Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: ROMANCING RELIGION: NARRATIVES OF THE SACRED

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines links between religious experience and romance narrative taking the grail as a focal point. We start with grail legends in the middle ages, explore historical associations of the grail with medieval Christianity, and end with quest narratives and grail motifs in modern occultism, fiction and film. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: FSEM 100, MDEM 100.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Comparative and interdisciplinary analysis of key elements (including scripture, religious experience, ideas of the divine, religious art and practices) of two Western and two non-Western religions, of the scholarly study of religion, and of the role of religion in the contemporary world.

Long Title: BUDDHISM MEDITATION, ART AND US

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: How do you learn about another tradition? Its texts, practices, or art? Its conversations with the modern West? We will focus on all these as we enter ancient Buddhist worlds of India and Tibet, by reading ancient texts and modern treatments, including films and scientific inquiry. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: FSEM 102.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO JEWISH MYSTICISM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Surveys the historical development and central themes of Jewish mysticism. From the bible to ancient mysticism to medieval Kabbalah to modern expressions, we will critically reflection the ideas such as divine presence in the world, the cultivation of insight and magical powers, contemplative and restorative practices, and charismatic authority. Cross-list: MDEM 103.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN THOUGHT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Survey of major medieval Christian thinkers. Primary focus on high and late middle ages (12th-15th century), with some attention to spiritual and apocalyptic writings and dissenting thought in this period. Cross-list: MDEM 105.

Long Title: REPRESENTATIONS OF MAGIC AND SPIRITUALITY IN MODERNIST CINEMA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 4

Description: This course examines representations of magical practices and spiritual phenomena in modernist cinema. Focusing primarily on classic films, we will explore the technical symbolic systems through which the cinematic medium represents such phenomena as miracles, angelic intervention, the afterlife, witchcraft, time travel, and spirit possession rituals. Cross-list: FILM 107.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Survey of post-biblical Judaism as reflected in the literature of the classical rabbinic tradition, mysticism, medieval biblical commentary, legal codes and philosophy, and modern movements such as Hasidism, denominational Judaism, Zionism, and feminist Judaism. Jewish material culture such as synagogue architecture, illuminated manuscripts and ritual artifacts will be included. Students will not receive credit for both RELI 108 and RELI 209. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 108 if student has credit for RELI 209.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN RELIGIONS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introduction to the structures of African religions through readings. Topics include community, cosmology, ritual, ethical values, magic, witchcraft, spirit possession, contribution to nationalism, social change, religion and art, and transplantation of African Religions in the Americas.

Long Title: COMPARING CHRISTIANITIES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course maps the pluralistic nature of early Christianity from its grassroots beginnings in a commune in Jerusalem to Rome and the conversion of Emperor Constantine, Different Christian movements include the Apostolic Christians, Ebionites, Marcionites, Thomasians, Montanists, Monarchians, Modalists, Arians, and a variety of Gnostic Christians will be studied comparatively as well as historically.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An introductory reading course examining the dynamics of African Christianity from the early church to the present. Course will include studying the African church during the Patristic era, the Colonial period, Prophetic Movements, nationalism, racial tensions, the role of women, and the emergence of a distinct theological voice.

Long Title: MYSTICISM THROUGHOUT THE AGES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines the historical development of mysticism in Western thought, placing the Christian experiential traditions in comparison with Jewish developments. Through mystical texts, we will explore key concepts, such as visions of God and spiritual journeys, as developed during late antiquity, the middle-ages, and into the early modern period. Cross-list: MDEM 116.

Long Title: RELIGION, MORALITY, AND THE LAW

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: We know that religion, morality, and the law are connected to one another, but how? Do they depend upon, reinforce, or ultimately undermine one another? To improve our answers to these questions, we will investigate philosophical, theological, and social-scientific accounts of these categories and their relationships.

Long Title: A NEW HISTORY OF MAGIC

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar targets a fuller picture of magic emergent in the triad "magic, science, religion" by studying magic both as a condemned category and as a defensible category of thought and practice. We discuss case studies from the intellectual magic of the middle ages, Renaissance, and the modern occult revival. This course is limited to first-year students only. Cross-list: FSEM 120.

