rabba. Fishbane
BIBL 45500   The Bible and Its Ancient Interpreters. Fishbane
BIBL 45700   Studies in Midrash: Lenticus Rabba. Fishbane
BIBL 46900   Wrath of God in the Hebrew Bible. Fishbane
BIBL 40300   The Gospel of Luke. Klauck
BIBL 41800   The Old Testament in the Gospel of John. Klauck
BIBL 41801   Justin Martyr. Martinez
BIBL 42000   The Gospel According to Mark. Mitchell
BIBL 42100   The Thessalonian Letters. Mitchell
BIBL 42200   The Farewell Discourses of the Gospel of John. Klauck
BIBL 42500   Revelation: The New Testament Apocalypse. Klauck
BIBL 43400   Science and Scripture: Jewish Philosophical Exegesis in the Middle Ages. Robinson
BIBL 43600   The Pastoral Epistles. Mitchell
BIBL 43900   I Corinthians. Mitchell
BIBL 44400   Lucian of Samosata. Martinez
BIBL 44500   Philo of Alexandria. Martinez
BIBL 47200   Reconsidering Patristic Biblical Interpretation. Mitchell
BIBL 50400   Early Christian Rhetoric. Mitchell
BIBL 51000   Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds. Martinez
BIBL 51200   Paul and Ritual. Betz
BIBL 51700   Dio Chrysostum and the New Testament. Klauck
BIBL 51900   The Acts of Thomas. Klauck
BIBL 52400   The Historical Jesus in Recent Research. Mitchell
BIBL 52800   Early Christian Epistolography. Mitchell
BIBL 53000   Flavius Josephus and Early Christian Literature. Mitchell
BIBL 53200   Hero Cults and Early Christianity. Martinez/Mitchell

History of Christianity

The History of Christianity area focuses on one major western religious tradition, in itself and in its interactions with other religions and cultures across time. The area fosters knowledge of the range of communities claiming an identity as "Christian" from the first through the twenty-first centuries, as well as allowing for individual specialization in a particular movement or historical moment, including ancient Christianity (to Constantine), late antique and medieval Christianity, the Reformation and early modernity, the Puritan movement, and American Christianity and American religion in general. Coursework and guided research emphasize the acquisition of essential skills of documentary and artifactual interpretation, critical appraisal of a range of methodological approaches to the material, and a sophisticated appreciation of the tasks, goals and audiences of historiographical writing. The construction of this area is based on the assumption that there are major issues that apply and extend to all periods (such as forms of biblical interpretation, means of adjudicating "orthodoxy" and "heresy," the relationship between Christian communities and the social order, forms of institutional and personal piety), as well as particular expressions of those dynamics in different chronological and geographical settings. It also assumes the need for integration of intellectual, social, institutional and cultural histories for interpreting the body of existing evidence and adequately addressing most important questions about this particular religious tradition in its various manifestations. Students in the HC area are encouraged to formulate an interdisciplinary approach to their research, through coursework throughout the areas of the Divinity School and the University (including the Department of History).

Written Examinations
A student in the area is expected to take three of the four examinations, and must complete at least one major course in the area of the examination they are not taking. The History of Christianity area offers four written examinations:

