ELEMENTARY COURSE
1. Patterns of Religious Experience
A comparative study of some of the basic patterns of religion. The course will focus upon such themes as religious experience, myths of creation, stories of religious founders and heroes, the origin and resolution of human suffering, and the structure and meaning of religious community and ritual. Source material for these themes will be taken from the literary and artistic resources of the following religious traditions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV or INT.
2. Religion in the Modern World
Religion and modernity are considered by many to be inimical to each other. Yet Fundamentalists, New Agers, international Swamis, and religious nationalists are nothing if not modern. In this course we'll begin with a consideration of what constitutes modernity and the modern world. Then we'll discuss the roots of modern religion. The rest of the course will be case studies of modern religious movements. Assignments will include one case study for students to write up. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV or INT.
3. Modern Religious and Anti-Religious Thinkers
Critical examination of some of the most influential modern proponents and opponents of religious faith, with special emphasis on the question: what is involved in belief in God? Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
4. Religion of Israel: The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) (Identical to JWST 4)
An introduction to the religion of ancient Israel through an examination of a number of the books of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), including Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Samuel, the Psalms, Job, and the prophets. Attention will also be given to the religion of Israel’s Phoenician and Mesopotamian neighbors. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
5. Early Christianity: The New Testament
An examination of primitive Christianity as witnessed by the writings of the New Testament. Emphasis will be given to the literary and historical analysis of the Gospels and Epistles and to an understanding of the pre-Christian and non-Christian religions of the Hellenistic world. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
6. Introduction to Judaism (Identical to JWST 6)
This course offers an introduction to Judaism by examining three of its central spiritual manifestations: (1) development, observance, and study of the Halaka (religious law); (2) philosophical contemplation; and (3) mystical experience and theosophical speculation. Ancient and modern challenges to the tradition will be studied in some detail, and an attempt will be made to determine what might constitute a unity of such a diverse tradition. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
7. First-Year Seminars in Religion
Consult special listings.
8. Introduction to Islam (Identical to AMES 8)
This course will provide students with useful tools for reading about, thinking about, or otherwise engaging with Islam and Muslims. It is first a survey of important topics in the study of the religion of Islam, including the Qur’an and the Prophet, the role of Islamic mysticism, Islam and the state, Islamic law, and Islamic theories of family and person. We also discuss Orientalism and the western study of Islam, so that we can understand ourselves as students of the Islamic tradition. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
9. Hinduism (Identical to AMES 9)
An introductory survey of the Hindu religious tradition of South Asia from 1500 B.C.E. down to the present day. Emphasis will be given to the historical development of elite, Sanskritic Hinduism and its constant interaction with popular and local traditions. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
10. The Religions of China (Identical to AMES 10)
An introduction to China’s three major religions—Confucianism, Daoism, and Bud-dhism—through the reading of classic texts. Also, a look at important elements in Chinese folk religion: ancestor worship, temples, heavens and hells, and forms of divination. Special attention will be paid to the importance of government in Chinese religious thought and to continuity and change in the history of Chinese religion.Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
11. Religion and Morality
An examination of the process of moral reasoning and its relationship to religious belief. Emphasis will be given to the analysis of issues that have drawn the special attention of religious ethicists; among these are abortion, stem cell research, the treatment of congenitally impaired newborns, same-sex marriage, and physician-assisted suicide. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV.
