Religious Studies Courses

100 Religion, Dreams and the Dreaming. 4. The cross-cultural course will consider the religious role of the dream as initiatory experience, metaphor for aboriginal time, gateway to the other world, venue for the divine guide, healing event, “royal road” to the unconscious, occasion for quest or journey, epistemological paradox and prophetic harbinger of the personal or collective future This is an introductory course, and no previous academic experience in religious studies is expected or required. Fulfills humanities requirement.

101 History of Religion in America. 4. Exploration of the interaction of American religion and culture. Examines aspects of the religious traditions of Native Americans, African-Americans, Roman Catholics, Jews and Protestants and the shift from a white Protestant to a pluralist America. Fulfills humanities and diversity in the U.S requirements.

109 QLSP Freshman Seminar. 1. CR/NC

110 Quakerism. 4. Origins and development of the theology, social testimonies and institutional structure of the Quaker movement from the mid-17th century to the present, and their relevance to non-Quaker thought and life. Fulfills humanities requirement.

120 American Nature Writing (ENGL 228). 4. Examines literary nature writing in America from the 19th century to the present, with a primary focus on the different ways writers have presented the natural world as sacred. Writings consider both our current estrangement from the natural world and possibilities for developing intimacy with the earth through a deep sense of "place." Fulfills humanities and social justice/environmental responsibility requirements.

200 Native American Religions. 4. An advanced introduction to the religion of several Native American tribes, such as the Cherokee, Sioux, Crow and Navaho. Explores the world-views/myths, rituals (including art, dance and music) and the life-ways of these different cultures. Also focuses on the long interaction between American white cultural imperialism and the religions of these indigenous people. Fulfills the humanities and diversity in the U.S. requirements.

204 Islam. 4. Introduces the Islamic religion in its various aspects, including its origins, history, culture, laws, rituals and beliefs. Islam and Muslims have come to occupy a rather controversial, often misunderstood place in the media and popular opinion today. In this course we try to understand the reasons behind some of the controversial phenomena in the Islamic world, by focusing on particular issues such as the position of women and Islamic law. Fulfills humanities and intercultural requirements.

208 Hinduism. 4. Addresses the religions of India, primarily Hinduism, which is a way of life emphasizing practice more than doctrine; therefore, we look at the lives of people through narratives. We also address the thought and concomitant social systems forming the framework for the acceptance of diverse and often contradictory beliefs and practices, as a way of understanding how the people in the biggest democracy in the world, and the land of Gandhi, think and live. Fulfills intercultural requirement.

209 QLSP Sophomore Seminar. 1. CR/NC

212 Existentialism and the Death of God. 4. An investigation of freedom, self, death and God in the works of Christian, Jewish and atheistic Existentialist thinkers such as Sartre, Marcel, Buber, Camus, Keen, Tillich and Arendt. Fulfills humanities requirement.

215 Old Testament. 4. An examination of the Hebrew Bible with a dual focus: an exploration of religious expression through a consideration of literary style; and a study of the nature and possibility of historical reconstruction of Israelite political forms, economic structures, religious institutions and social structure. Fulfills humanities requirement.

216 New Testament. 4. Explores the literature of the New Testament, emphasizing the manner in which each writer tries to express an understanding of the person and work of Jesus in relation to the early Christian community. Fulfills humanities requirement.

220 Belief and Unbelief. 4. An examination of the intellectual and moral critiques that such thinkers as Darwin, Marx, Freud and Camus have made about religion, and the responses of such theologians as Cobb, Niebuhr, Gutierrez, Reuther, Heschel and Tillich. Fulfills humanities requirement.

222 Feminist Theology. 4. An exploration of 19th- and 20th-century feminist religious and theological writers. Considers such issues as the role of religious systems both in establishing and sustaining sexism and in being agents of transformation and justice; sexism and God-language; patriarchal and egalitarian views of human nature; women and ritual; and feminist views of society. Fulfills humanities and social justice/environmental responsibility requirements.

230 Comparative Ethics. 4. Explores the varieties of ethical concepts in different religions, while teaching how to think critically about the applicability of a separate category such as “ethics” and showing how intricately intertwined the notions of good and evil are. Fulfills humanities and social justice/environmental responsibility requirements.

233 Peace, War, and Justice. 4. Explores models of social ethics focusing on issues of war, violence, peace, social justice, nonviolence. Focuses primarily on 20th-century writers such as Reinhold Niebuhr, Gustavo Gutierrez and Mohandas Gandhi and applies their ideas to contemporary problems and situations. Fulfills humanities and social justice/environmental responsibility requirements.

234 African American Religion and Theology. 4. Fulfills humanities and diversity in the U.S. requirements.

235 Quaker Origins. 4. An investigation of the emergence of Quakerism out of Puritan, Reformation and mystical backgrounds. Focuses on the development of Quakerism in the latter half of the 17th century in terms of theology, social testimonies and institutional organization and its relevance to non-Quaker currents of thought and life, both then and now.

