A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

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Christian M Sheppard

Assistant Professor, Adjunct

Contact

Bio

BA, 1991, The College of the University of Chicago; MA, 1994, PhD, 2002, The Divinity School of the University of Chicago. Publications: Co-editor of Mystics: Presence and Aporia (The University of Chicago Press, 2003); On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Practice of Art, or Mark Booth (Gahlberg Gallery/College of DuPage, 2009); The New York Times; The Chicago Tribune; Journal of Religion; Chicago Review; Chicago Artists' News. Consulting: ABSOLUT 'Fill in the Blanks,' TWBA/Chiat Day NY, A&E television documentary 'A History of God.'  

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This class will follow the lead of contemporary Italian mythographer Roberto Calasso whose celebrated recounting of myths from Vedic India and ancient Greece sheds light on today¿s global civilization. Readings of Calasso will be supplemented with selections from original texts (the Bhagavad Gita and Plato¿s Symposium), classic poetry (Baudelaire¿s ¿Flowers of Evil¿) and films (Peter Brook¿s ¿Mahabharata¿), and invitations to explore mythic work in the Art Institute collection.

Class Number

2159

Credits

3

Description

Come along on a spiritual journey with Buddhist monk Xuanzang and his animal disciples, including the magical Monkey King, in their quest to India in search of sacred scriptures. The classic Chinese novel, The Journey to the West combines romance, fantasy, satire, and humor to present a religious allegory of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. We will read and discuss selected chapters in order to appreciate its philosophical and literary originality in historical and religious context.

Class Number

2175

Credits

3