Religious Studies (RELIG)

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Courses

Courses primarily for undergraduates:

(Cross-listed with WLC 2050).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

An introduction to religious studies - the academic study of religion. Religions from around the world will be discussed, including their myths, rituals, beliefs, values, and social forms. Meets International Perspectives Requirement. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Introductory study of the major beliefs, practices, and institutions of American Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam with emphasis on the diversity of religion in America, and attention to issues of gender, race, and class. Meets U.S. Diversity Requirement. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Utilize the theories, skills, and methods of the academic study of religion to learn about religion in popular culture and how popular culture functions as a religion in modern society. Analysis of select films. Meets International Perspectives Requirement. (Typically Offered: Spring)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

A survey of the major historical developments in Christian thought and practice that shaped Christianity from the time of Jesus through the late medieval period. Attention given to significant persons and major events, including those involving relations with Judaism and Islam. Meets International Perspectives Requirement. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

A survey of the major figures, events, and issues that shaped the historical development of Christianity from the Reformation era to the present. Explores the diverse social, political, and cultural movements within Christianity as a global religion. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer)

(Cross-listed with SOC 2770).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: SOC 1340
Religion as a human construction, institution, activity, and identity. Connections between religion and other social institutions and processes. Meets U.S. Diversity Requirement. (Typically Offered: Spring)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

An in-depth study of the literature and religion of ancient Israel in light of recent archaeological discoveries, research about the ancient Near East, and a variety of interpretations. (Typically Offered: Fall)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

A detailed survey of the sacred scriptures of Christianity in light of recent archaeological discoveries and historical research about their Greco-Roman and Jewish background. (Typically Offered: Spring)

(Cross-listed with CJ 3250/ POLS 3250).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

A study of the role of religion in law and justice with a focus on the United States. Examines the history of religious freedom, key contemporary legal cases, and how religious-oriented justice movements engage ethics and the law. (Typically Offered: Fall)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

An introduction to the beliefs and practices of Native American religious traditions, with attention to cultural, historical, and political contexts.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

An explanation of the beliefs, spirit, and practices of Roman Catholicism, including its understanding of God, sacramentality, the human person, and community, and its relationship to other forms of Christianity and other world religions. (Typically Offered: Fall)

(Cross-listed with AFAM 3340).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

A focused study of the religious histories and cultures of West Africans and their descendants in the Americas. Topics include West African traditions, Christianity, Islam, and indigenous Afro-Caribbean religions, with attention to their gendered, theological, and cultural dimensions. Prior course work in Religious Studies or African American Studies recommended. Meets U.S. Diversity Requirement. (Typically Offered: Fall)

(Cross-listed with WGS 3360).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: (3 credits in RELIG or WGS) or Permission of Instructor
Gender and sexuality in the historical and contemporary contexts of various religious traditions. Meets International Perspectives Requirement. (Typically Offered: Fall)

(Cross-listed with WGS 3390).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Focal study of selected global Goddess traditions in context, including American Goddess spirituality. Historical and cross-cultural images, identities, and discourses of female divinity.

(Dual-listed with ANTHR 5400/ RELIG 5400). (Cross-listed with ANTHR 3400).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: ANTHR 2010 or ANTHR 3060
Survey of global religious belief and practice from an anthropological perspective. Emphasis on myth and ritual, shamanism, magic, witchcraft, beliefs in spirits, conceptions of the soul, mind and body relationships, and healing and therapeutic practices. Discussion of religious response to dramatic political and social change; effects of globalization on religious practice. Meets International Perspectives Requirement. (Typically Offered: Spring)

(Cross-listed with PSYCH 3480).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: 9 credits in PSYCH
Survey of psychological theory and research investigating religious and spiritual attitudes, beliefs and practices.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: ENGL 2500 or Permission of Instructor
Using case studies from the world's religions, this course examines cross-culturally occurring forms of religious expression in light of humanistic and scientific researches in the cognitive science of religion (CSR). Topics may include beliefs in god and other supernatural beings, afterlife beliefs, morality, rituals, and religious experiences, among others. Prior coursework in Religious Studies or Psychology recommended. Meets International Perspectives Requirement. (Typically Offered: Spring)

(Cross-listed with PHIL 3500).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: 6 credits in PHIL or permission of instructor
The value and truth of religious life and belief. Mystical experience; religious faith and language; arguments for God's existence; the problem of evil; miracles; and religion and morality. Historical and contemporary readings. (Typically Offered: Fall)

(Cross-listed with WLC 3520).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: ENGL 2500 or Permission of Instructor
Study of texts, practices, beliefs, historical development, and mutual influence of a variety of the religious traditions of India. Emphasis on Vedic religion and the diversity of traditions of Classical Hinduism; survey of Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, and South Asian Islamic traditions. Meets International Perspectives Requirement.