Long Title: THE BIBLE AND ITS INTERPRETERS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Compares modern-critical reading with early Jewish and Christian, often fanciful interpretations.

Long Title: RELIGION AND THE ART OF HAPPINESS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Students at Rice University consistently self-report as "happiest" by rankings like the Princeton Review. Course analyzes what we mean when we talk about "happiness" in the study of religion, assessing the role of community, habits, meaning, and positive thinking in religious and psychological texts, as well as lived experience.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW I

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An introduction to Biblical Hebrew with emphasis on grammar and vocabulary. Cross-list: HEBR 125, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 507. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 125 if student has credit for RELI 507.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW II

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Continuation of RELI 125. We will finish the grammar in the second half of this semester and then read selections from the Hebrew Bible. Cross-list: HEBR 126, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 511. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 126 if student has credit for RELI 511.

Long Title: INTERMEDIATE BIBLICAL HEBREW III

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): RELI 125 AND RELI 126

Description: Readings in the Hebrew Bible as well as in some unvocalized texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Review of grammar and vocabulary. GR/UG Equivalent: RELI 512. Instructor Permission Required.Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 512. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 127 if student has credit for RELI 512.

Long Title: INTERMEDIATE BIBLICAL HEBREW IV

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Continuation of RELI 127 (RELI 127 is not a prerequisite). Cross-list: HEBR 128, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 516. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 128 if student has credit for RELI 516.

Long Title: RELIGION AND HIP HOP CULTURE IN AMERICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Hip Hop culture has changed how life is discussed and conducted. However, one of the under-explored dimensions of Hip Hop culture involves its religious sensibilities. Using lectures, discussions, films, and video presentations, this course explores Hip Hop culture's religious dimensions through its musical language-rap music. Credit may not be received for both RELI 157 and 311. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 157 if student has credit for RELI 311.

Long Title: LIBERATION THEOLOGIES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course seeks to acquaint students with examples of liberation theology, as they relate to the following issues: racism, sexism, classism, and environmental destruction. Attention is given to the context, construction, form, and aims of Latin American liberation theology, Black theology, Feminist theology, and Theology in the Intersections. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 548. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 158 if student has credit for RELI 548.

Long Title: THE BODY AND THE COSMOS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: What shaped medieval Christian notions of the body? How did common experiences of pain, sexuality, childbirth, and death refract the grasp of larger concepts - God, time, and the cosmos? This seminar will explore the issues connecting body to cosmos through close reading of medieval literary, mystical, and autobiographical texts. This course is limited to first-year students only, any others will be removed from this course. Cross-list: FSEM 171, MDEM 171.

Long Title: JUDAISM OF JESUS AND HILLEL

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines the history and culture of Judaism during the Second Temple period, which produced such great religious leaders as Jesus and Hillel. Topics include: canonization, colonization, diaspora, economic and political instability, eschatology, Hellenization, imperialism, messianism, Pharisees, priesthood, Sadducees, Scribes, scriptures, sectarianism, synagogue and temple worship. Cross-list: HIST 201.

Long Title: THE PROPHET JEREMIAH: THE BIBLICAL BOOK AND ITS RECEPTION IN JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A seminar on the book of Jeremiah and its reception. Topics to be explored: ancient Near Eastern prophecy and Israel’s cultures of revelation; the composition, production, and transmission of a biblical book; the life of the prophet; the transformation of Jeremiah’s message in later, post-biblical texts attributed to him.

Long Title: INTRA RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND BEYOND

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Course is organized around different historical religions and the models of inclusivity and pluralism that these religions have promoted. Course explores the dialogue of religious tolerance and the need to move to religious pluralism in a global community.

Long Title: MYSTIC CINEMA: KABBALAH IN FILM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course explores uses by the film industry of ideas drawn from Jewish mysticism. We will examine themes such as monsters, spirits, numerology and the paranormal, as portrayed in classic film and through to contemporary Hollywood. Emphasis will be placed on the medieval textual and folkloric traditions behind such portrayals. Credit may not be received for both (RELI 215/FILM215) and (RELI 114/FILM 114/FSEM 141). Cross-list: FILM 215. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 215 if student has credit for FILM 114/FSEM 141/RELI 114.