1. Ancient (to 600 CE)
2. Medieval (600-1300)
3. Early Modern (1300-1600)
4. Modern (1600-present)

Selected Courses
HCHR 30100   History of Christian Thought I. Staff
HCHR 30200   History of Christian Thought II. Staff
HCHR 30300   History of Christian Thought III. Schreiner
HCHR 30400   History of Christian Thought IV. Tanner
HCHR 30700   History of Christianity, 1600–1900. Gilpin
HCHR 30900   History of Christian Thought V. Tanner
HCHR 31000   History of Christian Thought VI. Hopkins
HCHR 31200   Transatlantic Perspective on Modern Christianity. Gilpin
HCHR 31500   Liturgy and Devotion in the Middle Ages. Pick
HCHR 31800   Before and After Augustine: Echoes of a Church Father. Otten
HCHR 39000   The Bazaar of American Religion: Historical Explorations. Gilpin/Marty
HCHR 40000   Religion and Slavery in America. Brekus
HCHR 40500   Religion in Colonial America. Brekus
HCHR 40600   Religion in Early National and Antebellum America. Brekus
HCHR 40700   Women and Religion in America: From the Puritans to the Civil War. Brekus
HCHR 41200   Religion in Modern America, 1865–1930. Gilpin
HCHR 41300   Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval Spain. Pick
HCHR 41600   American Sermons. Gilpin
HCHR 41700   Calvin’s Institutes. Schreiner
HCHR 42100   The Enlightenment in America. Brekus
HCHR 42300   Readings in Luther. Schreiner
HCHR 42400   English Puritanism. Gilpin
HCHR 43100   The Catholic Reformation. Schreiner
HCHR 43200   Colloquium: Ancient Period. Mitchell
HCHR 43400   Jonathan Edwards. Gilpin
HCHR 43600   Religion in Twentieth-Century America. Gilpin
HCHR 43800   Knowledge, Salvation, and Certainty: The Sixteenth Century and Its Legacy. Schreiner
HCHR 43900   Luther and the Old Testament. Schreiner
HCHR 44100   Reading and Writing as Medieval Spiritual Practice. Pick
HCHR 45000   Theology and American Pragmatism. Gilpin
HCHR 46801   Incarnation and the Body in the Latin West: From Tertullian to Thomas Aquinas. Otten
HCHR 49000   The Letters from Prison in Early Modern America. Gilpin
HCHR 50300   Medieval Latin. Pick
HCHR 52000   Eriugena’s Anthropology: Paradise at the Crossroads Between East and West. Otten

History of Judaism

The History of Judaism area seeks to provide an introduction to Jewish thought and interpretation from biblical antiquity through its classical, medieval, and modern expressions. In addition to the courses listed below, students are encouraged to consult course offerings in the Departments of History, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and Philosophy; the Committee on Social Thought; and the Law School, where deemed relevant.

Written Examinations
Ph.D. students concentrating in History of Judaism take two of the three exams and select their remaining exam from a different area.

1. Ancient Judaism
2. Medieval Judaism
3. Modern Judaism

Selected Courses
HIJD 30200   History of Christian and Jewish Thought. Mendes-Flohr/Tanner
HIJD 30400   Readings in Midrash. Fishbane
HIJD 30601   Jewish Heretics and Apostates in the Middle Ages. Robinson
HIJD 30700   Introduction to Jewish Mystical Literature: The Book of Zohar. Fishbane
HIJD 31200   Dialogical Thought of Franz Rosenzweig. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 34000   Franz Rosenzweig’s Concept of Revelation. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 34300   Models of Jewish Spiritual Perfection and Piety: Sixteenth-Century Safed. Fishbane
HIJD 35000   Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Robinson
HIJD 35100   The Jewish Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages. Robinson
HIJD 36600   East and West European Conceptions of Judaism in Modern Times. Mendes-Flohr/Brinker
HIJD 40000   Readings in Midrash: Lamentations Rabba. Fishbane
HIJD 40400   Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking. Fishbane
HIJD 40500   Modern Jewish Religious Thought. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 41100   Animal Spirituality in the Middle Ages. Robinson
HIJD 41200   Mystical Texts: Readings in the Book of Zohar. Fishbane
HIJD 42600   Spinoza and Mendelssohn. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 42900   The Jews in Medieval Spain. Robinson
HIJD 44900   Buber’s I and Thou. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 45000   Studies in Legal Midrash. Fishbane
HIJD 45100   Zachor: History and Memory in Modern Jewish Thought. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 45400   Readings in Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. Robinson
HIJD 45500   Medieval Commentaries on Ecclesiastes. Robinson
HIJD 45800   Franz Rosenzweig: The New Thinking. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 46900   Wrath of God in the Hebrew Bible. Fishbane
HIJD 46901   Modern Jewish Theology. Fishbane
HIJD 49600   Exile in Jewish Thought and Literature. Mendes-Flohr/Brinker
HIJD 50600   Soul, Intellect and Immortality in Medieval Jewish Thought. Robinson
HIJD 50900   Hermann Cohen’s Religion and Reason. Mendes-Flohr

