Religion in History and Culture: The East

Languages and Cultures of Asia 273
East Asian Languages and Literature 273
Religious Studies 273
Fall, 2005

Instructor: Charles Hallisey
Office: Van Hise 1248
Office Hours: Thursdays, 10-11 and by appointment
Telephone: 262-4943
E-mail: :cshallisey@wisc.edu

I. Scope and Purpose of Course

This course introduces the diversity of religious thought, practice, and experience in Asia. It focuses on five religions-- Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam-- against the backdrop of five cultural traditions--China, Japan, Tibet, India, and Indonesia.

In addition to being an introduction to these different religions and cultures, it is also a general introduction to the academic study of religion. As such, it is concerned with reflecting on how we might best think about religion as a human phenomenon. In particular, we will ask two common questions to each of the five religious traditions: what is a human being and what is the place of ritual in an excellent human life.

II. Books Ordered for Purchase

All books are available through Underground Textbooks ONLY.

Books are listed in order of use.

Daniel Overmyer, Religions of China
Herbert Fingarette, Confucius: Secular as Sacred
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, translated by David Hinton
H. Byron Earhart, Religions of Japan
Janwillem van der Wetering, The Empty Mirror
Anna Grimshaw, Servants of the Buddha
Vasudha Narayanan, Hinduism
U.R. Anantha Murthy, Samskara
Frederick Denny, Islam and the Muslim Community

Additional readings on Islam will be available on the class website at learn@uw.

Books will be on reserve at the College Library Reserve Room.

III. Course Requirements and Grading

A. There are four requirements for this course:

1. Active participation in weekly discussion sections which will begin the week of September 12.

This participation will include ten short-answer quizzes given at the beginning of discussion sections; weeks in which there will quizzes are indicated in the assignment section below. Quizzes will be marked on a scale of one to ten, and the two lowest grades for the quizzes will be dropped. There will be no make-ups for missed quizzes; a missed quiz will be counted as a zero and this grade can then be dropped.

2. A four-page paper explaining what the Confucian metaphor of a holy vessel is meant to convey about a human being. This paper is to be based only on Fingarette and will be due in class on October 4.

3. A four-page paper comparing the image of the ideal person in the religious life in van der Wetering and Grimshaw. This paper is due in class November 1.

4..A cumulative and comparative final examination on December 17 at 7:45 am.

B. Grades: Each of the requirements will be worth 25% of the final grade.

C. Please bring assigned readings to class.

IV. Weekly Assignments

Week 1 9/5: Overmyer, 1-56. Also go to the following website for the I ching:

http://www.mdani.demon.co.uk/para/iching1.htm

No discussion sections this week.

Week 2 9/12: Overmyer, 57-102; Fingarette. Quiz 1 on Overmyer, 1-56.

Week 3 9/19: Fingarette; Tao Te Ching. Quiz 2 on Overmyer, 57-102.

Week 4 9/26: Tao Te Ching. Quiz 3 on Tao Te Ching, introduction and text .

Week 5 10/3: Earhart, 1-126. First Paper due 10/4 in class.

Week 6 10/10: Van der Wetering. Quiz 4 on Earhart., 1-68.

Week 7 10/17: Grimshaw. Quiz 5 on Earhart, 69-126.

Week 8 10/24 Narayanan, 1-48. Quiz 6 on Naryanan, 1-48.

Week 9 10/31: Narayanan, 49-106; Quiz 7 on Narayanan, 49-106. Second Paper due 11/1 in class.

Week 10 11/7: Samskara

Week 11 11/14: Samskara. Quiz 8 on Samskara. Also go to the following website on Krishna:

http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/interactives/intimateWorlds/launchWin.htm

Week 12 11/21: No class or discussion sections this week. Denny.

Week 13 11/28: Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Islam in Modern History, Chapter 1, 3-41. Windows on the House of Islam, edited by John Renard, “Devotion: Ritual and Personal Prayer,” 59-84; “The Diary of Abu Wahib,” 325-336. Quiz 9 on Denny and Smith [Smith and Renard readings available on course website at learn@uw]

Week 14 12/5: : Renard, “Hamka: Qur’an Commentary on Pilgrimage Ritual,” 85-91; Malcolm X, a description of his pilgrimage from his Autobiography; John Chernoff, “A Drummer’s Testament,” Chicago Review. Quiz 10 on the readings from Renard from last week and this week.

Week 15 12/12: : Overmyer, 103-117. Earhart, 127-133, Denny, 107-127. No discussion sections this week.

Final examination : December 17 at 7:45 am.