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Professor: Catherine Prueitt

Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Office: Cosby 433
Phone: 404-270-5199
Cell (for urgent contact only): 678-358-1186
cprueitt@spelman.edu

Introduction to Sacred Texts

Overall Goals and Structure of the Class:
This course is an introduction to three world religionsHinduism, Buddhism, and
Islamthrough a selection of texts that each tradition considers to be sacred. Three major
questions will guide our studies: What makes a text sacred? How do we know what
sacred texts mean? What do sacred texts do? We will explore sacred texts in translation
and investigate their origins, their transmission, and the ways in which they shape the
lives of individuals and communities. We will study ways the texts were interpreted in
the past as well as how they are used and understood today.

Grading structure:
1) Blog and Class Engagement: 30% (15% for doing it and 15% for quality).
Each weeks engagement is worth 3% of your final class grade. Your blog post serves as
the justification for our 4
th
credit hour. We will have a total of 10 blog posts. The 15% for
quality is measured by the extent to which your discussions on and off-line thoughtfully
engage with the readings. In order to get full credit, you must specifically cite some
portion of the readings in your blog post. The other 15% comes just for attending class
and putting up something related to our weekly topic. You can post under a pseudonym if
want; just make sure I know who you are so I can give you credit.

One post can simply say "I'm sorry I got overwhelmed this week and cannot post" and
still earn full credit. You can respond to other students' posts, but please do this on your
own post and not as a comment on someone elses post. You can ask questions or say that
you don't understand some part of the reading. If you ask me a direct question in a post, I
will respond to it on the forum. Just post something. Posts are due by midnight on
Wednesday so that I have time to read them and prepare for our discussion on Thursday.
Late posts get half credit if they're done within 2 weeks of when they were due.

2) Unit Papers: 3 papers at 15% each = 45%.
900-1500 words (approximately 3-5 pages). Ill provide a topic at least one week before
the paper is due.

3) Final Take Home Exam: 25%.
Ill give you the exam on the last day of class and itll be due on our exam day. It will
comprehensively address the overall themes and topics weve studied. It will consist of 3
short essay questions (about 2-3 pages each).

The Honor Code is in effect at all times in this class, including for blog posts.
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Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday from noon to 1pm or by appointment

Late Policy:
If you do not ask me for an extension, I will deduct 1% from your final grade on an essay
for each day it is late. This is a hard and fast policy. If you would like an extension,
please send me a ridiculous excuse. It can be a story about how an alien in a blue
telephone booth whisked you away to the far corners of the universe, an account of how
mutant dinosaurs devoured your computer, or anything else you fancy. It can be short and
you can ask for the extension on midnight the day the essay is due if you need to. Just
talk to me and try not to worry.

Texts:
Many of our readings will be selections from longer works. I will post these readings on
Moodle. All readings are due the day they are listed; we will discuss them in class.

Required:
Sells, Michael, trans. Approaching the Quran. Second Edition. Ashland, Oregon: White
Cloud Press, 2007.

Ganeri, Jonardon. The Concealed Art of the Soul: Theories of Self and Practices of Truth
in Indian Ethics and Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Course Schedule

January 16
th
: Go over the syllabus and talk about our guiding questions; listen to
recitations if we have time. Short in-class film clip: John Kerry on religion and the State
Department; River and Book talk about the Bible, Janestown, Firefly

Unit I: What Makes a Text Sacred?

Week One:

January 21st: Introduction to the Vedas
Reading assignment: Patton, Veda and Upaniad, from The Hindu World, 37-
51; Ganeri, The Concealed Art of the Soul, Hidden in the Cave: the Upaniadic
Self, 13-38; Selections from the g Veda and Upaniads

Blog entry #1 due Wednesday, J anuary 22
nd


January 23
rd
: Introduction to the Pali Nikyas
Reading Assignment: Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism, Chapter 3: Four
Truths, 59-84, and Chapter Six: No Self, 133-162

Week Two:

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January 28
th
: Introduction to the Quran
Reading Assignment: Sells, Approaching the Quran, Introduction and
Glossary of Key Terms, 1-40; Selected Suras: "The Opening" and "The Star," p.
42-47; "The Most High," p. 72-73; "The Dawn," 78-81; "The Ground," p. 82-83;
"The Laying Open," p. 92-93; "Destiny, Al-Qadr," 100-103; "The Epoch," 116-
117.

Blog entry #2 due Wednesday, J anuary 29
th


January 30th: Questions, review, and a cool story
Reading Assignment: Rotman, The Story of Koikara Divine Stories, 39-70
Short in-class film clip: The Blanket Scene from I Heart Huckabees
***Unit I paper topic handed out in class***

Week Three:

February 4
th
: Discussion about origins (authorship and cosmogony)
Reading assignment: Selections from Rg Veda and Upaniads; Gethin, The
Sayings of the Buddha, The Origin of Things, 116-128; Sells, Approaching the
Qur'an, selected Suras: "The Night-Traveling Star," 68-71; "The Morning Hours,"
90-91; "The Fig," 94-95; "Sincerity/Unity," 136-137; "The Compassionate," 145-
157

February 6
th
: Discussion about ends (values and apocalypses)
Reading assignment: Selections from the Rg Veda and Upaniads; Collins,
Nirvana, Nirvana as concept, 29-60; Sells, Approaching the Qur'an, selected
Suras: "The Overturning," "The Tearing," "The Cheats," and "The Splitting," 48-
63; "The Darkening," 74-76; "The Quaking," 108-109; "The Calamity," 112-113

***Unit I paper due Friday, February 7
th
by 11:59pm via Moodle***


Unit II: How Do We Know What a Sacred Text Means?

