What is religion? Why do people reach out to God(s) or other unseen powers? How are beliefs in spiritual entities expressed and perpetuated? Why do people come together to form religious communities? How does religion order people's lives, and what impact have religious visionaries and institutions had on societies through the ages? This is a co-taught seminar that introduces students to the rich and interdisciplinary field of Religious Studies.

Introduces various aspects of the religious traditions of India, China, and Japan.

Studies the history, literature, and religion of ancient Israel in the light of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Emphasizes methods of contemporary biblical criticism. Cross listed as RELJ 1210.

Studies the history, literature, and religion of ancient Israel in the light of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Emphasizes methods of contemporary biblical criticism. Cross listed as RELC 1210.

Second half of a year-long introduction to biblical Hebrew, using an innovative language-learning approach. Through communicative activities in an immersive environment, students acquire oral and aural capacities naturally, internalize the language, and efficiently develop the ability to read biblical Hebrew prose with immediate comprehension. Students read the prose portions of the Book of Jonah and master basic Hebrew grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. Prerequisite: HEBR/RELJ 1410 or the equivalent.

What does it mean to construct one's identity in dialogue with ancient texts and traditions? Can the gap between ancient and contemporary be bridged? Or must texts and traditions born of a remote time and place remain hopelessly irrelevant to contemporary life? This course explores these questions by examining the myriad ways that contemporary Jews balance the complexities of modern life with the demands of an ancient heritage.

Global Islam traces the development of political Islamic thought from Napoleons invasion of Egypt in 1798 to the Arab Spring in 2010 and its aftermath in the Middle East.

Theravada, Mahayana, and Tantrayana Buddhist developments in India.

Includes American religious pluralism, religious responses to social issues, and the character of contemporary American religious life.

This is a lecture-based course--an idiosyncratic but hopefully helpful introduction to Buddhist philosophy. A few aspects of Buddhist philosophy, at any rate. The subject is potentially endless and can be grabbed from several different ends. Note: this course emphasizes the history of Buddhist concepts and arguments in premodern South Asia. But we will explore what are hopefully ideas of interest: in philosophy of mind; metaphysics; gender.

This course interprets humanity's changing ecological relationships through religious and philosophical traditions. It takes up ethical questions presented by environmental problems, introduces frameworks for making sense of them, and examines the symbols and narratives that shape imaginations of nature.

This course considers the complex world of Christian thought, examining various perspectives on the nature of faith, the being and action of God, the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, the role of the Bible in theological reflection, and the relationship between Christian thought and social justice. Students will read various important works of Christian theology and become acquainted with a range of theological approaches and ideas.

This course engages in a historical survey of American Catholicism from colonial beginnings to the present. It especially explores the theme of how Catholicism has been enculturated in America, how Catholic faith and practice have interacted with the social, cultural, and political environment of the nation.

Readings in the poetry of the Hebrew Bible. Emphasizes grammar, vocabulary, and poetics. Attention to issues of translation and interpretation. Prerequisite: HEBR/RELJ 2410 or the equivalent

Studies the development and history of the thought, practice, and goals of Zen Buddhism.

This course studies how to be a moral agent in a market society. It attends to how economic issues influence different spheres of human life, both public and private, and discusses the ethics of a professional career, the moral obligations of corporations, the nature of inequality, the economic ethics of major world traditions, and how to live a morally sane human life in a market system.

This course asks: what does "spiritual but not religious" mean, and why has it become such a pervasive idea in modern America? We'll study everything from AA to yoga to Zen meditation, with stops in Christian rock, Beat poetry, Abstract Expressionist painting and more. In the end, we'll come to see spirituality in America as a complex intermingling of the great world religions, modern psychology, and a crassly commercialized culture industry.

This course will survey the central debates of the field of African Philosophy: what counts as "African"? what counts as "philosophy"?, the universality or cultural particularity of rationality, the role of race and racism in modern, Western Philosophy, the role of writing and orality in philosophy, and "African" conceptions of the self, truth, knowledge, gender, ethics, and justice.

A survey course which familiarizes students with African-derived religions of the Caribbean and Latin America

This course examines the influence of theological ideas on social movements in twentieth- and twenty-first-century America and investigates how religious commitments shape everyday living, including racial perception and economic, political, and sexual organization. The course will examine the American Civil Rights Movement, late 1960s counter-cultural movements, and recent faith-based community-development movements and organizing initiatives.

