课程详述

COURSE SPECIFICATION

以下课程信息可能根据实际授课需要或在课程检讨之后产生变动。如对课程有任何疑问，请联

系授课教师。

The course information as follows may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen

circumstances, or following review of the course at the end of the session. Queries about the course should be

directed to the course instructor.

课程名称 Course Title

世界文明基础文献选读 Introduction to the World's Foundational Texts

授课院系

Originating Department

社会科学中心 Center for Social Sciences

课程编号

Course Code

SS076

课程学分 Credit Value

课程类别

Course Type

通识选修课程 General Education (GE) Elective Courses

授课学期

Semester

春季 Spring

授课语言

Teaching Language

英文 English

授课教师、所属学系、联系方

式（如属团队授课，请列明其

他授课教师）

Instructor(s), Affiliation&

Contact

（For team teaching, please list

all instructors）

Georgiy Grebnyev（Yegor Grebnev ）葛觉智

南方科技大学人文社会科学荣誉学会 Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, SUSTech

yegor@mail.sustech.edu.cn

实验员/助教、所属学系、联系

方式

Tutor/TA(s), Contact

无 NA

10.

选课人数限额(可不填)

Maximum Enrolment

（Optional）

授课方式

Delivery Method

讲授

Lectures

习题/辅导/讨论

Tutorials

实验/实习

Lab/Practical

其它(请具体注明)

Other（Please specify）

总学时

Total

11.

学时数

Credit Hours

12.

先修课程、其它学习要求

Pre-requisites or Other

Academic Requirements

无 NA

13.

后续课程、其它学习规划

Courses for which this

course is a pre-requisite

无 NA

14.

其它要求修读本课程的学系

Cross-listing Dept.

无 NA

教学大纲及教学日历 SYLLABUS

15.

教学目标 Course Objectives

The students will:

read a broad selection of foundational texts that preserve their relevance today;

strengthen their critical reasoning skills through the close reading of important parts of foundational texts;

engage critically with foundational texts using the methods of modern critical scholarship;

understand how foundational texts are appreciated in traditional commentaries and contemporary mass culture;

understand some of the common points and differences in the foundational texts of different civilizations, including their

own.

16.

预达学习成果 Learning Outcomes

The course aims to develop the following knowledge and skills:

 argue convincingly in speech and writing on different themes covered in foundational texts of different

civilizations;

 understand the cultural and historical background of contemporary ideological and political movements relying

on foundational texts;

 appreciate the works of art, literature and scholarship that build on foundational texts of different civilizations.

17.

课程内容及教学日历（如授课语言以英文为主，则课程内容介绍可以用英文；如团队教学或模块教学，教学日历须注明

主讲人）

Course Contents (in Parts/Chapters/Sections/Weeks. Please notify name of instructor for course section(s), if

this is a team teaching or module course.)

Week 1: Introduction 引言 (2-credit hours)

 Course introduction: contents, assessment criteria, essay writing strategies

 Textual and non-textual societies

 History and geography of societies that produced foundational texts

 Significance of foundational texts

 Traditional and critical reading of foundational texts

Week 2: The Epic of Gilgamesh 吉尔伽美食伽美什史詩 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Historical survey of ancient Mesopotamia

 Cuneiform writing

 The context and contents of the Epic of Gilgamesh

 Guided reading of select passages

Week 3: The Vedas 吠陀 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Indo-Europeans and the origins of the Vedic culture

 Oral texts vs. written texts: how much can our memory contain?

 Text and ritual

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 4: Homeric epics 荷马史诗 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 History and literature of archaic Greece

 Historicity of Homer and the contents of Homeric epics

 Guided readings of select passages from the Iliad

Week 5: The Mahabharata 摩诃婆罗多 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Historical background of Indian epics

 History and structure of the Mahabharata

 Reception of the Mahabharata in the contemporary Indian culture

 Guided readings of select passages from the Bhagavad Gita

Week 6: Socrates and Plato 苏格拉底与柏拉图 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Axial age and the beginnings of philosophies

 Pre-Socratic philosophers and Eurasian influences on Greek philosophy

 The historical Socrates

 Themes of Socratic philosophy

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 7: The Old Testament: Tora 旧约圣经：妥拉 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Hebrew culture as part of the Near East

 History and Structure of the Old Testament

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 8: The Old Testament: Psalms and prophets 旧约圣经：诗篇与先知书 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 “Wisdom literature” in the Bible

 Historicity of the Hebrew prophets

 Poetry of the Old testament

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 9: The Pāli canon and early Buddhism 早期佛教与巴利三藏 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Jainism, Buddhism and the Axial age in India

 Structure and themes of the Pāli canon

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 10: The Avesta 阿维斯陀 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Indo-European ancestry in Sasanian classics

 Avestan cosmology, world view and ritual practice

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 11: The New Testament 新约圣经 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 History and structure of the New Testament

 Canonisation of the New Testament

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 12: Quran 古兰经 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Medieval Arabia in between textual cultures and the early history of Islam

 Structure and contents of the Quran

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 13: The Bible in reception 圣经的接受史 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 The Bible in medieval commentaries

 Canonical and non-canonical texts in religious art

 Textual analysis of select works of art

Week 14: Shang shu and Shijing 尚书与诗经 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Themes of foundational texts in the Chinese tradition

 European readings of Chinese classics

 Shijing in the comparative perspective

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 15: Laozi and the Warring States philosophical texts 老子以及其他战国时代哲学性文献 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Axial age in China

 Politics, poetry, and axiology of the Laozi

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 16: Comparative project presentations 比较项目的介绍 (2-credit hours)

 Mini-test on the contents of the previous class

 Presentations

18.

教材及其它参考资料 Textbook and Supplementary Readings

References：

 Müller, Max (ed.). 1879-1910. Sacred Books of the East (select books and passages from the Avesta, the

Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, Vedic hymns).

 George, Andrew. 2003. The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation. Penguin.

 Johnston, Ian. 2010. Homer. Iliad.

 Bodhi, Bhikkhu; Bhikkhu, Ñāṇamoli (1995). The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the

Majjhima Nikaya. Wisdom Publications.

 Henderson, John B. 1991. Scripture, Canon, and Commentary: A Comparison of Confucian and Western

Exegesis. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.

 Levering, Miriam, ed. 1989. Rethinking Scripture: Essays from a Comparative Perspective. Albany: State

University of New York Press.

 Carr, David McLain. 2005. Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature. Oxford; New

York: Oxford University Press.

 Lord, Albert Bates, Stephen Arthur Mitchell, and Gregory Nagy. 2000. The Singer of Tales. Harvard University

Press.

课程评估 ASSESSMENT

19.

评估形式

Type of

Assessment

评估时间

Time

占考试总成绩百分比

% of final

score

违纪处罚

Penalty

备注

Notes

出勤 Attendance

课堂表现

Class

Performance

小测验

Quiz

10%

Current performance is evaluated

based on regular mini-tests on the

contents of the previous class.

课程项目 Projects

平时作业

Assignments

90%

Students submit three essays during

the course. Each essay will be no

less than 2000 words and no more

than 4000 words (English). Each

essay amounts to 30% of the final

grade. Students can submit more

than three essays, in which case only

the three essays that have gained the

highest grade will be considered.

Students will give 10-minutes

presentations on the contents of their

essays.

Guided reading: students may

choose to conduct a 30-minutes

guided reading session (no more

than one), which will be considered

equal to one essay (30% of the final

grade).

Comparative project: students may

choose to undertake a comparative

project (no less than 5000 and no

more than 10000 words) on texts

from two different cultures. A

comparative project will be

considered equal to two essays (60%

of the final grade).

期中考试

Mid-Term Test

期末考试

Final Exam

期末报告

Final

Presentation

其它（可根据需要

改写以上评估方

式）

Others (The

above may be

modified as

necessary)

20.

记分方式 GRADING SYSTEM

 A. 十三级等级制 Letter Grading

 B. 二级记分制（通过/不通过） Pass/Fail Grading

课程审批 REVIEW AND APPROVAL

21.

本课程设置已经过以下责任人/委员会审议通过

This Course has been approved by the following person or committee of authority