 

Committee on Religion and the Human Sciences

The Committee on Religion and the Human Sciences engages in the humanistic study of religious traditions and phenomena, and studies literature and society in relation to religion. Faculty and students associated with the Committee give primacy to humanistic and social scientific methods of study that have become established in the academic community during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They examine, evaluate, and utilize many of the analytic tools and conceptual categories of the human sciences. Though each of the areas that constitutes part of the Committee may draw on both the methods and materials of the other areas, each has its own distinctive profile. History of Religions emphasizes historical, phenomenological, and comparative studies; Anthropology and Sociology of Religion concentrates on the social and cultural context of religious experiences, communities, and practices; and Religion and Literature focuses on the critical and interpretive study of literary texts.

Faculty: W. Doniger, R. Fox, M. Kapstein, B. Lincoln, F. Meltzer, M. Murrin, M. Riesebrodt, J. Robinson, R. Rosengarten, C. Wedemeyer, M. Zeghal.

 

Anthropology and Sociology of Religion

The ASR area studies religious phenomena from a social scientific point of view. This view is based on the strategy to explain all social phenomena as if they were nothing but products of the dynamics of social relations. This perspective has been rather successful and has been appropriated by many other, especially historical, disciplines. However, it should not be mistaken for an ontological statement.

The dynamics of social relations can be analyzed from a more social structuralist or a more culturalist perspective. Social structuralists (from systems theories to network theories) tend to explain cultural phenomena more or less as derivative of structures of social relations. Culturalists (from anthropological theories of culture to interpretative sociological approaches) maintain that structures of social relations and cultural structures of meaning mutually constitute and influence each other and therefore have to be studied in their dialectical relationship.
The ASR area regards structures of social relations alone as an insufficient foundation for the understanding and explanation of social phenomena. If human action is centrally based on interests, these interests are shaped not only by the position of actors in a social structure but also by the ways in which actors interpret that position. In other words, “interests” are not naturally given but culturally and socially shaped as well as subjectively appropriated and interpreted.
Firmly grounded in an approach that treats the study of social structures and culture as interrelated, the ASR Area’s major questions revolve around topics like the following: What is the role played by religious actors and institutions in a given social/cultural setting? What is the contribution of religions in the legitimation or contestation of authority? How are domains of religious interests socially and culturally configured? How does religion impact processes of social transformation or is impacted by them? How do religions contribute to the shaping of a specific habitus?

Accordingly, the ASR area studies religious phenomena as social and cultural facts and constructs, which can be apprehended through textual sources or through the ethnography of contemporary social settings, or through a combination of both methods.

Written Examinations
Students have to take two exams in the area, and two exams in other areas of the Divinity School, chosen in consultation with their advisor.

ASR offers six examinations. ASR1 and ASR2 assess the ways in which “religion” as an analytical concept has been defined and theorized in anthropological and sociological literature. The first exam focuses on classical theoretical perspectives on religion from the early 19th to the mid 20th century; the second examines theories from the middle of the 20th century to the present. ASR3 addresses the formation and transformation of religious groups and ideas in the contexts of colonialism, post-colonialism and globalization. ASR4 focuses on theorizing the relationship between Islam and power in sociology, anthropology as well as political science. ASR5 explores different religious visions of history, like utopianism, millenarianism, messianism, and fundamentalism. ASR6 focuses on French sociology and anthropology of religion

ASR1 Classical Theories
ASR2 Contemporary Theories
ASR3 From Colonialism to Globalization
ASR4 Modern Islam and Power
ASR5 Religious Ideologies and Utopias
ASR6 French Sociology and Anthropology of Religion

