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Relgion Course Descriptions
RLG 130. Non-Western World Religions (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
A survey of religious experiences and traditions of non-Western peoples. The traditions examined might include the religions of native peoples, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam, and the religious traditions of China, Japan, and Africa. Emphasis will be placed on the living and dynamic nature of these traditions in their past and contemporary expressions.
Fall semester. Department.
RLG 153. Religion and Society (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
This is a lecture discussion course designed to introduce students to the phenomenon and study of religion. This will be achieved by exploring the meaning and nature of religion, the role of religion in the life of the individual and the role of religion in the construction, maintenance and daily life of society.
Fall and spring semester. Department.
RLG 200. The Hebrew Scriptures (3) (GEN. ED. #4 and #9)
A study of the literature of the Hebrew Scriptures in order to discover its forms and the perceptions of reality and value it conveys. Myth, history, prophecy, poetry, wisdom, story, and their meanings in human experience. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
Variable semesters. Hertzman.
RLG 206. New Testament Gospels (3) (GEN. ED. #4)
Students thoughtfully and probingly read the four New Testament Gospels with an eye to historical/critical methods of study and interpretation, focusing on questions such as the following: What is a “gospel”? Why do we encounter different portrayals of Jesus in these texts? What is known about the early communities of these documents? Who is Jesus? How has Jesus been understood in Christian tradition and by those outside Christianity? No prior knowledge of these texts is needed.
Spring semester. Department. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.
RLG 207. Islamic Thought (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
This course provides an overview of Islam through the Koran and the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. Study of Islam’s fundamental beliefs and practice. Focus on the history and expansion of Islam as well as an examination of Islamic culture, science, and its contribution to world civilization. Other topics include Islamic resurgence and contemporary Islam in the Middle East and the world in general; political life and the concept of Islamic fundamentalism.
Fall semester. Department. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.
RLG 209. African Religious Thought (3) (GEN. ED. #9)
This course explores and surveys some major texts of African philosophy and religion. This course will cover such issues as life and death, the relationship between this world and other worlds, the problem of subjectivity and responsibility, and the productive and destructive possibilities in the contact between African traditional religion and Abrahamic religions. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Department. Offered 2006-2007 and alternate years.
RLG 213. History of the Jews and Christians in the Roman Empire (3) (JS 213, HIS 213)
The diverse world of Roman-occupied Israel eventually gave rise to two new religions that would shape the lives of millions for centuries: Rabbinic, Judaism and Christainity. This couse studies that historical process; the complex interactions among jews, Christains, and the broader Greco- Roman world; and the social and political consequences of new religions. Includes careful reading and discussion of primary sources having highly contested meanings. Prequisite: sophomore standing.
Variable semesters. Gruber.
RLG 221. Introduction to Christianity: Salvation Schemes (3)
“Jesus saves.” Behind such a phrase lies a fascinating, plural and complex religious history. In this course we investigate sacred text, theology and contemporary literature and film with the following questions in mind: How did Christian salvation metaphors come into being? How are such images related to diverse social settings across time? What does “salvation” mean? How shall we analyze Christian salvation metaphors in contemporary literature and film? Prerequisite: One course in religion or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Department. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.
RLG 225. Calvin and Luther Seminar (3) (GEN. ED. #4)
How did the “One Church” become many churches? Where did all of these denominations come from? This course attempts to answer these frequently asked questions through the study of the fascinatingly complex lives of two Reformation figures. Students will explore, compare, and contrast the development of their thought. Texts will include biographies of Calvin and Luther and Calvin and Luther’s primary sources, including diverse examples of their sermons, treatises, theological works, and biblical commentaries. How do Calvin and Luther understand sin and repentance? What is the role of grace in their theologies? What is their understanding of the church? How did they interpret biblical texts? How did their work impact the societies in which they lived? How and why have they been criticized? Prerequisite: One course in religion or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Douglas, department. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.
RLG 226. Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy (3) (PHL 226) (GEN. ED. #4)
This course covers the major Catholic, Jewish, Moslem, and Neoplatonic thinkers of the two periods. Religious thought, rational theology, the development of humanism, the development of the natural sciences. Readings from Anselm, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Peter Abelard, Maimonides, Averroes, Ficino, and Pico. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or religion or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Rose. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.
