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HDS 3814

Tomb, Relic, and Transcendence: Seminar

Kimberley Patton

Description

Through the lens of current theory and historical research, this seminar deals with the paradoxical tension in some religious traditions between philosophies or doctrines of transcendence and practices of incarnation through the "powerful dead." The focus is the veneration of sacred remains: the bodies or relics of dead heroes, saints, and holy men and women and the associated religious efficacy of their shrines and tombs. The traditions studied will be those of ancient Greece (hero cult in geometric and archaic Greece); Christianity (the importance of saints' tombs and their relics from the Late Antique period to the Middle Ages and beyond); Islam (saints' shrines and their role in popular piety in the Middle East, Northern Africa, and South Asia); and Buddhism (the 84,000 stupas of Asoka; lay and monastic devotion to the Buddha's remains in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere). Topics covered will include the cult of the dead; issues of corruption and incorruptibility; the sacred body of the "divine deceased" as source of community blessing and conveyer of fertility; tombs, graves and stupas as physical mediators between heaven and earth and focus of mortal pilgrimage and prayer; relics as efficacious talismans of healing or protection; the phenomenon of "traces" of holy persons on earth. Note: Enrollment limited to 15 by application at the first meeting.

Enrollment Limited: Limited to 15 (instructor's permission required)
Open to BTI Students: Yes
Jointly offered through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 1024

Course website

Scheduling

Half Course
Fall 2009
W., 1-3
Rockefeller Hall, Room 116

Relationship to Program Requirements

Program Requirement	Area / Category / Art / Designation
MTS Area(s) of Focus	Comparative Studies
MDiv Distribution Category/ies	Comparative
MDiv Art(s) of Ministry	none
ThM, pre-2007 MTS, and pre-2005 MDiv Area	Area 3
Language Course Designation(s)	n/a