Selected Courses
AASR 30001   Rewriting the Past: Narrative, Ritual and Monument. Homans/Cohler
AASR 30100   Culture and Class: Theories and Case Studies. Riesebrodt
AASR 30200   Introduction to Sociology and Religion. Riesebrodt
AASR 31000   Colonial and Postcolonial Perspectives on Religion in North Africa. Zeghal
AASR 35000   Modern Islam and Politics. Zeghal
AASR 36000   Women and Gender in Islam. Zeghal
AASR 40900   Islam and Democracy. Zeghal
AASR 41800   Islamic Education, Ulema and Religious Authorities. Zeghal
AASR 42300   Muslim Diasporas: Religion and Migration. Zeghal
AASR 40700   Theory of Religious Practices. Riesebrodt
AASR 41000   French Sociology of Religion: History and Theories. Zeghal
AASR 42200   Orientalism: Old and New Perspectives. Zeghal
AASR 42100   Charisma and Religious Authority. Riesebrodt
AASR 43300   Max Weber’s Sociology of Religion. Riesebrodt
AASR 43400   Reform and Revival in Modern Islam. Zeghal
AASR 44200   Women and Religious Traditionalism. Riesebrodt
AASR 45000   Religious Institutions in Modern Islam. Zeghal
AASR 50100   Religion and Violence. Riesebrodt
AASR 50200   A Clash of Civilizations? Riesebrodt
AASR 41200   Asceticism. Riesebrodt
AASR 50300   Religion and Power in Ethics and Sociology. Riesebrodt
AASR 50400   Karl Mannheim and the Sociology of Knowledge. Riesebrodt/Glaeser
AASR 50500   Sociology of Religion in Urban Contexts. Zeghal

History of Religions

The History of Religions area approaches religion as an exclusively human phenomenon, via the methods of the social sciences and the humanities. It is concerned to theorize at a high level of generalization, informed by broadly comparative and empirical research, and to carry out high level empirical research informed by theoretical reflection. It pays self-conscious and explicit attention to problems of epistemology, terminology, category formation, method and motive. Irreverent by temperament and sometimes on principle, it insists that [a] the Western monotheisms should not be the only paradigms and/or objects of legitimate study, [b] religion cannot be reduced to belief, but also includes issues of practices, institutions, communities, habitus and other factors that often operate below the level of consciousness, and [c] interpretation involves critical probing and systematic interrogation of the idealized self-representations of any religious phenomenon.

Those who work within the History of Religions are expected to become thoroughly acquainted with the development of the History of Religions as an academic
discipline, and to have a sophisticated understanding of the theories and methods that are relevant to contemporary research in the field. Each student must deal creatively with the tension that results from an emphasis on the importance of historically contextualized studies on the one hand, and of wide-ranging theoretical and comparative research on the other.

Students in the History of Religions develop a special expertise in the study of at least one particular religious tradition. This involves learning to read and/or speak the relevant language (or languages) and becoming familiar with the relevant historical and cultural
background. In addition, each student is expected to become informed about a variety of other religious traditions, both historical and contemporary. Students utilize the extensive resources provided by the University as a whole, enhancing their study of particular religious traditions by work in Area Studies departments (such as SALC, NELC, EALC, and Classics) and refining their critical method by work in disciplinary departments (such as History and Anthropology).

Written Examinations
1. Special Area
2a. Classical Theory
2b. Contemporary Theory
3. Another special area or thematic exam

