Description: Introduction to the world’s major spiritual traditions from ancient times to the present. 

Description: Exploration of the history and development of Christianity.

Description: This course provides an introduction to the religion of Islam. Students will explore the various ethnic, theological, and cultural diversity in Islam. The course will cover an introductory history of Islam in America and evidence of early Muslims in the U.S.
PREREQUISITE: None

Description: Continued study of religion using a range of comparative and theoretical perspectives; exploration of perennial themes in religion, drawing on the different traditions as examples. PREREQUISITE: RLGN 1100

Description: Topics are varied and in online class listings. Repeatable May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours credit.

Description: This course will examine the treatment of women within major religions of the world, theories for that treatment, and patterns of women's response, both resistance and adaptation, to their treatment within religions.

Description: Multi-leveled, complex, and consequential clashes that have shaped American culture and much of the modern world.

Description: Commonality in Christianity; major turning points in Christian history; the tradition's variety of subgroups, starting with the three great groupings: Eastern Christianity, Roman Christianity, and Protestant Christianity; examination of future of Christianity.

Description: Thematic, interdisciplinary approach to the academic study of the Old Testament, including some of the complex historical, literary, and cultural contexts of the ancient production and contemporary interpretation of these texts. PREREQUISITE: ENGL 1010, ENGL 1020

Description: Main events, background, characters and teaching of the New Testament and how it relates to the Old Testament and to today. PREREQUISITE: ENGL 1010, ENGL 1020

Description: (Same as UNIV 3592). Explore religious rituals and beliefs about death, burial, and afterlife from various global, historical, cultural, and social perspectives. PREREQUISITE: ENGL 1010 & ENGL 1020

Description: Reading on particular topic in religious studies under the supervision of faculty member. PREREQUISITE: permission of program coordinator.

Description: Topics are varied and in online class listings. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours credit.

Description: Continues study of religion requiring individual investigation of specific topic in religious studies leading to completion of significant research paper. PREREQUISITE: RLGN 3100 and permission of instructor.

Description: Transplantation of African religions to the Western hemisphere; change in religions over time; African religious thought; retention, adaptation, hybridity in religious movements.

Description: Description: Explores ​theories of magic and religion around the world; lived experience of magic and religion; links between belief and ritual in broader cultural context; roles of magical and religious specialists; impact of culture change on religion. Designed for both majors and non-majors.

Description: Thematic study of classical myths and their function in ancient literature; emphasis on reading myths in ancient sources in translation.

Description: Exploration of principles, theories, and philosophical approaches to ethics of human communication; emphasis on decision-making, critical thinking and awareness of personal responsibilities as a sender and receiver of messages.

Description: Survey of both Old and New Testaments. PREREQUISITE: ENGL 1010, 1020, and 2201 or 2202 with a “C-” or better, or their equivalent.

Description: Survey of religious, social, political, intellectual, and cultural developments in Muslim communities from the 7th century until the death of Timur in 1405. Geographical focus is the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Description: Survey of religious, social, political, intellectual, and cultural developments in Muslim communities from the death of Timur in 1405 to the 21st century. Focus is mainly on the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, with some attention to the emergence of Muslim communities in Europe and the Americas.

Description: History of Jewish people from antiquity to present; emphasis on their changing relationships to larger cultures in which they participated.

Description: A global history of ancient empires in the Americas, Mediterranean, Near East, and Asia. This comparative study explores political, religious, and social experiences of ancient people across time and space, seeking both points of convergence and divergence. Investigates ideas and structures of gender, social hierarchy and identity, family, slavery, economics, and law.

Description: This course surveys some of the main themes and events of European and Mediterranean history between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance.

Description: History and culture of African Americans in light of their experiences; aspects of African American life and attitudes of dominant society within which African Americans lived; ways African American men and women shaped and nurtured their own lives, culture and history in U.S. [G]

Description: Study of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis through analysis of religious, social, political, an cultural developments from the 19th century until the present day. Topics include Zionism in late Ottoman Palestine, the creation of the Jewish state of Israel and of the Palestinian refugee crisis, the Lebanese Civil War, and numerous Arab-Israeli wars.

Description: Survey of development of several Near Eastern religious traditions; consideration of intellectual relationships among them.

Description: Fundamental principles of Judaism, its role in the cultural life of the Jewish people, and its influence on human civilization.

