What do Jesus, Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan have in common? In Western popular imagination these important individuals – the emblem of Christianity, the founder of a vast Greek Empire, and the conqueror of much of Eurasia in the 13th century – are rarely associated with the essentials of Islam. But around the world, Muslims have been venerating Jesus as a Prophet, celebrating Alexander as the Protector of Humanity from looming annihilation, and even honoring Genghis Khan as an Emissary of God. These champions’ stories have been serving as sources of inspiration and as models for political, religious, and social behavior for millennia and have been invoked at every junction of political, social, and spiritual uncertainty.
This course introduces students to the closer-than-ever, diverse world of Islam through the presentation of supposedly familiar topics. By using methods of historical and art historical inquiry, source analysis, and approaches to religion, we discover some of humanity’s most remarkable figures in their Muslim contexts. We discuss important movements, sects, and traditions from the Arab world, Iran, Central, South, and South-East Asia, and even the United States, and we introduce and analyze sacred and profane records, apocryphal tales, art, and diverse media.
Students are expected to gain at least a basic familiarity in the methods of academic inquiry practiced by historians, art historians, scholars of religion and literature, and folklorists by reviewing diverse primary sources and the types of analytical techniques that different disciplines pose.
This course is eligible for honors credit through the Hutton Honors College.
Catalog Information: COLL-S 103 FRESHMAN SEMINAR IN A&H