Term: Winter/Spring 2021
Semester Dates: January 19 to May 7, 2021
Participating Campuses: Host – University of Minnesota | Receiving – Pennsylvania State University
Course Number & Title:
- University of Minnesota: CNES 3074/RELS 3704 “Exploring the Quran: An Intellectual Odyssey with Islam’s Holy Scripture”
- Pennsylvania State University: RL ST/ARAB 164 “Introduction to the Quran”
Times: Tuesday & Thursday. For class start and end times, visit Minnesota Schedule Builder or Penn State LionPath.
Professor: Dr. Mohsen Goudarzi
This course explores the contents of the Quran and probes it place in the history of human civilization. Students will learn about, and critically reflect on, the following subjects:
- the Quran core ideas, stories, laws, parables, and arguments
- the historical context in which the Quran was first promulgated and codified
- the relationship between the Quran and the preceding literary traditions of the ancient world, in particular the Bible and post-biblical Jewish and Christian writings
- Muslim utilization of the Quran toward religious, intellectual, social, and cultural ends
- the pre-modern and modern scholarly traditions of interpreting the Quran
These goals will be met through reading a substantial portion of the Quran in translation (from The Study Quran). In addition, lectures and readings will contextualize and complement our encounter with the Quranic text, while three exams test the students’ comprehension of the textual, historical, and methodological content of the course. By the end of the semester, students should have the ability to utilize various resources and concordances in order to independently conduct further investigations and critically evaluate claims made about the Quran.
About the Instructor: Mohsen Goudarzi’s research focuses on the intellectual and social aspects of Islam’s emergence, in particular the Quran’s relationship to Late Antique literature as well as its textual history. He is also interested in various fields of Islamic learning, especially the sciences of exegesis (tafsir), theology (kalam), and law (fiqh). Currently, Goudarzi is working on his first book project, which proposes a new reading of major elements of the quranic worldview, including the Qur’an’s conception of scriptural and prophetic history. Dr. Goudarzi’s work is also published in Der Islam, Arabica, and the Harvard Theological Review.
Students are able to enroll directly at their home institution for course credit. For more information about this course, including textbook information and instructions on enrolling, please contact digital.islam@umich.edu.