Description: Interdisciplinary examination of portions of Hebrew Bible, Mishnah, Midrash, and other texts along with commentaries. All texts will be read in translation. Cross listing: (Same as LALI 3661)

Description: Thinkers and texts that shaped Jewish thought and life in ancient and medieval times; Talmud, the Midrash, the Kabbalah, and such thinkers as Saadia Gaon, Solomon ibn Gabriel, Judah Halevi, Maimonides.

Description: Continuation of JDST 3801, from 16th century until modern times; concepts of God, humanity, nature, good and evil, making meaning out of life, and others.

Description: Interdisciplinary study of issues that arise out of the Holocaust; questions of good and evil, divinity and humanity, truth and responsibility. [W, I] Cross listing: (Same as UNIV 4511).

Description: Fundamental principles of Jewish mystical tradition; development of basic concepts; medieval mysticism, Kabbalah, Lurianic mysticism, Chasidism, modern mystical movements.

Description: Critical introduction to voluntary action and civic engagement in U. S. society; exploration of concepts such as democracy, community, leadership, and civil society. This course is intended for all students interested in voluntarism, community serivce, and public participation.

Description: Critical understanding of historical development and impact of public sector, dynamic environment of nonprofit organization and current issues of importance to nonprofit decision makers. PREREQUISITE: ENGL 1020 or equivalent; junior or senior standing.

Description: Examination of one or more major religious movements with regard to their origins, doctrines, and philosophical significance; contrasting conceptions of deity, worship, and role of religion in how we think about ourselves and our roles in society.

Description: Selected religious doctrines and practices from standpoint of philosophy. Topics vary from semester to semester. Sequel to PHIL 3701, but may be taken independently.

Description: Exploration of the origins and developments of South and East Asian philosophical traditions in India, China and Japan (Brahminism, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Shintoism).

Description: Introduction to Chinese philosophy; readings from primary source of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, supplemented by commentary from contemporary scholarship.

Description: This course will examine the origins of Buddhist thought, and explore some of its developments as it spread throughout Asia and eventually into North America. We will begin by examining Buddhist thought during and shortly after the Buddha’s lifetime, and then we will turn our attention to the two principal schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism: Madhyamaka and Yogācāra. The Madhyamaka school is characterized by the view of emptiness (the view that all things are devoid of independent, inherently existing essences). The Yogācāra school reinterprets the concept of emptiness, emphasizing the idea that nothing is ultimately separate from the mind. We will then turn our attention to the Chan/Zen lineage as they originated in China and developed in Japan through Dogen’s Sōtō Zen characterized by seated meditation and Hakuin’s Rinzai Zen characterized by kōan recitation. We will then turn our attention to modern interpretations of Buddhist thought. This course may cover India, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan, North America and Brazil.

Description: Survey of role of religion and religious belief in politics; emphasizes role of religious institutions in international arena and national politics and effects of religion on behavior and political beliefs. PREREQUISITE: POLS 1030, or POLS 1101, or POLS 1102, or permission of instructor.

Description: This course employs a sociological lens to examine the role of religion in modern society. We view religion as a social institution situated among other social institutions and unpack how religious beliefs, practices, and communities shape our society, both within religious communities and in our world more generally.

Description: Commonality in Christianity; major turning points in Christian history; the tradition’s variety of subgroups, starting with the three great groupings: Eastern Christianity, Roman Christianity, and Protestant Christianity; examination of future of Christianity.

Description: Interdisciplinary examination of salient ideas, values, and traditions of ancient Hebraic and Greek cultures, with emphasis on those ideas and values that have most significantly influenced the modern world; understanding of ideas and values enhanced through comparison with selected non-Western traditions. PREREQUISITE: ENGL 1010 and ENGL 1020. [G]

Description: Interdisciplinary examination of religious, rationalist, and aesthetic viewpoints as distinctive ways of understanding what is fundamental to human experience. Exploration of historical development of each of these modes of understanding and examination of tensions that exist among them in modern world. PREREQUISITE: ENGL 1010 and ENGL 1020.

Description: Thematic, interdisciplinary approach to the academic study of the Old Testament, including some of the complex historical, literary, and cultural contexts of the ancient production and contemporary interpretation of these texts.

Description: Main events, background, characters and teaching of the New Testament and how it relates to the Old Testament and to today.

Description: This course explores religious rituals and beliefs about death, burial, and afterlife from various global, historical, and social perspectives. PREREQUISITE: ENGL 1010 and ENGL 1020.

Description: Supervised training to provide learning experiences and coursework related to student’s area of study. Permit Required (S/U).