Course Schedule

RELI 150B1 – Religion and Popular Culture

This course introduces the study of religion and popular culture. It explores how religion is represented in popular cultural forms, and how social conceptions of "religion" and "popular culture" change over time. Students will examine how differing definitions of religion, culture, and taste intersect with historical and contemporary categories of class, gender, ethnicity, and race.

RELI 160D4 – Introduction to World Religions

This course explores the diversity of religions and religious experiences across the globe. Religions to be examined include, but are not limited to, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as indigenous traditions.

RELI 160D6 – Gender and Religion

This course introduces students to the study of gender and religion. Students will consider foundational questions about the categories of religion and gender- what is religion and how do we study it? What is the relationship between gender and religion? How does gender shape religious roles and experiences, and how has gender in turn been shaped by religious expectations? We will examine some of the most central contemporary political conflicts from the perspective of gender studies and religious studies.

RELI 200 – Introduction to the Study of Religion

The objective of this course is to introduce you to the study of the phenomenon called 'religion'. What makes people religious? How is religion defined? What are the different approaches to understanding religion in all of its diversity? Through a reading of texts from diverse backgrounds and approaches, this course will illuminate the complex and multi-dimensional elements of religion, and how the study of religion can open up new ways of seeing the world.

RELI 211 – Life After Death in World Religions and Philosophies

This course focuses on one Big Question: "How do afterlife beliefs affect the way we live?" It builds connections among the humanities [Religious Studies and Philosophy], the social sciences [Anthropology, Psychology, and Law], and the natural sciences [Medicine] to explore the ways in which religious afterlife beliefs are approached from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Students will analyze a variety of religious afterlife beliefs through case studies, problem-based assignments, and reading/writing genres from the six disciplinary perspectives in order to tackle the Big Question as it relates to their personal, academic, and/or career aspirations.

RELI 220 – Nature, Gods, and Zen: Religion in Japanese Society

This course analyzes the history of religions in Japan and the ways in which "Japanese religion" is portrayed in the contemporary world. In particular, the course examines how issues of race, ethnicity, and equity manifest in Western representations of Japanese religion, which is often essentialized, exoticized, and interpreted through a series of cultural stereotypes as the perpetual "Other" in relation to the West. In order to approach this central theme, the course adopts the disciplinary perspectives of Religious Studies, History, and Asian Studies, all of which will be synthesized through a number of writing exercises to allow for a robust analysis of Japanese religious history and practices in the original context of Japan as well as their portrayals in the West, as evident in such outlets as newspaper articles, travel guides, blogs, and YouTube clips, among others. By taking this course, students will be able to integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives to write analytically on the historical significance of Japanese religion as well as questions of race, ethnicity, and equity in representations of Japanese religion in various contexts.

RELI 222 – Introduction to Zen Buddhism

This course is designed to introduce students to the history,teachings,and practice of Zen Buddhism in China,Japan, Korea and the United States. The course will discuss Zen from a variety of perspectives but will center around the question of the meaning of history. Zen is a tradition of Buddhism that claims to have inherited and to pass on, in an unbroken historical transmission from patriarch to patriarch, the living experience of the Buddha's enlightenment. The course will discuss how Zen's conception of its history is related to its identity as a special tradition within Buddhism, as well as its basic teachings on the primacy of enlightenment, the role of practice, the nature of the mind, and the limitations of language.

RELI 227 – Religion and Film

This course explores religion and its relationship with visual storytelling culture. We will analyze, explore, and challenge various religious, pop-cultural, ideological, and moral messages as presented in various types of film, from art house cinema to blockbuster movies, and genres ranging from horror to comedy.

RELI 235 – Religion, Violence, and Terrorism

This course will study critical theories about the role of religion in acts of terrorism and violence. Through the examination of a range of case studies, this course will explore ways in which religion has been the motivation and justification behind violent conflict, aggression, and persecution.

RELI 277A – History of the Middle East: 600-1453

In this course, students take a humanistic disciplinary perspective to explore the cultural products of the pre-modern Middle East and answer questions about its historical development. Using primary sources in translation and secondary scholarship, students will explore the context of the rise of Islam; the process of conversion and expansion across the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia; the crystallization of Shi'ism and changing notions of religious authority; and the impact of Turkish migrations and Mongol conquests. They will become familiar with major genres of pre-modern Middle Eastern literary, religious, and scientific writings, and use techniques of close reading to answer questions about those texts' ideological positions and contexts.

RELI 277A – History of the Middle East: 600-1453

Honors Course

In this course, students take a humanistic disciplinary perspective to explore the cultural products of the pre-modern Middle East and answer questions about its historical development. Using primary sources in translation and secondary scholarship, students will explore the context of the rise of Islam; the process of conversion and expansion across the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia; the crystallization of Shi'ism and changing notions of religious authority; and the impact of Turkish migrations and Mongol conquests. They will become familiar with major genres of pre-modern Middle Eastern literary, religious, and scientific writings, and use techniques of close reading to answer questions about those texts' ideological positions and contexts.

