Class Schedules

This course charts the formation of Islam and the expansion of Muslim peoples, from the life of the Prophet Muhammad to the Mongol conquest of Baghdad. It will examine Muslim institutions, beliefs, and ritual practices in their historical contexts. In addition to the basics of Muslim practice and belief, the class will introduce students to mystic traditions (Sufism), Islamicate statecraft, and intellectual/legal traditions as well as cultural trends including art, architecture, and literature.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Buddhism is increasingly well-known in the USA, but what is it, and how does Buddhism encourage people to organize and think about their lives? Organized on the basis of the Eightfold Noble Path, with a focus of 'morals, the Buddhist psychology of mind, and meditation,'  this course offers an introduction to the personalities, teachings, and institutions of Buddhism. Beginning in India at the time of the Buddha, this course focuses on Theravada Buddhism, asking students to think historically, philosophically, and anthropologically. Many Friday sessions will be dedicated to an exploration of the variety of Buddhist meditative techniques.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

For thousands of years, the Bible has been the subject of some of the most enduring pieces of art. From the ancient synagogue mosaics of Dura-Europos to the paintings of Rembrandt and Caravaggio, Jewish and Christian Scripture has animated the artistic imagination for centuries. Today, the medium of film is among the most prominent vehicles for presenting biblical ideas and reimagining the narrative of the Bible in contemporary contexts. This course explores the various ways that modern filmmakers draw on the Bible for their messaging and infuse their cinematic art with ancient theology, ethics, and ideology. Students will analyze films alongside biblical texts, and supplement their analyses with interdisciplinary materials (e.g., readings, videos, and podcasts) from the fields of critical theory, gender and queer theory, feminist interpretation, the philosophy of religion, popular criticism, classical literature, and more.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course will introduce students to the study of folklore, belief, and religious folklife of the Maya people at different points in history. We will consider examples of folktales, myths, foodways, material arts, paranormal experience narratives, magic, healing, and other traditions as they relate to religion. We will pay particular attention to the complex and sometimes problematic relationships between missionaries and Maya people in the construction of official and unofficial religions. By examining folklore that emerges within, between, and in reaction to religious traditions, students will be challenged to move beyond simple notions of culture, religious authority, and doctrine.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Like Latin and Greek in Europe, Sanskrit is a highly inflected language of scholarship and revered as the perfect medium for discourse on everything from science and sex to philosophy and religion. It flourished in its classical form after the age of the Buddha (5th century BC) and served as a scholarly lingua franca in India until the Islamic period. This course serves as an introduction to the grammar an script of Sanskrit, and we will advance to a point of reading simplified texts from the classical epic Ramayana.Students will be expected to attend class regularly and spend at least ten hours a week outside class studying the grammar and vocabulary. Without this sort of effort, no progress is possible in such a complex language. In addition to the rigorous study of the language, we will consider both the role of the language in classical Indian culture and religion, and some texts from the Ramayana, looking at both English translation and Sanskrit originals.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A study of the religious tradition of Roman Catholicism. Some attention will be given to the theology and historical development of the Roman Catholic Church, but major emphasis will fall on the relationship of the Catholic religion to various Catholic cultures, including Ireland, Mexico, Poland and the United States.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WC
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Asian Americans are often overlooked in the study of religion in the U.S., and yet the impact of Asian religious practices can be seen at every turn: yoga studios, mindfulness meditation, "zen" aesthetics of minimalism, and so on. What do we make of the gap between how Asian religions are practiced in Asian American communities and how these traditions have been reinterpreted by predominantly white, educated, middle class adherents? How do Asian American Christians negotiate their identities in the context of non-Asian Christian churches or the intergenerational tensions within their own ethnic churches? The approach of this course is interdisciplinary (and sometimes counterdisciplinary); it draws on theoretical and methodological insights from ethnic studies, religious studies, history, and sociology. Topics include: race and the racialization of Asian Americans; the politics of cultural and religious exchange; the commodification of Asian religious practices; and issues of assimilation and hybridity within Asian American Christian traditions.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This broadly anthropological class introduces issues in the social study of death and the dead generally, focusing on the diverse ways in which different societies treat the dead as a social group, and the social powers that emerge from the practices of dealing with the dead. The class uses comparative examples to explore general themes, rooting these discussions in concrete cases.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

