Religion
Professors: T. COLEMAN; Associate Professors: D. GARDINER, P. REAVES (CHAIR), P. WRIGHT; Assistant Professors: Y. CHANDRANI, C. HUNT.
The purpose of the academic study of religion is to analyze and interpret religious beliefs and practices in their cultural contexts and historical development. The discipline of religious studies requires critical reflection on ideas about the nature of reality, ideal forms of human society, rituals of individual and societal identity, and sources of authority in personal and social morality. Our faculty is formally trained in Biblical studies, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Our areas of expertise range from the ancient period to the present day, spanning the Near East and the Mediterranean, Europe, South, Southeast and East Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Every year we cross-list a variety of courses with Asian studies, with feminist and gender studies, and with race, ethnicity, and migration studies, and we regularly offer courses on indigenous traditions. Our department warmly invites you to explore our curriculum and discover the many ways that the study of religion inspires self-reflection and enhances critical thinking, offers knowledge of diverse cultures, and enriches the liberal arts education.
Major Requirements
The major in religion consists of 10.5 courses in religion, including:
- Three 100-level courses, at least one of which must be chosen from religions originating in Asia (160, 170, 180) and at least one of which must be chosen from religions originating in the Middle East (110, 120, 130, 140). These courses introduce students to basic skills and concepts in the academic study of religion, such as critical methods for the close reading of texts, the relation between religious beliefs and practices and their historical and cultural contexts, and basic elements of religion including myth, ritual, devotion, theology, and ethics.
- Two 200-level courses on topics in religious studies. These courses include material from two or more religious traditions, examine different interpretive approaches within a tradition, or compare patterns of the formation of religious identity or institutions in various traditions.
- Three 300-level courses in advanced study of a topic or tradition. These courses carry prerequisites and demand greater depth of reading and higher quality of writing. Students will typically conduct independent research in the completion of a major project.
- Seminar in Theory and Method (302). This seminar examines theories about the origin and function of religion, as well as leading methods of religious studies, through close reading of classic and contemporary texts. Enrollment is limited to junior and senior majors.
- Senior Project Preparation (405) in the fall of the senior year.
- Senior Thesis (406) or Senior Research Paper (407) in the spring of the senior year.
- Students may apply a maximum of 2 courses cross-listed with the Department of Religion but taught by faculty from outside the Department towards the satisfaction of the major.
We strongly recommend that majors gain proficiency in a foreign language, classical or modern. We further recommend that majors take a course in the study of religion in the social science division.
Study Abroad: The Department of Religion will consider giving students credit for courses taken abroad, but we do not typically award more than one unit towards the requirements for the major. In order to consider such requests, we require that materials from the relevant course abroad be submitted to the chair, and then reviewed by the appropriate faculty member. Students intending to study abroad and hoping to receive credit should therefore discuss proper procedures with their advisors prior to departing.
The department awards the graduation honor of Distinction in Religion for superior achievement in a senior thesis or cumulative excellence in departmental courses.
Minor Requirements
The minor in religion consists of a minimum of five courses, distributed as follows and chosen in consultation with an adviser in the department:
- Two 100-level courses.
- Three upper-division courses, including at least one 200-level course and at least one 300-level course for which the student has completed the prerequisite.
- Students may apply a maximum of 1 course cross-listed with the Department of Religion but taught by faculty from outside the department towards the satisfaction of the minor.
Courses
Religion
An introduction to the contemporary study of religion as a social and symbolic system. An examination of religious experience and convictions and their expression in symbol, ritual, myth, theology, ethics and community. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement.
Examines Jewish and Christian scriptures, with a focus on their ancient Near Eastern, Hellenistic, and Roman contexts. Surveys the Bible’s broad range of literary genres, including myth, historical narrative, law, prophecy, poetry, biography, and apocalypse. Explores the relationship between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, with special attention to resonances of Jewish prophetic and apocalyptic traditions in the latter. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: HP requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
A survey of the Hebrew Bible (Christian 'Old Testament') from an academic point of view, including questions of authorship, geographic and historical context, and preservation and transmission. All texts are read in English translation. (Not offered 2023-24).
An exploration of the varied forms of Christianity that emerged among the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world, with special focus on the New Testament and related writings, including those now outside the canon. We will explore what can be known about this formative period through careful critical historical analysis. (Not offered 2023-24).
(Summer only 2023-24).
An introduction to the traditions, practices, and beliefs of Judaism as it has changed from biblical foundations to the transformations of the post-biblical period, to the creative flowering of rabbinic Judaism through the medieval and modern periods. This course will explore Judaism's origins and the questions it faces in the future. (Not offered 2023-24).
An introduction to Christianity as an object of intellectual inquiry. Attention to Christianity’s internal diversities from first-century Palestine to the present; disputes over its boundaries and how ‘it’ should relate with its ‘others’; complicity with and resistance to structures of power; literary and artistic expressions; role in shaping Western modernity; and contemporary growth in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
An historical and thematic introduction to Islamic traditions from the seventh century CE to the present day, focusing on fundamental texts and practices. Topics include the Abrahamic context of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur'an, the rise of sectarian movements (Shi'a and Sunni), ritual and pilgrimage, Islamic law, Sufism, women in Islam, the challenges of modernity, and Islam in America. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: HP requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: SHB requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
An historical and thematic introduction to Hindu traditions from prehistoric India to the present day, focusing on classic texts and popular rituals. Topics include the Rig Veda, the Upanishads and the rise of Buddhism, the great epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana), Yoga, the Bhagavadgita, Indian art and music, devotional movements and poetry, Goddess worship, dharma, the caste system, Hindu nationalism, Gandhi and Indian independence. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement.
An introduction to the life and times of the Buddha, his basic teachings and central monastic and lay practices. Emphases include key elements in the development of Buddhist philosophy, the purposes and styles of meditation, and theory and practice in Zen and Tibetan Buddhism. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement.
(Summer only 2023-24).
Study of a topic in religious studies, drawing material from two or more religious traditions, examining different interpretive approaches within a tradition, or comparing patterns of the formation of religious identity or institutions in various traditions.
(Summer only 2023-24).
Study of the resources different religious traditions employ in ethical reflection and how those resources contribute to resolving debates about the morality of specific actions. Class discussion will focus on cross-cultural case studies in the areas of sexuality, politics, economy, ecology, and medical ethics. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
The out-of-body journey of the shaman, a quiet act of prayer, the ecstasy of the Christian mystic, the enlightenment of the Buddhist monk, the reverie of the nature lover, 'speaking in tongues' among Christian charismatics - these are examples of what many call 'religious experience' and regard as the very essence of religion. This course will examine primary texts that testify to the reality and power of religious experience in various traditions and will acquaint students with scholarly analyses of the claims of devotees and adepts. At least one previous course in Religion strongly recommended. (Not offered 2023-24).
Directed readings and research in comparative study of religious traditions or in different interpretive approaches within a tradition. Courses under this rubric will not be counted toward fulfillment of distribution requirements of the major or minor in Religion. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
An examination of the contested category known as 'gnosticism,' the texts found at Nag Hammadi, and the challenges posed by this material to our expectations as we attempt to understand developments in what became orthodox Christianity. (Not offered 2023-24).
Study of early Jewish and Christian texts that reflect and construct varied notions of gender and sexuality in their ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman contexts. Considers a range of roles and expectations for women as well as men. Attentive to symbolic femininity in the literary tradition, biblical perspectives on sexuality and marriage, and related use of the Bible in modern religious and political debates. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Social Inequality requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
Since the Enlightenment, philosophers and historians have argued that individual freedom and autonomy depend upon the confinement of religious beliefs and practices to the private sphere. On their view, the spread and entrenchment of institutions of modernity would result in the decline of religion as an active moral and political force. These modern ways of thinking assume that there are discrete entities called religion and the secular; where the latter is conceived as the arena of activities such as politics, economics and science in which religion has no place. In this seminar, we will examine the phenomena of religion and the secular and their place in the modern world through close readings of historical, sociological, philosophical and anthropological works that address the question of religion and its relationship to politics in diverse contexts such as the Middle East, South Asia, Europe and the United States. Our aim will be to acquire an understanding of the variety of ways in which the relationship between religion and politics is configured and debated and to complicate our understanding of key concepts and problems such as modernity, progress, freedom, citizenship and belonging, religious difference, toleration, and the question of religious minorities. Meets the Equity and Power: EPG requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
The study of the social organization and function of religion with emphasis on its interaction with other ideas, social structures, and processes. Consideration of major theorists (Durkheim, Weber, Troeltsch) will be integrated with contemporary socio-religious issues such as secularization, fundamentalism, televangelism, new religious movements, globalization, and the relations between religion and race, class, and gender. (No credit if taken after SO114.)
In popular media, religion and violence are often portrayed as deeply implicated in one another, with religion depicted as a cause of violence. There is no question that religious texts not only depict violent acts but also may be read to condone them. At the same time, there is a growing body of scholarly literature that contests a simple cause-and-effect relation between the two. Drawing upon a wide variety of literature, film, historical, and scholarly reflection, this course introduces students to the claims and counterclaims in current circulation about the relation between religion and violence. In addition, it recognizes and interrogates the historical role that religion has played in promoting practices of non-violence. Studying religion’s relationship to acts of violence and practices of non-violence equips students to think critically about issues that have become emblematic of our time. Meets the Equity and Power: EPG requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
A study of the genre of apocalypse, looking for common themes that characterize this popular and esoteric form of literature. Our primary source readings will be drawn from the Bible and non-canonical documents from early Jewish and Christian traditions. We will use an analytical perspective to explore the social functions of apocalyptic, and ask why this form has been so persistent and influential. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: HP requirement.
Participation in archaeological excavations in Israel. Field experience includes training in essential methods and theories of archaeology. Examination of early Judaism and Christian origins as well as the regional history, culture, and politics during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Excursions to significant sites, including Jerusalem. Attention to the benefits and challenges of correlating ancient literary sources with the archaeological record. Meets the Critical Learning: HP requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
This interdisciplinary course traces the many musical traditions of the Jewish world communities in a journey from the ancient Temple singing in biblical times to the music of individuals such as George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. Included will be a comparative study of the three major religions of the Western world exploring their respective voices and musical interaction. Sociology, literature, religion, and history, as well as issues of ethnicity, cultural unity and self-expression will be engaged in this multicultural search for musical identity. May meet either the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures or Social Inequality requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
(Summer only 2023-24).
An examination of critical questions philosophers raise about religious claims and a consideration of how religious thinkers respond to those criticisms. Topics of discussion include religious experience, arguments for God, problem of evil, ideas of immortality. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
Explores the intricacies and interactions of indigenous, Islamic, and Christian traditions in sub-Saharan Africa. Seeks to interrogate assumptions--about personhood and power, religion and magic, tradition and modernity--that have long precluded understanding African societies in their own contexts and on their own terms. Readings drawn from history, anthropology, and fiction. May meet either the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures or Social Inequality requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
Examines the historical role that varieties of Islam have played in North America as well as in the Caribbean and South America. Topics include: the trans-Atlantic slave trade that brought West African Muslims to North and South America; slave religion in the antebellum South; the complicated role that Islam has played in African-American identity and that race and religion have played in White (Euro-American) conceptions of Islam in the U.S. and abroad; Black Nationalist critiques of Christianity; and issues of race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, and religion affecting immigrant Muslim communities in the U.S. since 1965, May meet either the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures or Social Inequality requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
An examination of gender and power in Hindu traditions, through an in-depth study of divine figures or historical women identified with goddesses, such as Sītā, Rādhā, and Kālī, or medieval saints and contemporary global gurus. May meet either the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures or Social Inequality requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: CP requirement. Meets the Equity and Power: EPG requirement.
Poetic traditions in China and Japan and in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Topics will include poetry as an expression of the heights and depths of religious experience, as a vehicle for spiritual growth, and as a literary form of prestige and power. We will look at poetry of liberation by early Buddhist nuns, praises of transcendent wisdom by Tibetan spiritual virtuosos, links between verse and painting in China, and the relationship between Japanese haiku and Zen aesthetics. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement.
Studies in the religious life of African-Americans from the 17th century to the present. Particular attention to religious organizations, theological formulations and experiential patterns of Black Americans and the relationship of those phenomena to American religious life in general. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Social Inequality requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
An introduction to James Baldwin’s literature and his robust engagement of religious themes throughout his literary corpus. Students will explore the autobiographically inspired religious and theological questions which often serve as the foundation for Baldwin’s complex understanding/critique of the socio-political realities of race, sexuality, and gender in the United States. This course also considers the ways in which Baldwin “queers” Christian theological language and symbols in putting forth his own unique post-Christian religious vision. Meets the Equity and Power: EPUS requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
(Not offered 2023-24).
Investigation of theories of the origin and function of religion and of academic methods of religious studies through close reading of classic and contemporary texts. (Not offered 2023-24).
Considers debates over the analytical value of a key category in the study of religion. By situating 'conversion' alongside cognate ideas in cultural and philosophical studies--such as askesis, shapeshifting, liminality, hybridity, and radical empiricism--we also explore its potential to mean more than merely the transfer of religious affiliation. Readings include Epictetus, Paul, Augustine, William James, B.R. Ambedkar, and Malcolm X. (Not offered 2023-24).
Explores how ancient Jewish and Christian writings came to be valued as sacred scriptures. “Making” encompasses the physical production and transmission of ancient texts (authorship, sources, material aspects, scribal activity, and circulation) as well as assertions of scriptural authority and related processes of canonization. “Faking” involves alleged forgeries, both ancient and modern, as well as intentional alterations to scriptural texts. Prerequisite: Any biblical studies based RE course or Consent of Instructor. Meets the Critical Learning: HP requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
A study of Judaism through various models of ritual theory, surveying a variety of assumptions, contexts, and functions. Throughout the block we will explore new frameworks for thinking about ritual, asking what ritual 'communicates' and how. (Not offered 2023-24).
Selected readings in Islamic literature in translation. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
The Qur'an in its historical and literary context. Students engage the text in translation but develop a technical vocabulary in transliterated Qur'anic Arabic; those who have prior experience with Arabic language are encouraged to develop their skills with the printed text of the Arabic Qur'an. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement.
Cults of masculinity have been intrinsic to South Asian culture for millennia. Whether in ancient vedic literature, or in the heterodox traditions of Buddhism and Jainism and the Hindu epics that followed; whether in the ascetic traditions of yoga, the popular puranas, or the lives of modern-day saints -- the leading Man has been carefully fashioned to represent power, purity and prestige. This course examines such texts and traditions from diverse periods in Indian history in order to identify and deconstruct the ideologies that divinize masculinity and masculinize divinity. May meet either the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures or Social Inequality requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. Meets the Equity and Power: EPG requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
An exploration of constructions of gender and the status of women in Hinduism and Buddhism, with primary focus on normative developments in ancient and medieval India and the impact of this formative history on the lives of contemporary women. Readings from primary and secondary materials, with attention to both ideology and practice. (Also listed as Asian Studies 257 and Feminist & Gender Studies 257.) (Offered in alternate years.) May meet either the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures or Social Inequality requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
A study of diverse Hindu devotional movements from classical and medieval periods. Primary readings include poetry by both men and women, devotees of Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva, Rama, and the Great Goddess. Critical articles help situate the devotees and their songs in cultural context. (Offered in alternate years.) Meets the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
An in-depth look at either a particular practice tradition within Buddhism, such as Zen or Tantric meditation, or on a theme central to various traditions, such as devotional elements, artistic representations, ritual, visualization, and so on. (Offered in alternate years.) Meets the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
An in-depth treatment of important themes, or textual traditions, in the history of Buddhist thought. Examples might include topics such as karma, death and rebirth, compassion, or possibly a body of writings from a particular author or Buddhist school. (Also listed as Asian Studies 372.) (Meets the Critical Perspectives: Diverse Cultures and Critiques requirement.) (Offered in alternate years.) Prerequisite: RE 170 or COI. 1 unit - Gardiner. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. (Not offered 2023-24).
Explores the intersections of race and religion in the modern world, alongside a brief examination of possible racialization in the medieval period. As contemporary theorists of race and religion have demonstrated, religion serves as a means of racializing various human groupings, producing understandings of “peoplehood” with the goal of categorizing and marginalizing particular communities within the social body. This course exposes students to competing definitions of race and the ways in which race and religion co-constitute one another both historically and contemporarily. Diverse historical and cultural moments will be examined, including but not limited to, European colonial expansion, transatlantic slavery, nineteenth-century U.S. American understandings of race in relation to the Bible, and the racialization of Islam in contemporary U.S. culture and politics. Meets the Critical Learning: HP requirement. Meets the Equity and Power: EPG requirement.
Directed readings and research for advanced students. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. 1 unit - department.
A half-credit extended-format course aimed at developing a proposal and bibliography on a topic chosen by the student and approved by the faculty. Offered in the fall, required of all majors. (Not offered 2023-24).
An independent block of thesis composition and revision. Offered in the Spring.
An independent block of research paper composition and revision. Offered in the Spring.