The following descriptions of courses being offered by the Department of Religion in Fall 2024 were submitted by the course instructors.
Specific information regarding the dates, times, and locations of these courses may be found in the Registrar’s official webpage: Schedule of Courses for Fall 2024.
If you are looking for a complete syllabus for a course, check the Syllabi page or click on the course title below for availability.
IDS 1114 – Ethics and the Public Sphere – Peterson
Ethical questions are at the core of public discussions about many contentious issues, including the #metoo movement and sexual violence, economic inequality, racial justice, climate change, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education. Debates about these issues are often so polarized that constructive discussions, let alone solutions, seem hard to find. This Quest 1 class examines the ways various ethical theories can help us address contemporary challenges creatively and constructively.
IDS 2925 – Authentic Leadership – Anantharam
Is it possible to lead without compromising your values? Is an authentic leadership style which emphasizes cardinal virtues (prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, etc.) profitable for business or is it better suited for social justice movements and non-profit contexts? How can we discern which leadership style has worked best for what contexts – and why is authentic leadership important now? This course asks these questions in both theoretical and practical terms. It asks how different people in different historical and social contexts have lead organizations and movements and explores the influence of religion and spirituality on their leadership strategies, styles, and effectiveness in achieving their goals.
IDS 2935 – Why is there Evil in the World – Feller
The problem of evil has been a focus of intense reflection by philosophers, theologians, psychologists, and novelists. Students will address this key theme in the human condition in this Quest 1 course. Question that will be asked include: What is evil? How have monotheistic traditions attempted to grapple with God’s goodness and the problem of evil? Can natural disasters be considered evil? What turns ordinary people into perpetrators? The class will enable students to analyze this question in a written form and orally by drawing on a variety of methodologies from different fields in the humanities including philosophy, religion, history, and art. Students will not only read and analyze classical texts such as the biblical book of Job, as well modern interpretation of classical themes in TV shows such as Good Omens. Outside the classroom, students will also experience artefacts in museums and the library’s special collections. Among the skills acquired in the process are close reading, critical thinking, and effective communication of ideas. These will be developed through class discussions, in-class exercises, personal reflection pieces, artistic projects, as well as a final analytical paper. The case studies examined, historical and contemporary alike, including Egypt in antiquity, Italy of the Middle Ages, and twentieth century Germany and France.
IDS 2935 – Post-Holocaust American Jews – Feller
We are accustomed to thinking about the importance of the Holocaust, itself, as a specific event, but it was also a historical event with enduring consequences for American culture and society. In this class, we will be looking at some of the aspects of culture that the Holocaust affected, such as attitudes toward antisemitism; the treatment of minority groups in the US; the place of survivors and witnesses in American culture; and the stories that comic books and museums tell.
IDS 2935 – Identity in American Buddhism – Poceski
How are religious identities constructed, and how they intersect with other key identities, fashioned by diverse individuals and communities, within the context of modern life? The course explores this essential question via the lenses of the historical growth and ongoing transformation of Buddhism in America. To that end, it analyses the ways in which Buddhists try (or fail) to reconcile their multiple identities with the central Buddhist doctrine of no-self. The focus of the course is on the key processes of identity formation as important factors in the making of American Buddhism, and the complex patterns of interaction among discrete identities. Students explore the historical events and central issues that continue to shape the growing presence of Buddhism as an integral part of America’s remarkably diverse religious and cultural landscapes, in relation to the ways individuals and communities fashion overlapping identities based on religious affiliation, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or nationhood. The course adopts a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating perspectives and methodologies from several academic disciplines: religious studies, history, Asian studies, anthropology, and sociology. Students learn and reflect on the relevant themes and issues by critically engaging with select readings, lectures, discussions, experiential learning, research, and writing.
REL 1101 – Nature, Spirituality, and Popular Culture – Taylor
The course examines nature-related global processes and the religious, spiritual, political dimensions of artistic productions and scientific representations in ‘popular culture.’ It illuminates the tributaries, hybridities, and controversies that flow from these processes in the ongoing struggle of humankind to understand its place in and responsibilities toward the living world.
