REL 290
Explorations of the Afterlife
Last Offered Spring 2010
Division II Writing Skills
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

From Heaven to Hell, Valhalla to Hades, the Fields of Aaru to the Land of Yellow Springs, all cultures have generated images of other worlds that lie beyond death. By considering examples from a range of different cultures, this tutorial will guide students on an exploration of the topographies of these shadow-lands. In an effort to map the continuities and discontinuities between these visions of the hereafter, we will consider them as reflections of existing social hierarchies, examining their underlying assumptions about punishment and redemption, family, and ethics. Along the way, we will discuss culturally specific notions of death and mourning, attitudes towards the bodies of the dead, and controversies about the nature of the soul. Texts will include selections from primary works in translation, such as Virgil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Inferno, and The Tibetan Book of the Dead, as well as selections from secondary literature, including Teiser’s The Scripture on the Ten Kings, Gauchet’s The Disenchantment of the World, and Bremmer’s The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife.
The Class: Format: tutorial
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 3292
Grading: OPG
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: Religious Studies and Asian Studies majors
Distributions: Division II Writing Skills
Attributes: REL Contemporary Critical Inquiry Courses

Class Grid

Updated 7:00 am

Course Catalog Search


(searches Title and Course Description only)
TERM




SUBJECT
DIVISION



DISTRIBUTION



ENROLLMENT LIMIT
COURSE TYPE
Start Time
End Time
Day(s)