Fall 2024 Courses

Religious Dimensions of Human Experience

*Required course for all RLST majors
RLST 1620-010 | 3.0
Aun Hasan Ali, MW 1:25–2:15 (*Note you must also sign up for a recitation section.)

Surveys different approaches to the study of religion. Students will grow familiar with key thinkers, texts, and movements that shape how we understand religious phenomena. Students will also examine critiques of how religion is studied. In the end, students will have gained insight into significant aspects of religious life, belief, and practice that will empower them to navigate a world in which religion is increasingly relevant.

A&S Core: Ideals and Values
Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution–Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
CMCI Core: Huamnities and the Arts
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Lower
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities

Introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

RLST/JWST 1900-001 | 3.0
Samuel Boyd, MWF 11:15-12:05

Focus on Jewish history from the Biblical period to the Spanish Expulsion in 1492. Study the origins of a group of people who call themselves, and whom others call, Jews. Focus on place, movement, power/powerlessness, gender, and the question of how to define Jews over time and place. Introduces Jews as a group of people bound together by a particular set of laws; looks at their dispersion and diversity; explores Jews' interactions with surrounding cultures and societies; introduces the basic library of Jews; sees how Jews relate to political power.

Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution-Arts & Humanities
Arts & Sciences General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
CMCI Core: Diversity & Global Cult-NonCMCI
CMCI Core: Humanitites and the Arts
Education General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Lower
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities
Music General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective

Islam

RLST 2202-001 | 3.0
Aun Hasan Ali, TTH 9:30-10:45

Introduces students to foundational Islamic concepts, texts, core practices, historical narratives and intellectual, spiritual and literary traditions. Topics covered include: the figure of Muhammad; the Quran; the emergence of distinct Muslim identities; Hadith; Sharia; Islamic theology; Islamic philosophy; science in Islamic civilization; Islamic mysticism; the impact of colonialism and modernity on the Muslim world; gender and sexuality; and political Islam.

A&S Core: Ideals & Values
Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution-Arts & Humanities
Arts & Sciences General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
Arts & Sciences General Education: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
Business General Education: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
CMCI Core: Diversity & Global Cult-NonCMCI
CMCI Core: Humanitites and the Arts
Education General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Education General Education: Diviersity-U.S. Perspective
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Lower
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities
Music General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
Music General Education: Diversity-US Perspective

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

RLST/JWST 2600-001 | 3.0
Samuel Boyd, MWF 12:20–1:10

In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Abraham is described as a founding figure. In recent times, the label “Abrahamic Religions” has become increasingly important both as a way to describe the origins and beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and as a means for finding common ground in political and religious discourse. Yet in each religion Abraham is also used in strikingly different ways and for distinct purposes. In this course, we will look at these three religious traditions and how each one imagines Abraham. In particular, the focus will be on how each religion uses Abraham to construct foundational stories of a special relationship to God, stories that ultimately serve to promote religious identity over time.

Asia Content
A&S Core: Ideals & Values
Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution-Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
CMCI Core: Humanitites and the Arts
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Lower
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities
Arts & Hum: Ways of Thinking

Happiness and Nirvana: India

RLST 2610-001 | 3.0
Loriliai Biernacki, TTH 12:30–1:45

Addresses religious and spiritual practices geared towards ideals of enlightenment across various religious traditions in India, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism, in relation to different social groups historically. Examines the concept of happiness (sukhā) and its connections to spiritual enlightenment.

Yoga, Castes and Magic

RLST 3200-001 | 3.0
Loriliai Biernacki, TTH 2:00–3:15

Addresses yoga, religious asceticism and practices of magic in Hinduism from ancient India up to the modern period. Gives an overview of the variety of traditions in Hinduism, focusing on how spiritual practices affect social roles. Looks at how spiritual practices approach happiness and social change, from ancient India’s secret Upanisads through medieval mystic poets like Mirabai, through Gandhi in the 20th century, focusing on figures using mystical experience to overturn social and political powers.

A&S Core: Human Diversity
Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution-Arts & Humanities
Arts & Sciences General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
CMCI Core: Diversity & Global Cult-NonCMCI
CMCI Core: Humanitites and the Arts
Education General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Lower
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities
Music General Education: Diversity-Global Perspective

Paganism to Christianity

RLST 2614/ CLAS 2614-001 | 3.0
Celene Lillie, MWF 11:15-12:05

Offers a cultural history of Greek and Roman religion. Students read ancient texts in translation and use evidence from archaeology to reconstruct the shift from paganism to Christianity in antiquity. No Greek or Latin required.

