Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

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RELI1039A-W17

The Gita in Walden

The Gita in Walden
In the Walden chapter “The Pond in Winter,” Henry David Thoreau recounts a morning spent reading “the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy” of the classic Hindu text the Bhagavad Gita. “The pure Walden water,” he notes, “is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges.” In this course we will study that curious “mingling” through a comparative reading of Walden and the Bhagavad Gita. As we read these texts side-by-side, we will consider their intellectual contexts of Transcendentalism and Hinduism, and trace the influence of both texts in such thinkers as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Annie Dillard, and others.
Course Reference Number (CRN):
11436
Subject Code:
RELI
Course Number:
1039
Section Identifier:
A

Course

RELI 1039

All Sections in Winter 2017

Winter 2017

RELI1039A-W17 Lecture (Cooperrider)