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Course Descriptions
REL 100: Theories and Methods of Religious
Studies
Goal: To introduce students to methodologies for the critical study
of religion, and to study those characteristics of religion and the religious
experience that seem to pervade a variety of religious traditions. To
develop a working definition of religion as well as an appreciation of the
cross-cultural dimension of the religious experience and the role this
experience plays in self-development.
Content: Introductory texts in religious studies; primary sources
from particular religious traditions.
Taught: Annually.
Gen. Ed. Category: Critical thinking.
Credit: 3 hours.
REL 120: Introduction to Christianity
Goal: To introduce students to the teachings and practices of the
various forms of Christianity. The class surveys the sweep of Christian history
from its biblical foundations to the present, including the shift from the
western world to the southern hemisphere and contemporary movements such as
ecumenism, evangelicalism, and charismatic/pentecostalism.
Content: Primary religious texts and scholarly works on the
history, culture, and teachings of Christianity.
Taught: Annually.
Gen Ed. Category: Critical thinking.
Credit: 3 hours.
REL 251: Experiencing the World's Religions
Goal: To introduce students to the teachings and practices of the
major religious traditions originating in India and China, including Vedic and
classical Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.
Content: Primary religious texts and scholarly works on the
history, culture, and teachings of Indian and Chinese religions.
Taught: Alternate years.
Gen Ed. Category: Critical thinking; cross-cultural.
Credit: 3 hours.
REL 253: Islam and Christianity: Conflict,
Conversation, Coexistence
Goal: To introduce students to the teachings, history, and
contemporary varieties of Islam.
Content:
Primary texts (including the Qur’an, Hadith and Sufi writings) and scholarly
works on the history and cultures of Islam.
Taught: Alternate years.
Gen. Ed. Category: Critical thinking; cross-cultural.
Credit: 3 hours.
REL 290: Christian Spirituality: The Quest
for God
Goal: To introduce students to the sorts of questions and issues
discussed in religious texts and the ways that scholars of religion discuss
these questions and issues. To help students develop their own skills in the
reading and analysis of texts in religious studies.
Content: The class is configured to focus either on a particular
issue, movement, time period, or thinker within religious studies.
Representative topics might include Faith and Doubt in Modernity, C.S. Lewis
and Friends, Fundamentalisms in World Religions, Feminist Theology, Religious
Issues in Modern Literature, Literary Analysis of the Bible, Religion and the
Scientific Worldview, and New Religions in America. The class can be understood
as an introductory-level special themes course.
Taught: Alternate years.
Gen Ed. Category: Critical thinking.
Credit: 3 hours.
REL 301: The Hebrew Bible
Goal: To introduce students to the Hebrew Bible and subsequent
literature from a variety of scholarly approaches.
Content: Primary texts from the Bible, Second Temple literature,
and midrash, and scholarly works on historical-critical, literary, and feminist
approaches to the Hebrew Bible.
Taught: Alternate years.
Credit: 3 hours.
REL 302: The New Testament and Early
Christian Literature
Goal: To introduce students to the New Testament and Early
Christian literature, culture, and history.
Content: Primary texts from the Bible and early Church writings,
books on early Christian culture and social history, including the role and
experience of women in the Church.
Taught: Alternate years.
Prerequisite: One course in REL or permission of instructor.
Credit: 3 hours.
REL 310: Contextual Theologies: Black,
Latino, Native American, and Feminist Ventures
Goal: To introduce students to sociological methods as they are
applied in the study of religion and to the understandings of religion which
are gained by these methods.
Content: Writings in the sociology of religion, including not
only a survey text which provides a general overview of the field, but also
monographs and/or essays which develop particular sociological perspectives in
more detail.
Taught: Alternate years.
Prerequisite: One course in REL or permission of instructor.
Credit: 3 hours; S-course.
REL 340: Modern Religious Thought: Various
Responses to Modernity (from Descartes to von Balthasar)
Goal: To introduce students to transformation of religious
thought in the modern era, from the Reformation period to the present,
including such issues as religious responses to developments in modern
philosophy, science, and politics.
Content: Primary texts on the history and thought of
Christianity; secondary texts when necessary.
Taught: Alternate years.
Prerequisite(s): One course in PHI or REL or permission of
instructor.
Credit: 3 hours; S-course
REL 396: Special Topics in Religion: The Theology of Jürgen Moltmann
REL 396: Special Topics in Religion: Silence, Submission, Equality: Women in Christian Tradition
Rev. 12.12