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INTERELIGIOUS LEARNING

School

Boston College School of Theology & Ministry

TMPS8088-01

Calling out from the Depths: Jewish and Christian Interpretations of the Psalms

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

For centuries, Jews and Christians have turned to the Book of Psalms in times of joy and thanksgiving, and in times of sadness and lament. However, there have been far fewer opportunities for members of these two communities and others to explore these ancient poetic texts together as fellow spiritual seekers. What do we share in common? Where do we differ? How might reading these sources with people with different religious or ideological commitments impact our relationship with the text?

Professor

Class Day & Time

Davis, Andrew R

W

04:30PM-06:30PM

Grading Option

Letter

Credits

1

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

Y

Notes

(At least one course in Biblical Studies and one course in Theology. Pre-requisites can be taken at the undergraduate or graduate level.)

School

Boston College Department of Theology

THEO5017-01

Japan and New England: Comparative Aesthetics and Poetics

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

This is a course on religious and philosophical aesthetics in two specific places: Japan and New England, mostly Massachusetts. The question: how do we see the world? How should we see the world? This question of seeing also becomes the question of inhabitinghow do we dwell in relation to the world? Is it really something separate from us? Figures to be studied include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sato Haruo, Henry David Thoreau, Motoori Norinaga, Emily Dickinson, Nishida Kitaro, Robert Frost, Hayao Miyazaki, and Porsha Olayiwola. The course will cover poetry, film, and travelogue, as well as essays.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Kruger

R

2:00 p.m. - 4:25 p.m.

Grading Option

Letter, P/F, Audit

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

GRAD/UGRAD SPLIT�

School

Boston University School of Theology

STHTA 815

World Religions in Boston

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

In an increasingly pluralistic society it is essential to have some understanding of the beliefs and worship patterns of other religions and to be able to engage in dialogue with them. This course utilizes the Pluralism Project at Harvard to explore new forms of interfaith engagement. Seven weekly lectures introduce the issues surrounding interfaith work and a basic understanding of the tenets and practices of five major religions. Site visits (to Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish worship services) offer first- hand experiences and the opportunity for discussion and interaction with religious leaders and lay people.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Shenton, Andrew

see notes

See notes

Grading Option

Letter

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

8/21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27 (NB NOT Sunday 8/24); 2-9PM

School

Boston University School of Theology

STHTY 834

Empathy and pluralism:� Understanding, developmentally, varieties of faiths among and within us

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

We live among people who differ in many ways not only from ourselves but from one another. This situation, globally as well as locally, often gives rise to fear and anxiety, misunderstanding and conflict, harm and violence. Our response, too readily, is fight, flight, or freeze, and our shorter-term tactics and longer-term strategies are insufficient. The course addresses this situation as it examines texts, perspectives, and experiences having to do with two subject areas: pluralism and empathy. We explore pluralism, interpersonally and socially, in experiences and engagements among differences in (a) religion and theology, (b) race and ethnicity, and (c) sexuality and gender. We explore pluralism within one�s own psyche, in the interaction among coexisting developmental perspectives (that of the child, the adolescent, and the adult) and in the abiding contrast between a perspective we profess consciously and another we enact unconsciously. We explore the development of empathy from �the default position� (characterized by egocentrism, presumed objectivity, unexamined simplification, and binary thinking) toward mutually beneficial ways of being and being-with others.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Schlauch, Chris

W

2:30pm-5:15pm

Grading Option

Letter

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N/A

School

Harvard Divinity School

HDS 3656A

Realms of Power: Animals in Religion I

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

This comparative course will focus on the symbolic, ritual, and ideological dimensions of animal lives in religious worlds. Using particular cultural histories as paradigms, we will consider themes such as cosmogony, apocalypse, species hierarchy and reversal, metamorphosis, prophecy, consciousness and subjectivity, mimesis, magic, hunting, sacrifice, commodification, and the role of fantastic creatures. Central to our work will be the question of how animals have been theorized both in the history of religion and in contemporary discourse about animals in religion. Enrollment is limited to 30. Please write to Prof. Patton: kpatton@hds.harvard.edu to request an application.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Patton

R

03:00pm-04:59pm

Grading Option

Letter, P/F

Credits

4

Professor Approval Req'd?

Y

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

Enrollment is limited to 30. Please write to Prof. Patton: kpatton@hds.harvard.edu to request an application.

