HINDU ECOWOMANISM AND THE BLACK MOTHER GODDESS (ST-3330)

Drawing on Hindu Goddess’ traditional lore, this synchronous online course explores the relationship of identity between ecology, women, and the Goddess as not symbolic or representational, but substantive and real. This indigenous non-dual epistemology stands in contrast to dominant dualistic epistemologies that tend to contain fragmented perspectives of reality. The symbiotic, porous, interdependent nature of reality is an embodied realization that takes place when the Black Goddess Kali dissolves the solipsism, the subject-object dichotomy that is part of the human condition. This course intertwines the three strands of Hindu Goddess ecowomanism: 1) Hindu Cosmology and the feminine principle; 2) the thealogy of the Black Mother Goddess 3) the voice of activists, scholars, and grassroots organizers in the face of environmental degradation and earth justice. This course will use a lecture & discussion format. Requirements include class participation, reading of required texts, and the submission of a final 20-page paper. This is an Online Synchronous Course suitable for MDiv, MA/MTS, DMin, PhD/ThD students. No prior knowledge of Hindu studies is required. Relates to Threshold/s # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and to MFC competency # 3, 4, 6, 7. [20 max enrollment; Auditors excluded]