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The Religion major is designed to serve as a focus of a liberal arts education for the general student and as a pre-professional foundation for those pursuing the study of religion beyond the baccalaureate degree. Some courses in the Religion Department are cross-referenced or cross-listed with other programs of study in the College--e.g., African American Studies, East Asian Studies, Jewish Studies, and Gender and Women's Studies. While offering a broad focus in the humanities and in the study of religion, the major also affords an opportunity for concentrated study in particular religious traditions and specific areas of religious thought and practice. Students who contemplate graduate study in religion or professional study in seminary or rabbinical school after graduation are advised to consult as early in their undergraduate careers as possible with the Chair or other members of the Department. Entry-Level Courses and Sequence Suggestions. The Department of Religion offers nine introductory courses dealing with traditions and topics in the scholarly study of religion. These courses--101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, and 109--have the same purpose but draw on different traditions and topics. These courses may best meet the needs of students who seek only one course in Religion, or they may serve as a first course for students who plan further study in the Department. They are not, however, prerequisites for course work at the 200 level. The Department also offers several First-Year Seminar Program (FYSP) courses and "Colloquia for First- and Second-Year Students" as indicated in the course listing. Seminars (taught at the 300 level) require the consent of the instructor, and students taking them will ordinarily have done previous 200-level course work in subject matter relevant to the topic of the seminar. Major. The major consists of 27 hours in the Department. Under ordinary circumstances no more than one course from the FYSP or "Colloquia for First- and Second- Year Students" may be counted in the 27 hours required for the major. Also no more than one of the nine "Introduction to Religion" (RELG 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109) courses may be counted in the 27 hours required for the major. Students majoring in Religion must complete the following: (a) Take one designated core course at the 200 level in at least four of the ten areas in which course work is offered. The ten areas, and courses that fall within each area, are listed below. The "core" courses are those marked with an asterisk (*). American Religious History: 282*, 284*, 285 Christian History: 216*, 217*, 218* East Asian Religions: 235*, 236*, 238* Ethics: 245*, 246*, 247, 248* 249 Gender and Religion: 261*, 262*, 263 Islam: 270*, 271, 272*, 274 Jewish and Christian Scriptures: 205*, 206*, 208* Judaism: 250*, 251*, 252, 255, 258 Modern Religious Thought: 225*, 226*, 227*, 228 South Asian Religions: 231*, 232, 233* (b) Take at least one additional course at the 200 level in one of the four areas in which they have taken a "core" course, thus forming a small concentration. The second 200-level course need not be a "core" course. (c) Take one seminar at the 300 level. Majors are encouraged to take the seminar within the area of their concentration. Minor. Majors in other departments or programs may minor in Religion by taking at least five courses totaling 15 hours. One of these courses must be a seminar. Honors. The honors program in Religion offers qualified students the opportunity to work closely with a faculty member while pursuing an independent project of research and writing. Honors work is done in the student's senior year and culminates in a written thesis of not less than 50 or more than 100 pages--and in an oral defense of the thesis. Credit hours earned from the honors project should be over and above the basic 27 hours required for the major. On or about March 15, qualified junior majors are invited by the Department to apply, or may themselves apply, for honors work. Applicants must submit to the Department a prospectus for the proposed research project by April 15. Guidelines for this prospectus are found at the end of each semester's departmental supplement. More detailed information about the nature of this prospectus can be obtained from the Department Chair or any member of the Department. Transfer of Credit. Students wishing to transfer credit toward the Religion major are advised to provide the Department with as much information about the transferred course as possible (e.g., syllabus, papers, exams). The Department will not normally count more than six hours of transfer credit toward the major and does not normally accept transferred courses to satisfy distribution requirements in the major. Winter Term. Faculty in the Religion Department sponsor a wide variety of Winter Term projects, particularly projects related to their areas of scholarly expertise. Students planning projects are invited to approach individual faculty members to discuss their ideas and plans. First-Year Seminars FYSP 124. Seeing War and Peace through Religious Traditions 3 hours 3HU, CD, WRi Next offered 2004-2005. FYSP 144. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. 3 hours 3HU, CD, WRi Next offered 2004-2005. FYSP 156. Biological Advances and Ethical Questions 3 hours 1.5HU and 1.5NS, WRi First Semester. For description, please see "First-Year Seminar Program" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 14. Ms. McClure, Ms. Cruz FYSP 158. Taoism 3 hours 3HU, CD, WRi First Semester. For description, please see "First-Year Seminar Program" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 14. Mr. Dobbins FYSP 164. To Hell and Back: Religious Views of the Underworld 3 hours 3HU, CD, WRi First Semester. For description, please see "First-Year Seminar Program" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 14. Ms. Kamitsuka FYSP 172. The Religious Thought of Mohandas Gandhi 3 hours 3HU, CD, WRi Second Semester. For description, please see "First-Year Seminar Program" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 14. Ms. Richman FYSP 178. Religion and the Environment 3 hours 3HU, WRi First Semester. For description, please see "First-Year Seminar Program" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 14. Mr. Kamitsuka FYSP 186. What is Justice? Reflections through Western Literature, Philosophy and Religion 3 hours 3HU, WRi First Semester. For description, please see "First-Year Seminar Program" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 14. Mr. Gangle
101. Introduction to Religion: Religion as a World Phenomenon 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR* (*first semester) First and Second Semester. This course explores the nature of religion as mirrored in a number of traditions, which may include Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. After a brief survey of them, various theories are taken up to help identify common structures and functions that cut across religions. These structures, rather than specific beliefs, will be the points of comparison. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. McMillin, Mr. Dobbins 102. Introduction to Religion: Roots of the Western Traditions 3 hours 3HU, CD First Semester. This course introduces students to the academic study of religion, and provides an historical framework for understanding the development and central ideas of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We survey religion in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Persia, and Greece before considering the early development of Christianity and Islam. We will examine both the complex world-views of these religious traditions and the role they played in everyday life, dealing directly with the texts, rituals, and religious symbols that have engaged people across the millennia. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. Calendine 103. Introduction to Religion: Material Religion 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR Second Semester. Highlighting foundational approaches, the course introduces study of religious systems of Southern Asian Hinduism and Buddhism, North American Christianity, and Oceania by considering the circulation, veneration, and manufacture of material culture such as relics, icons and amulets. Accumulation, transaction and disappearance of religious objects reveal how origins of traditions are imagined, how these materials comprise a basis for religious thought and practice, and how substance and symbolism, ritual and exchange, and history and politics of production affect an aura of sacrality. Enrollment Limit: 30. Ms. Gade 105. Introduction to Religion: African Religions and Their Thought Systems 3 hours 3HU, CD Next offered 2004-2005. 107. Introduction to Religion: Cosmogony and Ethics 3 hours 3HU, CD Second Semester. This course will examine a variety of ways in which people have attempted to find meaning by connecting their actions to their understanding of the creation of the world/universe. The course will proceed by examining first religion as a phenomenon itself, and then creation stories from Greek mythology, Indian mythology, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and a modern scientific/sociological perspective for their religious/ethical significance. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. McClure 108. Introduction to Religion: Women and the Western Traditions 3 hours 3HU, CD Next offered 2004-2005. 109. Introduction to Religion 3 hours 3HU First Semester. Topic to be Announced. Staff
118. Immanence and Transcendence in Buddhism 3 hours 3HU, CD, WRi Next offered 2004-2005. 205. Hebrew Bible in its Ancient Near Eastern Context 3 hours 3HU, CD First Semester. An introduction to the literature and history of ancient Israel as contained within the Hebrew Bible and to the methods of interpretation used by modern scholars to understand this ancient text. Biblical writings will be studied within the context of other ancient Near Eastern religious, legal and literary texts. An important aspect of this course will be learning the art and skill of a close and critical reading of ancient texts and of modern scholarly interpretations of those texts. Thematic emphases will include the emergence of monotheism, the conceptualization of the divine/human relationship, the mediation of priest, prophet and king, and issues of canon. Identical to JWST 205. Enrollment Limit: 40. Ms. Chapman 208. The New Testament and Christian Origins 3 hours 3HU, WR Second Semester. An introduction to the academic study of the New Testament in its ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts. The course explores early Christian writings as Jewish sectarian literature and as early Christian foundational scripture. An important aspect of this course will be learning the art and skill of a close and critical reading of ancient texts and of modern scholarly interpretations of those texts. Thematic emphases include the diversity of early Christian writings, Christianity within first-century Jewish sectarianism, the evolution of the Jesus narrative, and the rise of institutional Christianity. No previous knowledge of the New Testament is assumed. Identical to JWST 208. Enrollment Limit: 40. Ms. Chapman 217. Christian Thought and Action: Early and Medieval 3 hours 3HU First Semester. An interpretive study of the Christian tradition from the time of the early Church to approximately 1300. Theological issues and the relationship of Christianity to society are considered along with such subjects as the development of the Papacy, saints, monasticism, mysticism, worship, popular religious devotion, and the roles of reform, dissent, and heresy. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. Calendine 218. Christian Thought and Action: Reformation and Modern 3 hours 3HU Second Semester. An interpretive study of the Western Christian traditions from the 14th to the 20th century, with emphasis on the formative ideas of the 16th-century reformers, Protestant and Catholic, and the development of these ideas as Christianity faced far-reaching changes in society and the world of thought. Key spiritual texts such as Pilgrim's Progress and figures such as St. Teresa of Lisieux will be explored. Distinctive theologies, social activist traditions, pietism, modern Roman Catholicism, and the emergence of liberal and evangelical forms of Christianity are among subjects considered. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. Calendine 225. Modern Religious Thought in the West: Late 17th to early 19th Century 3 hours 3HU First Semester. An analysis of Western philosophy of religion and theology as developed in Europe and North America from the end of the Thirty Years War to the early 19th century. Of special interest will be how the emerging scientific worldview affected traditional religious beliefs including views of God, human nature, the authority of scripture, the legitimacy of religious institutions, and the true "essence" of religion. Some of the thinkers to be studied include Pascal, Locke, Hume, Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant, Mendelssohn, Schleiermacher and Feuerbach. Enrollment Limit: 40. Mr. Gangle 226. Modern Religious Thought in the West: 19th to mid-20th Century 3 hours 3HU Second Semester. An analysis of developments in Western philosophy of religion and theology from the 19th to the mid-20th century. Central topics to be examined include theological responses to modern scientific and historical consciousness, secular critical analyses of religion, debates on the human condition, and efforts to address cultural and religious issues arising from the devastation of the two world wars. Some of the thinkers to be studied include: Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Buber, Tillich, R. Niebuhr, A. Cohen and J. Plaskow. Enrollment Limit: 40. Mr. Kamitsuka 230. Religion and Literature in Kerala, South India 2 hours 2HU First Semester. First Module. At a time when religious identities in South Asia are being distorted and essentialized, this course looks at a region of India where various religious groups have negotiated living together for centuries: Kerala, on the west coast of southern India. The majority of the population is Hindu, but Muslim communities have flourished there since the eighth century. Roman Catholic, Syrian, and various Protestant Christian groups too are also influential in the area and a small community of Jews has long been established in Cochin. This course will look at the literature produced by these communities. Consent from Ms. Richman required. Ms. Richman, Ms. Krishnankutty 231. Origins and Development of Hinduism 3 hours 3HU, CD First Semester. A study of the Hindu tradition of India, from its origins to the development of the later devotional movements. Textual study focuses on ritual hymns, renunciatory texts, devotional poems, and classical mythology. Attention is also paid to analysis of religious practices, especially as they vary according to social location and gender of adherents. Societal aspects of Hinduism to be explored include religious constructions of "caste," notions of religious kingship, and gendered perceptions of the divine. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. Richman 233. Religion in Modern India 3 hours 3HU, CD Second Semester. A study of the effect of colonial rule and social change on Indian religious traditions. We examine theological tracts and debates, mythological and ritual texts, oral traditions, and contemporary novels about religion. Topics include social mobility and orthodoxy, religious roots of the Gandhian movement for independence, changing rituals within the joint family, religion in the present-day political sphere, and Hinduism in the West. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. Richman 235. Chinese Thought and Religion 3 hours 3HU, CD First Semester. An historical survey of the three major religious and philosophical traditions of China: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Attention is given to how each comprehends the universe, and translates its ideal into philosophical thought, religious practice, and social and moral imperative. Interaction and mutual borrowing among the three will be examined to show how each was changed or inspired by the others and matured under their influence. Identical to EAST 151. Enrollment Limit: 65. Mr. Dobbins 236. Japanese Thought and Religion 3 hours 3HU, CD Second Semester. A survey of the development of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan and the roles they play in Japanese culture and society. Among the topics discussed are the ancient myths of Shinto, the transmission of Buddhism to Japan, the emergence of native forms of Buddhism (e.g. Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren), and the use of Shinto as a nationalistic ideology. Identical to EAST 152. Enrollment Limit: 65. Mr. Dobbins 245. Modern Moral Issues in Religious Perspective 3 hours 3HU First Semester. An examination of selected moral issues from the perspective of Christian and Jewish traditions, as well as secular positions. Topics will include such issues as lying, euthanasia, abortion, human sexuality, war and peace, affirmative action, and the death penalty. This course also offers an introduction to systematic ethical reasoning. Enrollment Limit: 40. Ms. McClure 246. History of Christian Ethics 3 hours 3HU Next offered 2004-2005. 247. Feminist Ethical Issues 3 hours 3HU, CD, WRi Next offered 2004-2005. 249. Issues in Medical Ethics 3 hours 3HU Second Semester. This course offers an analysis of selected issues in medical ethics and the methods of ethical reasoning used to study these issues, focusing on attendant religious, moral, and legal questions. Topics to be addressed include such issues as death and dying, medical research and human experimentation, privacy and informed consent, public health, genetic engineering, and the allocation of scarce resources. Enrollment Limit: 40. Ms. McClure 250. Introduction to Judaism 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR First Semester. A theoretical introduction to Judaism as a religious system. Special attention will be paid to the historical development of the religion through interpretation of traditional texts and ritual practices. Identical to JWST 150. Staff 251. Modern Jewish Thought 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR Second Semester. Identical to JWST 151. For full course description, see Jewish Studies Program course listings. Enrollment Limit: 45. Mr. Socher 258. Introduction to the Talmud: Argument and Interpretation 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR First Semester. The Talmud is a sprawling, multi-volume compendium of rigorous legal argument, ingenious and fanciful biblical interpretations, rabbinic anecdotes, jokes and deep moral and theological investigations. Compiled between 200 and 600 C.E., it has been the most important generative force in Jewish religion and culture for the following two millennia. Exemplary texts will be studied (in translation) with an emphasis on developing students' skills in close reading and critical discussion. Identical to JWST 258. Staff 261. Gender Theory and the Study of Religion 3 hours 3HU, CD Next offered 2004-2005. 262. Feminist Religious Thought in Multicultural Perspective 3 hours 3HU, CD Second Semester. This course examines recent critical and constructive religious thought of women in Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions whose concerns and perspectives move beyond those of first-generation religious feminists (mostly white, heterosexual, Christian, or North American). We will pay special attention to the theories they use to analyze the impact of, among other things: racism, heterosexism and Orientalism on women's religious experience and self-expression. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. Kamitsuka 263. Roots of Religious Feminism in North America 3 hours 3HU, CD First Semester. This course investigates the proto-feminist aspects of women's thought and activism beginning from colonial times. Issues, movements and thinkers to be studied include: Ann Lee on sexuality and divinity among Shakers; critical re-readings of the Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Grace Aguilar; the Grimke sisters on the religious basis for women's rights and abolitionism; theologies of social reform from the black women's club movement; post-Holocaust women's survival narratives; now classic "first-wave" feminist theological paradigms of the 1970s. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. Kamitsuka 270. Islam 3 hours 3HU, CD Second Semester. Survey of the religious tradition of Islam. Lectures and readings present a global perspective, covering sources of tradition such as the Qur'an and the experience of the early Muslim community, theology, and law; and further development of Islamic thought and practice in Muslim communities such as patterns of Islamic polities and the impact of Sufism in an expanding Muslim world. Topics include movements of resurgence and reform, and other key aspects of modern Muslim experience. Enrollment Limit: 45. Ms. Gade 271. Islamic Authorities: Law and Society 3 hours 3HU, CD First Semester. Survey of flexible Islamic understandings of how to apply religious ideals within modern Muslim social experience, grounded in legal traditions and anthropology of law. Emphasis on Muslim visions of moral order, community and nation, highlighting postcolonial ideologies of "Islamic statehood" and progressive agendas. Consideration of key symbols and rhetorics of Muslim politics, as well as educational institutions and mass media that propagate diverse perspectives on fundamental questions of authority in contemporary Islam. Enrollment Limit: 30 Staff 272. Introduction to the Qur'an 3 hours 3HU, CD First Semester. Introduction to the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of the Islamic religious tradition. Topics include approaches to the idea of revelation and the history of the written text, its overall content and themes, development of Qur'anic Sciences such as grammar and interpretation, the style and poetics of the Qur'an, and the Qur'an as a source of law, theology, aesthetics, politics, and practices of piety such as recitation. Emphasis on reading the Qur'an in English-language interpretation. Enrollment Limit: 30. Staff 282. Survey of American Christianity 3 hours 3HU Second Semester. An introduction to major issues, groups, figures and movements in American Christianity, from the Puritans to the present. We will consider the historical roots of American Christianity in the controversies of Europe, but will pay particular attention to persistent American themes such as individualism and the search for community, the tension between conservative and liberal tendencies, the development of Christian social activism, and the belief in an American destiny. Enrollment Limit: 35. Ms. Calendine 284. The History of the African-American Religious Experience 3 hours 3HU, CD Next offered 2004-2005. 285. Evangelicalism in the United States 3 hours 3HU Next offered 2004-2005.
301. Seminar: Selected Topics in Biblical History and Historiography 3 hours 3HU, WR Identical to JWST 301. Next offered 2004-2005. 303. Seminar: Anthropological Approaches to the Study of the Bible 3 hours 3HU, WR Second Semester. This course will examine the structure and function of the ancient Israelite kinship and family unit known as the "House of the Father" in the Hebrew Bible. The function of the "natal family" or "house of the mother" will also be identified and explored. Anthropological studies of kinship structures from modern China and the modern Middle East will provide a comparative framework for conceptualizing the Israelite family. Discussion topics include: patterns for brokering marriages, patterns of inheritance, perceptions of intimacy, the practice of blood vengeance, royal succession and evidence for household religion. Identical to JWST 303. Consent of the instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 15. Ms. Chapman 317. Seminar: Saints, Pilgrims and Holiness: Christian Experience of the Sacred 3 hours 3HU Second Semester: This seminar will explore Christian traditions of the sacred in the written lives of Catholic and Orthodox saints, their pilgrimage sites, their artistic representations, and their relics. We will attempt to answer the question of what it means to be a saint, considering saints both as role models and as perceived conduits of divine power. Our format will range widely across time and space, allowing for cultural, linguistic and denominational comparisons within the Christian traditions and for the use of methods drawn from several different academic disciplines. Consent of the instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 15. Ms. Calendine 321. Seminar: Buddhism and Orientalism 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR Next offered 2004-2005. 322. Seminar: Selected Issues in Buddhism 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR First Semester. The theme of this seminar is Pure Land Buddhism. Unlike many forms of Buddhism, Pure Land is primarily devotional in outlook and practice. Topics include devotional practices in early Buddhism, the Pure Land scriptures, religious practices such as visualization meditation and chanting the Buddha's name, and the teachings of Honen, Shinran, and Ippen. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 15. Mr. Dobbins 336. Seminar: Selected Topics in Early Christianity 3 hours 3HU, WR Next offered 2004-2005. 339. Seminar: Approaches to Religious Ethics 3 hours 3HU, CD, WRi Next offered 2004-2005. 340. Seminar: Ethical Issues in Death and Dying 3 hours 3HU, WRi First Semester. This course will offer students the opportunity to explore religious, philosophical, and ethical concerns relating to the human condition of finitude. Course materials will be drawn from writers working from religious perspectives as well as from diverse fields such as social psychology, thanatology, and fiction. Particular focus will be on the fact of death, grief, and death in a medical context. Consent of the instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 15. Ms. McClure 342. Seminar: Selected Thinkers in Modern and Contemporary Religious Thought 3 hours 3HU, WR Next offered 2004-2005. 343. Seminar: Selected Topics in Modern and Contemporary Religious Thought: Religion, Metaphysics and Violence 3 hours 3HU, WR First Semester. This seminar will address the relationships between religion, philosophy and modern forms of violence as they have become issues for religious thinkers of postmodernity. The primary text for the course will be Emmanuel Levinas' Totality and Infinity, but we will also look at precursors and respondants to Levinas' work, including Bataille, Patocka, De Vries and Derrida. Consent of the instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 15. Mr. Gangle 353. Seminar: Moses Maimonides: Philosophy & Law 3 hours 3HU, CD, WRi Second Semester. Identical to JWST 353. For full course description, see Jewish Studies Program course listings. Consent of the instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 15. 354. Spinoza, Heresy and Modern Judaism 3 hours 3HU, WRi Next offered 2004-2005. 365. Seminar: Religion and the Body 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR Next offered 2004-2005. 366. Feminist Interpretations of Evil 3 hours 3HU, WRi Second Semester. Against the backdrop of traditional philosophical and theological discussions of evil and good, sin, theodicy, and suffering, this seminar examines how current scholars are revisiting these issues in light of women's multiple oppressions and their efforts to find meaning and paths of resistance. Issues to be discussed include: "men's" vs. "women's" sin; Goddess spirituality and the reality of evil; affliction and atheism; religious responses to structural evils such as racism, sexism, heterosexism. Consent of the instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 15. Ms. Kamitsuka 372. Seminar: Southeast Asian Religious Systems 3 hours 3HU, CD, WR Next offered 2004-2005. 385. Seminar: Selected Topics in American Religious History 3 hours 3SS, WR Next offered 2004-2005. 401. Senior Honors 2-5 hours 2-5HU, WR Consent of instructor required. Projects could be sponsored by Ms. Calendine, Ms. Chapman, Mr. Dobbins, Mr. Kamitsuka, Ms. Kamitsuka, Ms. McClure, Ms. McMillin, and Ms. Richman. 995. Private Reading 1-3 hours 1-3HU Consent of instructor required. Projects could be sponsored by Ms. Calendine, Ms. Chapman, Mr. Dobbins, Mr. Kamitsuka, Ms. Kamitsuka, Ms. McClure, Ms. McMillin, and Ms. Richman. 995. Private Reading 1-3 HU Consent of instructor required. Projects could be sponsored by Ms. Calendine, Ms. Chapman, Mr. Dobbins, Mr. Kamitsuka, Ms. Kamitsuka, Ms. McClure, Ms. McMillin, and Ms. Richman. |
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