FALL 2007 HONORS COURSES

HONR 298A Doctrine and Debate in Selected World Religions
Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Dr. Balaji Hebbar, Lecturer in University Honors

Unlike a typical course in comparative religion which would merely cover the similarities and differences among the various religions of the world, this course will look into the doctrinal criticisms, polemical disputations, and dialectical encounters among the various religions over the centuries by their respective leading theologians and philosophers. In short, this course will essentially focus on what each religion has to say about the other’s doctrines. Also, the course will look into the differences in doctrinal opinion within certain religions.

Some of the issues that this course will cover are things like the Hindu criticisms of the Buddhist doctrine of the momentariness of all phenomena, the Buddhist doctrine of “consciousness” as the only reality; the Buddhist criticisms of the Hindu doctrines of soul and God; the Confucian criticism of Buddhist monasticism and the doctrines of Karma and rebirth; disputes within Hinduism on issues such as whether the world is as real as God or not; debates within Confucianism over human nature, nature of T’ien (Heaven), and the purpose of ritual. On the Western religions scene, the course will look into two important controversies on the theological status of Jesus in the history of Early Christianity: the Nestorian and the Monophysite controversies. The first deals with the issue of whether Jesus is simultaneously and inseparably both human and divine or separately so. The second deals with whether Jesus was of just one nature (monophysis) or two natures (diophysis). Finally, the course will cover the five outstanding issues of controversy between Christianity and Islam: Which is God’s Word, the Bible or the Qur’an? Is the Godhead trinitarian or unitarian? Is Jesus God or merely a preeminent prophet? Was Jesus crucified or not? And is the advent of the Prophet Mohammed foretold in the Bible or not?

There will be two exams; two papers of ten pages each (one on an Eastern religions controversy and one on a Western religions dispute); one oral presentation; and regular class discussions based on periodic written assignments.

Readings:
Gregory Darling, An Evaluation of the Vedantic Critique of Buddhism
S. Radhakrishnan, The Upanishads; The Bhagavadgita
Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy
Arthur Waley, The Analects of Confucius
Livia Kohn, Laughing at the Tao
D.J. Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam; Henry Chadwick, The Early Church
The Holy Bible (King James Version)
M.M. Pickthall, The Glorious Qur’an

CORE–Humanities [HO] Diversity [D]