Buddhist Mysticism and Modernity

A text-focused class that will read the entire City of God, supplementing that work with several other of Augustine's smaller texts (particularly letters and sermons) to attempt to understand that work's argument, paying attention to the various audiences to which it was addressed, and to Augustine's larger thought as captured in that one great and difficult book

Critical appraisal of classical and contemporary approaches to the sociological study of religion and society.

Examines Jain history, belief, and practice. Prerequisite: RELG 1040, RELH 2090, 2110, or instructor permission.

Reading historical and social analyses along with a range of environmental theologies, this seminar investigates entanglements of Christianity with modern environmental problems. It considers the influence of Christianities in various environmental imaginations, and the role of ecological science and environmental stress in reshaping religious imaginations.

Common to all the world¿s philosophies is engagement with the claim that all that exists in the universe is ultimately one, whether in one¿s awareness or in actual fact. This course examines how Hindus and Buddhists have articulated this idea, basing the same in detailed analysis of one¿s subjective awareness of reality, in an examination of the nature of existence independent of one¿s experience of it, and on the basis of scriptural revelation.

Common to all the world¿s philosophies is engagement with the claim that all that exists in the universe is ultimately one, whether in one¿s awareness or in actual fact. This course examines how Hindus and Buddhists have articulated this idea, basing the same in detailed analysis of one¿s subjective awareness of reality, in an examination of the nature of existence independent of one¿s experience of it, and on the basis of scriptural revelation.

A seminar focused upon some of the most significant philosophical and religious thinkers that have shaped and continued to shape American religious thought and culture from the founding of the Republic to the Civil Rights Movement, including Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jane Addams, William James, Reinhold Niebuhr and Martin Luther King, Jr. We will explore how their thought influenced the social and cultural currents of their time.

Explores how ethical issues in religious traditions and cultural narratives are addressed in literature, scripture, essay, and memoir. How do stories inquire into "the good life"? How may moral principles and virtues be "tested" by fiction? How does narrative shape identity, mediate universality and particularity, reflect beliefs and values in conflict, and depict suffering?

An exploration of ethical thinking using the resources of the Jewish tradition.

To what extent does the pursuit of sustainability require restraining or retraining our desires? How can people be encouraged to consume less, or in less destructive ways, when cultures of consumption prove resistant to change? This seminar will explore these questions from the perspective of South Asian traditions (Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain). We will consider classical sources as well as contemporary debates about sustainable development.

This course examines the history of the interplay between theology, morality, social movements, and politics in America. Topics covered include temperance and prohibition, abolition, labor, civil rights, anti-war and pacifism, and environmentalism. Lecture, weekly readings (often a book), class presentations, short papers, and original research.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of African Religions.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Religious Studies.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of Judaism.

This course is built around the "big" questions Jews in the modern period have faced--such as "Who is a Jew?," "Are there divine commandments?," "Must a Jew believe anything?," "Can there be God after Auschwitz?" Each unit will approach a different question from a variety of perspectives and sources--secular and religious--offering tools to understand complexities, acknowledge context, and ask new questions.

This seminar explores the major conversations that scholars of religion are having, and have had, about what "religion" is and the best ways to study it. Focusing on classical controversies, ongoing debates, and new developments, this course will help students map out the field of religious studies and begin to situate their own studies within it. This course is geared towards Religious Studies majors but open to any interested student.

Historical and topical survey of Christianity in Africa from the second century c.e. to the present. Cross listed with RELC 3890. Prerequisite: A course in African religions or history, Christianity, or instructor permission.

Historical and topical survey of Christianity in Africa from the second century c.e. to the present. Cross listed with RELA 389. Prerequisite: a course in African religions or history, Christianity, or instructor permission.

This course will explore the role of religion in the black freedom struggle in the United States, with a focus on the twentieth century to the present. We will consider the question, how have black people harnessed religion to conceptualize and fight for various notions of black progress and the salvation of black people (broadly construed) amid the persistence of racial inequality?

Students in this course will fashion their own approach to studying religion and develop a retrospective project that interweaves the various strands of their prior study over the course of the major. Building on earlier courses in Religious Studies, this capstone seminar completes the major's sequence by applying questions and conversations in the study of religion to some advanced theme crafted by the instructor.