Long Title: THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will examine the life of the Prophet Muhammad, focusing on its significance for Muslims and for non-Muslims. Readings in The Qur'an, Ibn Hisham, and Haykal. Cross-list: ASIA 221.

Long Title: QUR'AN AND COMMENTARY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Survey of the major themes of the Qur'an and selected types of commentary on it from the early Islamic period until the present day.

Long Title: REVOLUTIONARY ISLAM: SHI'ISM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will cover Shi'ism at an introductory level, focusing upon the Imami (Twelve) and Ismai'ili branches of Shi'ism but also including the so-called Ghulat sects.

Long Title: ASIAN RELIGIONS IN AMERICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A survey course on Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Jainism in America, from the colonial period to the present, with a special focus on American metaphysical religion, the counterculture, the New Age, and the history of Western colonialism, transcultural encounter, translation and immigration. Cross-list: ASIA 230.

Long Title: AMERICAN METAPHYSICAL RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Beginning with a historical survey of the American metaphysical tradition, this course turns to a close study of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, as a unique window into some of the different ways the tradition has appropriated Asian religions, psychological models of the unconscious, and contemporary scientific paradigms. Cross-list: ASIA 231, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 505. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 231 if student has credit for RELI 505.

Long Title: RELIGIONS FROM INDIA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will survey the religions of India, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism. Emphasis will be placed on the study of scriptures of these traditions and their continuing global relevance, particularly in American history and culture. Cross-list: ASIA 232, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 500. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 232 if student has credit for RELI 500.

Long Title: TIBETAN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE I

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introducing the Tibetan alphabet and basics of grammar through reading section of a classic Tibetan text. In addition, readings in English in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist materials, also on the art, history, geography and /or modern era in those areas. Final includes a paper drawn from readings and class discussion. Cross-list: TIBT 233. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 233 if student has credit for RELI 502.

Long Title: TIBETAN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE II

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Continued training in Tibetan language-extending vocabulary and facility with grammar. Final includes a paper drawn from readings and class discussion. Cross-list: TIBT 234, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 564. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 234 if student has credit for RELI 564. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: THE BOOK OF GENESIS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A critical reading in English of the Book of Genesis with close attention to the narrative artistry and theological dimensions of the text. Compares pre-modern modes of interpretation and modern historical criticism.

Long Title: MEDITATION, MYSTICISM, AND MAGIC

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The course moves between Buddhist religious and Western psychological literature, analyzing these as models of human development, as guides to a meditative life or critiques of it, and above all as expressions of deeply rooted cultural proclivities. Reading Freud, Milarepa, Norbu, Obeyesekere, Sutric and Tantric literature, Taylor and Wangyal. Cross-list: ASIA 250.

Long Title: MEDIEVAL LATIN SAINTS' LIVES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): LATI 101 AND (LATI 102 OR MDST 102)

Description: This course will introduce selected lives from St. Anthony to St. Francis of Assisi which will be read in Latin; grammar review, as necessary. Focus will be on continuity and change in the Hagiographic tradition and representation of saint in relation to community. Intermediate Level Latin. Cross-list: LATI 205, MDEM 254, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 554. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 254 if student has credit for RELI 554.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO THE BLACK CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Much of what has historically taken place within Black communities has been shaped by Black Christian churches. These churches are resources for those interested in understanding religious expression and activism within the Black community. This course provides an introduction into the history, thought, and worship of the major Black denominations.

Long Title: MEDIEVAL POPULAR CHRISTIANITY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: For much of the Middle Ages, literacy was a luxury that ordinary people could not afford. How could peasants participate in Christian traditions? Course surveys devotional practices engaged by the laity, including penance, pilgrimage, plays, charms and spells, as well as traditions of lay interaction with dead saints and ghosts. Cross-list: MDEM 271.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIANITY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Multidisciplinary exploration of Christian religious experience, belief, and social reality with examples from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe during the last two thousand years. Themes include search for lasting marks of identity amid change and diversity as well as the issue of Christianity's relation to processes of modernization and secularization. No prior background in religious studies required.

