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9 courses found.

RELIGION AND POLITICS (L57) (Dept. Info)

Arts & Sciences (Policies)

Scriptures and Cultural Traditions: Text and Traditions

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When we think of the word "scripture" in antiquity, we might think of the texts that have been compiled in the different holy books that we currently have today. Yet the function of "scriptures" within a community, and the status given to different texts treated as "scriptural," has changed in different times and places. In this course, we will consider texts that would eventually come to be part of the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and the Qu'ran as well as several of the exegetes and reading communities that shaped their various interpretations. We will explore how non-canonical sources played a role in the formation of the various canons we have today, comparing the authoritative status given to these texts to that given to other works from antiquity, such as the epics of Homer. Special attention will be played to the role of the receiving community in the development of "scripture," and the variety of the contexts in which scripture can function in the construction of and opposition to religious authority.

A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L93 209 L16 209 L23 207 L75 2091

Every 2-3 Years / History

Building / Room

01

M-W----

11:30A-12:50P

TBA

Green

Paper/Project/Take Home

20

20

3

Actions:

The Good Life Between Religion and Politics

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What constitutes a life well lived? Where do we turn for the answers to that question? And do we ask it in the plural, "we," or as individuals? This course considers the way religious and political thought has shaped considerations of the classical ethical question of how we should live, and the way that ethics has often served to connect religion and politics in thought and practice. Do we need a religious basis to answer ethical questions, or can we determine how to live without religious sources of authority? On what basis, and with what capacities, can we imagine new answers to ethical questions-in community or on our own? Taking a philosophical approach through both classic and modern texts, we will consider of a range of answers to the question of how we should live, and a range of strategies for imagining the inquiry. This course satisfies the introductory course requirement for the minor in religion and politics.

A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

10:00A-11:20A

TBA

Bialek

Paper/Project/Take Home

50

50

1

	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.

L57 RelPol 3180

The Abuse Crisis in Modern Christianity

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For over a quarter-century, journalists have broken story after story about sexually abusive clergy in the U.S., many of them serial abusers of children and adolescents. While most accounts have focused on Catholic priests, many have also emerged of abusive evangelical and other Protestant ministers. The stories have illuminated how church bureaucrats have consistently protected abusers and subverted the efforts of victims and their families to seek recompense, accountability, and justice. These protections have often succeeded because of churches' political connections to law enforcement and legislators who have helped hide perpetrators and stymie survivors. Together we will analyze this cautionary tale about religion and politics by contextualizing it within the broader history of Christianity in the United States and beyond. Is this a case simply of a few bad apples or of institutional corruption? How has the church's response been shaped by fear of scandal, antipathy toward secularism, and theological teachings on gender and homosexuality? How does sexual abuse fit into the history of the church as a hierarchical institution? What challenges has the crisis posed to people of faith who are committed to the church, and can trust be repaired? Readings include legal case studies, internal church correspondence, victims' statements and criminal justice reports, documentary films and memoirs, and both journalistic and scholarly analysis of the clergy sex abuse crisis in the U.S. church. We will also hear directly from a variety of visting guests. WARNING: Many of our readings contain difficult accounts of abuse as well as the subsequent trauma most victims suffer. If this subject matter is triggering for you and you'd like to speak with me about whether or not to take it, I'll be glad to help you think through it.

A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L23 3180 L77 3180 L98 3180

Building / Room

01

M-W----

11:30A-12:50P

TBA

Griffith

Paper/Project/Take Home

20

20

15

Actions:

Gender and Power in Religious Thought

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Gender has often been posed as the fundamental distinction of the human condition, creating the original opportunity for relation across that distinction. In some strands of religious thought, this distinction comes second to the creation of the world distinct from the divine. Religious and secular thinkers have turned to ordinary experiences of interpersonal relations for insight into these purportedly more fundamental relations and the connection between them. This seminar examines the role of interpersonal relationships in recent religious, ethical, and political thought, with particular attention to the way they bring gender and sexual desire more centrally into view. NOTE: Students should have some training in theory or philosophy, and are welcome from any department or discipline. Experience in religious thought (in any religious tradition), ethics, or gender theory will be helpful, but is not required.Anyone interested in taking the course with concerns about their preparation should contact the instructor with a brief description of their interest and related coursework and research.

