Upcoming Courses

Winter 2025

REL 1410: African Gods
Long before Marvel brought us Black Panther, the traditions and gods of Africa played an outsized role in our conception of religion and the world. But who were these gods? This course investigates the religions and deities of Africa before the advent of Christianity and Islam, and examines what happens to the gods of others when they migrate to the African continent. Throughout the class we will examine how Africans of the past debated the nature of knowledge and how encounters between traditions on the African continent shaped our understanding of religion itself. Also counts towards African/African-American Studies; Interreligious Studies; International and Global Studies.

REL 1710: God and Politics
In everyday occurrences, one can witness various intersections between religion and politics in different settings, including religious and political leaders interfering in politics and religion, respectively. Through the concepts of secularization, social justice, health, fundamentalism, violence, social cohesion, religious and political leaders engage with each other. This course explores such moments in human experience from cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives and investigates practices in religious and political leadership across time and space. It selects case studies from a diverse group of religious and political leaders, examining how political and religious leaders influence—and are influenced by—religion and politics. Also counts towards Interreligious Studies.

REL 2380: Religion and Film
This course looks at the importance of religious thought in world cinema. It considers a wide variety of films – from independent and foreign films to mainstream Hollywood blockbusters – that are either overtly religious or that have religious themes at their core. Background readings on film theory and select world religions will help students critically assess the form and content of each film.

REL 2710: Meaning and Happiness
This course will examine how individuals and communities define and find meaning and happiness. What are the factors that impact our sense of meaning and purpose? How do we determine what brings us happiness and a sense of well-being? We will learn how religious, spiritual, scientific, philosophical, sociological, and historical sources and perspectives have impacted the view of what it means to live a meaningful and happy life.

REL 2750: Life, Death, and Afterlife
One of the few certainties in life is death. Given humanity’s knowledge of this certainty, many of the deepest reflections throughout human history have concerned questions of life, death, and the possibility of life after death: What does it mean to be human? What is the meaning or purpose of our existence and demise? What lies on the other side of death? Can immortality or eternal life be attained? And how does one live well with (or without) this life-after-death in view? In this course, we will explore how a diverse range of texts, practices, and thinkers have imagined life, death, and the afterlife.

Spring 2025

REL 1000: Religion in a Global Context
This course introduces students to the study of religion in its cultural and historical contexts and aims to familiarize students with the multi-faceted role of religion in the world including examination of social, economic, historical, political and ethical factors. Also counts towards Interreligious Studies; International and Global Studies.

REL 1120: Religion and Power
This course challenges students to think about “religion” as something extending beyond the walls of churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples. Instead, this course asks how religion and social power can overlap, blend into, and alter one another. Can religion prompt violence, political movements, and racism? Can social and political circumstances alter religion? This course focuses especially on colonialism, both in its earliest stages as well as contemporary variations on it. Students will also investigate how religious ideals have influenced racial, sexual, and cultural regulation. Also counts towards Interreligious Studies; American Studies; Peace and Conflict Studies; International and Global Studies; the Advancing Equity Requirement.

REL 1280: Religion, Race, and Resistance
In this course we examine the role that Christianity played in the construction of the category of race and in the political and economic processes of slavery, colonization, and colonialism that shaped the modern era of global capitalism. We will pay particular attention to the religious history and experience of Native Americans and people of African descent in the United States with an eye toward understanding how religion has been used as both as a weapon to support and enforce racism as well as a source of liberation for Black and Native peoples. Also counts towards Interreligious Studies; African/African-American Studies; Poverty and Social Justice Studies; the Advancing Equity Requirement.

REL 1310: Jewish Biblical Literature in Context
This course introduces students to the critical study of biblical literature, focusing on the text known as the Hebrew Bible, Jewish Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament. We will explore the Bible in light of the ancient contexts in which it was composed, while also studying the way that ancient Jews and Christians interpreted and transformed the meaning of biblical texts. We will read the Bible’s narratives, poems, proverbs, prophecies and laws, and consider its diverse approaches to topics such as power, holiness, gender, nature, love, death, God, and the relation of the people of Israel to other peoples. Also counts towards Classical Studies; Middle East Studies, International and Global Studies; Jewish Studies; Interreligious Studies.