This topical course provides upper level undergraduate students in Religious Studies an opportunity for advanced coursework in Buddhism

Students write a thesis, directed by a member of the department, focusing on a specific problem in the theoretical, historical or philosophical study of religion or a specific religious tradition. The thesis grows out of the project proposal and annotated bibliography developed in the Research Methods seminar.Prerequisite: Selection by faculty for Distinguished Major Program and completion of RELG 4800.

Systematic readings in a selected topic under detailed supervision. Prerequisite: Permission of departmental advisor and instructor.

This seminar will examine some of the most profound and influential writings about love from the Islamic intellectual and poetic traditions. Perhaps more than any other civilization, the literary and philosophical traditions of Islamic civilization have been "love-centric." In this course we will closely read and discuss various philosophies and theories of love from the mundane to the mystical.

This seminar will examine some of the most profound and influential writings about love from the Islamic intellectual and poetic traditions. Perhaps more than any other civilization, the literary and philosophical traditions of Islamic civilization have been "love-centric." In this course we will closely read and discuss various philosophies and theories of love from the mundane to the mystical.

This graduate seminar provides a comprehensive survey of the subjects and areas addressed in the field of Arabic and Islamic Studies.

The purpose of this course is to provide a comprehensive introduction to Indian tantric Saivism, beginning with the proto-tantric traditions of the "Outer Way" (atiarga) and including the increasingly goddess orientated and increasingly non-dualistic developments evidenced by the myriad traditions of the "Way of Mantras" (mantramarga). Students who wish to take this course are expected to have a deep familiarity with Hindu traditions.

Advanced study in the philosophical and spiritual language of Tibet, past and present. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, or equivalent.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of general religion.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Islam.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Judaism

Examines the Yogachara-Svatantrika system as presented in Jang-kya's Presentation of Tenets, oral debate, and exercises in spoken Tibetan. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, 5470, 5480 or equivalent

This topical course provides Master's and Doctoral students in Religious Studies an opportunity for advanced coursework in selected, established areas of the department's curriculum.

In this tutorial, students will work on developing translation skills: grammar will be reviewed as necessary.

Advanced readings in Persian philosophical, theological, mystical, and literary texts. Course readings will be in Persian.

A tutorial covering major themes and texts in Christian moral thought from antiquity to present.

This course is exploring one of the most important scriptures in the history of esoteric Buddhism, the Thalgyur, and its extensive commentary attributed to Vimalamitra. The two texts are over a thousand pages in length, only existent in Tibetan, and extremely difficult to understand. This course explores the texts through detailed philological and interpretative analysis.

This course explores classical Tibetan literature and religious systems through a variety of genres in the original Tibetan texts.

In this course students will read a selection of Pali canonical and commentarial texts.

This tutorial will focus on the translation of Chinese Buddhist texts into English. Texts will be drawn from a variety of time periods, traditions, and genres. Students will gain familiarity with Buddhist Chinese, and the themes and conventions of Buddhist texts.

This tutorial constitutes a reading course in Sanskrit, the classical language of India. Students will read the original texts and translate them into English, analyzing and interpreting the materials in light of the Indian tradition of commentary and exegesis and in light of contemporary scholarly and other analyses of the relevant subject matter: philosophical literature.

This tutorial, the third in a sequence on theopolitical thought in Modern Judaism, will focus on 20th-century Jewish philosophers, especially Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, Leo Baeck, and Franz Rosenzweig. Their distinct views on the state, the nation, and the theocratic community, as well as how modern Christian thought grappled with similar questions, will be analyzed in the context of a crisis of politics during the interwar period.

This reading course introduces students to the medieval Hebrew literary tradition and the distinctive linguistic features of Hebrew in this period. The texts under consideration will vary by semester. Scholarly articles will supplement and contextualize the Hebrew readings. Students will discuss the religious and historical significance of the passages that they prepare in advance of our sessions.

Research on problems leading to a master's thesis.

Systematic readings in a selected topic under detailed supervision.

For master's research, taken before a thesis director has been selected.

For master's thesis, taken under the supervision of a thesis director.

For doctoral research, taken before a dissertation director has been selected.

For doctoral dissertation, taken under the supervision of a dissertation director.