12. Religion in Early America
A survey of religion in North America from colonization through the Civil War. We'll examine the religious pluralism that characterized the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, discuss how the First and Second Great Awakenings reshaped both religion and culture, and examine the reforming impulses that drove an angry South to secession. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
13. Religion in Modern America
A survey of religion in North America from the Civil War to the present. We'll examine the plight of immigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, discuss how urbanization and industrialization recast social norms, gender roles, and religious ideology, and chart the emergence of evangelicalism as a political movement late in the twentieth century. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
14. Introduction to African Religions (Identical to AAAS 18)
This course examines the diversity of Indigenous African Religions, their cosmologies, histories, ritual structures, and their relationships to other aspects of African cultures. Of particular importance will be ideas of gendered spiritual power, the spread of African-inspired religions to the Americas, and the nature of orally transmitted religious traditions. Conversion to Islam and Christianity and reconversion from these religions will also be studied. Finally, we examine the impact of globalization on Indigenous African Religions. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
15. The Christian Tradition
An introduction to the variety of Christian beliefs, institutions, and practices from the first century to the end of the sixteenth century. Attention will be focused on understanding how Christian communities adapted and developed religious beliefs and practices in the face of changing historical circumstances. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
16. Modern Islam (Identical to AMES 15)
In all the attention focused on Islam at present, a newspaper reader could be forgiven for supposing that between Muhammad and Usamah bin Laden, there has been no change in Islam. This course surveys developments in Islamic religious history, thought, and practice since 1800, with special emphasis on topics of current controversy, including the status of women, the nature of government, and the place of Islamic law. Readings will be mostly from primary texts written by contemporary Muslims, both modernists and Islamists. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
17. African Religions of the Americas (Identical to AAAS 83.5)
This class introduces the history and practices of African-derived religious traditions as they have developed in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Black American communities in the United States. These religious systems will be discussed with reference to their mainstream representation (as ‘voodoo’) and analyzed according to the more complex realities of their practitioners’ everyday lives. Three themes to be explored in each tradition include 1) gender identity; 2) racial identity and resistance; and 3) aesthetics. Open to all classes. Dist: INT, TMV; WCult: CI.
18. Indian Buddhism
An introductory survey of the Buddhism of South Asia from its beginnings in the 6th century B.C.E. to its eventual demise in the 12th century C.E. Emphasis will be given to the major beliefs, practices, and institutions characteristic of Indian Buddhism, the development of its different varieties (Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana), and its impact upon South Asian civilization at large. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
19. Special Topics in Religion—Introductory Level
The contents of this course will vary from term to term. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV (except when otherwise noted). WCult: Varies.
20.1. Foundational Figures in the Study of Religion
In this course we will read the works of a number of the “greats”—Tylor, Durkheim, Freud, Weber, among others—who shaped the modern, scholarly study of religion. We will also read critical literature on their work. The course is designed to give students a grounding in the methods and approaches taken for granted in the field of the study of religion. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dist: TMV.
20.2. Magic, Science, and Religion
Can significant distinctions be drawn between religious and magical ritual? Do magic and religion thrive in opposition to the science of their time or in congruence with it? The course addresses such theoretical questions in the study of religion from perspectives of history, philosophy of science, anthropology, and cognitive science. The course will suggest a general theory of conditions under which religion tends to be or tends not to be magical. Students will be invited to challenge that theory. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dist: SOC.
20.3. Reason and Religious Belief
A study of the principal religious and philosophical arguments for and against religious belief. The first part of the course will consider the question of the justifiability of religious belief through an appeal to religious experience and mysticism, to rational theistic arguments, and to faith, showing the difficulties in each case. The second part of the course will cover alternatives to classical theism and the contemporary challenge of conceptual relativism and religious pluralism. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dist: TMV.
