R750 Advanced Readings in Asian Religious Texts Topic: "Holy Persons" in
Early Medieval China: Daoist, Buddhist, and other Hagiographic Traditions
(3 Cr.) - Campany
Arranged * This class will meet with EALC E505.

This seminar will survey most of the major extant hagiographic texts from
this period in China,spanning most of the religious and ideological
currents of the era, and will attempt to identify
common forms and themes shared by all of them as well as elements
distinctive to each. Representative work by Peter Brown and others will
help set the stage for our own inquiry.
Text-critical and methodological problems will be discussed.  We will read
selected samples of
texts in their original versions; the texts will be placed in their social
and religious contexts by
means of lectures and secondary readings; and, at the culmination of the
seminar, each student
will contribute a research paper on a self-chosen topic.  Note: students
needing EALC credit for
this course may receive it. Prerequisites: a good reading knowledge of
classical Chinese, and
some degree of familiarity with this period of Chinese cultural and
religious history.