REL 1702: Religion and AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping society, from the way we work to our understanding of what it means to be human. In this course, students will explore AI and technology through the lens of religious studies and gain professional experience using data visualization and generative AI tools. We will examine AI’s cultural and philosophical impact by studying its ties with religious practice, technology, and the interplay of religion and science. With an emphasis on intersectionality, students are prompted to challenge AI biases, trace their origins, and champion technological equity. Students will gain familiarity with the tools of generative AI and utilize them throughout the course.

REL 1830: Islamic Traditions
This course introduces students to the scripture, doctrines and practices of Islam in the context of Islam’s spread from the Middle East to every region of the modern world. Particular attention will be paid to such issues as communal authority, the Islamic world’s relations with the West and the emergence of new Muslim communities in America and Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries. Also counts towards African & African-American Studies; Interreligious Studies; Middle East Studies; International/Global Studies; Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies.

REL 1840: Christian Traditions
Christian Traditions asks students to consider the long history of Christianity and the many ways that people have thought about and practiced its diverse forms. Rather than treat Christianity as just one thing that is stable across all times and places, this course notes the many different ways that Christians have found it meaningful. What issues have different Christians found important? How have different Christians thought about divine revelation? How have different Christians thought about their roles in society? Students will engage materials ranging from St. Anthony’s ancient desert battles with the devil to Joseph Smith’s encounter with the Book of Mormon to present-day LGBTQA+ liberation theology. Also counts towards Interreligious Studies.

REL 3110: Beyond Conflict and Tolerance: Interreligious Encounter and Social Change
This course draws from the emerging field of interfaith studies and aims to bring theoretical models for understanding the nature and consequences of interreligious encounter into dialogue with data from historical and contemporary instances of encounter. It will provide students a historical framework for examining the encounter of religious traditions over time, familiarize them with typologies of encounter, and help them think critically about the nature of pluralism, tolerance, and interfaith dialogue. Also counts towards Interreligious Studies; and the Advancing Equity requirement.

REL 3570: Sages and Samurai
This course explores the historical and contemporary role of religion in Japan. It pays particular attention to primary texts in translation and to the visual and ritual expressions of Shintoism, Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, Christianity and folk religion. In addition, it emphasizes these as vibrant, lived traditions in Japan whose continued relevance can be discerned today. Also counts towards Advanced Studies; Asian Studies; International and Global Studies; International Business.

REL 3920: Religion, Magic and Science
We live in a world that seems, somehow, to be religious, magical, and scientific all at the same time. Alongside our iPhones, antibiotics, and drones we see cultural obsessions with the witches and wizards of Harry Potter and the dragons of Game of Thrones. In the United States, debates about the secularity of the state rage on, while over 80% of Americans believe in angels and more than two-thirds in demons. The witches and wizards; scientists and doctors; and angels and demons of our lives seem to cross the boundaries between the categories of Religion, Magic, and Science – raising the question: what are these categories? And where do they come from? This course will answer this question by following the development of these terms from the antique Greco-Roman world to the present, through varied historical and cultural contexts. Also counts towards Classical Studies; International and Global Studies; Interreligious Studies.

REL 4600: Seminar in Bro Studies
Masculinity is a contested category in 2024. Politicians, cultural critics, and social media frequently argue over what masculinity is, how it works, and how concerned we ought to be about its boundaries. From Greek life to Grindr, masculinity often operates as a kind of moral category that shapes how people understand themselves and each other. This course invites students to think about how those expectations—both secular and religious—have come to exist and what significance they might have for ourselves and for others.
Although some course content will address explicitly religious source material, most of this course would not seem especially “religious” to the average person. We will spend more time focusing on the lived experiences of fraternities, sports culture, drag performances, bromance, gaming, combat, trans identities, and other similar topics than on churches or doctrines. Students who are curious about the course are invited to email the professor with questions.

REL 4970: Senior Seminar
In this capstone seminar, students demonstrate that they can understand, participate in, and contribute to current discussions and debates in the field of Religious Studies. Students also reflect on their course of study in the major and its implications for their future.