Translating Religion

Catalog description

We live in a multilingual world. We use different languages to communicate, to connect, and to contest. We also use different languages at home, at work, in church, or in public. This course explores the idea that translation, in an extended definition as "communication and delivery of message across languages or media," is all around us, especially in the context of religion. In encountering differences -- in the form of religious experiences, ideas, narratives, traditions, texts, etc. -- we make sense of these differences through acts of translation. To think with the themes of religion and translation is to recognize that the world has always been multilingual. The task of translation carries not only linguistic but also ethical significance. In this course, we ask: how does translation in this extended sense participate in the religious lives and experiences of people? How do we, as human, make sense of and connect with the other-than-human? Students are introduced to the complex mechanisms of translation as we investigate a rich, global archive of translation case studies, where people engage differences in all aspects of religion. This course also reinforces the university's commitment to a diverse student body by contributing to and celebrating multiculturalism and multilingualism. Offered as ASIA 241 , ENGL 241 , and RLGN 241 . Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course.