A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD BU: BA, ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L23 3355 L77 3351

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

2:30P-3:50P

TBA

Bialek

Paper/Project/Take Home

12

12

1

	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.

L57 RelPol 3404

Native American and Afro-Native Religious Traditions

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Building / Room

01

M-W----

4:00P-5:20P

TBA

Green

May 2 2025 6:00PM - 8:00PM

25

11

0

Actions:

L57 RelPol 3405

Asian American Religion, Race, and Law

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This course explores relationship between Asian Pacific Americans and American legal discourses of religion and race. In addition to examining the lived experience of Asian American religious communities in historical and contemporary perspectives, this course evaluates the racial and religious connotations and consequences of various state, federal, and international policies that directly affect Asian American communities. Students will learn to apply theories of race and religion to American law and political discourse by analyzing the language, historical context, and judicial contestations of key topics, including immigration restriction, citizenship, land laws, segregation, internment, refugee resettlement, and government surveillance. Students will be challenged to consider how state and society define and legislate religious minorities in America, as well as minority strategies of religious assimilation, political negotiation, and legal contestation. As such, students will consider how American definitions of religion and race determine religious legitimacy, legal inclusion, and cultural loyalty.

A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L23 3405 L46 3405 L98 340B

Building / Room

01

M-W----

1:00P-2:20P

TBA

Lee

Paper/Project/Take Home

20

8

0

Actions:

Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion

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What is religion, and how can we study it? Do we need an answer to the first question to pursue the second? Why, and toward what ends, might we undertake such study? This course considers these questions through the investigation of significant attempts to study religion over the past century, paying particular attention to the methods, motivations, and aims of these works. Is the study of religion an effort to disprove or debunk it, or perhaps to support it? What would each mean? Is it an effort to describe the indescribable, or perhaps to translate complex beliefs and practices into a language in which they can be discussed by others? Why would such a translation be helpful, and to whom? Is the study of religion an investigation of a social phenomenon, an organization of communities, a specific formation of individuals, or perhaps a psychosis or illusion, evidence of the workings of power on our lives and the difficulty of bearing it? What is at stake in defining religion in these ways, and then in undertaking its study? In this course, we will discuss major theoretical approaches to the study of religion in relation to these questions and others, toward a better understanding of what religion might be and how it might be studied today. NOTE: This course is required for Religious Studies majors and minors. It is recommended that this course be taken after completion of L23 102 Thinking About Religion. Consult instructor before enrolling if you are a first-year student.

A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

Annually / History

Building / Room

01

-T-R---

1:00P-2:20P

TBA

Green

Paper/Project/Take Home

15

8

0

Actions:

L57 RelPol 4025

Muslims in the Media and Popular Culture

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Since the long amorphous War on Terror, Muslims have been a constant presence in Western news media, typically cast in a negative light as political others who are backwards, threatening, and inherently prone to violence. This pattern has long been replicated in films where Muslims are static and dehumanized perpetrators of violence, or as symbols of a backwards and depraved culture, antithetical to liberal values and interests. In recent years however, Muslims have become increasingly visible in the American and British entertainment industries, as protagonists and producers of their own media, including G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel, Hulu's Ramy, and Netflix's Man Like Mobeen. In this seminar, we explore a selection of recent American and British media projects created by Muslim writers, actors, musicians, and comedians. We pair these projects with scholarship on religion in the media and TV studies analyzing Muslim representation and storytelling in contemporary popular culture. We will evaluate these works on their own terms, noting the ways in which gender and racial hierarchies dictate who gets to represent American and British Muslims, while also assessing how these new media both disrupt and further reify Muslims' construction as religious and political outsiders.

A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H

Instruction Type:

Classroom instruction

L23 4025 L75 4025 L98 4025

Building / Room

01

---R---

3:00P-5:50P

TBA

Ali

Paper/Project/Take Home

15

8

0

Actions:

L57 RelPol 4491

American Unbelief from the Enlightenment to the Present

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Building / Room

01

--W----

3:00P-5:50P

TBA

Schmidt

Paper/Project/Take Home

15

5

0

	Actions:		Books		Syllabus
	Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use.