Long Title: GENDER AND POLITICIZED RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines the emergence of religion-based politics in various Asian countries - particularly Hindu and Muslim-focusing on the women participants in these movements as well as the movements' concerns with gender roles in society. We will investigate, for instance, the extent to which women participants have been willing or able to reshape the central ideas of such movements. Credit may not be received for both RELI 285 and RELI 341. Cross-list: ASIA 240, SWGS 240. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 285 if student has credit for RELI 341.

Long Title: RELIGION IN FICTION AND FILM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The sacred in interreligious, international, and interdisciplinary encounter, approached via social sciences, theology, theories of literature and mythology. Authors and directors can include Waugh, Mishima, Mann, Proust, Hesse, Percy, Gardner, Updike, Gibson, Sterling, Coupland, Ray, Resnais, Fellini, Bergman, Anderson, Bunnel, and Nutley. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 514. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 294 if student has credit for RELI 514.

Long Title: NIETZSCHE AND RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Nietzsche's thought and background: his impact on religious thinkers and cultural critics; his influence on understanding of God, faith, values, society; his connection with Schopenhauer, Wagner, Tillich, Mann, Barth, Buber, Freud, Jung, D.H. Lawrence, Heidegger, antibourgeois cultural criticism, environmentalism, feminism, and postmodernism. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 515. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 301 if student has credit for RELI 515.

Long Title: JESUS AND THE GOSPELS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explores the various portraits of Jesus in the New Testament and extra-canonical gospels (including the gospels of Thomas Philip, Mary and Judas) in order to reconstruct each gospel's Christological interpretation of Jesus as well as the "historical" Jesus himself.

Long Title: PAIN, ECSTASY AND EMBODIMENT IN RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: From exorcism to other worldly visions, we experience religion as embodied human beings. This course explores embodied religion by focusing on connections between pain and transcendence, looking at medieval Christianity as well as contemporary and cross-cultural examples. Cross-list: MDEM 305, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 566. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 305 if student has credit for RELI 566.

Long Title: SEXUALITY AND CHRISTIANITY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Studies the development of attitudes toward sexuality and the body in many varieties of early Christianity. A historical-critical and feminist study of biblical texts will be made, as well as extracanonical materials from Nag Hammadi, the Church Fathers, the Apocryphal Acts, and the monastic literature.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO COPTIC LANGUAGE I

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A first semester introduction to Coptic grammar and vocabulary. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 591. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 307 if student has credit for RELI 591. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO COPTIC LANGUAGE 2

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): RELI 307

Description: Second semester introduction to Coptic grammar and vocabulary, with selected readings from the Coptic New Testament, Nag Hammadi, and monastic literature. Prerequisite: Introduction to Coptic Language I. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 592. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 308 if student has credit for RELI 592.

Long Title: READING COPTIC TEXTS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Varied readings in original language to include the New Testament, Nag Hammadi, and monastic literature. Prerequisite: Coptic 1 and 2. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 593. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 309 if student has credit for RELI 593. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: RELIGION AND HIP HOP CULTURE IN AMERICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Hip Hop culture has changed how life is discussed and conducted. However, one of the under-explored dimensions of Hip Hop culture involves its religious sensibilities. Using lectures, discussions, films, and video presentations, this course explores Hip Hop culture's religious dimensions through its musical language-rap music. RELI 311 requires additional work above the RELI 157 counterpart, including a term paper, etc. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 311 if student has credit for RELI 157.

Long Title: THE RELIGIOUS THOUGHT OF MARTIN L. KING, JR. AND MALCOLM X

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Although many figures played a prominent role during the Civil Rights Movement, Martin L. King, Jr. and Malcolm X made unique contributions. Their work sparked important conversation concerning the methods, goals, and consequences of struggle toward liberation. This course examines their religiosity, theological sensibilities, and the major themes which surface in their writings and public work. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 546. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 312 if student has credit for RELI 546.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO SYRIAC

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An introduction to Syriac grammar and vocabulary. Graduate students are expected to write an exegetical paper on a Syriac text of their choice. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 513. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 313 if student has credit for RELI 513.

