This course presents an examination of the origins and early evolution of images of the afterlife among the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean basin and Near East. The course will focus on ancient Israelite, biblical, and early Jewish and Christian images. Later developments of these images within Western religions will also be discussed. Graduate-level requirements include more depth methodological issues related to the study of heaven and afterlife motifs as they appear in the cultures of the Mediterranean Basin in antiquity. Graduate students will meet as a group with the professor six times during the course of the semester. Moreover, each graduate student will meet individually with the professor four times during the semester to develop and write a 20-page term paper on a topic proposed by the student.

The scientific theory of evolution by natural selection has had a profound philosophical influence on ideas of chance, purpose and progress, sometimes running into conflict with religion in the process. This course will provide a forum for rigorous, authentic, respectful but not circumscribed discussion of these core philosophical issues, including both scientific and theological perspectives.

This course concentrates on the evidence for Greek sanctuary sites between 1000 and 600 B.C. We examine the excavated material from numerous sanctuary sites, including architectural remains (temples and/or altars), votive offerings of bronze and clay, and any other evidence revealing religious practices during these formative years. The role the sanctuaries played in society is also considered with a view to their political, social, economic and spiritual implications for Archaic Greek life. Graduate-level requirements include a more extensive paper than undergraduates.

This course examines the rise of Mormonism as a uniquely "American" religious phenomenon, examining Mormons' engagement with social, political, economic, and sexual dynamics in American life from the nineteenth century to the present day. Mormon history provides a lens for examining key topics in American religious history, including the creation, maintenance, and fragmentation of New Religious Movements; religious violence; church/state relations; constructions of race, gender, and sexuality; modern sacred space; and the globalization of religion. Graduate-level requirements include an original research paper of fifteen to twenty pages in length.

This course will study the history and intersections of religion and literature in Latin America. Graduate-level requirements include a 20-25 page research paper.

The course's objectives are (1) to acquaint students with traditional literature and contemporary research on Islamic movements, and 2) to introduce students to the historical and ideological basis of an emerging globalized political Islam. Graduate-level requirements include a 12 page student essay and final paper 25-30 pages.

This course critically explores the categories of "religion," "spirituality," and "the sacred" as they relate to American Indian communities, traditions, lifeways, histories, narratives, ceremony, and land. Focusing on both the plurality of indigenous lifeways and shared characteristics, some major topics that will be examined include the role of religion both in the colonization of Native people as well as in resistance to colonization, the importance of land/place/ecosystem and conceptions of sacred space, and issues of religious freedom and the fight for traditional land. Throughout we will analyze the efficacy of the terms "religion" and "spirituality" as well as engage with concerns regarding the academic study of Native American religions more broadly.

This course is designed to offer tools for engaging religious and cultural diversity within healthcare settings, which includes consideration of religious patients, religious healthcare workers, faith-based healthcare institutions, and the impact of religious communities on healthcare laws and services. To develop skills for navigating intercultural differences, students will practice applying academic approaches to religion to health-related case studies.

This is a discussion-based seminar that focuses on theoretical approaches to the body and religion. Using Transgender Studies, Intersex Studies, Disability Studies, and Critical Race Theory, we will examine how religions approach the body. Graduate-level requirements include a 20-25 page paper that cites at least five academic sources. They will present their research to the class. They will pick a reading from the syllabus and facilitate class discussion on that reading.

Early Christian and late antique literatures document one of the most significant periods of the human past. This period witnessed and helped to inaugurate the gradual transformation of classical society, government, and religion into three distinct cultures: the Medieval West, Byzantine, and Islamic. The western Mediterranean formed a European, Christian society made up of distinct European nations. In the eastern Mediterranean, the Roman Empire continued as the "Byzantine Empire," and the seventh century saw the birth of another major world religion, Islam, along with the Islamic caliphate. Early Christian and late antique literatures are characterized by a rich interdisciplinarity, but the social, religious, and political impact of Christianity is at the core of the Latin literature of this period. One particular focus of the course will be the "conflict" between Christian and pagan Latin literature -- the problem of how to reconcile the literary inheritance of the pagan past with the Christian present. The texts of Tertullian and Jerome are the loci classici for the discussion of Christian attitudes to pagan literature and culture, a theme we will address first in their texts and then in all subsequent readings. Although our course will include source readings from the wider Latin West (e.g. North Africa and Gaul), our focus will be upon the dramatic transformation of fourth-century Rome into the Primatial See of the Catholic Church and the destination of religious pilgrimage -- the new Jerusalem. Graduate-level requirements include a ten-page research paper or instructional module. Alternatively, a graduate-level translation of Latin texts may be an option with the approval of the instructor.