CRFRELS 355 Law and Religion in America (4)
Explores the various ways in which law and religion interact with and impact upon each other in American life. The approach is contextual and case-driven, meaning that we will get at the larger, philosophical issues through the medium of specific legal cases and public debates from our past and present. Through these case studies, we reach the broader concerns: the legitimacy of law ("Where the law comes from"), the experience of free exercise of religion in American history, the legal enforcement of morality, and the establishment clause limits on the power of the majority. Prerequisites: at least 6, preferably 9, semester hours in one or more of the following: religious studies, history, philosophy, political science. This course combines CSRF and RELST.
REL 230 Cross Registration (3) (V)
RELCSRF 232 Religion & American Politics (4) (W)
RELSCOM 335 Christian Theology and Film (4) (V)
RELST 113 Introduction to Religious Studies (4) (V)
What is religion? Why should we study it? How should we study it? This course is an introduction to the academic study of religion. Students gain familiarity with: a wide range of religious traditions, ways in which religions shape society, culture and world affairs, and scholarly tools for coming to terms with the wide variety of sometimes strange, always interesting phenomena. Offered each fall.
RELST 116 World Religions (4) (V)
A survey of various religions of the world, their beliefs, practices, and ethical concerns. Focusing primarily on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, students in this course examine the history, literature, structures, and manifestations of each of these religions. We examine how such disciplines as psychology, sociology, theology, art and ethics shape, and are shaped by, particular religious world views. The course ends with a specific examination of some of the key conflicts/disagreements between two of these religious traditions. Offered each semester.
RELST 130 Introduction to Judaism (4) (V)
Examines what prominent Jewish thinkers have had to say about God and how those beliefs shape--and have shaped--Jewish teachings, rituals, ethics, and worship. Representative works of some of the most influential schools of Jewish thought are examined. An overview of the way in which Jews have imagined God from antiquity to the present is provided. A special concern is an examination of the way in which various images of God have shaped the way Jews worship. An important theme is the tension that exists in Judaism between the notion that God is incorporeal and cannot be represented, and numerous attempts to represent God, even in starkly anthropomorphic terms. Students also question the role that cataclysmic events, most importantly the European holocaust, have had in reshaping Jewish images of God. Offered each fall.
RELST 140 Religion in American Culture (4) (V)
Focuses on religion as practiced by both mainstream and minority groups in America. It examines how religion shapes, and is shaped by, such things as American views on ethnicity, ethics, literature, business, and politics.
RELST 157 Bible in American Culture/Life (4) (V)
Focuses not on the content of the Bible but on the function of the Bible in American culture, politics, and society. Students examine such persons as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Thomas Jefferson and focus on distinctively American types of biblical interpretation. Issues such as slavery, prohibition, and the Scopes trial are studied and highlight how the Bible has been used and abused in arguments on social policies. By examining issues related to publishing and translating the Bible, some of the most intense theological debates in American life are highlighted. Students also focus on how American laws shape the influence of the Bible in American life by highlighting contemporary public educational contexts. Offered each fall.
RELST 200 Study Abroad (3)
RELST 217 The Old Testament World (4) (V)
The ancient Israelites wrote stories of their past. They preserved laws. They wrote prophecies, biographies, common-sense advice, love poetry, and apocalypses. This course is an introduction to some of these writings; specifically, the writings preserved in the Old Testament (and in the Apocrypha). Thus, this course looks both at the history of the Hebrews and Israelites and--more specifically--at the literature which they used to express and communicate their faith. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies, general studies. Offered fall of odd-numbered years.
RELST 218 The New Testament World (4) (V)
The first Christians wrote letters to each other, they wrote tales about Jesus, they wrote sermons and apocalypses. This course is an introduction to some of those writings preserved in the New Testament, but also those apocryphal and non-canonical works which shaped how the New Testament was remembered and how Christianity developed. Thus, this course looks both at the earliest Christians (from a historical perspective) and--more specifically--at the literature which they used to create communities and to express and communicate their faith. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies. Offered each spring.
RELST 232 Religion & American Politics (4)
Investigates the relationship between religion and politics in the United States, paying particular attention to the role of traditional religious identities and issues, while also acknowledging non-traditional religious movements, ideas, and issues. Emphasis is placed on upcoming elections, and students are expected to be informed of the current debates in the various national elections, which will form the basis of class discussions and student presentations. Identical to CSRF 232. Offered fall of even-numbered years.