School

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

PAST 7360

World Religions

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

We will look at humanity's quest for God from the beginning of time, and how four of the world's major religious traditions�Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism�developed. Along with their history, we will study their main teachings, worldview, and practice. Part of the class will include visiting temples of the other faiths. We will also look at the phenomenon of atheism and its own religious perspective. With each of these different religions, we willdiscussOrthodox Christianity's understanding of other religions and how we are to dialogue and interact with them, trying to discover elements that could be acceptable within Orthodox Christianity, and how these bridges could be used in sharing our faith within other religions. This Course fulfills the World Religions/Ecumenism requirement.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Rev. Luke A. Veronis

T

6:40pm-9:00pm

Grading Option

Letter, P/F, Audit

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N/A

School

Boston College School of Theology & Ministry

TMST8573-01

Dialogue With Indigenous Cultures & Spiritualities

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

The insecurity suffered by the Indigenous Peoples/Nations (IPNs) are occasioined by the lethality of past settler colonialism. Lethal coloniality has succeeded, albeit unevenly, to erase IPNs� identity, inferiorized their beliefs and practices through deterritorializing them from their ancestral homeland. The dialogue with IPNs calls for an �epistemic shift� to a postcolonial theological framework drawing inspiration from Church documents and decolonial indigenous theologies which enriched our Christian faith that advocates the IPNs� values for greater sustainable of the IPNs� cultures and spiritualities that promotes buen vivir with a more flourishing life for otherkinds and humankinds, and the livability of our oikos. The course is more doctoral seminars whence the learning is andragogical (adult learning), and every session is a facilitated (by the instructor) co-learning session so as to to learn from reflecting on each other contextual/context-specific experiences in the light of our weekly assignments.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Fung, Jojo

M

02:00PM-04:50PM

Grading Option

Letter

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

Y

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

Doctoral Seminar

School

Boston University Graduate Program in Religion

GRS RN638

Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish and Islamic
Perspectives

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

A thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on the dynamics of religious experience. Readings will be drawn from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Diana Lobel

TR

12:30PM-1:45PM

Grading Option

Letter, P/F, Audit

Credits

4

Professor Approval Req'd?

Y

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N/A

School

Boston University School of Theology

STHTT 884

Native American Philosophies and Theologies�

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

This is a course devoted to the study of key themes, concerns, epistemologies and differences in the study of published or publicly produced philosophical or theological materials by members and scholars of several different North American Indigenous nations. Critical themes include land, place, personhood, spirit, humor, community, adaptation, resistance, and language.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Schneider, Laurel

R

12:30pm-3:15pm

Grading Option

Letter

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

N

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N/A

School

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary-Boston

CH/WM653

History of Christian-Muslim Relations

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

This course explores the complex relationship between Christians and Muslims throughout the entire history of Islam, giving attention to the historical and scriptural sources that speak on or about each other and their usage by Christian and Muslim interlocutors. The focus of the course will be to introduce students to the origins of the encounter, the diversity of historical contexts of the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe and North America, and how those encounters have been interpreted. Students will engage in historical research on specific topics to develop their own critical perspectives on Christian-Muslim relations for public engagement. Utilizing film, music, maps, artwork, documents, and travel literature, this course highlights both high and low points between the world�s two largest religions. Special attention is given to the Golden Age of Islam, Medieval Spain, St. Francis, and global demographics of Christians and Muslims.

Professor

Class Day & Time

Johnson, Todd

T

9am-12pm

Grading Option

Letter, P/F, Audit

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

SYNC

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

NA

School

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

INDS 6150 Z1

Eastern & Oriental OrthodoxChurches

BTI Category

Semester

Interreligious Learning

FA25

Professors: This course is team-taught, organized by Christine Chaillot and facilitated by Rev. Dr. Gary Alexander. Ms. Chaillot has written several books and articles on relations between the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox Churches in the past and present. Fr. Gary Alexander has studied theology and law; he also holds a doctorate in education. Course Description: The course will introduce students to the Armenian, Syrian, Coptic, and Ethiopian Churches. Guest lecturers will include leading representatives, ecumenical and theological specialists, both Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, from various countries in North America and Europe, to address Christological issues at the time of the Council of Chalcedon (451) as well as subsequent developments up to the recent exchanges and dialogues. A number of texts from the unofficial and official theological dialogue will also be analyzed and discussed. Students will be exposed to the history, literature, liturgy, and spirituality of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, while studying the doctrinal

Professor

Class Day & Time

Rev. Dn. Gary David Alexander

SYNC

1:00pm-3:20pm

Grading Option

Letter, P/F, Audit

Credits

3

Professor Approval Req'd?

N

Online?

SYNC

Prerequisites?

N

Notes

N/A

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