20.4. Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Myth: Interpreting Ancient Near Eastern Mythology
This course examines various theoretical approaches to the study of mythology that have been developed by scholars in the past century by considering the ways in which these theoretical models have been used in the interpretation of mythologies of two of the great cultures of the ancient Near East, Mesopotamia and Canaan. Readings will include all the major myths of Mesopotamian and Canaanite tradition; major articles by theoreticians of myth such as Bronislaw Malinowski, Clyde Kluckhohn, and Claude Levi-Strauss; and various essays that attempt to apply these theoretical studies to the ancient Near Eastern mythological materials.Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
21. Judaism in Late Antiquity: The Rabbinic Revolution (Identical to JWST 60)
The course begins with a survey of the development of Judaism from a Persian-era temple religion into the religion of the synagogue and the academy in response to Greco-Roman civilization and its eventual Christianization. The course engages the students in careful interrogation of texts from the Mishna and the Talmud to recover the theological and experiential contours and concerns of a religious world in formative transition. Some of these developments are then traced through the Middle Ages to early modernity. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
22. Modern Judaism (Identical to JWST 61)
This course will concentrate on modern Jewish thought in the period beginning with Spinoza's challenge to the Bible. In turn, a figure of the Enlightenment (Moses Mendelssohn), then founder of neo-Orthodoxy (S. R. Hirsch), then the central figure of Reform (Abraham Geiger), and such later figures as Martin Buber, Ahad H'Am, and Franz Rosenzweig will be read and discussed. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
23. Jewish Mysticism (Identical to JWST 62)
The course examines the nature of claims to mystical experience or knowledge that appear in various aspects of the Jewish tradition, with primary focus on the enchanted and demonic worlds of the Kabbala. Forms of ecstasy and magic will be studied, along with their theoretical and social backgrounds and their impact on elitist and popular Jewish practice. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
24. Jewish Philosophers of Religion (Identical to JWST 63)
The course is conducted through close reading and discussion of works by Spinoza, Buber, and Levinas that translate insights from the Jewish experience to the idiom of modern European culture and, in so doing, make unique contributions to such subjects of modern religious thought as: God and infinity; religion, morality, and politics; autonomy and transcendence; and the role of Jewish intellectuals in the modern era. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
25. Islamic Mysticism (Sufism)
An introduction to Sufism, using primary texts, films, and recordings. The course will first trace the development of Sufism, including its Christian and Hindu heritage. Then, using a Sufi manual of instruction, students will work their way through one influential approach to Sufi metaphysics. Finally, using films and recordings, the class will consider the rituals, practices, and role of the Sufi orders of Islam in Islamic history. Desirable background: Religion 1, 8, or another College course on Islam or Islamicate culture, or permission of the instructor. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
26. Islam in America
This course will consider North American Islam as a particular instance of Islam. The Islam of slaves, nineteenth-century converts to Islam, varieties of Black Islam, New Age Islam and Sufism, and immigrant Islam – including contemporary social and political developments – will all be topics of this course. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
27. The Qur’an and the Prophet
The Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad are the source and center of Islam. In this course we will consider the form and content of the Qur’an and the form and content of various accounts of the Prophet’s life: the hadith or anecdotes of the Prophet’s life, the sirah, or biography of Muhammad, and the maghazi, or accounts of the Prophet’s battles and campaigns. Topics covered include the aural Qur’an, the dating of the Qur’an and the hadith, diverse images of the Prophet, and “what can we know about the life of Muhammad?” Desirable background: A College course on Islamic history, culture, or society, including Religion 8 and Religion 16. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
28. Topics in the Study of Islam
This course will focus on a particular topic in Islamic studies, with an emphasis on the most recent research in that field. The topic will vary with each offering, so the course may be taken more than once. Sample topics include: “The Islam of Morocco,” “Shi’ism,” and “Problems in Popular Islam.” Desirable background: A previous course on Islamic Religion or Islamicate history and culture, or permission of the instructor. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
29. Kierkegaard and Religious Existentialism
A study of the thought, writings, and influence of Søren Kierkegaard, who is widely acknowledged to be the founding figure of existentialism. The course will examine the development of Kierkegaard’s philosophical and religious thinking and will follow its influence on both religious and non-religious thinkers, including Martin Buber, Reinhold Niebuhr, Jean Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
30. Sacred Cities
This course will explore the ways in which different religious traditions shaped and have been shaped by the sacred cities in which they are established. We will explore the way in which local topography, communities, and tradition shaped the sacred urban landscape, and how the local holy places of the city influence the larger religious tradition of which it is a part. Dist: TMV (unless otherwise indicated); WCult: Varies.
31. Sex, Celibacy, and the Problem of Purity: Asceticism and the Human Body in Late Antiquity (Identical to WGST 43.2 and CLST 11)
Late Antiquity (c. 300-500 C.E.) was a time when Christians struggled to understand how gender, family life, and religion could intermesh. Did virgins get to heaven faster than those who marry? Can a chaste man and woman live together without succumbing to lust? Were men holier than women? What about women who behaved like men? This course examines the changing understanding of the body, marriage, sexuality, and gender within Christianity through reading saints’ lives, letters, polemical essays, and legal texts. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV.
