Usually a category of religious phenomena, such as religious experience, mysticism, the nature of deities; or the role and status of persons; healing in religious traditions; sectarian groups; major thinkers or movements; or themes and approaches in the study of religion. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

Spring Semester information

370A: AdvTps:Cultural Studies of Satan

Across various times and places, the concept of "the satan"--found in texts like Job 1:6 (Hebrew: "the adversary")--has consistently proven to be a rich source of intellectual engagement: Satan, it seems, is "good to think with" (then and now). This course employs transdisciplinary approaches to investigate the contours and functions of the (sometimes-mundane, sometimes-magnificent, always-interesting) satanic imaginary as expressed in literature throughout history. Tying together select ancient (then) expositions from Abrahamic traditions (Judaism | Christianity | Islam) with select (now) [more] contemporary expressions, we will explore the host of positions and interests such voices bring to their discourses on Satan (and the satanic). How might we contextualize the diverse ways that "then and now" folk relate to the satanic? What discourses and relations of power are at work in "then and now" satanic musings? More broadly, how might we imagine our relationships with the "then and now" satanic imaginary, while growing in (self-)critical awareness of the ideological/contextual nature of engaging with the past, present, and future? Come and see!