Studies religion as individual experience and social phenomenon. Examines varieties of religious language (symbol, myth, ritual, scripture) and of religious experience (Asian, Western, archaic). Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.
"Making" is the core idea that connects artificial intelligence (cyborgs and robots) with classic literature (Prometheus, Pygmalion, Golem and Frankenstein) and fundamental religious and cultural concerns (Genesis, technology, work). The guiding question is what will humanity and religion be in the future? The goal is less predictive than to set a mandate with potential strategies for those who will create this future.
Ritual continues to play an important role in contemporary societies in both religious and secular contexts. This course examines the elements and genres of ritual activity from African rites of passage to the Beijing Olympics, paying close attention to how the media documents, appropriates and transforms aspects of ritual. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: Contemporary Societies.
Examine the content of the Hebrew Bible and critical theories regarding its development. Explore the development of these texts, as well as their foundational role for rabbinic literature and the New Testament. Assess the enduring influence of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in world literature and culture (such as in art and music). Same as JWST 1900.
Examine the background, content and influence of the New Testament books. Student the diverse perspectives contained in the various books, as well as the process of canonization. Assess the influence of the New Testament on the development of Christianity as well as world (eastern and western) culture. Same as JWST 1910.
Continued study of the grammar of classical Sanskrit and translation of selected readings from the literature. Meets MAPS requirement for foreign language. Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of SNSK 1020 (minimum grade C-).
Introduces students to foundational Islamic concepts, texts, core practices, historical narratives and intellectual, spiritual and literary traditions. Topics covered include: the figure of Muhammad; the Quran; the emergence of distinct Muslim identities; Hadith; Sharia; Islamic theology; Islamic philosophy; science in Islamic civilization; Islamic mysticism; the impact of colonialism and modernity on the Muslim world; gender and sexuality; political Islam. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: Ideals and Values.
Explores the role of religion in contemporary society, focusing on debates in religious ethics. Examining diverse voices from Christianity, Judaism and other traditions, this course considers religion's role in debates about issues such as same-sex marriage, climate change, war, criminal justice, torture, sexual ethics, abortion and economic justice. Approved for GT-SS3. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies.
Explores the development of various religions within the shaping influences of American culture, including separation of church and state, the frontier experience, civil religion, and the interaction of religions of indigenous peoples, immigrants, and African Americans. Approved for GT-AH2. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: United States context or ideals and values.
Introduces literature, beliefs, practices, and institutions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, in historical perspective. Same as JWST 2600. Approved for GT-AH3. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.
Introduces the literature, beliefs, practices, and institutions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, in historical perspective. Approved for GT-AH2. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.
Addresses the history and philosophy of yoga, beginning from its earliest articulations in Vedic India 1200 BCE up to contemporary understandings of yoga. Examines yoga's historical evolution from a primarily mental practice to a bodily centered practice. Also looks at the shifts yoga undergoes as it becomes popular in the modern West.
Offers a cultural history of Greek and Roman religion. Students read ancient texts in translation and use evidence from archaeology to reconstruct the shift from paganism to Christianity in antiquity. No Greek or Latin required. Same as CLAS 2610. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.
Introduces literature, beliefs, practices, and institutions of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shintoism in historical perspective. Approved for GT-AH3. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.
Introduces religions of the peoples indigenous to the Americas. Concerns include ritual, mythology, and symbolism occurring throughout these cultures in such areas as art, architecture, cosmology, shamanism, sustenance modes, trade, and history. Same as ETHN 2703. Approved for GT-AH2. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values or human diversity.
Examines roles of women in a variety of religious traditions including Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and goddess traditions. Same as WMST 2800. Approved for GT-AH2. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.
Serves as an introduction to the academic study of Christianity, understood in its historical context, beginning with its most remote Mesopotamian origins and through to beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. Coverage is global, but "Western" Christian tradition are emphasized, as is the evolution of doctrine, ritual and institutions in relation to social, cultural and political factors. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: historical context.
Expanding the five common senses so they are grounded on a more fundamental kinesthetic sense, that is, sense of movement, this course focuses on the study of religion and culture on all those marvelous richly and sensuously textured aspects of religious behavior: movement, experience, feeling, action, sensation, gesture, art, music, dancing, architecture, costume, food, and ritual.
Seminar for religious studies majors that emphasizes the development of writing skills for use inside as well as outside the academy. Writing assignments are focused on one or more core topics in religious studies. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: written communication. Requisites: Restricted to students with 57-180 credits (Junior or Senior) Religious Studies (RLST) majors only.
Studies religious dimensions of American culture through representative literature, beginning with the Puritans and focusing on diversity in the 19th and 20th centuries. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: United States context.