32. Topics in the Christian Tradition
In this course we will engage in an in-depth study of a particular issue in Christian history or Christian ideology. The topic will change with each offering, and students may therefore take this course more than once. Sample topics include “Intellectuals and Superstition: The Creation of the Witch in Medieval Europe” and “Heretics and Inquisitors: The Cathar Religion in Medieval Europe.” Open to all classes. Dist: TMV.
33. Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Age of the Crusades
This course will focus on the interactions of the three major religious communities of the medieval Mediterranean—Christians, Jewish, and Muslim—beginning with the First Crusade in 1096 and ending with the arrival of the Black Death in 1347. By examining topics such as pilgrimage, crusade, and jihad, the status of minority communities, and intellectual life, we will explore how Christians, Jews, and Muslims clashed, cooperated, influenced, and misunderstood each other. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV.
34. Christianity and Conversion in the Northern World: Vikings, Celts, and Anglo-Saxons
This course explores the transformation of Christianity in the early medieval period. The conversion of ‘barbarian’ peoples in the northwest Europe between 400-1000 meant Christianity had to adapt to a new environment—one without the Roman Empire, without cities, with different languages, cultures, and notions of relations between the human and divine worlds. By exploring the impact the conversion of the people of Ireland, England, and Iceland had on Christianity, we will understand how ancient Christianity was transformed into medieval Christianity. We will also explore the appeal this Mediterranean religion had for communities that surrounded the much colder North Sea. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV.
35. Religion and Science
The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of current developments in the natural sciences and religious or theological interpretations of them. Emphasis is given to understanding an emerging consonance between religion and science in contrast to models of dissonance and conflict, or independence and dialogue. Particular attention is given to (1) evolutionary biology, (2) relativity physics, (3) cosmology, and (4) process theology and philosophy. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dist: TMV.
36. New Directions in American Religious Thought
This course explores a distinctively American tradition of religious thought that developed outside of the strictly doctrinal or theological thinking of churches, synagogues, and mosques. Readings range from the religious writings of the classical pragmatists, including Peirce, James, Santayana, and Dewey, to neopragmatists, such as Richard Rorty, and prophetic pragmatists, such as Cornel West, and their critics. Topics include the character of religious experience, divinity and nature, the problem of evil, and the meaning of truth. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
37. Animal Rights in Religion, Film, and Literature (This course will satisfy one of the three electives required for the Ethics Institute minor requirement.)
This interdisciplinary, interfaith course looks at issues of ethics and religion in our environment as they are illustrated through the circumstances of flora and fauna today. Animal rights are discussed; animal advocacy is encouraged as part of the enduring heritage of the great teachings of many religions. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
38. Spiritual Autobiography
This course begins with the first spiritual autobiography in the West, Augustine's Confessions, as a standpoint from which to compare and contrast other spiritual journeys. Topics subsequently to be studied include excerpts of personal accounts about experiential faith; a panoramic overview of conversion narratives, among them African American, Native American and Muslim; and contextual information about the historical development of these various religious perspectives. Students will engage in journaling. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: CI.
