PHIL 463 Seminar in Religious Studies: Topics in Comparative Religions

Overview of Course

This Seminar in Religious Studies considers the connection between travel and transformation in narrative traditions from around the globe. For both legendary heroes and historical pilgrims, geographic journeys result in spiritual development. As we embark on our own global voyage, we will consider theoretical perspectives on how and why travel to distant lands serves as a catalyst for inner metamorphosis in the world’s religious traditions. In the process, we will engage in a comparative inquiry into the role of epics, travelers’ tales and pilgrims’ accounts in making such journeys transformative.
Our Semester-at-Sea itinerary provides an ideal opportunity to explore narratives of “hero’s journey” and “pilgrim’s” in different religious traditions. We will examine how epic narratives—from Buddhist legends in Vietnam to the Rāmāyaṇa’s enduring appeal in India and Indonesia—shape the spiritual landscape of the ports we visit. From Kenya to Ghana, Morocco to Scotland, visits to shrines, cathedrals and secular historical sites provide opportunities to observe how connections between distant people are forged and maintained by shared destinations and their stories.
Along the way, we will each maintain a journal of our own voyage, documenting the places and peoples we encounter and our reflections on the meanings we make of own experiences. In this way, we can better understand how movement across geographical borders facilitates peoples’ spiritual transformations as we craft of our own stories of self-discovery.