HREL 41100: Readings in the History of Religions: the “Chicago School”

Spring Quarter 2006 Christian K. Wedemeyer Monday 14:00-16:50 Swift 303A Swift Hall 403 Office Hours M/Tu 9:30–10:30 [email protected]

Course description: This course will be devoted primarily to the close, critical reading of some representative works of the two most famous names associated with the History of Religions at the University of Chicago: Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade. Close attention will be paid to Wach’s Habilitation thesis, entitled Religionswissenschaft, his Sociology of Religion, and several of his essays. We will also read and discuss programmatical essays of Eliade, his Myth of the Eternal Return and Patterns in Comparative Religion. A selection of critical and interpretative essays will supplement these core texts, as we attempt to unpack and contextualize their arguments. We will also look briefly at a few programmatic essays on the discipline by some subsequent representatives of this tradition, such as Joseph Kitagawa, Charles Long, and Jonathan Smith. PQ: DVSC 30100 or equivalent background in Religion and the Human Sciences.

The following books are available for purchase at the Seminary Cooperative Bookstore: Eliade, Myth of the Eternal Return Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion The remaining readings will be available through electronic reserve (where possible) or regular reserve. Copies of out of print books, such as Wach’s Introduction, may be obtained via Bookfinder.com.

Schedule of Class Meetings:

Week One (31 March 2006): Introduction/Orientation/Visit to Special Collections

Week Two (7 April 2006): The Mythos of the “Chicago School” and its Prehistory Readings: Kitagawa, “History of Religions at Chicago” Long, “A Look at the Chicago Tradition in the History of Religions” (in HR: RaP) Kitagawa, “History of Religions in America” (in HR: Essays in Methodology) Haydon, “History of Religions”

Week Three (14 April 2006): Wach I (Discipline): Allgemeine Religionswissenschaft Readings: Wach, Introduction to the History of Religions, pp. 1–142 Wach, “The Meaning and Task of the History of Religions” (in HR: EoPU)

Week Four (21 April 2006): Wach II (Theology): Sociology of Religion Readings: Wach, Sociology of Religion, pp. 1–53, 374–383 Wach, “Sociology of Religion” Wach, “The Problem of Truth in Religion” Wach, “The Self-Understanding of Modern Man”

Week Five (28 April 2006): Wach III (Applications): Typology Readings: Wach, “The Concept of the ‘Classical’ in the Study of Religion” Wach, “Universals in Religion” Wach, “The Place of the History of Religions in the Study of Theology” Wach, “On Teaching History of Religions” Wach, Comparative Religion, pp. 2–58 The “Chicago School” Spring 2006

Week Six (5 May 2006): Eliade I (Discipline) Readings: Eliade, “The History of Religions and a New Humanism” Eliade, “The History of Religions in Retrospect: 1912 and After” Eliade, “Crisis and Renewal in the History of Religions” Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, pp. 216–232.

Week Seven (12 May 2006): Eliade II (Theology): Cosmos and History Readings: Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return (entire) Eliade, No Souvenirs, pp. 67–103 Eliade, “Homo Faber and Homo Religiosus” (in HR: RaP)

Week Eight (19 May 2006): Eliade III (Applications): Morphology Readings: Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion, Foreword, Chapter One, and Conclusions Eliade, “Foreword” to Shamanism Smith, “Acknowledgements” (Parts One and Two)

Week Nine (26 May 2006): Later Chicagoans Readings: Long, “The Study of Religion: Its Nature and Discourse” Long, “Human Centers: An Essay on Method in History of Religions” Kitagawa, “Religious Studies and the History of Religions” Kitagawa, “History of Religions: Then and Now” (in HR:RaP) Smith, .”A Twice-Told Tale: The History of the History of Religions’ History”

Week Ten (2 June 2006): Presentation of Student Projects Readings: none

**Final Paper due Wednesday 7 June 2006 in Swift 201 by 3:00PM**

Course Reading Bibliography (n.b. newer editions may be available and/or used)

Kitagawa, Joseph. “The History of Religions at Chicago,” in Kitagawa, History of Religions: Understanding Human Experience (Atlanta: Scholar’s Press, 1987), pp. 133–144.

Long, Charles. “A Look at the Chicago Tradition in the History of Religions and Its Future Task,” in Kitagawa, ed., History of Religions: Retrospect and Prospect (New York: Macmillan, 1985), pp. 87–104.

