The Reading Schedule is listed below. Be sure to check back here often as the reading schedule may change from day-to-day, depending on the pace of our discussions and the flow of the class. You can also download all of the readings here.

1. 
   

2. DATE          READING SCHEDULE
   

3. 1/12            Introductions, Greetings, and Course Outline
   

4.                    Christopher Hitchens: “The Future of an Illusion”
   

5. 1/14            N. Ross Reat: “Insiders and Outsiders in the Study of Religion”
   

6.                    Watch this short 5 minute video before class: Click Here to Watch the Video  
   

7. 1/19            Edward Said: “Orientalism: 25 Years Later”
   

8.                   * Suggested Reading: Malay’s “How Colonialism Created Religion”
   

9. Hinduism
   

    1/28             Rg Veda (Selections)

    2/2               Katha Upanishad (Selections)

    2/4               Bhagavad Gita (Selections)

    2/9              Presentations on Hinduism Gita Govinda & R. Tagore (Selections)

    2/11             Gita Govinda & R. Tagore (Selections)           

1. Buddhism
   

    2/16            Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: “Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion”

                       MahaParinirvana: “The Farewell Address”

    2/18           “Parable of the Mustard Seed”

                       Angulimala Sutta

    2/25            Milindapanha: “Questions of King Milinda”

    3/2              Heart Sutra (Selections)

    3/4              Presentations on Buddhism

    3/13             Essay 1 Due

1. Jainism
   

    3/9              Jainism (Selections)

   3/11              Presentation on Jainism

   3/16-3/18        No Class: Spring Break

1. Islam in South Asia
   

    3/23             Frederick Denny: “The Case of Islam”

                Qur’an (Surah 2) “The Cow”

    4/8              A Rizvi: “Why I Call Myself a Muslim Ahtheist”

                       Omid Safi: “Is Islamic Mysticism Really Islam”

    4/13            Ibn ‘Arabi: Chapter 78 of Futuhat al-Makkiyyah

           

    4/15            Presentations on Islam

    4/20           No Class

  Confucianism, Taoism & Zen

    4/22         Herbert Fingerette: Confucius: The Secular as Sacred (Selections)

    4/27         Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching (Selections)

    4/29         Presentations on Confucianism or Taoism

   

Tutorials for Final Essay (Schedule to be determined)