RELST 251 Religion and Literature (3) (V)
Works selected from the fiction, non-fiction, biography and mythology of the world's literature, both classic and modern, academic and popular, and discussed from the point of view of belief, unbelief, values and spiritual orientation. Offered intermittently.
RELST 265 Extreme Religion: The Body, Pain, Sex and Martyrdom in Religious Experience (3) (W)
For the sake of their soul and their faith, religious individuals engage in a variety of actions which--in other contexts--would be considered extreme: self-mutilation, snake-handling, fasting, celibacy, tantric sex, polygamy, suicide, martyrdom, etc. This course focuses on the role of religious experience; particularly on ecstatic or extreme religious expressions in world religions today. After examining the roles and functions of "experience" within religion, this course focuses on specific examples (or case studies) of "extreme" religious practices, seeking to understand their meaning and significance for the practitioners of the religions themselves. Prerequisite: three semester hours in one of the following: history, English, philosophy, or religious studies. Offered in selected Winter Sessions.
RELST 300 Study Abroad (3)
RELST 303 Saints and Heretics: Christian History I (4) (H)
Through lecture and discussion of key primary texts, this course traces the "plot" of the development of Christian thought about questions of fundamental human importance from the formation of the medieval world to the Reformation. We examine the mutual dependence of theology and wider culture with special attention to developing strategies for reading the Bible. May be taken in conjunction with RELST 304 or independently. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies. Offered fall of even-numbered years.
RELST 304 Damned and Saved: Christian History II (4) (H)
Through lecture and discussion of key primary texts, this course continues the "plot" of the development of Christian thought. We trace the creation of our own modern world view from the wake of the Reformation through the Enlightenment and into the 19th and 20th centuries. The focus is on the development of strategies for reading the Bible. As in RELST 303, we examine the interrelation of theology and its cultural context at each step of the way. May be taken in conjunction with RELST 303 or independently. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies. Offered spring of odd-numbered years.
RELST 316 World Religions (4)
A survey of various religions of the world, their beliefs, practices, and ethical concerns. Focusing primarily on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, students in this course examine the history, literature, structures, and manifestations of each of these religions. We examine how such disciplines as psychology, sociology, theology, art and ethics shape, and are shaped by, particular religious world views. The course ends with a specific examination of some of the key conflicts/disagreements between two of these religious traditions. Offered each semester.
RELST 319 Christian Ethics (4)
Focuses both on the distinctiveness of "Christian ethics" over against other ethical theories (e.g., ethical egoism, utilitarianism, etc.) and on the different ways in which Christians themselves use biblical texts within theological ethics. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies. Offered spring of even-numbered years.
RELST 320 Science and Religion (4) (V)
Centers around two main questions: What has been the impact of science on theology, and are science and religion incompatible? The first question is primarily historical. We examine key advances in the history of science (the heliocentric theory of the universe and evolution, for example) and theological responses to them. The second question is primarily philosophical. In each case, discussions take their departure from the issues raised in important primary texts. Prerequisite: junior/senior status or at least one course in the natural sciences or consent. Offered intermittently.
RELST 324 Local Religions in Practice (1)
The study of religion, long dominated by the study of what "believers" were "thinking", also has a long tradition of observing what adherents were doing. From the earliest sociologist and anthropologists, the study of religion has never been complete without an understanding of religion in practice. This course introduces students to the practices of participant-observation and ethnography, as well as to some of the foundation literature and pressing questions still asked in the study of people in the course of their religious lives. Prerequisite: 3 semester hours in religious studies, or consent. Offered spring of even-numbered years.
RELST 326 Methodism (4) (H)
An interdisciplinary exploration of the history of Methodism, with special foci upon the Wesleys, Asbury, other early itinerant preachers, and upon the religious and cultural development of the Methodist denomination and its Wesleyan offshoots (e.g. AME). Prerequisite: 4 semester hours of religious studies or history. Offered spring of even-numbered years.
RELST 331 Rationalism & Mysticism in Religion (3)
Rationalism and mysticism are radically different ways of comprehending the world, and yet many of the world?s major religions feature both rationalist and mystical forms. First, this course examines rationalism and mysticism as comprehensive and competing religious paradigms; second, surveys manifestations of religious rationalism and mysticism in the monotheistic religions, and third, examines in detail the oscillation of rationalism and mysticism in Judaism from Late Antiquity until the twentieth century. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies.