Selected Courses
HREL 30200   Indian Philosophy. Kapstein
HREL 31600   Zoroastrianism. Lincoln
HREL 32200   Religion, Sex, and Politics in Ancient India. Doniger
HREL 32900   Classical Theories of Religions. Lincoln
HREL 34200   Greek Religions. Lincoln and Faraone
HREL 34700   Hindu Mythology. Doniger
HREL 35000   Ramayana and Mahabharata. Doniger
HREL 35100   Indian Buddhism. Wedemeyer
HREL 35200   Tibetan Buddhism. Wedemeyer
HREL 36000   Readings in the Mahabharata. Doniger
HREL 38000   Readings in Classical Tibetan. Kapstein
HREL 39000   Introduction to the Study of Tibetan Religion. Kapstein
HREL 40800   Mythologies of Transvestism and Transsexuality. Doniger
HREL 41000   Religion, Media, and Modernity. Fox
HREL 41300   Myths of Usurpers and Kings. Lincoln
HREL 42100   Religion and Society in Pre-Christian Europe. Lincoln
HREL 42701   Issues in Indian Esoteric Buddhism. Wedemeyer
HREL 43700   Politics and the Perfectible Body. Lincoln
HREL 44400   Tibetan Autobiography. Wedemeyer
HREL 44500   Other Peoples Practices. Fox
HREL 44800   Recent Work on Tibetan Religion. Kapstein
HREL 44900   Mass Media and Religious Violence. Fox
HREL 45001   Studies in Buddhism: The Classics. Wedemeyer
HREL 45002   Studies in Buddhism: The Moderns. Wedemeyer
HREL 46600   Microhistory and the Study of Religions. Lincoln
HREL 47800   Spanish Civil War: Religious Issues. Lincoln
HREL 48200   Music, Meaning, and Mantra in Aspects of Indian Thought. Kapstein
HREL 49200   Tantra in Practice. Kapstein
HREL 49600   Religion and Performance in Java and Bali. Fox
HREL 51100   Ancient Empire and the Ideology of Salvation. Lincoln
HREL 51200   Interpretation of Ritual. Lincoln
HREL 51400   Seminar: The Idea of Religion in Bali. Fox
HREL 51900   Representation and Ideology in the Study of South Asian Religions. Wedemeyer
HREL 52200   Problems in the History of Religions. Doniger
HREL 53400   Contemporary Perspectives on the History of Religions. Wedemeyer

Religion and Literature

Religion and Literature studies the interactions of the religions with cultural forms and practices, with particular reference to art. It pursues this study utilizing the tools of poetics, aesthetics, and theories of interpretation to understand both the ways that the religions harness the human imagination, and the ways that the human recourse to imaginative expression often – some would say always – engages religion. Although this phenomenon is arguably concurrent with all of human history, the academic enterprise of Religion and Literature is by comparison young. It took its initial explicit form in response to the conviction, articulated most forcefully by Paul Tillich in the mid-twentieth century, that in order to understand religion we must engage our “cultural condition.” In its relatively short life the field has witnessed the more widely recognized shifts in the study of religion that had their advent just as Tillich’s own remarkable career was concluding, and the field has since aimed toward more self-conscious engagements with comparison (both within a culture and across cultures) and with history. We recognize the texts and artifacts we study to be both more knowingly pluralistic, and often more intentionally eclectic, than had been assumed. We aim to address the pressure this exerts on conventional rubrics of cultural study such as nation, language, “high art” and – not incidentally –the self-proclaimed provenances of the religions. As a consequence a comparative frame of reference, both within a culture and across cultures, has become essential. This broader compass of cultural practice has also led to a revision of the area’s interests in the history of interpretive theory, to engage not only literary criticism but hermeneutics, biblical interpretation, and aesthetics. The area seeks to be interdisciplinary in its work, so that students pursue sustained work in other areas of study in the Divinity School and in other departments and committees of the University as informed and directed by the area’s emphasis on the acquisition the skills of close, sustained interpretive analysis and broad engagement with issues in the theory of interpretation.

Written Examinations
1. History of Criticism and Literary Theory
2. Classic Texts in Religion and Literature
3. Genres of Literature

Selected Courses
RLIT 30000   Introduction to Religion and Literature. Rosengarten
RLIT 30600   Novel Comparisons. Rosengarten
RLIT 30900   Renaissance Epic. Murrin
RLIT 31500   Travelers on the Silk Road. Murrin
RLIT 36100   Victor Hugo. Meltzer
RLIT 37600   Theory of Literature: The Twentieth Century. Rosengarten
RLIT 40100   Subject/Subjectivity. Meltzer
RLIT 40500   Theory and Autobiography. Rosengarten
RLIT 41300   Medieval Allegory. Murrin
RLIT 41400   History of Criticism and Hermeneutics, Sixteenth–Nineteenth Centuries. Rosengarten
RLIT 42500   Arthurian Romances. Murrin
RLIT 50000   Medieval Allegory: Sacred and Profane. Murrin
RLIT 50200   Baudelaire, Benjamin and Blanchot. Meltzer
RLIT 52100   Renaissance Romance. Murrin

