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This quarter, RELI 1 has the subtitle, "Religion Through Film." We are all familiar with films about religion. Films such as The Passion of the Christ, The Ten Commandments, and Little Buddha retell stories sacred to their respective traditions. Those are not the kind of movies we will discuss in RELI 1. Rather, the course will introduce several of the major categories with which we think about religion through the medium of film, by considering movies that seem to have little or nothing to do with "religion" per se.
The class takes this counter-intuitive approach in order to help students develop basic strategies of interpretation within the academic study of religion. The class adopts a structural view of religion, examining the “building blocks” that go into the creation of religion, rather than the finished edifice. Because of this attention to structure, RELI 1 will not focus on specific religious traditions, or communities, or sets of belief associated with, for instance, Christianity or Buddhism or Islam.
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| CLASS MEETING TIMES AND PLACES RELI 1 has three required components:
There is lecture on Monday and Wednesday only. No lecture on Friday. All students are required to attend all lectures.
Every student is required to attend one (1) discussion section every week. You should plan to always go to the same discussion section. Please note: Student link mentions a 2:00-2:50 pm discussion section. That has been canceled. Instead, a discussion section will be held at the same time and in the same room as the lecture. This Friday class is a discussion, not a lecture!
Weekly films are the third required component of the course. The film will be shown on Monday in most weeks. In Week 3 and Week 7 it will be shown on Tuesday, because the university is closed on Monday. Even if you cannot make it to an official screening, you still must watch every film. Films will be available at the library’s Film and Video Reserves. Or you can rent and watch them at home. All films are open to the public, so you may invite friends to join you to the screening. |
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REQUIRED TEXTS
1. Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane This book has been ordered at the campus bookstore in the Price Center. You should also be able to purchase it at most commercial bookstores or through the internet. link to amazon.com 2. Class Reader
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AN IMPORTANT ADVISORY ABOUT THIS CLASS This is a class about human beings. It requires students to see movies about human beings. In the movies human beings will occasionally strip naked, have sex, use drugs, and commit violence, sometimes very graphically. If you do not want to see naked, sweaty, drugged and violent people, do not take this class! This class is not required for Religion majors or minors. No student will ever fail to graduate from UCSD because she or he did not take this class. Everybody who enrolls, therefore, does so at his or her own discretion, knowing that it will be “NC-17” on occasion. I repeat: if you are unwilling to watch or discuss sex and violence because they violate your personal moral code then do not take this class! Once you enroll, you will be bound by the following rules: In accordance with university policy, students must complete all formal course requirements in order to receive credit for RELI 1. Formal course requirements include: Students should note that all course requirements are subject to revision at the instructor's discretion. |