Courses - Summer 2012
Click to see Fall 2012 Courses here.
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REL1001 Cinematic Courage / Dr. Kelsay
This course uses films and selected readings to examine the virtue of courage. We are interested in how courage is developed and displayed in a variety of contexts, including war, times of political crisis, and resistance to injustice.
REL1300 Introduction to World Religions / Dr. Goff
This course is an introduction to the academic study of the major religions of the world. The course will cover the religious traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the process of comparing the religions of the world, it will be the responsibility of each student to think critically about the historical evolution, systems of belief, ritual practices, institutional developments and cultural expressions of each religious tradition. A range of reading materials and writing assignments have been chosen to provide a framework within which to engage a variety of religious issues and to understand the significance and relevance of religion in world history.
REL2121 Religion in the U.S. / Staff
This course is designed to introduce you to the major themes, figures, and directions of religion in American history, with an eye toward ways that social and cultural contexts have shaped the religious experience of Americans in different places and times. Since it is impossible to cover all religious traditions in one semester, this course will consist of both a general survey of religion in the U.S. and a series of case studies designed to provide a closer look into some of the religious groups and ideas that have shaped this country.
REL2240 Introduction to the New Testament / Staff
An introduction to the literature of the New Testament and to the academic approaches to it. The distinctive concerns and literary features of individual texts will be studied in the contexts of the historical development of the early Christian church, ancient Judaism, and the wider Greco-Roman world. Emphasis throughout will fall on the variety of interpretations of the Christian message as Christians encountered new social circumstances and theological challenges.
REL2315 Religions of South Asia / Dr. Erndl
Overview of religions in the South Asian cultural region, emphasizing Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam. The history and cultural contexts of these traditions will be explored with particular attention to sacred stories, holy people, religious leadership, and gender issues. Films, feature and documentary, are an important component of the course. This course also serves as an introduction to the academic study of religion. No previous background is required. Meets Liberal Studies Humanities and Multicultural (x) requirements.
REL3112 Religion and Fantasy / Staff
This course offers an overview of theological and anti-theological elements in twentieth and twenty-first century fantasy literature from authors Lewis, Tolkien, Rowling, and Pullman.
REL3145 Gender and Religion / Staff
This course examines the impact of gender on religious beliefs and practices and the impact of religious beliefs and practices on gender, cross-culturally. We will be looking at the intersections of religion and culture, in general. In doing so, we will look at a history of feminist thought in religious studies and the current gender issues that have arisen through women’s examinations of religious thought and the study of religion. We will use a variety of texts, some film, class discussion, and writing to explore these topics a fully as possible.
REL3170 Religious Ethics / Dr. Kalbian
This introduction to the study of religious ethics meets the Gordon Rule requirement, the liberal studies area IV requirement and the multicultural x requirement. Students will examine the moral problems raised by issues such as deception, capital punishment, war, the environment, and human sexuality in the context of religious views about love, duty, good, and evil. They will undertake this examination through close readings of texts describing views of different religious traditions including Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam. They will also develop and fine-tune their writing skills by completing two 1500 word papers.
REL3340 The Buddhist Tradition / Dr. Cuevas
A historical and thematic survey of the Buddhist tradition in Asia from its beginnings through the modern period. Topics covered will include origins and history, doctrine, ethical beliefs, meditation, ritual, and monastic and popular traditions. Some attention will also be given to contemporary forms of Buddhism outside of Asia, in Europe and America.
REL3363 Islamic Traditions / Staff
REL 3363 Islamic Traditions is a historical and topical survey of Islam as a religion and civilization that focuses on the formative and classical periods of Islamic history. The course is primarily concerned with: the life and career of Muhammad the Prophet of Islam, the scriptural sources of Islam (i.e. the Qur’an and the Sunna), the development of the Muslim community and its principle institutions (schools of thought, law, theology, cultural life and mystical traditions). The course will acquaint you with significant aspects of Islam as a religion, and to help you think through some of the basic questions of human religious experience in light of the responses given to those questions by the great sages and saints of the Islamic tradition.
REL 3367, Islam in the Modern World examines Islam and its adherents from 1300 CE to the present, concentrating on the last two centuries of Islamic history: the period of reform, renewal and revolution in the wake of Western political and cultural domination. The course will investigate a basic question: What happened to different Muslim communities and intellectuals (specifically those in the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, West Africa) as they responded to the challenges posed by “Westernization” and “modernization?” Moreover, it will explore the relatively new phenomenon of Islam in America. The class concludes with an investigation of various contemporary debates in the Islamic world, including Sufism, and American/Western responses to Islam and Muslims.
REL3505 The Christian Tradition / Staff
This course is an introduction to Christianity. We will examine the historical narrative of the tradition from its beginnings in the first century through twentieth-century developments. We will also focus on the doctrinal side of the tradition by reading primary texts of key Christian thinkers.
REL4404 What is Religion? / Dr. Kavka
What Is Religion? What Is Religious Studies? This course is limited to undergraduate majors in the Department of Religion. It is split up into two halves. In the “What Is Religion?” half, we¹ll survey what various modern thinkers have said what religion is and the social-scientific and philosophical approaches that they take in their answers to questions about the origin, essence, and function of religion. In the “What Is Religious Studies?” half, we‟ll still engage to some extent with the question of what religion is, but we¹ll do so by a closer look at what it means to be a scholar of religion to look at a religious community, or a tradition, from the outside. To what extent can a scholar bracket her or his own commitments or presuppositions in talking about religion? If the answer to the former question is ³not at all,² does this mean that Westerners are unable to study Asian religions well? Does it mean that historical research published by moderns says more about the present than about the past? Does it mean that it is illegitimate to include subfields that make normative judgments (say, religious ethics) in the field of religious studies?
REL6176 Foundations of Human Rights / Dr. Twiss
Inquiry into the nature of human rights and their justificatory grounds, with particular attention to natural rights traditions, philosophical underpinnings of modern human rights, and comparative ethics and human rights. Graduate seminar with both required seminar presentations and a final research paper.
