Religious people love to tell stories of the founding figures of their faiths. The life stories of these charismatic leaders--Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Rama--are often canonized as sacred scriptures, and serve as foundational works of those faith traditions. They convey essential teachings of the religious communities. In this course we will examine biographical accounts of the founding figures or key leaders in five of the world religions: Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. These narratives, both as history and legend, will serve as an introduction to those religious traditions. We will also look at how these biographies have been constructed as literary works. We will explore how the works have come into being and how they have become authoritative within their religious communities. We will consider modern interpretations (including visual ones), and how they may speak to contemporary issues. |