236 Reformation: Luther to Fox (HIST 236). 4. The course is designed to introduce students to a basic understanding of events and ideas of the Reformation era in Europe, ca. 1517 to 1660. A focal point of our readings will be the reformers’ view of the relation between political and ecclesiastical authority. Fulfills humanities requirement.

240 History of Christianity. 4. Traces the development of Christianity from its beginnings through the end of the 19th century by a consideration of major thinkers, events, and institutions. Prerequisite: two religious studies courses or consent of instructor. Fulfills humanities requirement.

250 Special Topics. 4. May also be offered at 350 and 450 levels. Possible offerings include Feminine Images in Biblical and Christian Literature; Propheticism: Archaic, Biblical and Modern; Passion: From Plato to Polanyi; or Social Reform and Personal Therapy: 19th- and 20th-century American Religion.

251 Primitive Myth. 4. Fulfills humanities requirement.

260 Independent Study. 1-4. May also be offered at 360 and 460 levels. The individual formulation and completion of the study of a significant problem in the field of religion, such as Play, Celebration and Worship; Existential Psychology; Alchemy; Contemporary Social Change in the Church; Creativity and Imagination; or Women in Modern Japanese Religion.

281 Animals in Religion. 4. Fulfills humanities requirement.

284 Spread of Buddhism Across Asia. The course begins with a study of the life of the Buddha, the early formation of Buddhism and the Mahayana reformation, then shifts to its major focus: study of the diffusion of Mahayana Buddhism across Central Asia and China, and into Japan and Korea. Fulfills intercultural requirement.

285 Daoism. 4. Explores Daoism, one of the most deeply pervasive and enduring religious/philosophical traditions in Chinese and East Asian culture. We will study the early development of Daoist ideas and practices from their inception and eventual institutionalization in China up to the present day. Fulfills intercultural requirement.

290 Internship, 1-4. May also be offered at the 390 level.

309 QLSP Junior Seminar. 1. CR/NC

310 Interdisciplinary Perspectives. 4. An exploration of problems lying on the boundaries between religion and the natural or social sciences and the humanities. Topics may include Freud, Jung, Rank (with psychology); science and religion (with chemistry or geology); Dante, Arthurian myth, modern poetry and religion (with English); African American literature and religion; Islam and modernization. With changes in content, may be repeated more than once. REL 311, 312, and 313 are also courses in Interdisciplinary Perspectives. May fulfill humanities requirement.

318 Tibetan & Himalayan Religions. 4. Studies the religious traditions of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau as well as the effects of the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the effects of modernization and tourism on local religion and the recent internationalization of Tibetan Buddhism. One prior course in religious studies, history or philosophy is highly recommended. Fulfills humanities and intercultural requirements.

319 Buddhist Emptiness. 4. Explores Indian, Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese Buddhist masters' commentaries on the doctrine that all phenomena including the “self” are “empty of inherent existence,” and investigate issues such as religious truth, different paradigms of reality and the ethics of ego-less-ness.Prior coursework in religious studies or philosophy is recommended.Fulfills intercultural requirement.

340 Radical Theologians of Europe and America. 4. A reading-intensive, seminar-format examination of 20th and 21st century Christian theologians from the North Atlantic region (mostly Germany and the United States) who have written with a deep awareness of their historical, cultural, economic, political and ecological contexts. 

395 Religious Studies Colloquium. 1. Students reflect collectively on the study of religion and its relationship to the liberal arts, to their own college career and to life outside of college. Students complete an intellectual autobiography to further their self-understanding as students of religion. For majors in their junior year. CR/NC.

409 QLSP Senior Seminar. 1 (each semester). CR/NC.

415 Contemporary Theology. 4. The contemporary Christian theological analysis of and struggle with the nature of self and God is examined in relation to forms of social domination (sexism, racism, classism, militarism and anti-Judaism) through consideration of religious thinkers such as H.R. Niebuhr, Ruether, Keller, Heyward, Nelson, Cone, Cannon, Boff and van Buren. Prerequisite: REL 337 or consent of instructor.

422 Contemporary Religious Problems. 4. An exploration of one major contemporary thinker or problem, such as religion, language and the body (Merleau-Ponty); God and language (Wittgenstein); or religion and symbol (Ricoeur). With changes in content, this course may be repeated more than once. Prerequisite: consent of the instructor.

444 Magic, Science and Religion: Modalities of Thought (IDS 477). 4. This course examines the nature and interplay of different modalities of thought: chiefly magic, science, religion. Among the issues considered are magic vs. empiricism, reason vs. revelation, biology vs. theology, the scope of rationality, religious pluralism and relativism and physics and the ultimate nature of reality.

445 Shamanism. 4.

470 Senior Thesis. Credit variable. Individual study culminating in a thesis, which, in consultation with the advisor, may be submitted for departmental honors. Requires a prior semester’s preparation (a two- or four-credit independent study) that can be counted either as a REL 460 or as part of the Senior Thesis (REL 470).

490 Departmental Honors. 4-8. Requires a 3.5 average in courses in religious studies and a senior thesis or the equivalent.