Capstone: Jesus in the World's Religions

RELS 4323
University of Oklahoma
Fall 2017

Tuesdays, 1:30-4:20, in Robertson 118
Class web site: http://jesus.vishanoff.com

Instructor:

David Vishanoff
vishanoff at ou dot edu
(405) 325-1150
Robertson 119
Office hours: 4:30-5:30 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, or by appointment.

Overview

This seminar explores how Jesus has been imagined and represented by adherents of many different religions. We will study the Talmud's oblique denunciations of Jesus as a magician and bad student, Muslim stories about Jesus as an emaciated ascetic and mystical teacher, a modern Hindu's interpretation of Jesus as an avatar preaching a yoga of divine love, a colonial-era Buddhist tale casting Jesus as a drunkard and a scoundrel, and more. Sorting through this riotous clamor of competing depictions may not teach us much about who Jesus really was, but it should teach us a great deal about human beings and how they construct their religious worlds. We will try to understand why all these people loved or hated Jesus, how they used him, why they portrayed him as they did, and how we can possibly take them seriously when they seem to twist or even abuse a figure about whom we all have our own convictions. Your creative research project for this Capstone course will be to create your own "gospel" on our class web site, where we can read and comment on each others' work throughout the term, and explain in your own comments why you chose to represent Jesus as you did, comparing your choices to those of the other portraits of Jesus that we will read this term.

Textbooks

The following textbooks are all required and must be brought to class when assigned. A few other readings will be provided as handouts.

• Jesus Beyond Christianity: The Classic Texts, ed. Gregory A. Barker and Stephen E. Gregg. Oxford University Press, 2010. $29.95 ISBN 978-0-19-955344-0
• Jesus in the Talmud, by Peter Schafer. Princeton University Press, 2009. $25.95 ISBN 978-0691143187
• The Muslim Jesus, by Tarif Khalidi. Harvard University Press, 2003. $23.00 ISBN 978-0674011151
• The Yoga of Jesus: Understanding the Hidden Teachings of the Gospels, by Paramahansa Yogananda. Self-Realization Fellowship, 2007. $14.95 ISBN 978-0876125564
• Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture, by Jaroslav Pelikan. Yale University Press, 1999. $18.00 ISBN 978-0300079876

Course Goals

1. To develop the desire and ability to learn from primary texts.
2. To develop the skills and ethics of learning collectively through discussion.
3. To develop a critical awareness of the constructed nature of religious figures, stories, ideas, and symbols.
4. To develop listening knowledge--that is, to train and equip ourselves for the difficult art of listening to, conversing with, and getting to know religious people who do not share our assumptions, convictions, or ways of thinking.
5. To practice and demonstrate, through the writing of your own "gospel," the skills of close reading, careful research, critical thinking, and good writing that you have gained at OU.

Requirements

Class preparation and contribution (50%): Since this is a small seminar, everyone will be expected to contribute orally in class every week, both discussing the week's readings and explaining what you have written in your own gospel. You will also be expected to contribute online by commenting on your colleagues' gospels. Please make your contributions clear, concise, relevant to where we are in our conversation, and grounded in the assigned readings. Don't talk just to fill silence! If you tend to speak up often, make a special effort to defer to those who speak less often. Your grade for "class preparation and contribution" will be based on the depth, insightfulness, clarity, conciseness, and frequency of your contributions, on their relevance and significance for our class discussions, and especially on how well they reflect careful reading of the assigned texts and thoughtful work on your own gospel in interaction with the readings.

Creative research paper (50%): Write your own "gospel"--a carefully crafted representation of Jesus, in narrative or some other form, with accompanying explanations of how you are making your interpretive choices in response to the depictions of Jesus we read during the term and others that you have encountered in your own research. These gospels will be written on the class web site, with a little bit of writing being assigned each week, and we will post comments on each others' gospels as part of our regular contributions to the seminar. Each student will present his or her gospel orally during our final class session, which is our designated final exam period; the final written version will be due a week later, during exam week, though we will not meet then.

In order to create your gospel on the class web site, you must log in. Go to the login page and log in using your OU 4x4 and the password "listening". Once logged in you will be able to see a toolbar at the top of the page; follow the link there to the WordPress dashboard, where you will create your gospel pages. First go to Users/Your Profile, click on generate password, type in the password you want to use, check the "confirm use of weak password" box if necessary, and click Update Profile.

