Religion 176: Comparative Mysticism: Conceptualizing the Religious Path

This seminar will explore the mystical writings of major religious traditions in order to understand how these traditions have thought of the religious path. It will address major issues in the study of mysticism, exposing students to a wide variety of religious thinkers and literary traditions, while simultaneously interrogating the usefulness of the concept of “mysticism” as a framework in the study of religion. We will consider various paradigms of method (comparative, constructivist, essentialist), and examine the texts with an eye to historical and social context together with the intellectual traditions that they represent. The class will be structured as a series of units around each tradition studied, but we will continuously attend to shared topics and three core themes: exegesis and scripture; ritual and experience; and notions of identity and power. Along the way, we will also consider theories of language; options of sainthood; autobiography and mystical writing; mysticism and philosophy; poetry and translation; mysticism and social formation; the interface of law, devotion, and spirit; science and mysticism; perceptions of inter-religious influence; mysticism and the modern/post-modern world. May be taken for credit toward the South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies major.