GENERAL INFORMATION
Instructor:Genevieve Nrenzah / Emergency Contact: Erik Larson
305 348 3518
Office Hours: Email Instructor / E-mail: Please use Blackboard Course Mail
Lectures: By the faculty of the Religious Studies Department
COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course has been developed by the faculty of the Department of Religious Studies, with each professor lecturing on meditation and mysticism in his or her area of religious specialization. The course will examine meditation and mysticism within each of the major world religions, as well as within some indigenous religions. Each module consists of PowerPoint lectures by faculty, readings, a weekly quiz, brief weekly assignments (of which each student must submit four), a midterm and a final exam.

TEXTBOOK
Mysticism: Holiness East and West,
Denise Carmody and John Carmody,
Oxford University Press, 1996.
ISBN-10: 0195088190
ISBN-13: 978-0195088199
Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase,
Mary Evelyn Tucker,
Open Court, 2003.
ISBN-10: 0812695291
ISBN-13: 978-0812695298
Click here to buy your textbooks online at our FIU Bookstore.
COURSE PREREQUISITES

There are no prerequisites for this course.

For more information about prerequisites, click here.

COMMUNICATING WITH THE INSTRUCTOR
  • E-mail: Contact me via my Blackboard email
  • Discussion Forum: It will be used for class discussions and other postings of general interest that are directly related to the course. Everyone can read Discussion Forum postings; therefore, do not post private information.

GRADING
Course Requirements / Weights
Midterm (Exam 1) / 30%
Final (Exam 2) / 30%
Quiz Average / 20%
Assignment Average / 20%
Total / 100%
Letter Grade / Range / Letter Grade / Range / Letter Grade / Range
A / above 93 / B- / 80 - 82 / D+ / 67 - 69
A- / 90 - 92 / C+ / 77 - 79 / D / 63 - 66
B+ / 87 - 89 / C / 73 - 76 / D- / 60 - 62
B / 83 - 86 / C- / 70 - 72 / F / < 60
QUIZZES

Quizzes are open for an entire week. You may take each quiz twice, though the questions will usually be different because they are selected randomly from a large database. The purpose of the second attempt is to allow students who may have been disconnected from the Internet during a quiz to submit a complete quiz. Disconnection does happen; plan to make your first attempt a serious one. If youknow that you will be unable to take a quiz during a specific week, contactthe instructor by Course Mail in advance, and the quiz may be opened so you may take it early. Resetting quizzes after they have passed will require a serious and verifiable reason (death in the family, hospitalization, serious accident, etc.). It is the responsibility of students to keep up with the readings and take the quizzes on time.

In order to mitigate any issues with your computer and online assessments, it is very important that you take the "Online Learning Practice Quiz" from each computer you will be using to take your graded exams. It is your responsibility to make sure your computer is compatible with Blackboard ( and that it meets the minimum hardware requirements ( Please take this practice quiz within the first 2 weeks of class.

EXAMS

The Midterm (Exam 1) & Final (Exam 2) will be open for a week. If you know you will not be able to take them on the scheduled days, make arrangements to take them in advance of the scheduled days.Three days before the exams all the previous quizzes will be released so that students may open and print them, so as to study from them. The exams will have both objective and essay parts, separately timed, with an hour for the essay.

STUDENT HOMEPAGE

Every student should create his/her own student homepage using the course's Discussion Forum, which can be found under Course Tools. For help on how to use the HTML Creator to develop a Student Homepage, click here.

ASSIGNMENTS

There will be ten (10) assignments posted, but you will need to complete only four (4) of these.
The assignments will be turned in to Turnitin.com via Blackboard. Click on the link in the Assignments folder on the Course Content page. It is not necessary to create an account on Turnitin.com to submit this assignment.
These should not be written off the top of your head, but should demonstrate that they are informed by the readings and lectures. You need not agree with parts of the readings or lectures, but should be able to discuss the basis of your disagreement.
Keep electronic and paper copies of all written work. For your own protection, keep a copy of your turnitin.com electronic receipt (confirmation of assignment submission) until you have received your final grade for the course.

