This course is about the felt experience of religion across time and place. Through readings, essays, presentations and exercises we will become familiar with a variety of perspectives on the relationships between religions and bodies in their multiple cultural contexts.

This course offers third- and fourth-year Religious Studies majors resources for conceiving and executing a major research project. As a follow-up, students usually take RELG 4900 ("Distinguished Major Thesis"), which affords them an opportunity to write the research project they have conceived in this course. Whether you plan to write a thesis or not, RELG 4800 offers an accessible introduction to the craft of research in Religious Studies.

An examination of religion and culture of the rabbinic movement (c. 70-600 CE) in the social and cultural contexts of Greco-Roman antiquity. Among the issues to be examined: rituals and institutions of the rabbis, social organizations within the rabbinic movement, engagement with other sectors of Jewish and gentile society.

By reading ethnographic accounts of ritual performances in West Africa and its Atlantic diaspora, the seminar considers theories of ritual, discursive and non-discursive forms of remembrance, and the production, malleability and politics of memory amidst the particular challenges that the histories of slavery, colonialism, and collective trauma pose to the development of collective identities in the Afro-Atlantic World.

The discipline of anthropology has made significant contributions to the study of Islam. Yet far too rarely has it been asked, how might we take Islamic traditions' own ways of knowing not merely as objects of inquiry, but as intellectual partners? This course will engage readings in ethnography & critical theory that examine diverse expressions of Islam as it intervenes into debates over what it means to be human in the world.

An introduction to African religions that originated south of the Sahara. Drawing on ethnographic, historical, and religious studies scholarship, we explore indigenous religious systems, institutions, and ways of knowing ¿ including cosmologies, rituals, healing and devotional practices. We assess the impact of colonialism on African religious cultures, consider developments in the postcolonial era, and discuss Islam and Christianity.

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.

This tutorial is designed to introduce students to the study of Hebrew manuscripts. It provides a foundation for codicology and training in paleographic analysis. The tutorial is ideal for graduate students who are preparing to conduct advanced manuscript research.

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

This tutorial introduces the structure, scope, and contents of the Tibetan-language Buddhist canonical collections. We will read and discuss selections in both English and Tibetan from the 5000 works in the Scripture (Bka' 'gyur) and Treatise (Bstan 'gyur) collections, as well as reference aids and current research on the canons. The course goal is to develop a firm basis for all research involving Tibetan-language canonical literature.