A&S Core: Ideals & Values
Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution-Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
CMCI Core: Humanitites and the Arts
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Lower
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities

Women and Religion

RLST/WGST 2800-001 | 3.0
Celene Lillie, MWF 10:10-11:00

What is a woman? What is religion? How does the answer to one inform the answer to the other? In this course, we will explore a range of literature from ancient Greek and Roman mythology to first and second century Jewish and Christian writings alongside contemporary readings from Buddhist, Muslim, Indigenous, and Christian traditions. To frame these explorations, we will engage theories of gender and religion, particularly the ways in which they intersect with race, class, and violence.

A&S Core: Human Diversity
Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution-Arts & Humanities
Arts & Sciences General Education: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
CMCI Core: Humanitites and the Arts
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Education General Education: Diviersity-U.S. Perspective
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Lower
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities
Music General Education: Diversity-US Perspective
Arts & Hum: Lit & Humanities

Judaism

RLST/JWST 3100-001 | 3.0
Elias Sacks, TTH 11:00–12:15

Explores Jewish religious experience and its expression in thought, ritual, ethics, and social institutions.

Asia Content
A&S Core: Historical Context
Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution-Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
CMCI Core: Humanitites and the Arts
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Upper
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities

Foundations of Buddhism

RLST 3300-010 | 3.0
Dan Hirshberg TTH 9:30-10:45

This course provides an introduction to Buddhist thought and practice in the variety of its historical and cultural contexts. We begin with the story of the Buddha, his teachings, and the early Buddhist community in India. We then trace the expansion of the Theravada to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia with a focus on the role of images and relics in Buddhist ritual and kingship. Next, we consider the rise of Mahayana in India including the bodhisattva ideal, key doctrinal concepts of emptiness and buddha nature, the cosmology of buddha lands, and the Buddhist path in Mahayana contexts.

Asia Content
Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution-Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
CMCI Core: Humanitites and the Arts
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Upper
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities

Seminar: Religion and Authenticity

RLST 4820/5820-001 | 3.0
Deborah Whitehead, M 3:30–6:00

This seminar for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in religious studies will focus on the religious dimensions and philosophical roots of the rhetoric of “authenticity” in contemporary popular culture. In this course we will become familiar with and critically analyze genealogies of authenticity in the modern West. We will treat “authenticity” and “realness” as, among other things, religious categories and discourses, and as such, we will seek to identify, contextualize, and critically analyze their various (re)presentations. Tracing the roots and present manifestations of these discourses in cultural studies, philosophy, American religious history, anthropology, critical theory, communication studies, and religion and digital media studies, we will examine how “authentic” individuals and “authentic” forms of practice and belief are described and prescribed, and what these forms signify. Attention will also be given to critical analysis of the rhetoric of authenticity in the academic study of religion. Limited to graduate and advanced undergraduate students in religious studies with a prerequisite of 6 hours RLST coursework or instructor permission.

Arts & Sciences General Education: Distribution-Arts & Humanities
Business General Education: Arts & Humanities
CMCI Core: Humanitites and the Arts
Education General Education: Arts and Humanities
Engineering & Applied Science General Education: Humanities & Social Science
Environmental Design General Education: Humanities-Upper
Music General Education: Arts & Humanities

Seminar: Gender and Hagiography

RLST 4850/5850-001 | 3.0
Holly Gayley, W 3:30-6:00

Gender in Hagiography focuses on the lives and writings of medieval and modern female visionaries. We explore gendered ideals of sainthood as well as issues of embodiment, agency, and voice in religious biographies, letters, fiction and film. Drawing mainly from the lives of female saints in Buddhist and Christian sources, we also consider the construction of mendicant masculinities. In examining these sources, we discuss a range of corporeal practices—from asceticism to sexuality—and their connection to visionary experience.

Introduction to the Academic Study of Religion

RLST 6830-001 | 3.0
Elias Sacks, T 3:35–6:05

What is the academic study of religion? What do we mean when we talk about “religion,” and what does it mean to adopt an “academic” approach to this subject? This course will explore diverse approaches to these questions, providing an introduction to a wide range of methodological options and theoretical perspectives in the field of religious studies. We will devote attention to topics such as the relationship between practice and belief, the promise and perils of comparing different religious traditions, and the role of the body and materiality in religious life. We will also examine the complicated history and political stakes of the field of religious studies itself, wrestling with issues including the role of colonialism in forging a comparative approach to religion, the development of concepts such as “religious” and “secular,” and the role of political advocacy in scholarly work.

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