In this class you will examine ideas about love among ancients in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa. Topics include love of friends, love of family, love of God/gods, erotic love, love magic, myth, and poetry. Alongside your classmates, professor, and occasional guest speakers, you will pay special attention to diverse constructions of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, bodies, reproduction, and power and how these intersected with ancient conceptions of love. You will learn to engage theories from the last forty years (i.e. Foucault, feminist theory, queer historical theory, radiant historiography) as you explore ancient texts, sculpture, paintings, and mosaic (from Homeric myth to Augustine’s Confessions, from the poetry of Sappho to the Song of Songs, from ancient Greek vase painting to portraits on sarcophagi). This class will be taught in a seminar style, with large and small group discussion, student presentations, short lecture formats, low-stakes writing assignments, reflections that build to a larger project, and attention to creative works such as poetry and art.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

According to some trends in Islamic thought, the Imaginal Realm, not bound to the physical world, yet not completelyabstract, gives access to the faculty of imagination to catch glimpses of the Truth. This course is a wide rangingengagement with the imaginative discourses of Muslims. We will look at autobiographical, epistolary, and literary sourcesas well as music, painting, and movies spanning Islamic history in order to discuss the worldview of different Muslims on being, life and death, love, skepticism about religious claims, mystical journeys, and immigration. Besides reading original texts (in English translation), we will look at secondary sources that contextualize the historical and theoreticalissues under study.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Do men have gender? How does the performance of masculinity intersect with patriarchy? In what ways do patriarchy and masculinity relate to religious traditions, practices, and expressions? In this course, we consider how religious discourses have shaped and been shaped by different understandings of masculinity. We will take as our starting point contemporary discussions of “muscular Christianity” or “getting buff for Jesus” in the U.S. today before shifting into a theoretical discussion of gender, power, and the construction of masculinity through Raewyn Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity and Jack Halberstam’s work on female masculinity. In the latter half of the course, we will take a comparative approach, examining how differing understandings, ideals, and embodiments of masculinity are negotiated across religious traditions.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course will explore white Christian nationalism, the confluence of white supremacy and the idea that the US is a Christian nation whose laws should conform to Christian values and principles. Although public consciousness of white Christian nationalism has increased since the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, it has a centuries-long history and continues to influence US politics, culture and religious life. Topics in this course include nationalism, racial liberalism, whiteness, and civil religion.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Religion and Law in Africa is an intermediate cross-listed history and religion course designed to teach students how to think like historians and assess how the legal systems of indigenous African societies have been shaped by their respective religions and cosmologies. This course also explores how Arab migration and European colonization in different parts of Africa imposed new legal systems that were influenced by either Islam or Christianity. The major themes of this class include African agency, indigenous African forms of knowledge and periodization, the interconnectedness of religious, legislative, and judicial facets of African societies, and diversity among African regions, societies, ethnic groups, religions, and languages. It counts toward the Legal Studies and African Studies concentrations. For history, it meets either the pre-1800 or post-1800 requirement and can count towards the “Law & Social Justice,” or “Race and Indigeneity,” or “Africa & Atlantic World” fields.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What is meant by nation and national identity? Is nation a primordial concept or a byproduct of Modernity? What social, economic, sexual, religious, and racial factors are at work in creating a nation? This course looks at these questions in the context of the Modern Middle East, when competing nation-building enterprises were at work to establish an “authentic national identity” with a focus on religious identity. We will look at political essays, literary creations, images, and songs to study the diverse ways in which the nation is imagined and critiqued in the region, along with sources on Modern political thought.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

An advanced seminar required for religious studies majors, open to minors. Both classic and contemporary theories on the nature of religion and critical methods for the study of religion will be considered. Prerequisite(s): Two courses in Religious Studies and permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Buddhism is increasingly well-known in the USA, but what is it, and how does Buddhism encourage people to organize and think about their lives? Organized on the basis of the Eightfold Noble Path, with a focus of 'morals, the Buddhist psychology of mind, and meditation,'  this course offers an introduction to the personalities, teachings, and institutions of Buddhism. Beginning in India at the time of the Buddha, this course focuses on Theravada Buddhism, asking students to think historically, philosophically, and anthropologically. Many Friday sessions will be dedicated to an exploration of the variety of Buddhist meditative techniques.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