RLG 228. Philosophy of Religion (3)
Philosophical analysis of the world’s religious traditions and religious interpretations of life as found in deism, “liberal religion,” trinitarianism, and Eastern religions. Special emphasis on topics of faith, the problem of evil, immortality, faith and reason, and the religious functions of suffering. Reading of selected religious classics. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Department. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.v
RLG 233. Christian Ethics and War (3)
How do religions impact individual and communal self-understanding and decision-making? In this course students are introduced to the study of Christian ethics through investigation and analysis of one particular ethical issue: war. Students study war theory and its relationship to Christianity, as well as Christian pacifism and nonviolence. Their investigation will focus on how Christian sacred texts, history, theology, and practice are utilized by Christian ethicists to diverse ends. Prerequisite: One course in religion or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Department. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.
RLG 235. Hermeneutics and Deconstruction (3) (PHL 235) (GEN. ED. #7)
An overview of two current theories of interpretation articulated in Gadamer and Derrida and their applications in the social sciences, history, literature. Examination and comparison of these methods of interpretation as they focus on the “Dialogues” of Plato. Secondary reading in David Hoy’s The Critical Circle. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or religion or sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Rose. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.
RLG 236. Womanist Theology (3) (WS 236) (GEN. ED. #10)
What is the meaning of faith for black women as they struggle for life and freedom? This course attempts to answer this question as it explores black women’s religious/theological experience from a Christian perspective. Attention is given to the nature of the social/historical struggle which informs black women’s understandings of themselves in relationship to God, church, and community. Reflective of the womanist tradition, this course accesses various media forms in a effort to discern the womanist religious experience. Prerequisite: One course in women’s studies or religion or sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Douglas. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.
RLG 237. Black Religious Thought 1 (3)
This course focuses on the historical roots of black theology as it seeks to introduce students to the religious/theological tradition from 18th- to early 20th-century black America. Primary literature from the enslaved and others, such as David Walker, Frederick Douglas, Maria Stewart, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells, W. E. B. Dubois, and Henry McNeil Turner are examined. Prerequisite: One course in religion or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Douglas. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.
RLG 238. Religion and Race in America (3) (AMS 238) (GEN. ED. #10)
This course explores the complex relationship between religion and race in America. It examines the ways in which religion in America defines and responds to issues of race as well as the way that race shapes religious institutions and theological perspectives. Particular attention is given to Christian responses to such issues as slavery, Jim Crow/segregation, and the Civil Rights/Black Power movement. Prerequisite: one course in religion or sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Douglas. 2009 and alternating years.
RLG 240. Religious Topics (3)
Advanced study in a historical period, theme, issue, or thinker in a particular religious tradition. The field discussion is delimited differently each time the course is taught. Topics for a given semester are posted for registration. May be repeated with a different topic. Prerequisite: one 200-level course in religion or permission of the instructor.
Spring semester. Department.
RLG 244. Jewish Mysticism: Philosophy of Kabbalah (3) (JS 200)
A comprehensive study of Jewish thought, from the time of the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash to the emergence of the religious and secular Jewish thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries. The course presents historical and conceptual developments of Jewish thought through a study of the works of the prominent Jewish philosophers, mystics, and ethical writers who shaped the major beliefs of Judaism. An exploration of the basic philosophical methods and terminology that are used in the literary research of the history of ideas will be included in the survey. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Shokek..
RLG 245. The Holocaust (3) (JS 245)
The socioeconomic, political, and theological roots of the Holocaust in Western European thought and culture. Analysis of foreign reaction to German persecution of the Jews, early and late. The gathering stages of the Holocaust, from programmed euthanasia to death camp. The meaning of the Holocaust in Western religion and culture. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. Cannot be counted toward the philosophy major or minor.
Variable semesters. Department.
RLG 247. Issues in Contemporary Jewish Thought: Whither the Twenty-First Century (JS 247)
What it means to be Jewish and how to live a Jewish life have always led to questions about God, about the Torah, and about the Jewish people—often in reaction to what is happening in the non-Jewish world. This course examines these questions from the writings of Ahad Ha-Am, Herman Cohen, Leo Baeck, Franz Rosenweig, Abraham Isaac Kuk, Martin Buber, Abraham J. Heschel, Emil Fackenheim, Joseph Soloveitchik, Rachel Adler (Jewish feminist), and Emmanuel Levinas. Our goal is to see if we can detect a glimpse of the Jewish future. This course is sponsored in part by the Jewish Chautauqua Society. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or religion, or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Department. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.
