Teaching scheme and schedule

Übernachtungen: ##
Mahlzeiten: ##
Anreise mit der Bahn (Gruppenticket): 42 Euro/Person

Zuschüsse zur Reduktion der Reise- und Aufenthaltskosten werden vorauss. eingeworben (bisher konnten ca. 25 Euro pro Person an Zuschüssen eingeworben werden).

Classes

During the beginning of the summer term (April and May), the class of Matthias Smalbrugge will take place in Amsterdam and the class of Jochen Schmidt will take place in Paderborn (7 weekly sessions). Both classes will follow the exact same schedule. 

The focus will be on the following subjects

  1. Introduction to the theme 

  2. “God-talk”/Naming God: On the complexity of religious language. Exemplary readings from the philosophy of religion 

  3. The ineffability of God (Pseudo-Denys) 

  4. Self-narration, autobiography and the quest for God (Augustine's Confessions)

  5. Searching for an unknown God (Augustine's Confessions) 

  6. John Caputo: In the face of the Other. repeating religion without religion. 

  7. Undercurrents. The Quest for God in Martha Manning's depression memoir.

During these sessions in April and in May, students will be discussing specific questions, and they will record the main threads and outcomes of their discussions. Student experts will be assigend for each session and record the main threads of the discussion.

When the two classes meet in June in Amsterdam for the joint teaching event, the student experts will present to each other what they have discussed and will point to selected passages from the the source texts during their discussions. 

 

Pieter Coppens: Normativity in Islamic Studies: a North-American Debate in the context of the rise of Islamic Theology in Europe

Main topics will be:

  • controversy raised by Aaron Hughes in the US on the perceived 'Islamization' of Islamic Studies
  • consequences for epistemological and methodological relation between Islamic Studies and Islamic Theology in Europe

Idris Nassery: Law of Islam and Islamic Law: What Is the Difference and Why Does It Matter?

Main topics will be:

  • understanding of Islamic law in Islamic Studies and Islamic Theology
  • problems of a comparison with European legal understanding in Islamic Studies
  • Islamic law as a systematic interplay between theology, practice and law with a specific character