EXPECTATION OF THIS COURSE

This is a fully online course, meaning that all course work (100%) will be conducted online. Expectations for performance in fully online courses are the same as for traditional courses; in fact, fully online courses require a degree of self-motivation, self-discipline, and technology skills that can make them more demanding for some students.

Fully online courses are not independent study courses. You will be expected to interact online with the professor and your fellow students; to do assignments; to meet deadlines; and in many classes, to work in virtual groups. In some fully online courses, you may be required to come to campus to take midterms and exams, but in most, you will take your tests online.

Tips for Success in your online course, click here.

Online Etiquette, click here.

COURSE CALENDAR
Date / Topic
Week 1
Jan. 9 / Introduction to Meditation and Mysticism in World Religions
View:
Dr. Northup: Introduction to Meditation and Mysticism
Dr. Huchingson: The Hardware of Mysticism (all presentations are found under PowerPoints in Course Content)
Read: Mysticism: Holiness East and West, Chapter 1
Nancy Murphy, "Whatever happened to the Soul?" in Course Content
James Ashbrook and Carol Rausch Albright, "The Humanizing Brain: An Introduction," Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science: vol. 34, no. 1, March, 1999, pages 7-43. Full-text available online from the Florida International University Library (go to Catalogue on Library Homepage, select Journal Title, enter Zygon, and then select March 1999 from the list of Zygon issues).
View this week's assignment:
A1 - Hardware of Mysticism (Due Jan.15th by 11:59pm)
Quiz #1
Available Jan. 9, 12:30am – Jan. 15, 11:59pm
Week 2
Jan. 16 / Mysticism in African and Afro-Caribbean Religions
View: Dr. Rey: Mysticism in Africa and the Afro-Caribbean
Read: (on Course Content/Readings Page):
Katherine Hagedorn, "Embodying the Sacred in Afro-Cuban Performance"
Dominique Zahan, "Reflections on African Spirituality"
Ute Luig, "Constructing Local Worlds" (from Spirit Possession and Modernity).
Leslie Desmangles, The Faces of the Gods, pp. 99-115
Full text available through Netlibrary, (Off campus, you must first login to the library webpage using the number on the back of your Panther Card)
View this week's assignment
A2 - African and Afro Caribbean Mysticism (Due Jan. 22th by 11:59pm)
Quiz #2
Available Jan. 16, 12:30am – Jan. 22, 11:59pm
Week 3
Jan. 23 / Meditation and Mysticism among Native Americans
View: Dr. Huchingson: Meditation and Mysticism Among Native Americans, I & II.
Read:Mysticism: Holiness East and West, Chapter 8
William A. Young, Quest for Harmony: Native American Spiritual Traditions, chapters 1, 4, 5. Full text available through Netlibrary:
View this week's assignment
A3 - Native American (Due Jan. 29th by 11:59pm)
Quiz #3
Available Jan. 23, 12:30am – Jan. 29, 11:59pm
Week 4
Jan.30 / Meditation and Mysticism in Indian Religions
View: Dr. Katz: Meditation and Mysticism in Theistic Hinduism, I-III
Read:Mysticism: Holiness East and West, Chapter 2
Quiz #4
Available Jan 30, 12:30am – Feb 5, 11:59pm
Week 5
Feb. 6 / Meditation and Mysticism in Daoism and Chinese Religions
View: Dr. Heine: Meditation and Mysticism in Chinese Religions
Read:Mysticism: Holiness East and West, Chapter 4
View this week's assignment.
A4 - Daoism (Due Feb. 12th by 11:59pm)
(You must do four – how many have you done so far?)
Quiz #5
Available Feb 6, 12:30am – Feb 12, 11:59pm
Week 6
Feb. 13 / Meditation and Mysticism in Buddhism / Zen Buddhism
View: Dr. Heine: Intro to Meditation and Mysticism in Buddhism, Meditation and Mysticism in Zen
Read:Mysticism: Holiness East and West, Chapter 3
View this week's assignment
A5 - Zen Mysticism Readings and Questions (Due Feb. 19th by 11:59pm)
How many of the required four have you done?
Quiz #6
Available Feb. 13, 12:30am – Feb. 19, 11:59pm
Week 7
Feb. 20 / Midterm (Exam 1)
Available Feb. 20, 12:30am – Feb. 26, 11:59pm
Take both parts: Objective and Essay
Week 8
Feb. 27 / Mysticism in Judaism and Sephardic Judaism
View: Dr. Zohar: Mysticism in Judaism and Sephardic Judaism
Read:Mysticism: Holiness East and West, Chapter 5
Quiz #7
Available Feb 27, 12:30am – Mar.4, 11:59pm
Week 9
March 5 / Mysticism in Hasidic Judaism
View: Dr. Stier: Hasidic Judaism
Read: The required readings for this module are the 15 short "Additional Essays on Hasidism" by Immy Humes, which can be found at:

These essays supplement the highly recommended documentary, "A Life Apart" (see
Note: There is one error in the readings: In the essay titled "Inside the Community: A Holy Life," the author translates the Hebrew acronym for Chabad as "Wisdom, Learning, and Faith."The acronym actually stands for "Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding." Please make a note of this.
View this week's assignment
A6 - Hasidic (Due March 11th, 11:59pm)
Quiz #8
Available March 5, 12:30am – March 11, 11:59pm
Week10
March 12 / Spring Break
Week 11
March 19 / Meditation and Mysticism in Early Christianity
View: Dr. Larson: Mysticism in Early Christianity, I & II
Read:Mysticism: Holiness East and West, Chapter 6
Gregory of Nyssa, Homily 6, On the Beatitudes (pp. 90-91). Full text available through Netlibrary:
View this week's assignment
A7 - Early Christianity (Due March 25th by 11:59pm)
Quiz #9
Available March 19, 12:30am – March 25, 11:59pm
Week 12
March 26 / Mysticism in Catholicism
View: Dr. Gudorf:, Meditation and Mysticism in Catholicism
Read: Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (pp. 25-42). Full text available through Netlibrary:
View this week's assignment
A8 - Christian Mystic (April 1st by 11:59pm)
Quiz #10
Available March 26, 12:30am – April 1, 11:59pm
Week 13
April 2 / Mysticism in Protestantism
View: Dr. Alvarez: Mysticism in Protestantism
Read:Excerpt from primary text, TBA
View this week's assignment
A9 - Protestant Mysticism (Due April 8th, 11:59pm)
Quiz #11
Available April 2, 12:30am – April 8, 11:59pm
Week 14
April 9 / Meditation and Mysticism in Islam
View: Dr. Musa: Meditation and Mysticism in Islam
Read:Mysticism: Holiness East and West, Chapter 7
"Mystical Islam and Sufi Brotherhoods" in Islam: An Introduction by Annemarie Schimmel; 1992 (available at

"What is Tasawwuf (Sufism)?" An Anonymous Persian Poem – translated by A. A. Godlas (available at
"The Chapter on Dhikr" from at-Targhib wa at-Tarhib, by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani , (available at
View this week's assignment
A10 - Islamic Assignment (Due April 15th by 11:59pm)
Quiz #12
Available April 9, 12:30am – April 15, 11:59pm
Week of
April 16 / Mysticism in Emerging Nature Religions
View: Dr. Bauman: Nature Mysticism
Read: Mary Tucker, Worldly Wonder, pp. 1-54
Quiz #13
Available April 16, 12:30am – April 22, 11:59pm
Week of
April 23 / Final (Exam 2)
Available April 23, 12:30am – April 28th, 11:59pm
Take both parts: Objective and Essay