(Cross-listed with WLC 3580).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: ENGL 2500 or Permission of Instructor
An introduction to Islamic religion, culture, and society from its origins to the present. Topics include the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad, Islamic theology and philosophy, Islamic history, and Islam in America. Meets International Perspectives Requirement.

(Cross-listed with WLC 3590).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: ENGL 2500 or Permission of Instructor
A study of the Quran, the sacred text of Islam, with attention to its history, its major themes, and the diverse ways it is interpreted and applied. Meets International Perspectives Requirement.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Investigation of comparative religious ethical theories and approaches to contemporary moral issues. Exploration of the connections between religious belief, identity, and moral practice.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

A broad overview of the relationship between religion, health, and medicine for students interested in religion and those interested in entering healthcare fields. Exploration of physical and mental health and healing throughout history and among practitioners of Western, Eastern, and Indigenous religious traditions. Examination of religion and public health crises and the role of religion in culturally competent healthcare today. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring)

(Cross-listed with CLST 3670).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

An historical introduction to the rise of Christianity in the Roman empire, with special attention to the impact of Greco-Roman culture on the thought and practice of Christians and the interaction of early Christians with their contemporaries.

(Cross-listed with CLST 3680).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Nature, origins and development of religious beliefs and practices in ancient Greece and Rome from earliest times up to the rise of Christianity. Roles of divinities and rituals in lives of individuals and families and the governing of city-states and empires. Emphasis on historical contexts of the Graeco-Roman world and influences of neighboring cultures in Africa and Asia. Meets International Perspectives Requirement.

(Cross-listed with POLS 3700).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

The interaction of religion and politics in the U.S. from both an historical and contemporary perspective, as well as the role of religion in politics internationally. (Typically Offered: Fall)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Examines biblical roots of and major developments in Catholic social thought. Contemporary issues such as human rights, economic justice, the environment, and war and peace will be treated using principles of Catholic ethics, social analysis, official church documents, and contributions of notable theologians and activists. (Typically Offered: Spring)

(Cross-listed with ANTHR 3890).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Display of religion in museums, fairs, and exhibitions. History and ethics of museum collecting, storage, display, public engagement, and repatriation. Visit local museums and explore digital galleries.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.
Repeatable, maximum of 6 times.

Prereq: 6 credits in RELIG and Permission of Instructor
Topic changes each time offered. Closed to freshmen. Sophomores must have approval of instructor.

Credits: 1-3. Repeatable, maximum of 9 credits.

Prereq: 6 credits in RELIG and Permission of Instructor
Guided reading and research on special topics selected to meet the needs of advanced students.Graduation Restriction: No more than 9 credits of RELIG 4900 may be counted toward graduation. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer)

Credits: 1-3. Repeatable, maximum of 9 credits.

Prereq: 6 credits in RELIG and Permission of Instructor
Guided reading and research on special topics selected to meet the needs of advanced students.Graduation Restriction: No more than 9 credits of RELIG 4900 may be counted toward graduation. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer)

Credits: 3.

Prereq: Instructor Permission for Course
Written under the supervision of a Religious Studies faculty advisor.

Credits: 2-3. Repeatable.

Prereq: 6 credits in RELIG and Permission of Instructor

Courses primarily for graduate students, open to qualified undergraduates:

(Dual-listed with ANTHR 3400/ RELIG 3400). (Cross-listed with ANTHR 5400).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Survey of global religious belief and practice from an anthropological perspective. Emphasis on myth and ritual, shamanism, magic, witchcraft, beliefs in spirits, conceptions of the soul, mind and body relationships, and healing and therapeutic practices. Discussion of religious response to dramatic political and social change; effects of globalization on religious practice. Meets International Perspectives Requirement. (Typically Offered: Spring)

Credits: 1-3. Repeatable.

Prereq: Instructor Permission for Course
(Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer)