NES 3543 - [Sensational Religion]

(crosslisted) RELST 3543

Fall. Not offered 2017-2018. 4 credits. Student option grading.

K. Haines-Eitzen.

This course explores the relationships between the senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting), emotions (fear, happiness, sadness, etc.), and religion, especially religious practices and experience in history and our contemporary world. We will begin by investigating how religious rituals engage the senses, asking questions like how and why is incense (and other smells) used in a variety of religious traditions? How does seeing an icon or a statue affect a religious viewer? Why is sound/music such an important part of religious rituals throughout history? What does it mean to touch or taste a relic? Since the senses are interwoven with the emotions, our work will consider carefully how “feeling” and “experience” are produced by religious ritual and practice. After exploring the senses and religious rituals, we will turn to the controversial aspects of religious sensationalism: why does our contemporary media gravitate towards stories that “sensationalize” religion? Stories of violent fundamentalism and secretive religious societies grip our modern media and, it can be argued, also fueled much ancient discord and controversy about religious thought and practice. Our goal will be to look expansively across time periods and cultures as well as to focus more deeply on several case studies. Readings include scriptural sources from a variety of world religions, historical sources about religious controversies, modern affect theory, case-specific historical works, and contemporary media (e.g., newspapers, TV, film, etc.).