REL 2240 – New Testament – TBD
An introduction to the study of the New Testament which introduces the historical-critical methods that led to modern Biblical scholarship while addressing questions of authorship, social-historical setting and archaeological evidence. It moves through the text starting with the Gospels and Acts, followed by the Pauline and Deutero-Pauline Epistles, the General Epistles, and Revelation.Special topics and issues include: early Christian Gospels outside the New Testament, the historical Jesus, early Jewish and Christian apocalypticism, archaeology and material culture, iconography, ritual, gender and sexuality, ethics, early Christian antisemitism, and how the contents were finalized in the fourth century and how the text and its study continues to resonate in our society today.
REL 2300 – Introduction to World Religions – Narayanan
Introduction to World Religions will discuss some of the texts, beliefs, rituals, art, and architecture of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Chinese Religions, Japanese Religions, and Indigenous Religions in a historical context. We will identify the social and cultural factors that come into play in the formation and understanding of these traditions, and see the different dimensions of the term “religion.”
REL 2341 – Introduction to Buddhism – Poceski
The course is a broad survey of the essential beliefs, doctrines, and practices that over the centuries have fashioned the identity of Buddhism as a pan-Asian religion that transcends ethnic, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. The course covers the historical development of the major Buddhist traditions, including the formulation of key doctrinal tenets and religious practices, the growth of the monastic order, and the formation of new religious ideals and doctrines by the Mahāyāna tradition. We also explore the spread and transformation of Buddhism outside of India, including China and the Western world, before and during the modern period.
REL 2362 – Introduction to Islam – Soares
This course introduces students to historical and contemporary dimensions of Islam. Our main questions include: What is the relationship between Islam and Judaism and Christianity? What are the key teachings of the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad? How did Islam develop into empires? What is Sufism? How did modernity transform the Islamic tradition? What are the key challenges facing Muslims in America today? We address these questions through a critical study of primary texts and secondary scholarship from historians, anthropologists, and religious studies specialists.
REL 2502 – Introduction to Christianity – Choi
Who was Jesus? How has a “Jewish sect” become one of the largest global religions? How has the question about what it means to be a “good Christian” changed in different historical and social contexts? While evaluating Christianity’s “truth claims” is beyond the purview of this course, it introduces students to how various Christian groups’ understanding of Jesus Christ and His teaching has greatly shaped our history. The course welcomes anyone interested in understanding the origin and multiplicity of the development of Christianity as a global religion from historical, sociological, and anthropological perspectives.
REL 3022 – Myth and Ritual – TBD
This course examines anthropological and religious studies approaches to myth and ritual, using examples from ancient (Greco-Roman and Norse), indigenous Americas (North, Central and South America), as well as from non-indigenous contexts, such as popular myths and rituals in North American culture. Students can expect to learn how scholars have interpreted the symbolism and meanings of myths and rituals. We will discuss the important place that myth and ritual have in mediating historical change. Of special interest are political rituals, and rituals of spiritual transformation through entheogens or through collective catharsis. Finally, we will consider the preservation of intangible heritage (myths and rituals), which is a topic of vital concern to many traditional peoples.
REL 3108 – Religion and Food – Anantharam
Food is one of the most critical, yet understudied, aspects of human experience. Most of us like to eat, and food is a tangible way in which we articulate our religious, ethical and moral selves. Religious values shape how we feast and fast, and feed the deities and feed ourselves. This course will explore the relationship between food and religion by (1) investigating food in the context of specific religious traditions, e.g. Hinduism; and (2) examining food as a moral and ethical category in religious and secular contexts, e.g., organic and locavore. Topics include, but are not limited to, food and ritual; food and religious ethics; religion, food and sustainability.
REL 3120 – Religion and the American Immigrant Experience – Choi
“America is a nation of immigrants.” This statement often serves as a cliché to celebrate the country’s racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. Considering religion as an important variable, this course seeks a better understanding of American society made up of diverse immigrant groups. What are the roles of religion in the ongoing history of immigration from the beginning of the country? How does religion facilitate immigrants to maintain or lose their distinctive racial and ethnic identities in the process of becoming American? In response to these questions, the course explores various thematic lenses and case studies.
REL 3140 – Religion and Society – Choi
What is the relationship between religion and society? Does our society need religion or not? On the one hand, we have many rational thinkers who once believed that religion as a “byproduct” of society was going to disappear and eventually be replaced by advanced social, political, and economic systems and science. On the other hand, we have experienced an explosion of the global religious population throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In the midst of answering this puzzling question, this course explores various theoretical and thematic examples such as capitalism, race & ethnicity, gender & sexuality, science, and environmentalism to critically reflect upon the relationship between religion and society.
