The Qur'an is also the Holy Qur'an. Like the Bible, which is also the Holy Bible, the Qu'ran projects itself over time in multiple contexts to diverse audiences. This upper level seminar will be writing intensive. It will examine the Qur'an from several perspectives - believer and non-believer, Arab and non-Arab, premodern and modern, pre-9/11 and post-9/11.
The writing component is integral to the course. It will be time intensive for the instructor as well as for the students. In addition, there will be extensive reading from Internet sites as well as major proportions of 3-4 monographs.
Here is how the writing component works:
6 writing assignments will be required. The first 5 will each be 5 pages in length. Each will be critiqued, returned ungraded, then resubmitted for grading. The 6th or final assignment will be 15 pages in length; its first draft will be in outline form, critiqued, then returned for expansion into a full and final draft.
The papers will also progress from textual to contextual to contemporary perspectives. They will be: expository (Qur'an in its own time), introspective (Qur'an for Muslims), argumentative (Qur'an as anti-text for Crusaders & Luther), disruptive (Qur'an as printed book
rather than oral performance or calligraphic production), media critical (Qur'an reread, and misread, as post-9/11 terrorist manual), and finally comprehensive (Qur'an over multiple sites of time and place, culture and language).
Grading will be based entirely on the final papers, and in order to maximize writing performance, the worst grade of the first 5 writing assignments will be dropped. The final grade will be based on the best 4 of the 5 page papers. They will count 15 % each, for a total of 60% of the final grade, while the end of term 15 page paper will count 40 %.
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