RELI 280 – Introduction to the Bible: New Testament

This course introduces students to the New Testament in light of the contexts in which it was written and compiled, and as a window into reconstructing the world of early Christianity. The course will also examine how various Christian communities have understood the meaning and authority of the New Testament.

RELI 304 – The Question of God

Study of the question of God from a theological, philosophical, and literary perspective.

RELI 305 – Greek and Roman Religion

Religious beliefs and cult practices in ancient Greece and Rome. All readings in English.

RELI 313 – Health and Medicine in Classical Antiquity

The course examines the mythology and practice of medicine in Greek and Roman times from Asclepius to Hippocrates and Galen, medical instruments and procedures, the religious manifestation of healing in Greek and Roman sanctuaries, the votive dedications by patients and cured, midwifery and child care, public hygiene and diseases. The topics cover a large spectrum of the medical practice and public health in the ancient societies of Classical antiquity, as well as how ancient worldviews, including religion and religious practice, shaped health and medicine in Greek and Roman civilization.

RELI 313 – Health and Medicine in Classical Antiquity

Honors Course

The course examines the mythology and practice of medicine in Greek and Roman times from Asclepius to Hippocrates and Galen, medical instruments and procedures, the religious manifestation of healing in Greek and Roman sanctuaries, the votive dedications by patients and cured, midwifery and child care, public hygiene and diseases. The topics cover a large spectrum of the medical practice and public health in the ancient societies of Classical antiquity, as well as how ancient worldviews, including religion and religious practice, shaped health and medicine in Greek and Roman civilization.

RELI 319 – Shamans, Martyrs, and Heretics: Religion and the Korean Peninsula

Korean culture, despite its important position in East Asian history, tends to be neglected in academia because it is located between China and Japan in both geographical and intellectual perspectives. This course not only introduces general historical information about Korean culture, but also considers its influence on Japanese religious and philosophical traditions, and even on Chinese culture. Such analyses will proceed from the following main topics: Shamanism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucian philosophy, religious discourse during war time, "new" religions in both North and South Korea in the modern era, and Korean religions beyond Korea.

RELI 321 – Women in Judaism

This course examines religion and gender through the study of women in Judaism. How do scholars construct a history of women in ancient Judaism when Jewish sacred texts are written by and for men? How have modern Jewish women accommodated feminist ideals without undermining the authority of the established tradition? What impact has the feminist movement had on Jewish communal institutions in the United States and Israel? In this course, we explore these questions and others by examining the influence Jewish religious beliefs and practices have played in the formation of Jewish women's identities, image and their understanding of power and authority. Students study the role of women in the formation of Judaism and Jewish society as a culturally constructed and historically changing category through archaeology, biblical studies, rabbinics, theology, folklore, social and political movements.

RELI 326 – God, Humanity & Science

This course is an examination of the role of religion and science in the construction of human worldviews and beliefs, in historical and contemporary contexts.

RELI 331 – Taoist Traditions of China

Intellectual foundations of Taoism in its two classical sources, the Lao Tzu and the Chuang Tzu, and a sampling of the varieties of religious practice which developed later.

RELI 332 – The Holocaust: Witnesses and Representations

This course explores Holocaust memory and representation in Europe, Israel and the United States through various media and genres from diaries, memoirs and oral testimonies to Yiddish and Hebrew poetry, second generation graphic novels and film to memorial gardens and resistance monuments, archives and museums. We engage with some of the most fundamental questions of memory and Holocaust trauma from multiple perspectives and contexts. Is it possible to communicate the horrors of the concentration camp? Who has the right to speak about the Holocaust? How does "Jewish" memory of the Holocaust shape our understanding of the history of Nazism, genocide, World War II and its aftermath? In what ways, has Holocaust memory become associated with movements for historical justice and human rights, in particular, in the United States?

RELI 334 – Islamic Thought

This course provides an overview of Islamic intellectual history from the origins of Islam to the present day. The course is divided into three units: 1) Classical Islam and religious sciences; 2) Classical Islamic thought more broadly; 3) Modern Islamic thought. Students will be introduced to Islamic scriptures as well as original writings in translation by preeminent figures of the Islamic tradition and will learn how Muslim thinkers engaged issues concerning scriptural authority, theology, mysticism, human happiness and flourishing, politics, colonialism and gender. The course approaches these writings with particular attention to analysis of the concepts central to Islamic thought and their interconnections, and to the forms of expression through which these concepts are presented to envisioned audiences. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on the implications of the ideas we study for values pertaining to justice, social hierarchy and inequality, freedom and domination. Ideas regarding the nature of human existence and its place within the universe always have relation to social life and order. Examining this relation in Islamic thought will involve probing our own notions on these matters and their implications in our own social life.