Islamic Studies

The Islamic studies area engages in the study of Islam as a textual tradition inscribed in history and particular cultural contexts. The area seeks to provide an introduction to and a specialization in Islam through a large variety of expressions (literary, poetic, social, and political) and through a variety of methods (literary criticism, hermeneutics, history, sociology, and anthropology). It offers opportunities to specialize in fields that include Qur’anic studies, Sufi literature, Islam and power, and contemporary manifestations of Islam. In addition to the courses listed below, students are encouraged to consult related course offerings in other areas of the Divinity School and in other university departments such as History, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and South Asian Languages and Civilizations.

Faculty: M. Sells, M. Zeghal

Students without an advanced degree will apply for admission to the MA program of the Divinity School. Students applying from within the University of Chicago MA program will be expected to have completed three courses in the Islamic Studies area or the equivalent (to be established by consultation and petition) by the end of the MA. All applicants for PhD admission should have a strong preparation for the study of Islam. Such preparation should include reading knowledge of classical and Modern Standard Arabic, significant background in the study of the human or social sciences, and previous coursework in Islamic history, religion, civilization, or literature. The application letter should specify the applicant’s background in the study of Arabic. If at the time of application, the applicant has not already completed the equivalent of three years of Arabic, the candidate should indicate the program of current study (including possible summer study) that will demonstrate that at the time of matriculation, he or she will have completed the equivalent of three years of Arabic.

Students at the PhD level are expected to have completed course work in advanced Arabic, in which there is a sustained engagement with Arabic primary sources, or to have carried out significant independent study at an equivalent level, before submission of a dissertation proposal. After consultation with a faculty advisor in Islamic Studies, students may petition to replace either French or German one of the major languages of literature and scholarship within Islam.

Written Examinations
The PhD qualifying examinations consist of four written examinations and an oral examination based on a research paper submitted for the occasion, in consultation with the student’s advisor in the Islamic Studies area. At least two of the four written examinations should be taken in the Area of Islamic Studies. At least one of the four examinations should be taken in an Area outside of Islamic Studies. Examinations in Islamic Studies include:

IS1-Qur’anic Studies
IS2-Sufi Literature
IS3-Modern Islam and Power
IS4-Islamic Reform and Revival (19th-20th c.)
IS5-Islamic Philosophy

Selected Courses
ISLM 35000   Modern Islam and Politics. Zeghal
ISLM 40100   Islamic Love Poetry. Sells
ISLM 40400   Sufi Poetry of Shustari, Ibn al-Farid, and Ibn al-‘Arabi. Sells
ISLM 40500   Readings in the Text of the Qur’an. Sells
ISLM 40700   Monachies in the Modern Arab World: Family Religion and Power. Zeghal
ISLM 40900   Islam and Democracy. Zeghal
ISLM 41100   Animal Spirituality in the Middle Ages. Robinson
ISLM 41800   Islamic Education: Ulema and Religious Authorities in the Twentieth Century. Zeghal.
ISLM 42700   Interactions between Philosophy and Literature in the Middle Ages. Robinson
ISLM 42800   Women in Modern Islam. Zeghal
ISLM 43000   Anthropology of Islam in Twentieth-Century North Africa. Zeghal
ISLM 43200   Islamic Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Robinson
ISLM 43300   Comparative Mystical Literature (Islamic, Jewish, and Christian). Sells
ISLM 43400   Reform and Revival in Islam (Nineteenth-Twentieth Centuries). Zeghal
ISLM 50100   Writings of Ibn al-‘Arabi. Sells
ISLM 50200   Readings in Arabic Religious Texts. Sells