Long Title: DIVINE SEX: GENDER AND DIVINITY IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will examine key medieval works, with special attention to women's writing, focusing on gender construction in mysticism and theology. Primary readings will include works by Hildegard of BinGen, Birgtta of Sweden, Margery Kempe, and others. Cross-list: MDEM 314, SWGS 314, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 551. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 314 if student has credit for RELI 551.

Long Title: GENDER AND ISLAM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explores the lives of Muslim women in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America; analyze constructions of gender in the Islamic world over time, the challenges faced from such diverse quarters as colonial administrators, Western feminists, and states, as well as movements and individuals within the Muslim world. Cross-list: SWGS 315.

Long Title: THE ANCIENT NEW AGE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introduction to ancient Gnosticism and the great debate between the Gnostic Christians and their opponents, the Christians who later became known as the "orthodox". Nag Hammadi and other Gnostic literature will be examined alongside Patristic accounts.

Long Title: CREATING MAGIC: KEY WRITINGS ON MAGIC AND RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focusing on social theories of magic from Durkheim to Tambiah, this course will also investigate how the idea of magic is already embedded against religion in theological writings. Graduate work includes extra reading, additional seminars, and a more extended final project. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 541. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 317 if student has credit for RELI 541.

Long Title: THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The American Constitution embodies a complex experiment in religious tolerance, including the promise of "free exercise of religion" and the prohibition of laws "respecting an establishment of religion". In this class we will primarily seek a critical understanding of our tolerance-rich legal invocations of religious freedom and address fundamental issues such as how can we distinguish "religious" actions and commitments from other morally important beliefs and activities. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 320 if student has credit for RELI 596.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHISM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Buddhist ideas, art, and meditation. Exploration of the Buddhism in India, China, and Japan and their impact in the USA today. Readings include Buddhists classics and contemporary responses from mediators and scientists. Cross-list: ASIA 322, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 572 with additional readings, more writing. Cross-list: ASIA 322, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 572. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 322 if student has credit for RELI 572.

Long Title: THE KNOWING BODY: BUDDHISM, GENDER AND THE SOCIAL WORLD

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Western thought tends to regard mind and body dualistically, a view with significant impact on religious cultural, gendered and social processes. This course juxtaposes received Western assumptions with Buddhist perspectives (especially Tibetan Buddhist), mapping Western and Buddhist categories onto each other to better understand the implications of each. Cross-list: ASIA 323, SWGS 323, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 577. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 323 if student has credit for RELI 577.

Long Title: ANGELS, POWERS, AND MONSTERS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: "Every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings." Course examines the natures, roles, physical appearances, and functions ascribed to the intermediate beings (angels, powers, and monsters) in western thought from the Ancient Near East to the modern Period, in both academic and popular opinion. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 508. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 326 if student has credit for RELI 508.

Long Title: ADVANCED TIBETAN LANGUAGE & CULTURE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): RELI 132 OR TIBT 132

Description: This class builds on RELI 232 and 234, now including more challenging material in Tibetan, and continuing the trajectory of gaining familiarity with Buddhist philosophical systems as these touch on epistemology, ontology, and contemplative practice. Instructor Permission Required.Cross-list: TIBT 332, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 532. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: KNOWING BODY/GLOWING MIND: BUDDHIST ARTS OF CONTEMPLATION AND ANALYSIS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Buddhism is a performing art engaging both mind and body. Our course investigates Buddhist and other literature, epistemology and rituals with an eye to how they speak to contemplative practice. Contemplative practice itself, in class and out, supplements our exploration of the interplay between traditional Asian and contemporary Western perspectives. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 573. Recommended prerequisite(s): One course in Buddhism. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 333 if student has credit for RELI 573. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An overview of the basic approaches in the psychological understanding of religious belief and practice. Topics to be addressed in religious systems East and West include: sex, religious experience, ritual, myth, saintliness, guilt, God and meditation.

