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.

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.

This course will study the history and intersections of religion and literature in Latin America.

Comparative approaches to the study of religion, systems of ritual and symbolization in the primitive world, shamanism and possession, religious movements, and religion in the modern world.

The Reformation in thought and action both from the perspective of its religious origins and of the political and social conditions. Analysis of its impact on sixteenth century Europe including the spread of Protestant reformation and its companion movement, counter-reformation.

The course 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.