RELI 335 – Rap, Culture and God

This course is a study of popular culture and religion in African-American and Latin@ communities, with a focus on the place of rap music in the cultural identity of these traditions. The class will begin with a study of some major themes in cultural studies concerning identity, class, race, and gender in addition to a study of the role of religion in Black and Latin@ communities. We will consider the approaches and self-understandings of identity and culture in rap music with special attention to the voices of protest, resistance, and spirituality among rap artists.

RELI 336 – Spirituality, Psychology, and the Mind

Ever wonder why you believe what you believe? Ever been puzzled as to why other people believe such outrageous things? Spirituality, Psychology, and Mind (SPM) investigates the nature of beliefs and practices from a multidisciplinary perspective. We will explore different ways of studying and understanding religious beliefs and spirituality through psychological, sociological, biological, philosophical, and humanist lenses. This course aims to build connections between different ways of knowing to foster critical thinking and perspective-taking. SPM will not try to prove or disprove any religious, spiritual, agnostic, or atheist claims. But instead, it will use psychological theory and scientific research to examine how we come to believe what we do. The focus will be on scientific approaches to religion's psychological nature and function concerning health, psychopathology, and coping mechanisms.

RELI 336 – Spirituality, Psychology, and the Mind

Honors Course

Ever wonder why you believe what you believe? Ever been puzzled as to why other people believe such outrageous things? Spirituality, Psychology, and Mind (SPM) investigates the nature of beliefs and practices from a multidisciplinary perspective. We will explore different ways of studying and understanding religious beliefs and spirituality through psychological, sociological, biological, philosophical, and humanist lenses. This course aims to build connections between different ways of knowing to foster critical thinking and perspective-taking. SPM will not try to prove or disprove any religious, spiritual, agnostic, or atheist claims. But instead, it will use psychological theory and scientific research to examine how we come to believe what we do. The focus will be on scientific approaches to religion's psychological nature and function concerning health, psychopathology, and coping mechanisms.

RELI 350 – Hindu Mythology

Overview of the traditional Hindu narratives found in the Vedic, epic, and puranic literature. We will also examine Hindu myth in their many regional literary and artistic forms, and how these narratives influence culture, philosophy, literature, and folklore.

RELI 351 – Zen, Tea, and Poetry: A Blending of Genres

This course will examine how the three genres of Zen Buddhism, the tea ceremony/tea culture, and poetry, have been presented over time as not only compatible, but as representative expressions of each other. We will consider the contemporaneous cultural, historical, and political factors that contributed to the formation of this discourse. We will also hold up to critical scrutiny the very concept of "genre" in pre-modern East Asia, as well as the distinction between "Zen Buddhism" and what may be termed "Zen culture." We will also investigate in depth how modern commentators such as Okakura Tenshin, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Hisamatsu Shin'ichi's dialogue with the West and Western models informed the now ingrained idea that the tea ceremony represents an artistic, aesthetic, and spiritual nexus of the other two genres, and indeed of East Asian Culture as a whole.

RELI 358 – Tibetan Buddhism: Liberation, Identity, and Representation

How do Tibetans Buddhists innovate while staying connected with tradition? In the Tibetan language, biographies are referred to as liberation tales. In this course, students explore the life experiences of Tibetan Buddhists striving for a variety of forms of liberation, from samsara as well as from social marginalization and political oppression. Students disassemble stereotypes about Tibet by exploring fundamental aspects of its distinct Buddhist tradition. They analyze the stories of figures as diverse as an eighth-century demon-tamer and his enlightened female partner, a contemporary artist exploring questions of identity, a Buddhist yogi seeking to move beyond the confines of the self, and a debut novelist reflecting on writing as a form of agency. Students apply their knowledge to interpret representations of Tibet in sources ranging from early texts on the nature of reality to an Instagram takeover by contemporary Tibetan female poets. In the process, they generate tools for interpreting the host of representations they encounter in their daily lives.

RELI 367 – Yoga

In this course we examine the philosophy, practice, historical roots, and development of yoga. Students are asked to use and reflect on the disciplinary perspectives of the historian to examine premodern primary texts (in English translation) that provide a window into the origins of yoga, as well as the perspectives of the anthropologist and cultural critic to examine contemporary yoga practices. Students will compare and contrast perspectives of Indian yogis and contemporary international yoga influencers in order to understand how the experience of yoga differs across time and culture and how social systems of power and inequality are both subverted and reinforced by yoga and its practitioners.

RELI 370A – History of the Jews: Modern Jewish History

Survey of major political, socioeconomic, and cultural developments in the history of Diaspora Jewry: Modern Jewish history.

RELI 370B – History of the Jews: Cultural Loss and Resilience from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution

Survey of major political, socioeconomic, and cultural developments in the history of Diaspora Jewry from the Middle ages to the French Revolution.