Long Title: RELIGION & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Designed to introduce the student to classic and contemporary texts in the social scientific study of religion. Topics include: mysticism, the social construction of gender, the guru-disciple relationship, secularization, healing traditions East and West, cross-cultural debates. Credit may not be received for both RELI 260 and RELI 336. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 609. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 336 if student has credit for RELI 260/RELI 609.

Long Title: SHAMANS, SAINTS, & SAGES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Familiarize the student with diverse texts (secular and religious, East and West) found in mystical literature. Emphasis will be placed on psychological and comparative methods. Credit may not be received for both RELI 262 and RELI 337. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 337 if student has credit for RELI 262.

Long Title: THE CHURCH OF AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A reading course designed to examine Christianity in Africa. Course materials and readings will address the development of the church from the Patristic era to the present, paying attention to theological developments, missionization, colonialism, nationalism, prophetic movements, race relations, the role of women, and social issues. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 540. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 338 if student has credit for RELI 540.

Long Title: APOCALYPSE THEN AND NOW

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A close reading of some early Jewish apocalypses and a discussion of the apocalyptic worldview. Texts include the Book of Daniel, 1 Enoch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Book of Revelation. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 510. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 339 if student has credit for RELI 510.

Long Title: THEOLOGY IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introductory readings on theological thinking in Africa. Course will address methodological issues as well as constructive theological work on enculturation, social and economic justice, gender, health, and liberation. Read 5 major texts, write a major review, lead class discussions, discuss texts used, and write 20 page research paper. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 539. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 340 if student has credit for RELI 539.

Long Title: GENDER AND POLITICIZED RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines the emergence of religion-based politics in various Asian countries-particularly Hindu and Muslim-focusing on the women participants in these movements as well as the movements' concerns with gender roles in society. We will investigate, for instance, the extant to which women participants have been willing or able to reshape the central ideas of such movements. Credit may not be received for both RELI 285 and RELI 341. Cross-list: ASIA 340, SWGS 340. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 341 if student has credit for RELI 285.

Long Title: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Discusses new religious movements and the religious, sociological, and political factors leading to their rise, also missionary and colonial reactions to them. Examines their relationship to indigenous religions, political praxis, and their focus on this-worldly salvation in the wake of political and economic marginality. Cross-list: ANTH 343.

Long Title: SEX, LOVE, AND SPIRIT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar explores the themes of love, sex, and spirit from the classical era through the postmodern age. We will examine literary, philosophical, and artistic expressions in painting, sculpture, cinema, novels, poetry, psychoanalysis, religion, and culture. Cross-list: HART 347.

Long Title: SEMINAR ON THE END OF LIFE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 4

Description: This course examines themes associated with death and dying from the historical through the contemporary periods. The class will adopt highly multidisciplinary approach that combines the critical perspectives of biomedicine, religious studies, art history, philosophy, anthropology, bioethics, and cultural studies as we consider life at the end of life.

Long Title: CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will focus upon the history and conflict of Christianity and Islam in Africa, with emphasis placed upon indigenous African developments, cultural and artistic themes, and conversion narratives as well as exploring the co-existence and conflict of the two major faiths of the continent. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 536. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 348 if student has credit for RELI 536.

Long Title: HOLOCAUST REPRESENTATION IN LITERATURE, ART, AND FILM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will address the representation of the Holocaust in literature, art, and film. Is the Holocaust representable? What literary and artistic techniques and devices have been employed to represent the unrepresentable? Through Holocaust narrative, poetry, fiction, art, memorials, documentary and narrative film, we will explore these questions. Cross-list: FILM 349.

Long Title: DEMONS, MENTAL ILLNESS AND MEDICINE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Treats complex connections between religious beliefs/practices and formulation of human psychology in western tradition, through a historical reckoning with demonology. Consider the way demons are represented -- from semi-corporeal beings to marks of mental illness -- by looking at texts from the ancient world to modern psychiatry. Cross-list: MDEM 350, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 605. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 350 if student has credit for RELI 605.