Kitagawa, Joseph. “The History of Religions in America,” in J. Kitagawa, History of Religions: Understanding Human Experience (Atlanta: Scholar’s Press, 1987), pp. 3–26.

Haydon, A. Eustace. “History of Religions,” in G. B. Smith, ed., Religious Thought in the last Quarter Century (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1927), pp. 140–166.

Wach, Joachim. Introducion to the History of Religions (New York: Macmillan, 1988), pp. 3–142.

Wach, Joachim. “The Meaning and Task of the History of Religions,” in Kitagawa, ed., The History of Religions: Essays in the Problem of Understanding (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967), pp. 1–19.

Wach, Joachim. Sociology of Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944), pp. 1–53, 374–383.

Wach, Joachim. “Sociology of Religion,” in Essays in the History of Religions (New York: Macmillan, 1988), pp. 81–113.

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Wach, Joachim. “The Self-Understanding of Modern Man,” in J. Kitagawa, ed., Understanding and Believing (New York: Harper and Row, 1968), pp. 3–10.

Wach, Joachim. “The Problem of Truth in Religion,” in J. Kitagawa, ed., Understanding and Believing (New York: Harper and Row, 1968), pp. 146–154.

Wach, Joachim. “The Concept of the ‘Classical’ in the Study of Religions,” in Wach, Types of Religious Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), pp. 48–57.

Wach, Joachim. “Universals in Religion,” in Wach, Types of Religious Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), pp. 30–47.

Wach, Joachim. “The Place of the History of Religions in the Study of Theology,” in Wach, Types of Religious Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), pp. 3–29.

Wach, Joachim. “On Teaching History of Religions,” in Wach, Essays in the History of Religions (New York: Macmillan, 1988), pp. 161–170.

Wach, Joachim. The Comparative Study of Religions. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1958), pp. 2–58.

Eliade, Mircea. “The History of Religions and a New Humanism,” in M. Eliade, The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969), pp. 1–11.

Eliade, Mircea. “The History of Religions in Retrospect, 1912 and After,” in M. Eliade, The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969), pp. 12–36.

Eliade, Mircea. “Crisis and Renewal,” in M. Eliade, The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969), pp. 54–71.

Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane (San Diego: HB&J, 1959), pp. 216–232.

Eliade, Mircea. No Souvenirs: Journal 1957–1969 (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1977), pp. 67–103.

Eliade, Mircea. “Homo Faber and Homo Religiosus,” in J. Kitagawa, ed., The History of Religions: Retrospect and Prospect (New York: Macmillan, 1985), pp. 1–12.

Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion (1958; rpt. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996), Author’s Foreword, Chapter One and Conclusions, pp. xvii-xxi, 1–37, 459–465.

Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstacy (New York: Bollingen Foundation, 1964), Foreword, pp. xi–xxii.

Smith, J. Z. “Acknowledgements: Morphology and History in Mircea Eliade’s Patterns in Comparative Religion (1949–1999), Part I: The Work and its Contexts,” in J. Z. Smith, Relating Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), pp. 61–79.

Smith, J. Z. “Acknowledgements: Morphology and History in Mircea Eliade’s Patterns in Comparative Religion (1949–1999), Part II: The Texture of the Work,” in J. Z. Smith, Relating Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), pp. 80–100.

Long, Charles. “The Study of Religion: Its Nature and Its Discourse,” in C. Long, Significations (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), pp. 13–26.

Long, Charles. “Human Centers: An Essay on Method in the History of Religions,” in C. Long, Significations (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), pp. 65–78.

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Kitagawa, Joseph. “The Making of a Historian of Religions,” in J. Kitagawa, The History of Religions: Understanding Human Experience (Atlanta: Scholar’s Press, 1987), pp. 101–112.

Kitagawa, Joseph. “Religious Studies and the History of Religions,” in J. Kitagawa, The History of Religions: Understanding Human Experience (Atlanta: Scholar’s Press, 1987), pp. 145–157.

Kitagawa, Joseph. “The History of Religions: Then and Now,” in J. Kitagawa, The History of Religions: Retrospect and Prospect (New York: Macmillan, 1985), pp. 121–143.

Smith, Jonathan Z. “A Twice-Told Tale: The History of the History of Religions’ History,” in J.Z. Smith, Relating Religion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), pp. 362–374.

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