Course Description
Two seemingly universal elements in the world’s religious traditions are the interrelated phenomena of asceticism and monasticism. In its most basic sense, asceticism refers to the practice of renunciation of worldly matters in order to achieve a higher plain of existence. Monasticism is, fundamentally, the gathering of religious adepts into a like-minded community who engage in common ritual practices with common motivations and aims. This course explores a variety of ascetic and monastic contexts from a comparative perspective. Several basic questions will motivate our course discussions: Why have men and women chosen to leave society and live in accordance to ascetic ideals? What are the ascetic ideals, where do they come from, and how do they differ across religious traditions? What is the relationship between ascetics and monastics and the societies they have rejected? What sorts of tensions arise in asceticism and monasticism, both internally and as they related to the world at large? Finally, is it useful to think of asceticism and monasticism as universal or specific phenomena – what do we gain, or lose, from either position?
Assignments
Weekly reading and class participation . All readings must be completed in a timely manner to allow each student to be prepared to discuss and engage the materials in class. I
Essay . One essay of 1500 words, due in week eight; each student will be required to peer review one other student's essay. The final essay is due in week ten.
Evaluation and Grading
Class participation and discussion............................................................................ 50%
Essay..........................................................................................................................50%
Aims and Objectives
The aims and objectives of this course are to enable students to pursue in greater depth research into the intertwined phenomena of asceticism and monasticism. The course also seeks to enable students to develop their skills in comparative study by helping them gain a more sophisticated theoretical framework for such work and by working through specific instances of asceticism and monasticism.
Required Texts
Course Schedule
Week One On Doing Comparison/Toward a Typology of Asceticism
9/11 - 9/17 Readings: Jonathan Z. Smith, “In Comparison a Magic Dwells,” and “The ‘End’ of Comparison,” pp. 23-44 and pp. 237-241, in Kimberley C. Patton and Benjamin C. Ray, eds., A Magic Still Dwells: Comparative Religion in the Postmodern Age (California, 2000) ; Valantasis and Wimbush, pp. xix-30, Asceticism (Oxford, 1998).
Week Two Asceticism Entangled
9/18 - 9/24 Readings: Valantasis, "A Theory of the Social Function of Asceticism," in Valantasis and Wimbush, 544-52 ; Gavin Flood, "Asceticism and the Hopeful Self: Subjectivity, Reductionism, and Modernity," CrossCurrents 57.4 (2008): 481-97 ; Flood, ix-34.
Week Three Asceticism Compared
9/25 - 10/1 Readings: Flood, 37-143.
Week Four Asceticism Compared
10/2 - 10/8 Readings: Flood, 144-257.
Week Five Gathering Days - Asceticism on the Ground
10/9 - 10/15 Readings: Murthy.
Week Six Christian Asceticism
10/16 - 10/22 Readings: Elizabeth A. Clark, Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in Early Christianity (Princeton University Press,1999), selections ; Gillian Clark, "Women and Asceticism in Late Antiquity: The Refusal of Status and Gender," Samuel Rubensen, "Christian Asceticism and the Emergence of the Monastic Tradition," and Bernard McGinn, " Asceticism and Mysticism in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages," all in Valantasis and Wimbush .
Week Seven Christian Monasticism
10/23 - 10/29 Readings: Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture (Fordham, 1961), pp. 1-7 , 11-18 , 19-28 , 29-38 , 39-48 , 49-50 ; The Rule of St. Benedict .
Essay Topic: Pick a version of asceticism in the contemporary world. You may choose virtually anything - Veganism, backpacking, body building, fly fishing, Burning Man, secular pilgrimages - that fits the definition (think Valantasis here) and articulate what makes it ascetic or a form of asceticism. Then compare that practice to a more traditional, more explicitly religious practice - what are the differences and similarities, and what do these tell us? Is the ancient or traditional rationale for asceticism different from the modern, and if it is, how and why?
If you are having troubling coming up with something, you might consider this - https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2017/apr/10/into-the-woods-how-one-man-survived-alone-in-the-wilderness-for-27-years-podcast?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other - from the Guardian . It's a strange example, to be sure.
Week Eight Hindu Monasticism
Essay Draft Due
Week Nine Buddhist Monasticism
11/6 - 11/12 Readings: Prebish, “The Rise of Buddhist Monasticism,” Buddhist Monastic Discipline (Motilal, 1996), pp. 1-9 ; Samuels, "Monasticism" in Encyclopedia of Monasticism ; Murthy, " The Buddhist Sangha ," pp.; Buswell, “Zen Monasticism and the Context of Belief,” The Zen Monastic Experience (Princeton, 1992), pp. 3-17 ( pt. 1 ; pt. 2 ).
Video: " The Mindful Way - Buddhist Monks of the Forest Tradition in Thailand ."
Peer Review Due
Week Ten The Asceticism of Action
11/13 - 11/19 Reading: The Bhagavad Gita ; Patrick Olivelle, “Ascetic Withdrawal or Social Engagement” in Donald Lopez, Ed. Religions of India in Practice, pp. 15-22.
Kinnard on Hindu Asceticism .
Kinnard on the B hagavagita .
Final Essay Due
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