Religion and Authority - An Introduction to the Comparative History of Civilizations

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Level: 
Master's
CEU credits: 
2
Academic year: 
2009/2010
Academic year: 
2010/2011
Semester: 
Winter
Start and end dates: 
12 Nov 2009
Co-hosting Unit(s) [if applicable]: 
Department of History
Stream/Track/Specialization/Core Area: 
Culture, Religion and Intellectual History in a Comparative Perspective
CEU Instructor(s): 
Matthias Riedl
Additional information: 
The course will also test the validity of grand theories about the historical interrelation of imperial and spiritual order, such as Karl Jaspers’ and S.N. Eisenstadt’s theories of the “Axial Age” and Eric Voegelin’s theory of the “Ecumenic Age”. Furthermore, the course will show how empires and their conceptions of order interact and to what extent their intellectual legacy continues up to this day. This survey course aims to provide comparative knowledge about the relation of religion and politics in the imperial traditions of European and Asian civilizations.
Learning Outcomes: 
The students will be familiarized foundational texts of religious and political thought in various empires as well as recent discussions of the topic in the scholarly literature. They will learn about basic theories and methodologies of comparative civilizations and improve their hermeneutic skills.
Assessment : 
Attendance Attendance at all lectures is mandatory and will be kept record of. Students taking the class for grade must not miss more than two sessions. Students taking the class for audit must not miss more than three sessions. Course requirements and grading: 1) A mid term take-home exam in week six (40 %) 2) A final open-book exam in week twelve (40 %) 3) Active class participation (20 %)
Full description: 

Schedule and Readings

1) The Axial Age (Guest: Prof. Johann P. Arnason) 

a) Johann P. Arnason: Re-Historicizing the Axial Age, unpublished manuscript/for course use only. [savepdf]

b) S.N. Eisenstadt, “The Axial Age: The Emergence of Transcendental Visions and the Rise of Clerics,” in Idem, Comparative Civilizations & Multiple Modernities, vol.1, Leiden: Brill, 2003, pp.195-217. [savepdf]

c) Eric Voegelin, “Configurations in History,” in The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin vol.12: Published Essays 1966-1985, Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State UP, 1990, pp.95-114. [savepdf]

 

2) China under the Qin and Han Dynasties

Primary

a) The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu – A Classic of Chinese Political Science, trans. W.K. Liao, London: Robsthain, 1959, ch. 5-8, 24-29, 40, 51-53. [savepdf]

b) The Book of Lord Shang “Shang Yang”, trans. J.J. LO. Duyvendak, 1928, ch. 3-5 & 17-18. [savepdf]

Secondary

c) Mark Edward Lewis, The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han, Cambridge and London: Belknap/Harvard UP, 2007, pp.30-74, 178-205. [savepdf]

 

3) Persia under the Achaemenids

Primary

a) Amélie Kuhrt, The Persian Empire. A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period, London & New York: Routledge, 2010, pp.141-157, 476-497, 548-575. [savepdf]

b) Mary Boyce, Textual Sources for the Study of Zorostrianism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990, pp.27-53 and 90-96. [savepdf]

Secondary

c) Josef Wiesehöfer, Ancient Persia, from 550 BC – 650 AD, London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2001, pp.29-55. [savepdf]

d) Mary Boyce , Zoroastrians. Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, 2nd ed., London and New York: Routledge, 2001, pp.17-29, 48-77. [savepdf]

 

4) Hellenistic Kingship

Primary

a) Michel Austin, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to he Roman Conquest. A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation, 2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006, pp.40-42. 86-87, 91-97, 265-267, 297-299, 344-346, 259-260, 448-455. [savepdf]

b) Diotogenes, “Treatise concerning a Kingdom,” in Thomas Taylor (ed.), Political Fragments of Archytas, Charondas, Zaleucis and other Ancient Pythagoreans, Chiswick: Wittingham, 1822, pp.18-26. [savepdf]

Secondary

c) Andrew Erskine (ed.), A Companion to the Hellenistic World, Malden: Blackwell, 2005, pp.19-34, 177-195, 232-245, 405-445. [savepdf]

 

5) The Maurya Empire in India

Primary

a) Vatsyayana Mallanaga, Kamasutra, trans. and ed. by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009, pp.3-16. [savepdf]

b) The Kautiliya Arthasastra, ed. and trans. R.P. Kangle, Dehli: Moltilal Banarsidass, 2003, vol.2, pp.39-54, 314-320, 474-481. [savepdf]

c) The Laws of Manu, ed. and trans. Wendy Doniger with Brian Smith, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991, pp.128-151. [savepdf]

Secondary

d) Romila Thapar, Early India. From the Origins to AD 1300, London: Penguin, 2002, pp.174-208. [savepdf]

 