To create a section of your gospel go to Pages/Add New, type or paste in your work, under Discussion check "Allow comments," and under Page Attributes set Parent to the name of your gospel (near the bottom of the dropdown list, e.g. "The Gospel according to Zachary") and set Order to 1 (if this is your first page; you must control the order in which pages appear in your gospel by numbering them sequentially). (If you can't find one of those settings, click on the "screen options" tab near the upper right corner and make sure the "discussion" and "page attributes" boxes are checked.) Then click Publish, use the toolbar at the top to go back to the front end of the site, and verify that your new page appears where it should under Student Gospels.

Attendance is crucial because this is a seminar. There is a severe grade penalty for excessive absences: you will be allowed to miss up to two classes (that's two weeks!) without penalty, but every absence beyond your first two will result in a reduction of your final course grade by one letter grade. For example, if your course grade would have been a B, but you missed four classes (two more than allowed), you would be down to a D (and then the class would not fulfill your Capstone requirement). Ouch! There is no limit to this penalty, so if you miss enough classes you will quickly drop down to an F in the course. Absences that result from religious observances, however, will not be counted, and exams or work falling on religious holidays may be rescheduled without penalty; please let me know in advance, as soon as you are able to determine that a holiday may conflict with class. If a serious ongoing personal or health situation looks like it might result in more than two absences during the term, please talk to me about it as soon as possible, and I will be as supportive as I can.

Academic honesty ("all or nothing"): In my estimation, any form of deceit, however “mild,” warrants a final course grade of F. Individual instances of suspected academic dishonesty will be referred to the appropriate University authorities, who will investigate and determine whether a grade penalty and/or additional penalties (e.g., extra classes, suspension, or expulsion) are warranted. In my estimation, academic dishonesty includes (but is not limited to) turning in writing not created by yourself solely for this class, plagiarism (reproducing or paraphrasing someone else’s words or ideas without citing them), failing to document sources as required in an assignment, submitting answers or comments online without having studied the relevant materials for yourself, and even false excuses for absences or late or missed assignments. You have no need to invent excuses, because unmet requirements will affect only my evaluation of your work; they will not affect my respect for you as a person. False excuses therefore mean that you are attempting to falsify your grade, and in my estimation this warrants a course grade of F. See integrity.ou.edu for information on student rights and responsibilities with regards to academic misconduct.

General policies

• Assignments may or may not be accepted late, at the instructor’s discretion. Unless arranged in advance, any such lateness will be penalized one letter grade for each interval between class periods (or any fraction thereof) that elapses after the scheduled due date.
• No extra-credit work will be assigned or accepted; please do not ask. To benefit from this class, you need to do the work as it is assigned, not do other work later.
• Any student who has a disability that may prevent him or her from fully demonstrating his or her abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible; I will be very glad to make accommodations to help you participate and learn more effectively. If you are unsure whether you should request some kind of accommodation, or what kind of accommodation might be most helpful for you, consult the staff at the Disability Resource Center who will be able to help figure out what is best and whether you should formally register with the Center (Goddard Health Center, Suite 166, 325-3852, TDD 325-4173, drc@ou.edu).
• For any concerns regarding gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, or stalking, the University offers a variety of resources. To learn more or to report an incident, please contact the Sexual Misconduct Office at 405/325-2215 (8 to 5, M-F) or smo@ou.edu. Incidents can also be reported confidentially to OU Advocates at 405/615-0013 (phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). Also, please be advised that I and all your other OU professors, GAs, and TAs are required to report instances of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or discrimination to the Sexual Misconduct Office. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to: Bobby J. Mason, University Equal Opportunity Officer and Title IX Coordinator at 405/325-3546 or bjm@ou.edu. For more information, visit http://www.ou.edu/eoo.html.
• Should you need modifications or adjustments to your course requirements because of documented pregnancy-related or childbirth-related issues, please contact me and/or the Disability Resource Center (405-325-3852) as soon as possible. See http://www.ou.edu/eoo/faqs/pregnancy-faqs.html for answers to commonly asked questions.