Long Title: MAJOR ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY ISLAM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will focus on the major issues confronting contemporary Islam including Islamic unity, the place of the Qur'an and traditions, human rights, Islamic feminism, da'wa, education, science and Islam, globalization and medical ethics.

Long Title: WHAT'S RELIGIOUS ABOUT BLACK RELIGION?

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines two questions: How is religion defined within the study of lack religion? What constitutes the nature and meaning of blackness within black religion? These questions provide opportunity to explore how scholars explain what it has meant to be black and religious within the United States. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 547. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 357 if student has credit for RELI 547.

Long Title: RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IN THE CRUCIBLE OF GLOBALIZATION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explores context and consequences of the concept of religious tolerance in the crucible of globalization politics. Background in settlement of Reformation-era religious wars; American attitudes; impetus for tolerance policies and their implementation, 1945 to present (including governmentality and surveillance); results for historically Christian populations, esp. in US and Europe. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 580. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 359 if student has credit for RELI 580. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: PAUL AND THE NEW TESTAMENT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Examines the growth of Christianity from its origins as a Jewish group to a religion in the mid-second century that distinguished itself from Judaism. Includes discussion of Acts, Paul's letters, Johannine corpus, Gospel of Thomas, Pastorals, Catholic letters, Hebrews, and Revelation.

Long Title: READING WRIGHT: THEISM AND ATHEISM IN THE WRITINGS OF RICHARD WRIGHT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Richard Wright's fiction and nonfiction are important resources for understanding the nature of radicalized life in the United States. This course explores his writings for what they tell us about the role of religion in the development of identity and life meaning, and we will juxtapose the role of religion with Wright's commentary on the nature and significance of atheism for countering injustice. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 606. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 369 if student has credit for RELI 606.

Long Title: MODERN JEWISH THOUGHT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: What is the role of God and spirituality in the modern world? How do modern Jewish thinkers reinterpret traditional religious concepts? Explore debates on textual criticism, historical representation, existentialism, and political theology in writings by Spinoza, Buber, Rosenzweig, Kook, Levinas, and Adler. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 561. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 371 if student has credit for RELI 561.

Long Title: EPIPHANIES: SEEING IN A NEW LIGHT AND RECOGNIZING THE RADIANCE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Epiphanies are events or objects that can note a striking appearance or manifestation, just as an epiphanic experience contains a significant moment of revelation. This course examines expressions of epiphanies in modernist art, literature, film, sacred experience, and in the mundane details of life itself. Cross-list: HART 328.

Long Title: CONTESTED GEOGRAPHIES: RACE, NATION AND DIASPORA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Examines local and globally mediated formations of ethnic and racial identities. Explores the history of racial categories and focuses on the ways transnational communities are altered through contact with "homelands." Particular attention is given to "Arab-Jewish," "Palestinian," "Black," and "Latino" diasporic communities in Israel/Palestine and the USA.

Long Title: THE MESSIAH

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Examines the historical origins of Messianism. The Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other ancient texts reflect a surprising diversity of Messianic expectations in early Judaism. These form the background of early Christian depictions of Jesus of Nazareth.

Long Title: LOST JUDAISMS: THE APOCRYPHAL WRITINGS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: After the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament canon was closed, Jews and Christians continued to compose texts and attributed them to the biblical figures of the past. Seminar offers a close reading of some of these apocryphal/pseudepidgraphic little known texts. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 509. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 382 if student has credit for RELI 509.

Long Title: THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A survey of the Dead Sea Scrolls as a window into the Second Temple period. A close reading of the scrolls will lead to a discussion of the theological and historical issues of the time, a period pivotal for the formation of Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 553. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 383 if student has credit for RELI 553.

Long Title: PILGRIMAGE AND CRUSADE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focus on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Mecca by Jews, Christians, and Muslims within the context of the crusade period. Also covers the historical religious events of the crusades (approximately 1000-1300) from both a Muslim and a Christian perspective. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 608. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 384 if student has credit for RELI 608.

Long Title: GOD, TIME AND HISTORY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: How is the passage of time given meaning, and what role--if any--is assigned to divinity in shaping the direction of events? Course explores various forms of recording and interpreting events, drawing from ancient Mesopotamia, Israel, and the Greco-Roman world--the cultures in which modern ideas of history began. Cross-list: HIST 381, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 585. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 385 if student has credit for RELI 585.

