Course Offerings

Fall 2024

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

REL 101 - Filler, Emily A.

An introduction to the history, literature and interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament).

FS: First-Year Seminar: Race, Resistance, and Religion in America

REL 180A - Clark, Eric C. (Jawanza)

First-year seminar.

Special Topics in Religion: Religion in America

REL 195D - Clark, Eric C. (Jawanza)

An investigation of the role of religion(s) in the development of American society from the colonial era to the present with attention to indigenous cultures, African-American religious experience, religion and political conflict,  and the diverse identities, institutions, and practices that continue to define American experience.

Special Topics in Religion: Meditation and Self-Knowledge

REL 195E - Lubin, Timothy (Tim)

How do religious and scientific explanations and methods of inquiry differ? What are the roles of reason and authority in each case? This course draws together materials from antiquity to the present, from the West and from Asia, to illustrate a variety of types of systems of "knowledge." Theoretical readings are balanced with diverse case studies from diverse contexts: religious doctrines, mystical practices, alchemy, astrology, sorcery, "traditional medicines," and modern religious movements. Students research a system of their choice and analyze its claims and methods in comparison with those of other traditions covered in the course.

God and the Holocaust

REL 275 - Filler, Emily A.

This seminar-style course considers the impassioned responses to the Holocaust using a variety of sources: autobiography, philosophy and theology, political analysis, theater, and film. Our particular focus will be on Jewish ethical and theological struggles to define Jewish observance, prayer, and communal political responsibility in the wake of the Holocaust.

Senior Seminar

REL 399 - Kosky, Jeffrey L.

This course begins with consideration of the nature of the study of religion. The remainder of the course is devoted to the writing of an independent research project. Students will continue to meet for discussion of work in progress and instruction in the craft of researching and writing a long, multi-source independent research project.

Spring 2024

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Special Topics in Religion: Religion and Tourism

REL 295F - Kang, Samantha

This class interrogates the supposed distinction between travel, pilgrimage, tourism, and mission trips. It utilizes a variety of disciplinary approaches to explore the ways in which authenticity and sacrality are commodified and performed in the modern world. Students will be asked to put theory to work in the exploration of media and material culture, analyzing everything from souvenirs to selfies, postcards to prayer books. Coursework may entail visits to local museums, monuments, and tourist traps.

Winter 2024

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

New Testament

REL 102 - Brown, Alexandra R.

An introduction to the history, literature and interpretation of the New Testament.

Judaism: Tradition and Modernity

REL 106 - Filler, Emily A.

This course is an introduction to the rituals, concepts, and practices of Judaism from antiquity to the present day. Through a wide variety of sources, including rabbinic debate, fiction, drama, liturgy, memoirs, film, and history, we will consider how the Jewish tradition has developed, changed, and interacted with other traditions. Particular attention will be paid to the development of modern Jewish movements and communities.

The Qur'an

REL 108 - Atanasova, Kameliya N.

This course approaches the Qur'an from a range of modern and pre-modern perspectives: as an oral recitation; as a material object; as a historical document; as a literary text; as a foundation for Islamic law, theology and mysticism; and as a source for ethics and social activism. Particular attention is devoted to issues of gender and politics raised by the Qur'an.

Buddhism

REL 131 - Lubin, Timothy (Tim)

A survey of the historical development of the doctrines and practices of Buddhism. After a discussion of the Hindu origins of Buddhism, the course focuses on the development of the Theravada, Vajrayana and Mahayana traditions. A class trip to at least one Buddhist center is included.

Christianity and Modern Culture

REL 152 - Kang, Samantha

A study of Christian thought and cultures in the period from the Reformation into the 21st Century. Particular emphasis is placed on the challenges posed to the foundation of religious belief and practice in a modern context and the Christian responses to these challenges.

Approaches to the Study of Religion

REL 210 - Filler, Emily A.

A study of approaches to understanding religious life and thought as found in selected writings in anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, theology, and comparative religion.

Whose Law? Pluralism, Conflict, and Justice

REL 220 - Lubin, Timothy (Tim)

Society is made up of schools, corporations, religions, guilds, associations, tribes, etc., each defined by a set of more-or-less formal rules that apply in various ways depending on the status of each member. Individuals are thus subject to overlapping obligations and claims, so authorities often come into conflict. This is legal pluralism. This seminar explores the various ways in which such interactions can play out in a range of social, religious, and political environments, and how they can affect people of different statuses differently. Examples range from the Roman empire, the Middle East and South Asia, past and present, to the modern United States and Europe. In each case, we examine the ways in which legal status is defined in relation to the state, religious community, ethnicity or race, and social class. Given different, overlapping, conflicting claims to authority, rights, and obligations, how is justice to be defined, and how can it be served?

Special Topics in Religion: Religion and Ecology

REL 295E - Wilner, Addison B. (Blair)

The study of ecology raises many important questions: How do we understand our relations to the human and other-than-human environment? What traditions of thought and practice have shaped our natural and built environments? What resources do our traditions offer for responding to the environmental crisis we see in the world today? This course investigates religious, philosophical, and theoretical approaches to these and other questions. In particular, it considers responses from religious traditions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, while raising issues of colonialism, race, gender, and political economy.

Seminar in Biblical Studies: Apocalyptic Literature

REL 351A - Brown, Alexandra R.

Since at least the second century before the common era, human beings have responded to periods of chaos, crisis, or decay in culture by writing apocalyptic literature. In our own time, apocalyptic themes (e.g., end-time, cosmic battle, transformation of the earth, hope of restoration) again permeate our literature, art, politics, and science. Our goal in this course will be to gain understanding of the apocalyptic temper of our own and former times by critically exploring the origins, history, and manifestations of the apocalyptic imagination in literature, art, film and music.

Directed Individual Study: Senior Capstone

REL 403A - Atanasova, Kameliya N.

A course devoted to the writing of an independent research project.

Honors Thesis

REL 493 - Brown, Alexandra R.

Honors Thesis.