Origin and development of Sufism and its impact on Muslim and non-Muslim worlds.

The characteristic features of Hebrew poetry. The literary development of these writings and their function in the Israelite cult. Examples of biblical poetry outside the book of Psalms also considered.

In this course about Jewish mystical tradition or Kabbalah (and What Celebrities Don't Know About It), students will be introduced to the ideology, symbolism, and major themes of Jewish mysticism in the context of Jewish history. Students will survey that tradition using major texts and concepts in chronological order and interpret them in reference to the historical conditions in which the texts were produced, the internal dynamics of Jewish mysticism itself, and the social and psychological functions that mysticism fulfilled and fulfills for its practitioners.

This course examines Dante's masterpiece, "The Divine Comedy", the poet's life and other works. The primary focus is on "The Divine Comedy" and its influence on European literature and culture. Other texts will be included.

This course will be an in-depth exploration of the history of the religious traditions of India. We will frame the course through the earliest extant religious materials from the Harappan Civilization and the Vedic literary corpus and the philosophical ferment of the Upanisads and the Sramanas (Jainism and Buddhism). From there we will look at the emergence of Puranic Hinduism in the medieval period as it vied with Buddhism and Jainism for imperial and popular patronage. Finally, we will investigate the dialogue and evolution of Indian religions during the period of Muslim kingdoms and European colonialism.

This course discusses the impact of globalization on the environment and ecology, with a particular focus on indigenous cultures and religions in the context of environmental instability.

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.

This course therefore 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.

This course presents an anthropological analysis of Islam as a key factor for understanding contemporary Muslim societies. The course addresses the significance of Islam in public and domestic life. Moving beyond approaches that locate Islam geographically, highlighting its particularities and links to local cultural contexts, this course offers a comparative approach to the examination of central cultural, social, and political practices of contemporary Muslim societies. The course examines the ways in which regional, cultural, and historical processes intersect with Islam as a religious, legal, cultural, economic, and political system and provide frameworks for understanding Islam as the globalizing phenomena that it is today.

A critical study of philosophical and religious theories regarding the role of God in the existence of evil, the sources of these theories in sacred texts of monotheistic religions, and the relationship between religion and violence in contemporary global cultures.