 2014 - 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 0697-4089-01 | Magic, Mysticism and Religion | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| FACULTY OF HUMANITIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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University credit hours: 4.0
Course description
Magic, Mysticism and Religion (in Religious Studies)
Prof. Gideon Bohak
In this seminar we shall examine the intersecting and complementing worlds of magic and mysticism in Religious Studies and in different religions. We shall do so with a wide array of studies and sources, of two different types. On the one hand, we shall begin with the classic discussions of William James and Evelyn Underhill of the mystical experience, and with Durkheim's, and Freud's, discussions of magic and religion, and shall then turn to contemporary studies of these issues, including studies that insist that the very use of terms such as "magic" or "mysticism" is entirely inappropriate. On the other hand, we shall examine a series of test cases on the relations between magic, mysticism and religion in different religions, in the West and in the East, both in the past and today.
Prof. Gideon Bohak
In this seminar we shall examine the intersecting and complementing worlds of magic and mysticism in Religious Studies and in different religions. We shall do so with a wide array of studies and sources, of two different types. On the one hand, we shall begin with the classic discussions of William James and Evelyn Underhill of the mystical experience, and with Durkheim's, and Freud's, discussions of magic and religion, and shall then turn to contemporary studies of these issues, including studies that insist that the very use of terms such as "magic" or "mysticism" is entirely inappropriate. On the other hand, we shall examine a series of test cases on the relations between magic, mysticism and religion in different religions, in the West and in the East, both in the past and today.