RELST 332 Jewish Ethics (3)
Focuses on how Judaism helps people meet the challenges of contemporary life. What do classic sources and contemporary thinkers say about animal experimentation, child custody, duties to others, hazardous waste disposal, and medical ethics? These and other pressing concerns are treated in this course through careful attention to classic biblical and rabbinic texts. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies. Offered intermittently.
RELST 335 Christian Theology and Film (4) (V)
A class devoted to exploring how the fields of theology and film studies cross-fertilize each other, with special attention given to the ways in which film functions as religious discourse. Students seek to investigate the historical evolution of film as a means of communicating theological doctrines or themes through its narrative patterns and to analyze how religious and secular films have been and are constructed as cultural texts that advise not only how one should live, but what one should believe. In particular, we explore the sermonic nature of film, various hermeneutics of film, and how audiences receive and appropriate both manifest and latent religious meanings. Identical to COMM 335. Prerequisite: three semester hours in communications, English, history, philosophy, or religious studies. Offered spring of even-numbered years.
RELST 336 Sociology of Religion (3)
Identical to SOC 336.
RELST 351 Religion and Literature (3) (V,V)
Works selected from the fiction, non-fiction, biography and mythology of the world's literature, both classic and modern, academic and popular, and discussed from the point of view of belief, unbelief, values and spiritual orientation. Prerequisite: junior/senior status or consent.
RELST 352 Seminar in C. S. Lewis (4) (V)
Investigates the literary, historical, and theological contributions of British author C. S. Lewis, exploring key literary and philosophical influences upon his life and literature and examining how his thought and imagination have effected contemporary religious discourse and practice. This course may be taught either as an on-campus course or as a travel course. Prerequisite: 4 semester hours of religious studies or English. Offered spring of even-numbered years.
RELST 361 Thinkers/Topics in Religion (4) (V)
Offers the opportunity for focused, in depth study of one important religious thinker (or thinker about religion), or a narrowly defined topic of current importance in religious studies. May be repeated for credit with the instructor's permission. Prerequisite: junior/senior status, or consent. Offered every year.
RELST 363 Sports & Religion (4)
Examines the relationship between sports and religion. From the use of sports as a means of acculturation, the use of legitimate competition as a surrogate for interreligious conflict, and the competition between organized sports and organized religion for money, attention, and devotion, to the sacrality of the time and space of the field of play and elevation of athletes to modern gods, the world of athletic competition ("sports") is overflowing with religious elements, particularly (but not exclusively) in the U.S. Using a variety of disciplinary methods, this class examines this relationship, the ways in which religion and sport reinforce similar ideals, and the ways in which they are in competition with one another for the minds, hearts, and bodies of the "fans." Offered spring of even-numbered years.
RELST 452 Seminar in C. S. Lewis (4) (V)
Investigates the literary, historical, and theological contributions of British author C. S. Lewis, exploring key literary and philosophical influences upon his life and literature and examining how his thought and imagination have effected contemporary religious discourse and practice. This course may be taught either as an on-campus course or as a travel course. Prerequisiste: 4 semester hours of religious studies or English. Offered spring of even-numbered years.
RELST 461 Thinkers/Topics in Religion (4) (I)
Offers the opportunity for focused, in depth study of one important religious thinker (or thinker about religion), or a narrowly defined topic of current importance in religious studies. May be repeated for credit with the instructor's permission. Prerequisite: junior/senior status, or consent. Offered every year.
RELST 463 Sports & Religion (4) (I)
Examines the relationship between sports and religion. From the use of sports as a means of acculturation, the use of legitimate competition as a surrogate for interreligious conflict, and the competition between organized sports and organized religion for money, attention, and devotion, to the sacrality of the time and space of the field of play and elevation of athletes to modern gods, the world of athletic competition ("sports") is overflowing with religious elements, particularly (but not exclusively) in the U.S. Using a variety of disciplinary methods, this class examines this relationship, the ways in which religion and sport reinforce similar ideals, and the ways in which they are in competition with one another for the minds, hearts, and bodies of the "fans." Prerequisite: junior/senior status or consent. Offered spring of even-numbered years.
RELST 483 Senior Thesis I (3)
Independent research under the direction of a member of the department leading to the preparation and writing of a senior essay or thesis. Open to religious studies majors and to humanities divisional majors with a religious studies concentration. Prerequisite: consent. Offered on demand.
RELST 484 Senior Thesis II (3)
Independent research under the direction of a member of the department leading to the preparation and writing of a senior essay or thesis. Open to religious studies majors and to humanities divisional majors with a religious studies concentration. Prerequisite: consent. Offered on demand.