Reading Class - Bookish Traditions: Authority and the Book in Scripturalist Religions, Part I
Level:
Master's CEU credits:
2 Academic year:
2009/2010 Semester:
Fall Start and end dates:
6 Sep 2009 Co-hosting Unit(s) [if applicable]:
Department of History Stream/Track/Specialization/Core Area:
Culture, Religion and Intellectual History in a Comparative Perspective Teaching assistants, administrators, etc:
Learning Outcomes:
The student will a) get familiarized with foundational texts of the three monotheistic religions, b) will apprehend the interplay of textual and social authority in religious traditions, and c) will be apply hermeneutical skills in comparative perspective. Assessment :
The grade is composed on two class presentations (50%), a final paper (30%) and active class participation (20%) Full description:
Weekly schedule
Week 1 Introduction to the topic and the seminar
Week 2 From text to scripture
•St. John of Damascus, On the Divine Images : three Apologies against those who attack the divine Images; translated by David Anderson, Crestwood, N.Y. : St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1980. [
pdf]
•Al-Ghazali, The Alchemy of Happiness, trans. Henry A. Homes, Albany, N.Y.: Munsell, 1873, (transactions of the Albany Institute, vol. VIII), ch. II: ‘On the Knowledge of God’, pp 41-65. [pdf]
Week 3 - 5 Readings from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran
In addition to the selections listed below, selections from F. E. Peters, Judaism, Christianity and Islam: The Classical Texts and their Interpretations, Princeton 1990.
Week 3: The Hebrew Bible
•From F.E.Peters, Part II, ch. 1, sections 1-13, 411-427. [pdf]
•Deuteronomy 4 and 5, (in translation: The Five Books of Moses, transl. by Robert Alter, 2004), pp 897-910. [pdf]
Week 4: The New Testament
•From F.E. Peters, Part II, ch.1, sections 14-26, pp 428-441. [pdf]
•Paul’s Epistel to the Thessalonians 1 and 2; (The New English Bible), pp 1201-1204. [pdf]
Week 5: The Qur’an
•From F.E. Peters, Part II, ch.1, sections 27-45, 50-52 [pdf]
•The Qur’an, Sura 41 (The Qur’an transl. by Yusuf Ali), pp 316-320. [pdf]
Week 6 Textual Interpretation I
•Jaroslav Pelikan, Divine Rhetoric, The Sermon on the Mount as Message and as model in Augustine, Chrysostom and Luther, Crestwood, NY 2000, Chapter 1, pp. 3-33 and 53-66. [pdf] [pdf]
•Matthew 5-7 (Sermon on the Mount); (The New English Bible), pp 980-984. [pdf]
•St. Augustine, The Preaching of Augstine: Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount; (selections from Books 1 and 2); translated by William Findlay, from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff, Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1601.htm>.
Session 7 Textual Interpretation II
•Jaroslav Pelikan, Divine Rhetoric, Chapter 3, pp. 35-48 and Chapter 5, 67-80. [pdf]
•St. John Chrysostom, Homiles on Matthew, homiles 15-26,translated by George Prevost and revised by M.B. Riddle. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Edited by Philip Schaff, Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888, Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.
<http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2001.htm>.
Session 8 Textual Interpretation III
•Al-Ghazali, The Niche for Light (Mishkat al-alnwar), translation and introduction by W. H. T. Gairdner, first published as Monograph Vol. XIX by the Royal Asiatic Society, London 1924; selections.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/mishkat/index.htm
•Qur’an, Sura 24 (al-nur), 35
Session 9-11 Authority in Interpretation and Canonization
•The Nicene Creed
•Athanasius, De Decretis, ch. 1,2,5,7 [pdf]
Translated by John Henry Newman. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 4. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1892.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2809.htm>.
Session 10
•Charles E. Butterworth, Averroes: The Book of the Decisive Treatise (Fasl al-maqal); Determining the connection between the Law and wisdom and Epistle Dedicatory. A translation (...), Brigham Young University Press, 2001, pp. 1-33. [pdf]
Week 11
•Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed (Dalalat al-Hairin), translated from Arabic by M. Friedländer, New York 2004, pp. 3-18 (Introduction), Part III, ch. 26-32, pp, 516-541, and 51-54 pp 629-648. [pdf]
Week 12
Revision and final discussion
