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REL110 Religion in a Global Context
(Multiple Sections)
This course introduces students to the study of religion in its cultural and historical contexts and aims to familiarize students with the multi-faceted role of religion in the world including examination of social, economic, historical, political, and ethical factors.
REL 202 Hindu Traditions – Allocco
Tuesday, Thursday 12:25-2:05
This course introduces students to Hindu religious traditions and traces their development from Vedic times to the present day. Special emphasis will be placed on the diversity of theological orientations that characterize classical and contemporary Hinduism, and which are articulated across a broad spectrum of textual traditions, ritual expressions, and social practices.
REL 203 Islamic Traditions
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:50-12:00
This course introduces students to the scripture, doctrines, and practices of Islam in the context of Islam’s spread from the Middle East to every region of the modern world. Particular attention will be paid to such issues as communal authority, the Islamic world’s relations with the West, and the emergence of new Muslim communities in America and Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries.
REL 205 Jewish Traditions – Claussen
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:15-1:25
This course traces the history of the Jewish community from its origins in ancient Israel to the present day, considering the evolution of its major ideas and practices as well as the diversity of Jewish cultures throughout the world. We will explore a range of classical and contemporary Jewish approaches to theology, ethics, ritual, gender, peoplehood, spirituality, authority, and relations with other communities.
REL 212 Introduction to the New Testament and Early Christian Literature
Monday, Wednesday 3:35-5:15
In this course students approach the writings of early Christianity as literary and rhetorical responses to ancient social, political, and religious concerns. Students are introduced to the multi-faceted worlds surrounding the emerging Christian communities, as well as some of the realities created by these writings. In so doing, this course equips students with the tools for reading complex and ancient texts from a critical perspective.
REL 292 Approaches to the Study of Religion – Peters
Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-12:10
This course is designed to orient students in religious studies to the broader landscape of the field. In the process, students will be challenged to examine and compare a variety of methodological approaches to the study of religion. This course will also train students in advanced research and writing in the field. Prerequisites: REL 110.
REL 348 Environmental Ethics
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:15-1:25
In an exploration of the moral dimensions of the environmental crisis, students examine the roles which religious and philosophical ethics play in providing frameworks for understanding environmental issues and developing guidelines for addressing specific contemporary problems.
REL 356 Chinese Religions – Winfield
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:25-10:35
Chinese "religious" thought and practice can include philosophy, political science, ethics, aesthetics, physical education, medicine and mysticism. This course broadens the category of "religion" as we investigate traditions such as Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, Islam, Christianity and/or popular religion in China. Less familiar ideologies and a critical assessment of Communist texts, images and state rituals will also be considered.
REL 363 Women in Islam – Allocco
Monday, Wednesday 3:35-5:15
This course explores Muslim women’s religious roles, participation and practices throughout the history of Islam and across a variety of cultural contexts. Attention will be paid to the diversity of interpretations concerning textual prescriptions about women in Islam and to women’s own articulations about their religious identities, and to how the ways that women have negotiated their everyday religious lives are intimately related to social location, economic considerations, and political developments.
REL 379 Jewish-Christian Dialogue – Claussen and Pugh
Monday, Wednesday 1:40-3:20
Judaism and Christianity have shared a troubled history since the moment Christianity separated itself from Judaism. This separation gave rise to horrible actions perpetuated on Judaism by Christianity right up to the Holocaust. It was this event and its consequences that prompted persons in both communities to establish a new conversation between Judaism and Christianity that extends into the present time. This course will explore the history of Jewish-Christian encounters, beginning with an examination of who Jesus was and culminating in an exploration of contemporary dialogues between Jews and Christians about their respective religious traditions.
REL 460 Monsters in the Bible – Huber
Tuesday, Thursday 2:20-4:00
Leviathan. Giants. A great red dragon. Horned beasts that arise from the sea. Bodies emerging from tombs. The texts of biblical tradition, including Jewish and early Christian writings, include creatures that many think would be more likely to see appear the silver screen than on the parchment and paper of religious communities’ sacred texts. In this seminar participants will examine the rhetorical nature and function of “monsters” within their ancient historical settings. We will seek to understand how monsters and references to the monstrous are used, especially within Ancient Near Eastern, Hellenistic Jewish, and Roman contexts, to persuade communities toward particular ways of thinking and acting. Among other lines of inquiry, we will address how the category of the monstrous is employed to depict power, regulate sexuality and gender, and to characterize the ethnic or cultural “other.” Some attention will be paid to how these monsters are interpreted in later, including medieval and modern, contexts. This course assumes that the student has taken at least one course in Religious Studies.