REL 3148 – Religion and Violence – Mian
Religion has a paradoxical relationship with violence. On the one hand, we can easily find numerous examples of religious discourses authorizing and religious actors as well as institutions carrying out violence. On the other hand, religious traditions elaborate antidotes to violence. But what is violence? The use of brute force? Injustice? Terrorizing tactics? The outbursts of radical evil? The bifurcation of humanity into us versus them? Hurting someone’s feelings? What is the relationship between these forms of violence and historical and contemporary religion? This course draws on philosophical, historical, and anthropological studies of violence to highlight the paradox named above, deepening students’ understanding of religion as a complex historical phenomenon.
REL 3160 – Religion and Science – Peterson
This class explores the complex interactions between religion and science. We will address a variety of topics, including historical perspectives on the relations between religion and science; scientific and religious theories about the origins of life, particularly evolution by natural selection; and contemporary issues such as bioethics and environmental problems.
REL 3294 – Apocalypticism – Kawashima
Apocalypticism refers in the first instance to a development within Second Temple Judaism. As such, it originated in the religious culture of ancient Israel and the ancient Near East more generally, and it eventually came to constitute the religious-cultural matrix out of which Christianity was eventually born. This development entailed both a new literary form, namely, the apocalypse (literally “revelation”), and also a new way of viewing reality, what we might refer to as the apocalyptic “worldview.” This course will focus in particular on Jewish and Christian apocalypticism through a survey of apocalyptic texts from the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Jewish literature (including the Dead Sea Scrolls), and the New Testament.
REL 3938 – Ottoman Palestine – Ecker
REL 3938 – Jews in the Muslim World – Ecker
REL 4145 – Gender, Women, Sexuality, and Religion – Mian
This course consists of two parts: (1) a theoretical introduction to scholarship on gender and sexuality in religious studies, and (2) an empirically-grounded and multi-genre study of gender and sexuality in contemporary Islam. Our key questions at the intersection of religion and gender/sexuality include: What are the limitations of secular liberal feminism and how might this formation of feminism move beyond its negative assessment of religion? How are women’s rights and womanist causes pursued in the non-West? What resources does queer theory offer to think about religious traditions? The readings in Part I will especially tackle these questions. Part II uses historical scholarship, anthropological studies, and a range of other sources (films, art works, memoirs, and so on) to illuminate gender and sexuality in contemporary Islam.
REL 4268 – Global Islam – Soares
Addresses the need for a deeper understanding of the diversity of Muslim cultures/societies in the contemporary global context; combines topical and geographical approach and studies Islam as it intersects with broader social, cultural, political, and economic dynamics.
REL 4922 – Comparative Study (Senior Seminar) – Kawashima
In this seminar, we will approach the comparative study of religion through the lens of Foucault’s project, “the archaeology of knowledge.” We will conceptualize and analyze religions as discourses, realized in various beliefs, rituals, institutions, and so forth. We will specifically compare the religious traditions of what might be thought of, broadly speaking, as the ancient Mediterranean world: Greece, Mesopotamia, and Canaan, especially Israel, namely, the Hebrew Bible.
RLG 5365 – Studies in Islam: Gender Women Sex and Religion – Mian
This course consists of two parts: (1) a theoretical introduction to scholarship on gender and sexuality in religious studies, and (2) an empirically-grounded and multi-genre study of gender and sexuality in contemporary Islam. Our key questions at the intersection of religion and gender/sexuality include: What are the limitations of secular liberal feminism and how might this formation of feminism move beyond its negative assessment of religion? How are women’s rights and womanist causes pursued in the non-West? What resources does queer theory offer to think about religious traditions? The readings in Part I will especially tackle these questions. Part II uses historical scholarship, anthropological studies, and a range of other sources (films, art works, memoirs, and so on) to illuminate gender and sexuality in contemporary Islam.
RLG 5365 – Studies in Islam: Modern Middle East Politics – Sohn
The course will address politics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) beginning with Ottoman institutional relations with various types of social communities. It will then move to address several important themes in the politics of the region in the 20th and 21st centuries.