RLG 266. BUDDHIST THOUGHT (3)
This course provides an overview of Buddhism and its fundamental beliefs and practices. The course will examine the history and expansion of Buddhism durings its early formative years, including its origins in India and its expansion into China, Japan, other areas of Asia, and the West. In addition, the course will examine contemporary developments in Buddhism thought and practice, and Buddhism’s political and social importance.
Spring semester. Department. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.
RLG 268. Asian Thought (3) (PHL 268) (GEN. ED. #4)
An analysis of Asian philosophical and religious texts with particular emphasis on the Chinese tradition. Students read selected works from the vast scholarly literature of the Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian traditions, and situate these text, their authors, and the schools they represent within their historical context. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.
Spring semester. DeCaroli. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.
RLG 273: Quer(y)ing Religion (3) (GEN. ED. #10)
What does human sexuality have to do with God? What has been the meaning of sexuality within the Christian tradition? How has Christianity shaped the meaning of sexuality for society? These are some of the questions this course explores as it examines sexuality and the Christian tradition in relation to matters of homosexuality. Special attention will be given to theological and biblical concerns. Prerequisite: One course in Religion or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Douglas. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.
RLG 274. Liberation Theology (3) (GEN. ED. #10)
Through delving into the writings of particular theologians of liberation such as Jon Sobrino, Gustavo Guieterrez, James Cone, and others students examine the meaning, significance, and methods of liberation theology. Their exploration will include the following questions. Why is it called “liberation” theology? What vision of God, the world, and human beings does it proclaim? What does it criticize about the world and the church? Students meet and interview people in the community who are linked with the practice of liberation theology in various contexts. Prerequisite: One course in religion or sophomore standing.
Fall semester. Department. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.v
RLG 299. Independent work in Religion (1.5-4)
Special topics on study based on previous course work in the department and selected in conference with the instructor.
Department.
RLG 308. Jewish and Christian Feminism (3) (WS 308)
What do feminism and religious traditions have to say to one another? In this course students read both autobiography and theological texts written by women struggling with questions regarding feminism and the religious traditions of Judaism and Christianity. Students explore themes such as the understanding of God, interpretation of sacred texts and halakhah, the meaning of community, sexuality, ritual, etc. This course also incorporates opportunities for students to pursue their own questions vis a vis feminism, Judaism and Christianity. Through interviews and guest speakers, students attend to and analyze the religious life journeys of a variety of women in their community. Prerequisite: One course in women’s studies or religion and sophomore standing.
Variable semesters. Department.
RLG 331. Problems of Evil and Suffering (3) (GEN. ED. #7)
What is the meaning of evil? How are we to understand human suffering? What is the meaning of the human being in relation to evil? What is the significance of God in relation to evil and suffering? What is the meaning of truth and justice in light of evil? These are some of the questions this course considers as it investigates the problem of evil and suffering. Theological, philosophical, literary as well as justice responses to particular social/historical manifestations of evil (i.e., slavery and the Holocaust) are examined in order to help students discern the complex issues with regard to evil/suffering and to develop their own theological, philosophical and justice-related responses. Prerequisite: One course in religion or sophomore standing.
Spring semester. Douglas. Offered 2007-08 and alternate years.
RLG 350. Senior Seminar: Religion on the Ground
All senior majors in the religion and ethics major participate in this seminar. Students will engage the question from their own perspective through leading a discussion and presenting a paper. There is also a required service component. Prerequisite: Senior standing and declared religion major or minor.
Spring semester. Department.
RLG 355. Black Theology II (3) (GEN. ED. #7 and #10)
This course focuses on contemporary black theology as it seeks to introduce students to the religious/ theological tradition from the 20th century to the present. Particular attention is paid to the theological writings and activism of persons such as Howard Thurman, Vernon Johns, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer, James Cone, and Delores Williams. Prerequisite: RLG 237 or permission of the instructor.
Fall semester. Douglas. Offered 2008-09 and alternate years.
RLG 399. Advanced Independent Work (3-4)
Department.