In this course, we will study the Jewish Bible (also called the Tanakh or Old Testament) in its original cultural and literary contexts. Alongside an analysis of the biblical texts, students will also encounter related literature from the Ancient Near East to compare with the Bible. Through this comparative approach, we will gain insight into ancient history, as well as the political and theological views of the Israelites and their neighbors. We will also see how the Jewish Bible contributes to various topics of discourse that remain relevant today, including issues around ethnicity, feminism, LGBTQ concerns, God and science, ethics, and collective memory. As such, students will have the opportunity to put the Bible into dialogue with their own understandings of identity, society, and religiosity.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course examines the diverse literature of the New Testament along with some other early Christian texts that did not become part of the Christian "canon." We will employ historical-critical approaches in order to situate New Testament texts in their social, political, and historical contexts. We will pay special attention to how the various authors of the New Testament produced Jewish-Christian difference and how they understood the role of women within their communities. Contemporary modes of interpretation will be employed to explore the formation of identity in the first and second centuries of Christianity.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course examines the diverse literature of the New Testament along with some other early Christian texts that did not become part of the Christian "canon." We will employ historical-critical approaches in order to situate New Testament texts in their social, political, and historical contexts. We will pay special attention to how the various authors of the New Testament produced Jewish-Christian difference and how they understood the role of women within their communities. Contemporary modes of interpretation will be employed to explore the formation of identity in the first and second centuries of Christianity.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Our goal will be to make an effort to comprehend just what cultural literacy would mean when studying the major religious traditions of the world, while at the same time developing an appreciation of some of the blind spots and problems in this enterprise. To a large extent, we will do some serious construction before we feel ready for de-construction. Every couple of weeks, we will cover one of five major areas (South Asia, East Asia, Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and each student will read a different author's treatment of this material.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This class will be a reflection on the long history of co-existence of people in South Asia thought to belong to two very different religions Hinduism and Islam. We will begin by looking at the formation of classical Islam in the Middle East, and looking at the classical Hindu epic, the Ramayana. From there we will move to a survey of the history of encounter and exchange, from the early period (al Biruni), to the establishment of the great Muslim sultanates. We will critically examine the evidence of religious conflict, alongside the evidence of rich cultural exchange, and interrogate the competing historigrahic narratives, according to which South Asia either become a single Indo-Islamic civilization or a place of two cultures destined to become different modern nation states (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). Finally, we will consider colonial and post colonial South Asia and conclude with a reflection on the Babri Masjid crisis and India's debates about secularism.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

The course is an introduction to some of the important theoretical and methodological work conducted by scholars in various disciplines who hope to better define and understand religious phenomena. This seminar begins with some of the early twentieth century texts that are often cited and discussed by contemporary scholars of religion (e.g., Durkheim, Weber, Freud) and then turns to a number of investigations stemming from engagement with earlier theorists or refracting new concerns. The course inquires into the problems of defining and analyzing religious cultures, and the researcher's position or positions in this analysis, as this has been approached from anthropological, sociological, and religious studies perspectives.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WC

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

All readings and class taught in English; no pre-knowledge required. Marx's contribution to the theorization of the function of the imaginary in both the constitution of subjectivity and the mechanisms of politics and economy-usually referred to as ideology-cannot be overestimated. The first part of this course traces Marx's gradual conceptualization of the imaginary throughout his work-as well as further Marxist theoreticians, such as Louis Althusser, Étienne Balibar, and Slavoj Žižek-while exploring how the imaginary enabled Marx's discovery of three further crucial concepts: structure, the unconscious, and the symptom, all of which are central in the analysis of culture and ideology. In the second part of the course, we shall focus on the logic and mechanisms of power in contemporary neoliberalism, including the claim that today Marx's theory is no longer relevant (readings will include Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Maurizio Lazzarato, McKenzie Wark).

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials