Religion

Religion and violence have often intersected, though often not in simple or straightforward ways. This course will examine categories and interconnections of religion and violence to provide a critical framework for investigating perpetuations of, sufferings of, and resistances to violence in various religious traditions. Examinations of these traditions in concrete historical circumstances will clarify, stretch, and challenge the theoretical and philosophical approaches. Though particular attention will be devoted to Christianity, examples will also be drawn from Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and New Religious Movements.

Taught by

Corey Barnes ’98

While Thomas Jefferson argued for a “wall of separation” between church and state, in reality, there has been a thoroughfare of exchange. This course traces the intersection of religion and politics historically and in current events. We will examine issues central to the 2020 presidential election such as immigration, mass incarceration, definitions of marriage and family, gun control, and religious freedom. When do candidates use religious language and to what effect? How does religious identity affect voting patterns? What is the significance of the 116th Congress being the most religiously diverse delegation in history?

Taught by

Cynthia (Cindy) Chapman

How does devotional literature and performance interact with and become shaped by social and historical circumstances in different South Asian traditions? In this course, students think comparatively about how South Asian Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu communities express devotion through literature and performance. We will learn to read, view, listen to, and critically engage with various genres of medieval and modern literature and performing and visual arts that express passionate devotion to diverse conceptions of the divine, as well as a range of emotions—fear, longing, liberation. We will be attentive to what is shared and distinct in articulations of devotion across traditions, periods, and regions.

Taught by

Emilia Bachrach

Ritual has always played a central role in the religions of East Asia. In this course, students conduct case studies of ritual practices representative of each major tradition (Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Shinto), as well as several that defy neat categorization. We will study ritual as compelling practices through which religious actors have sought to transform self, society, and cosmos. Orthopraxy, performance, affect, and the body are some the key themes we’ll consider in our engagements with textual primary sources as well as video and audio recordings of rituals as performed and recreated in contemporary settings.

Taught by

Andrew Macomber