Pantheologies: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, World
RELI 305
Fall 2019
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 304, SISP 305 |
| Course Cluster: Health Studies |
Pantheism teaches that the world itself is divine. The idea seems simple enough, yet it has suffered extraordinary ridicule at the hands of western philosophers and theologians, who have considered "matter" to be lifeless, dark, and feminine (which is to say, as different as possible from "God.") This course will explore this generalized panic over pantheism--in particular, the anxieties it encodes over gender, race, nationality, and class, and the contribution such anxieties have made to an unequally distributed attack on the "environment."
Seeking an alternative to our raced and gendered ecocidal metaphysic, the course then turns to contemporary pantheologies. To what extent are recent theories of cosmology, complexity, and materiality setting forth subtle pantheisms? What are the feminist, anti-racist, and ecological stakes of these theories? Properly conceived, what is pantheism; is it ultimately distinguishable from atheism; and what use are any of these platforms in developing an ethic and politic of environmental justice? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CSCT)(RELI-MN)(RELI)(STS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Pseudo-Dionysius, THE MYSTICAL THEOLOGY
And excerpts from:
William James, A PLURALISTIC UNIVERSE
Edward Tylor, PRIMITIVE CULTURE
A. Irving Hallowell, OJIBWA ONTOLOGY
Val Plumwood, FEMINISM AND THE MASTERY OF NATURE
Gloria Anzaldúa, BORDERLANDS
Ralph Waldo Emerson, NATURE
Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands, ed., QUEER ECOLOGIES
Anna Tsing, THE MUSHROOM AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Donna Haraway, STAYING WITH THE TROUBLE
Melanie Harris, ECOWOMANISM
Mel Chen, ANIMACIES
Bill Connolly, A WORLD OF BECOMING
Annie Dillard, HOLY THE FIRM
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Examinations and Assignments:
3 brief oral presentations, 5 2-page papers, one final 15-page paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
In addition to submitting the electronic POI, please send an email to the instructor by April 12 at noon with a brief paragraph stating your interest and background in the course material. Specifically, please detail any background you may have in philosophy of religion; the history of western philosophy and/or theology; environmental philosophy; science and technology studies; philosophy and race; or feminist philosophy, theory, or ethics.
This course fulfills the "Thematic Approach" OR "Method and Theory" requirements for the Religion department major.
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| Instructor(s): Rubenstein,Mary-Jane Victoria Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:40AM; Location: FISK121; |
Permission of Instructor Required
Enrollment capacity: 15 | Permission of instructor approval will be granted by the instructor during pre-registration through the Electronic Portfolio. Click "Add to My Courses" and "To request a POI electronically, click here" to submit your request. |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
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