39. Magic, Madwomen, and Mystics: an alternative Christian spirituality
This course compares and contrasts magical practices and mysticism in (primarily) Western Europe from pre-Christian Judaism to the present day. An alternative voice to institutionalized piety emerges, one that is often (although not always) associated with those culturally marginalized, including women. The focus is interdisciplinary: we examine spiritual literature, poetry, artwork (including the engravings of William Blake), early modern music, and some hymns. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
40. Topics in the Religions of India
This course will focus in some depth on a particular aspect of religion in India—for example, a particular religion, sect, time period, body of literature, type of religion, or reli-gious movement. The topic will change with each offering, and students may take the course more than once. Sample topics include: “Gods, Demons, and Monkeys: The Ramayana Epic of India,” “Women In Indian Religions,” and “Modern Hinduism.” Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
41. Readings in Buddhist Literature
This course will focus in some depth on a particular body of Buddhist literature from a specific region of the Buddhist world, such as sacred scriptures, philosophical treatises, narrative texts, ritual texts, and sacred biographies. Special attention will be paid to a close and careful reading of the texts, as well as to placing them within their proper historical, social, and cultural contexts. The topic will change with each offering, and students may take the course more than once. Sample topics include: “Indian Buddhist Narratives,” “Mahayana Buddhist Texts,” “Chan/Zen Tradition,” and “Tantra in East Asia.” Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
42. Goddesses of India (Identical to WGST 43.4)
This course will use both elite and popular Hindu religious texts in conjunction with contemporary sociological and anthropological accounts, scholarly analyses, visual art, and film to explore the diverse identities and roles of India’s many goddesses, both ancient and modern. Special emphasis will also be given to the relationship between goddesses and women. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
46. Daoism: Transformations of Tradition
In this course we will explore the historical developments and transformations of Daoism from its ancient roots to present-day practices. We will begin by looking at early traditions of immortality seekers and self-cultivation and at the religious and philosophical ideas in the ancient Chinese texts of the Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Guanzi. We will also examine recent archaeological findings, imperial religious practices, and the complex interaction of Daoism with Buddhism. We will in addition look at contemporary Daoist practices in China and Taiwan. Along the way we will devote special attention to meditation and divination techniques; alchemy and sexual techniques for transcendence; the place of women and the feminine in Daoism. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
47. Buddhism in China
A study of the advent of Buddhism in China, its accommodating yet transforming response to Chinese traditions and values, the emergence of the authentically Chinese schools of T’ien-T’ai, Hua-yen, Ch’an, and Pure Land Buddhism, and the enduring Bud-dhist heritage of China. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
48. Body and Sex in Chinese Religions
In this course we will explore how different traditions in China conceptualized the relationship between the human body and the universe, and how individuals can attain immortality and transcendence. After examining different conceptions of the human body in traditional China, we will focus on sexual practices advocated by the traditions of immortality seekers, Daoism, and esoteric Buddhism as ways to enlightenment and transcendence. In our explorations we will look at the earliest records of sexual practices found in tombs of the 3rd century B.C.E. and examine Daoist sexual initiation rites and secret rites practiced by emperors. We will consider how notions of cosmic powers and forces are expressed in sexual rituals and how society views such practices. We will also compare Chinese notions of the body and of sexual practices with those found in West. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
49. Topics in East Asian Religions
In this course students will read and discuss the latest research on one of the religions of East Asia, or a particular sect, movement, or time period in the history of East Asian religions. The topic will change with each offering. Thus, students may take this course more than once. Sample topics include: “Literature and Religion in China,” “Politics and Religion in China,” and “The Body in Japanese Religion.” Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
50. Indigenous African Religions (Identical to AAAS 43)
This course aims to introduce students to the study of African religions in their traditional settings, covering some major themes that have interested social researchers and incited debate. The approach is interdisciplinary, introducing gender balance in the study of men's and women's experiences of religion in practical everyday living and social action and analyzing how religion constructs and maintains different gender roles and identities in specific African societies. The construction of Gods and Goddesses and the role of religion in politics are also examined. Finally, the philosophies of African religions are assessed in the context of contemporary epistemological and ethical debates in feminism, Afrocentricity, and ecological movements. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
51. The Virgin of Guadalupe: From Tilma to Tattoo (Identical to WGST 44.5 and LATS 35)
Beginning with her precursors in the Old and New World, this course approaches Guadalupe as a tool with which to pry open questions central to Mexican and Chicano/a identity. For some, she is a mother-figure with characteristics once attributed to pre-Columbian goddesses; for others, she is a feminist champion of political revolution. This course concentrates on the most compelling contexts in which Guadalupe has been called on to negotiate religious, racial, sexual, and national identity. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: CI.
52. Religion and Music in Cuba (Identical to LACS 30.4)
This course tells the story of Cuba's religious formations through their musical genres. Readings draw from several disciplines to illuminate the role that music plays in celebrating deities, ancestors, and community, in such traditions as the all-male secret society Abakuá; French-Haitian Tumba Francesa; the "drums of affliction" Lucumí and Palo Monte; and Havana-based hip-hop. We examine the relationship between dance, spirit possession, and mythology, and how nation, race, and gender have been constructed through music. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: CI.
