Course will survey the history, textual and archaeological remains of ancient Judaism and the beginnings of Christianity in ancient Judaea from 336 BCE to 135 CE. Special emphasis will focus on how archaeology contributes to the understanding of the history and texts of Ancient Judaism and the New Testament.

This course examines the rich and fascinating civilizations of the Bronze and Iron Age Levant, with a particular focus on Israel and Judah in the Iron Age (1200-587 BCE). The course contextualizes the Levant in its Near Eastern setting, examines international relations and domestic politics, social structure, religion, gender, the development of technology and literacy, daily life and more. The critical tools used for this intriguing investigation include archaeology, history, biblical and other textual studies, anthropology, feminist studies.

This course examines religious beliefs in Africa in order to illuminate connections between religion and culture on that continent, and to examine the relationship between religio-culture and the socio-economic and political forces that shape contemporary African societies.

Introduction to major cultural figures of German speaking countries who have seen, imagined, or experienced what role religion may or can play in human life. An introduction to the religious discourse from the German Middle Ages to the Twenty-First Century, with an emphasis on the emergence of tolerance.

This course surveys the global history and theory of witchcraft and the occult from antiquity to the twentieth century, with a focus on events and practices in the West. We will study various notions of magic and demonology, their intersection with witchcraft trials and witch hunting, the role of religion, shifts in ideas about torture and the law, re-emergence of the occult in 19th-century, the development of Wicca and the cult of the goddess, and persistent concerns over witchcraft in countries such as Angola in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will explore what different societies considered good evidence of the supernatural and how shifting standards of proof and rationality have affected popular understandings of the occult and witchcraft through the centuries. While witchcraft is often associated today with women, we will not focus exclusively on women's experiences. Instead we will investigate the experiences of both sexes with the supernatural and how gender perceptions influenced the construction of ideas about witchcraft. Our examination of the past will be historical in method, but we will also address legal, medical, and anthropological questions in our study. Students will read and interpret original documents and other original sources, learning to understand assumptions about the world that may seem strange to us.

Socio-economic and intellectual roots of modern anti-Semitism, evolution of Nazi policy, the world of death camps, responses of Axis and Allied governments, and responses of the Jews.

Survey of the history and religion of ancient Israel. Ezra-Nehemiah to the Roman Empire, with emphasis on the formation of rabbinic Judaism.

Survey of the history and religion of ancient Israel. Biblical period through the Babylonian Exile; introduction to the Hebrew Bible.

Evolution and global spread of Muslim societies, modernization and its problems.

Rise of Islam, creation of Islamic society, relationship of religion and politics.