Communities
In this course we will explore the teachings and worldviews of the major South Asian religions of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. We will learn about their histories, sacred texts, rituals and festivals, sacred personalities, and practices of everyday religious and social life in India and the Diaspora. RT, HUM
In this course we will explore the teachings, worldviews, and practices of the major
religions of South Asia, namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. While our
focus engages various historical contexts, we pay particular attention to the interface
of religion and global events in India and the Diaspora. RT, HUM
This course looks at some of the world's major religions by attending to their major
beliefs, practices, artifacts, sacred texts, and holy sites. RT, HUM
This survey course will introduce students to historical developments, key figures,
institutions and communities in Christianity from the first-century to the Late Middle
Ages. Topics such as religious movements, teachings, spiritual practices, saints and
mystics, local and religious life will be examined within their historical context.
This course is an opportunity for students to take a pilgrimage into the history of
Christian identity. Students will learn what it has meant to think, pray and live
as a Christians across the globe, so that they can apply these insights to their own
work (e.g., scholarship, service and community leadership) in today’s pluralistic
world. RT, HUM
This course offers an introduction to the teachings and histories of religious traditions
mainly from Asia and the Middle East: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism from India,
Confucianism and Daoism from China, and Islam from Saudi Arabia. The course will include
sections on Buddhist mindfulness and meditation, and case studies that include the
Arab Spring, the Free Tibet movement, and the controversial cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad. The course concludes with a case study of Indian independence and the ongoing
tensions between India and Pakistan in the disputed territory of Kashmir. RT, HUM
This course introduces students to the vital role of religion in human experience
by considering historical and comparative details among the Abrahamic traditions of
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. For our purposes, we will utilize six major dimensions of religion as a framework
from which to analyze these religions' key figures, sacred texts, worldviews, beliefs,
and rituals, both ancient and modern. RT, HUM
In this course, students will be introduced to the varied ways that the Latino/a/x
community in the United States express and encounter religion. Where it is most relevant,
special attention will be given to historical antecedents of modern-day Latino/a/x
religious communities, as they have come to exist within the United States. Through
primary and secondary documentary sources, spiritual autobiographies, multimedia productions,
and personal accounts, students will also encounter complex cultural, social, racial/ethnic,
and gender dynamics that impact Latino/a/x religious identities within society. Students
will also practice respectful dialogue and collaborative exploration, both of which
are required for a critical and informed study of religion. RT, HUM
Through historical exploration, contemporary case studies, curated encounters, critical
reflection, creative projects and individual research, students in this Sophomore
Seminar will explore a variety of religions in contexts of conflict and cooperation
in order to become informed students of religions and effective leaders in a religiously
diverse world.
The Bible has shaped our world in profound ways, including our understandings of gender,
gender roles, and human sexuality. In the first part of this course, we will ask
what Christians from antiquity up to the present day have had to say about gender,
gender roles, and sexuality, focusing especially on the figures of Adam and Eve. In
the second part of the course, we will seek to discover the women who were part of
the early Christian movement. With very few exceptions, we perceive them only indirectly,
through documents written about, rather than by, them. It is clear that they were followers of Jesus, prophets, apostles, deacons,
wives, mothers, martyrs, ascetics, patrons, and more. In short, they were active and
important participants in the religion and its development, and yet, our sources tend
to say relatively little about them. It will be our task to discover what the historical
record holds and how it can be mined to reconstruct who the women of early Christianity were, what was important to them, what they did,
and the difference they made. (WGST, and CLST minor)
This course introduces students to the world’s second largest religion, Islam. We
will explore the Islamic religious tradition from its emergence in 7th century Arabia
to its current resurgence. Topics examined include: the meanings of Islam, the life
of Muhammad, the Qur’an, ritual observance, theology, law, women in Islam, spirituality,
Islamophobia, and the future of Islam. CA, HUM
This course will define Judaism as a religious system based on Torah, with two main
aspects—beliefs and practices. We will analyze the concept of Torah, as well as the
methods of Jewish hermeneutics, by which Torah is explained and applied to changing
historical circumstances. Jewish fundamental beliefs about God, the world, humankind,
the people of Israel, and history will be explored, as they are expressed in Jewish
law, mysticism, ethics, and philosophy. We will consider the major practices and rituals
of Judaism. This account of the broad structure of Judaism will be set within a historical
overview of Judaism, which will identify the major events, developments, and figures.
We will examine factors which have created diversity and address the major modern
varieties of Judaism. The course will conclude with a consideration of some of the
major issues which currently exercise the Jewish community. HUM