53. Religion, Healing, and Medicine
This class explores a range of religious approaches and traditional therapeutic responses to bodily suffering, with an eye towards examining the way medical cultures reflect and construct religious identity. Most examples of healing practices tobe discussed are drawn from religious communities and ethnic groups active in the contemporary United States. While addressing such topical issues as reproduction, sexuality, substance abuse, and dieting, the course also analyzes the taboos,values, and rituals of Western biomedicine. Dist: INT, SOC; WCult: CI.
55. Ancient Egyptian Religion
The great civilization of ancient Egypt, which spanned a period of almost 3000 years, has left us a wealth of literary, artistic, architectural, and funerary religious remains. This course will focus on three major aspects of Egypt’s religious heritage: (1) the pantheon and the myths and stories about Egypt’s gods; (2) temple complexes; and (3) tombs, especially the tombs of royalty and other nobles. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.
56. Women and the Bible (Identical to WGST 43.3)
As contemporary Jewish and Christian communities of faith face the question of the role of women within their traditions, many turn to the Bible for answers. Yet the biblical materials are multivalent, and their position on the role of women unclear. This course intends to take a close look at the biblical tradition, both the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament, to ask what the Bible does – and does not say – about women. Yet the course is called “Women and the Bible,” not “Women in the Bible,” and implicit in this title is a second goal of the course: not only to look at the Bible to see what it actually says about women but also to look at differing ways that modern feminist biblical scholars have engaged in the enterprise of interpreting the biblical text. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: CI.
57. Readings in the Biblical Tradition
In this course we will engage in an in-depth study of a particular biblical book or of a particular biblical motif. The topic will change with each offering, and students may therefore take this course more than once. Sample topics include “The Exodus Tradition,” “Job and the Joban Tradition,” and “Apocalyptic Traditions.” Open to all classes. Dist: TMV.
58. Topics in the Bible and Archaeology
In this course we will study the relationship between various biblical texts and archeological discoveries from the ancient Near East, including ancient Israel, and from the Roman Empire during the period of Christian origins. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which archeological data can be used and abused in attempts to understand the Bible better. The specific topic of the course will change with each offering, and students may therefore take this class more than once. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV.
60. Reformations: Protestant and Catholic
This course examines the theological, social, psychological, and cultural motors driving change within the institutional church during the 16 and early 17th centuries, the Protestant challenge to Catholicism, and the Catholic response. Manifestations of the need for change are found in great literature of the era and also exemplified in art and film. Scope spans Europe and the Colonies. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
61. Religion and the Civil Rights Movement (Identical to AAAS 82)
An examination of the importance of religion in the drive for civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s. The course will look at the role of activists, clergy, sermons, and music in forging the consensus in favor of civil rights. Open to all. Dist: SOC; WCult: CI.
62. Religion, Politics, and the Presidency
This course examines the intricate relationship between church and state, religion and politics, throughout American history, beginning with the founders and how they have been interpretted - perhaps misinterpretted - throughout history. We'll look at the contentious election of 1800, examine the faith of several presidents, and then explore the rise and the influence of the Religious Right in recent years, concluding with a retrospective on religion and presidential politics over the past half century. Open to all. Dist: SOC; WCult: W.
63. Mormonism
A survey of the history and theology of Mormonism, one of America's indigenous religions. We'll read selections from the Book of Mormon and chart the history of the movement, including its contentious relationship with the federal government. We'll look, finally, at some of the cultural expressions of Mormonism and examine the ways that Mormonism has transformed itself from what was essentially an outlaw religion in the nineteenth century to the embodiment of American ideals.
64. Evangelicalism (New course, pending approval)
A survey of the history and theology of evangelicalism, America's folk religion, from its origins in the confluence of the "three P's" - Puritanism, Presbyterianism, and Pietism - in the Great Awakening to the construction of the evangelical subculture following the Scopes Trial to the present. We'll examine evangelical millennial ideas as well as attitudes toward women, minorities, society, and politics.
