Week Two: Abraham in the American Southwest

The desert says nothing. Completely passive, acted upon, but never acting, the desert lies there like the bare skeleton of Being, spare, sparse, austere, utterly worthless, inviting not love but contemplation.
Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

 

6. Monday: Convivencia, a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

First paper due at 9:00 am

  • Lecture: Convivencia

  • Discuss:
    • Menocal, Chavez (reading group 1—pp. 1-17, 27-59;group 2—Foreword, Prologue, pp. 18-26, 119-147)

  • Read for tomorrow:
    • Chavez, pp. 61-118 (The Nazirite)
    • Hordes, Crypto-Jews, pp. 215-237
    • Jewish Testament: Exodus 12:1-28 (Passover)
    • Christian Testament: Matthew 26: 17-19, 26-29 (Christian Passover/Eucharist)
    • Prepare three typed questions for Netanel Miles-Yepes

7. Tuesday (Passover): Crypto-Jews in the Southwest

  • Guest: Netanel Miles-Yepes

  • Discuss:
    • Hordes, Chavez, pp. 61-118 (reading group 3—pp. 61-94; group 4—pp. 94-118)

  • Read for tomorrow:
    • Chavez, pp. 147-202 (The Penitentes in New Mexico)
    • Ernst, Preface, pp. xi-xxi; “What Is Sufism?” pp. 1-31
    • The Abrahamic Initiative (web site)

8. Wednesday: Western Islam and the Abrahamic Initiative

  • Lecture: Sunnis, Shiites, Sufis and the West

  • Discuss:
    • Ernst, Abrahamic Initiative
    • Chavez (reading group 5—pp. 147-171; group 6—pp. 172-202)

  • Read for tomorrow:
    • Chavez, pp. 203-272 (Sangre de Cristo)
    • Steele, “Holy Art and Holy Artists,” pp. 1-15
    • Prepare three typed questions for Ruben Archuleta

9. (Holy) Thursday: Santos and Penitentes in the Southwest

  • Guest: Ruben Archuleta

  • Discuss:
    • Steele, Chavez (reading group 7—pp. 203-238; group 8—pp. 238-272)

  • Over the weekend:
    • Merton, Wisdom of the Desert, pp. 3-38
    • Abbey, Desert Solitaire, pp. ix-127
    • Lane, “The Countercultural Spirituality of the Desert Christians,” pp. 186-204; “Scratchings on the Wall of a Desert Cell,” pp. 205-215; “Rediscovering Christ in the Desert,” pp. 216-232.
    • Zevk Ensemble web site: http://www.zevk505.com/ (optional)
    • Dar al-Islam web site: http://www.daralislam.org/ (optional)
    • Rewrite first 5-page paper

10. Good Friday: No Class

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