6) Public Cult in the Roman Empire

Primary

a) Mary Beard, John North, Simon Price, Religions of Rome vol.2: A Sourcebook, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998, pp.51-53, 80-85, 204-206, 222-228, 253-259. [savepdf]

Secondary

b) Mary Beard, John North, Simon Price, Religions of Rome vol.1: A History, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998, pp.167-210. [savepdf]

c) Garth Fowden, “Public Religion,” in The Cambridge ancient history, Volume 12: The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337, 2. rev. ed., Cambridge UP, 2005, pp.553-563. [savepdf]

 

7) Ecumenic Religion I: Apocalypse

Primary

a) “The Dream Visions” and “The Apocalypse of Weeks,” from “The Ethiopian Apocalypse of Enoch,” v.83-93, in James H. Charlesworth (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha vol.1: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, New York et al.: Doubleday, 1983, pp. 61-75. [savepdf]

b) “The Fourth Book of Ezra,” v.3-12, in James H. Charlesworth (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha vol.1: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, New York et al.: Doubleday, 1983, pp. 528-551. [savepdf]

Secondary

c) John J. Collins, “From Prophecy to Apocalypticism,” in idem (ed.): The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism vol.1: The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity, New York: Continuum, 2000, pp.129-161. [savepdf]

 

8) Ecumenic Religion II: Christianity

Primary

a) Mary Beard, John North, Simon Price, Religions of Rome vol.2: A Sourcebook, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998, pp.329-348, 359-364. [savepdf]

b) Didache/Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, translated by Ivan Lewis from extant Greek manuscripts with consideration given to the Coptic and Latin text; Copyright 1998; http://ivanlewis.com/Didache/didache.html  [savepdf]

c) “Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs,” in Herbert Musurillo (ed.), Acts of the Christian Martyrs: Introduction, Texts and Translations, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972, pp.86-89. [savepdf]

d) "The Apology of Melito of Sardes," from Eusebius of Caesarea, History of the Church, book IV; chapter 26, www.newadvent.org/fathers/250104.htm [savepdf]

Secondary

e) Chadwick, Henry, The Early Church, London: Penguin, 1990, pp.9-31. [savepdf]

f) Hans G. Kippenberg, “The Role of Christianity in the Depolitization of the Roman Empire,” in S.N. Eisenstadt (ed.), The Origins and Diversity of Axial Age Civilizations, Albany: State of New York Press, 1986, pp.261-279. [savepdf]

 

9) Ecumenic Religion III: Gnosis

Primary

a) “The Hymn of the Pearl” (from the Acts of Thomas), in J.K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993, pp.488-490. [savepdf]

b) “The Gospel of Truth,” in James M. Robinson (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Library, New York: Harper Collins, 1990. pp.38-51. [savepdf]

c) A selection of sources on Manicheism, including the Kephalaia, the Epistula Fundamenti and the Acta Archelai, ed. Prods Oktor Skjærvø, www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/Manicheism [savepdf]

Secondary

d) Antti Marjanen, “Gnosticism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.202-220. [savepdf]

e) Samuel N.C. Lieu, “Manicheism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.221-236. [savepdf]

 

10) The West

Primary

a) Ambrose of Milan, Dispute with Symmachus, www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/ambrose-sym.html  [savepdf]

b) Augustine, The city of God against the pagans, edited and translated by R.W. Dyson, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, bk. V, c. 24-26. [savepdf]

c) Gelasius I, On Spiritual and Temporal Power, www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/gelasius1.html  [savepdf]

Secondary

d) R.A. Markus, “Introduction: the West/The Latin fathers,” in J.H. Burns (ed.), The Cambridge History of Medieval Political Thought, Cambridge: UP, 1991, pp.83-122.  [savepdf]

 

11) Byzantium

Primary

a) Mary Beard, John North, Simon Price, Religions of Rome vol.2: A Sourcebook, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998, pp.283-287. [savepdf]

b) Ernest Barker, Social and Political Thought in Byzantium. From Justinian I to the Last Palaeologus. Passages from Byzantine writers and documents, Oxford 1957, pp.54-63, 75-76, 81-94, 120-129, 161-179. [savepdf]

Secondary

c) Cyril Mango (ed.), The Oxford History of Byzantium, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002,

part 1 - pp. 19-70, [savepdf]

part 2- pp. 96-120. [savepdf]

 

12) Caliphate and Early Muslim Empire

Primary

a) Al-Mawardi, The Ordinances of Government, trans. Wafaa H. Wahba, Reading: Garnet, 1996, pp.3-22 [savepdf]

b) Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah. An Introduction to History, trans. Franz Rosenthal, 2nd ed., Princeton: Princeton UP, 1967, vol. I, pp.380-402. [savepdf]

Secondary

c) Aziz al-Azmeh, Muslim Kingship: Power and the Sacred in Muslim, Christian and Pagan Polities, London: IB Tauris, 2001, pp.62-114. [savepdf]