65. Sports, Ethics & Religion
A survey of the origins and development of the culture of athletic competition in America, with roots in the "Muscular Christianity" movement of nineteenth-century England. We'll examine the peculiar (religious?) passion that Americans invest in sports as well as the role that sports has played as an engine for social change. We look, finally, at some of the ethical issues surrounding organized sports. Dist: TMV; WCult: W.
70. Foreign Study in Religion I
Credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed a religion course at the University of Edinburgh while a member of the Dartmouth Foreign Study Program in Religion. Prerequisite: two courses in Religion. Dist: TMV.
71. Foreign Study in Religion II
Credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed a religion course at the University of Edinburgh while a member of the Dartmouth Foreign Study Program in Religion. Prerequisite: two courses in Religion. Dist: TMV.
72. Foreign Study in Religion III
Credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed a religion course at the University of Edinburgh while a member of the Dartmouth Foreign Study Program in Religion. Prerequisite: two courses in Religion. Dist: TMV.
74. Special Topics in Religion—Intermediate Level
The contents of this course will vary from term to term. Dist: TMV (unless otherwise indicated). WCult: Varies.
80. Seminar
The contents of this course will vary from term to term. Dist: TMV; WCult: Varies.
81. Dickinson Distinguished Scholar Seminars
The contents of this course will vary from term to term. Dist: TMV; WCult: Varies.
82. Joint Research in Religious Studies
Two or more students may enroll in this course to pursue through independent reading and research a topic mutually agreed upon between themselves and the instructor. This course may be used in satisfaction of the seminar requirement. Permission of the Chair is required.
83. Research in Religious Studies (Independent Study)
All terms: Arrange.
84. Advanced Research in Religious Studies (Independent Study)
All terms: Arrange. Serves in fulfillment of the Culminating Experience requirement. Open to senior majors only; by permission only. Majors electing this option must submit a research proposal for Departmental approval no later than the end of the Spring term of the Junior year. Students who choose to enroll in Religion 84 as their Culminating Experience are normally expected to participate in the Senior Colloquium but are excused from the writing component of the Colloquium. For more information, consult with the Chair.
85. Senior Colloquium
As a culminating activity for senior majors, this colloquium serves as a forum for researching and writing the Senior Essay. Two faculty members convene the colloquium and guide the selection of essay topics. Other faculty and guest speakers may visit during the first five weeks of the term for discussion of common readings. The 25-page Senior Essay is expected (1) to display expertise in at least one cultural area, historical period, methodological approach, or body of literature, (2) to build upon previous course preparation, and (3) to engage with one of several approaches or readings discussed in the colloquium. Students who choose to enroll in Religion 84 or Religion 86 and 87 as their Culminating Experience are normally expected to participate in the Senior Colloquium but are excused from the writing component. Prerequisite: Religion 1. Open only to senior majors. Dist: TMV.
86. Honors I (Research)
All terms: Arrange. Open to seniors only; by permission only. Students who choose to enroll in Religion 86 and 87 as their Culminating Experience are normally expected to participate in the Senior Colloquium but are excused from the writing component of the Colloquium.
87. Honors II (Writing) All terms:
Arrange. Open to seniors only; by permission only. Students who choose to enroll in Religion 86 and 87 as their Culminating Experience are normally expected to participate in the Senior Colloquium but are excused from the writing component of the Colloquium.
REL 8 Introduction to Islam
REL 9 Hinduism
REL 10 The Religions of China
REL 14 Introduction to African Religions (Identical to AAAS 18)
REL 16 Modern Islam
REL 18 Indian Buddhism
REL 20.4 Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Myth: Interpreting Ancient Near Eastern Mythology
REL 25 Islamic Mysticism (Sufism)
REL 27 The Qur’an and the Prophet
REL 28 Topics in the Study of Islam
REL 40 Topics in the Religions of India
REL 41 Readings in Buddhist Literature
REL 42 Goddesses of India
REL 46 Daoism: Transformations of Tradition
REL 47 Buddhism in China
REL 48 Body and Sex in Chinese Religions
REL 49 Topics in East Asian Religions
REL 50 Indigenous African Religions (Identical to AAAS 43)
REL 55 Ancient Egyptian Religion
