RELSTY 312 - Mysticism

3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail
Course can be counted for credit once

Description:
Mystics claim to encounter the divine in ways that push the limits of ordinary human experience. This course introduces students to the major themes, practices, and ideas of mysticism. Mysticism highlights a tension between the need for concrete rules, institutions, practices, and doctrine, and a conviction that there is something beyond what can be quantified and contained. Mystics need limits in order to cross them. How to make those limits and cross them is, therefore, central to our study. This course asks: What practices allow people to touch what is beyond words? How do intense, personal experiences relate to and depend on communal and institutional religion? Why is it important to talk about what cannot be said? How does mysticism challenge or strengthen authority, especially around questions of gender and sexuality? How have traditional religious practices been transformed in modern attempts at transcendence:

Course Attribute(s):
Distribution Area: Humanities | Diversity Area: International

Enrollment Requirements:
Prerequisite: Completion of 60 or more credits

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