Week Four:

February 11
th
: Lecture on Hermeneutics
Reading assignment: Slid Gilhus, Hermeneutics, Routledge Handbook of
Research Methods in the Study of Religion, 275-284; Barthes, The Death of the
Author

Blog entry #3 due Wednesday, February 12
th


February 13
th
: What does philosophy do?
Reading assignment: Ganeri, The Concealed Art of the Soul, Dangerous Truths,
39-60 and Words that Burn, 97-123
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Week Five:

February 18
th
: Commentaries and Interpretive Traditions: Hindu Traditions
Reading Assignment: Bartley, An Introduction to Indian Philosophy, Skhya
and Yoga, Nyya and Vaieika, The Mms Vision, Vednta, and
Advaita Vedanta up to p. 143, 82-143.

Blog entry #4 due Wednesday, February 19
th


February 20
th
: Commentaries and Interpretive Traditions: Buddhist traditions
Reading Assignment: Williams, Mahyna Buddhism, Introduction, 1-44.
***Unit II paper topic handed out in class***


Week Six:

February 25
th
: Commentaries and Interpretive Traditions: Islamic traditions
Reading Assignment: Saeed, Ethico-legal Teachings, Selected Exegetical
Principles and Ideas, and Approaches to Quranic Exegesis, Introduction to the
Quran, 161- 216

February 27
th
: What makes a tradition? How are there so many interpretations?
Reading Assignment: Ram-Prasad, Multiplist Metaphysics and Ethics, Indian
Philosophy and the Consequences of Knowledge, 1-50.

***Unit II paper due Friday, February 28
th
by 11:59pm via Moodle***



Unit III: What Do Sacred Texts Do?

Week Seven:

March 4
th
: Lecture on philosophy as practice
Reading assignment: Sells, Mystical Languages of Unsaying, Introduction, 1-
13; Ram-Prasad, Knowledge and Action: On How to Attain the Highest Good,
Indian Philosophy and the Consequences of Knowledge, 101-132.

Blog entry #6 due Wednesday, March 5
th


March 6
th
: The Experience of Texts: Islamic Traditions
Reading Assignment: Sells, Mystical Languages of Unsaying, Ibn Arabis
Polished Mirror and Ibn Arabis Garden among the Flames: The Heart
Receptive of Every Form, 63-115.
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SPRING BREAK MARCH 10
TH
-14
TH



Week Eight:

March 18th: The Experience of Texts: Buddhist Traditions
Reading Assignment: Selections from the Vimalakrti Nirdea Stra (focus on
the highlighted parts in your PDF).

Blog entry #7 due Wednesday, March 19
th


March 20th: The Experience of Texts: Hindu Traditions
Reading Assignment: Goldman and Goldman, Rmyaa, from The Hindu
World, 75-96; Selections from the Rmyana
In-Class Film: Sita Sings the Blues


Week Nine:

March 25th: Classical Indian Aesthetic Theory and Sita Sings the Blues
Reading assignment: Gnoli, The Aesthetic Experience According to
Abhinavagupta, Introduction, XIV-LII

Blog entry #8 due Wednesday, March 26
th


March 27
th
: Narrative: Hindu Epics (lecture focused on the Bhagavad Gita)
Reading Assignment: Selections from the Mahbhrata
***Hand out Unit III paper topic in class***


Week Ten:

April 1st: Ritual: Buddhist Mahmudr and tantra
Reading Assignment: Wedemeyer, Beef, Dog, and Other Mythologies:
Connotative Semiotics in Mahyoga Tantra Ritual and Scripture, 383-417;
Selections from Namgyal, Clarifying the Natural State


April 3rd: Recitation: The Quran
Reading Assignment: Sells, Approaching the Quran, Hearing the Quran: The
Call to Prayer and Six Suras, 145-182 and corresponding sections from the CD;
Graham, Beyond the Written Word, Introduction and "Part III: An Arabic
Reciting: Qur'an as Spoken Book," 1-8 and 79-115.
In-class film: Koran by Heart
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***Unit III paper due Friday, April 4th by 11:59pm via Moodle***


Unit IV: Sacred Texts in the Contemporary World

Week Eleven:

April 8
th
: Discussion of Koran by Heart; Islamism Part I
Reading Assignment: Tariq Ramadan, Islam and the Arab Awakening, "Chapter
3: Islam, Islamism, Secularization, 67-95.

Blog entry #9 due Wednesday, April 9th

April 10
th
: Islam and the Arab Spring, Part II
Reading assignment: Tariq Ramadan, Islam and the Arab Awakening, "Chapter
4: The Islamic Reference," p. 96-140.


Week Twelve:

April 15
th
: DROP THIS CLASS

Blog entry #10 due Wednesday, April 16th

April 17
th
: something about Buddhist extremism/Buddhist tolerance;


Week Thirteen:

April 22
nd
: Hindutva and Contemporary Indian Politics
Reading assignment: Ram-Prasad, Contemporary Political Hinduism, The
Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, 526-550; Savarkar, Who is a Hindu?, from
Hindutva: The Essence of Hinduism, 102-116; Narula, Law and Hindu
Nationalist Movements, Hinduism and Law, 234-251.

April 24
th
: selections from Gurus in America


Week Fourteen:

April 29
th
: Concluding Reflections
Reading assignment: Ganeri, Concealed Art of the Soul, Self as Performance,
183-215
***Hand out final exam in class***

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May 1
st
: Questions about the Final Exam and Review


***Final Exam Due via Moodle on Our Exam Date***