Long Title: WESTERN ESOTERICISM: METHOD AND THEORY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course explores the relation between esoteric texts and the idea of "Western Esotericism." We will look at primary writings from Agrippa to Madame Blavatsky and consider the historical and methodological approaches emerging as Esotericism is constructed as an academic area. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 587. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 387 if student has credit for RELI 587.

Long Title: SEARCH FOR GOD IN THE POSTMODERN WORLD

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explore forms of theistic religious experience, concentrating on the Western Christian tradition; past and present cultural and philosophical challenges to traditional religious belief; the possibility of Christian faith and the struggle for justice and meaning. Credit may not be received for both RELI 280 and RELI 390. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 390 if student has credit for RELI 280.

Long Title: THE REFORMATION & ITS RESULTS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Theology and church-state issues from 16th-century Reformation to 17th-century; medieval background; Luther and Calvin, the Catholic Reformation; religious wars; Protestant orthodoxy; Pietist spirituality; Puritanism; and calls for toleration. Credit may not be received for both RELI 286 and RELI 391/MDEM 391. Cross-list: MDEM 391. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 391 if student has credit for RELI 286.

Long Title: JERUSALEM: HOLY CITY IN TIME AND IMAGINATION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3 OR 4

Description: A course on Jerusalem's past and present, its religious meanings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and its role in the modern conflict in the Middle East. The class expects to travel to Jerusalem during Spring Break 2015. Instructor Permission Required.

Long Title: MUTANTS AND MYSTICS: THE PARANORMAL AND POPULAR CULTURE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Traces the "paranormal" from its elite origins around Cambridge and Harvard to its later pop-cultural expressions in pulp and science fiction, superhero comics, and film. Particular attention will be given to the role that the anomalous experiences of authors, artists, and scientists have played in this still emerging Super Story. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 589. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 393 if student has credit for RELI 589.

Long Title: THE SACRED ARTS OF SECULAR MODERNISM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines various representations of spirituality and the sacred in modernist and post modernist aesthetics, and their corresponding expressions in historical and contemporary museum practices. Special emphasis will be placed on the outstanding collections of the adjacent museum district, the Menil Collection, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Cross-list: HART 394. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 394 if student has credit for RELI 602.

Long Title: JEWS ON FILM: CINEMATIC REPRESENTATIONS OF JEWISH LIFE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will explore representations of Jewish life and culture in film. We will examine films from different countries and time periods and consider the techniques and tropes that have been used in cinematic representations of Jewish life. Cross-list: FILM 376.

Long Title: CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICUM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hours: 1

Description: Literary and artistic creativity, religious experience, and textual interpretation often draw on focused states of consciousness made possible by contemplative practices. The practicum will provide historical information about such practices and offer opportunities to participate in techniques ranging from meditation and observing breath to freeform writing and T'ai Chi. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 597. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 399 if student has credit for RELI 597. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: SENIOR THESIS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Consisting of the writing of a thesis of considerable length, depth, and research, this course will function as the capstone course on writing in the discipline. Required of all majors.

Long Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 6

Description: Multiple sections of this course are offered. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 6

Description: Multiple sections of this course are offered. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: RELIGION AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This advanced seminar analyzes interdisciplinary efforts by scholars of religion to engage scientific research. We assess the possibilities for collaboration, as well as conflict, between humanistic and scientific disciplines, asking how the tools of interpretation and empiricism might enrich our understanding of religious phenomena. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 610. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 405 if student has credit for RELI 610.

Long Title: AFRICAN MYTHS AND RITUALS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explore and analyze specific myths and rituals which provide legitimation for community ceremonies and that serve as a basis for the negotiation of power and ideology for members within that community. Readings from classic theorists: Durkheim, Levi-Strauss, Edmond Leach, Gennap and Turner, and contemporary theorists: Werbner, Heusch, Comaroff, and Ray. Cross-list: ANTH 423, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 537. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 423 if student has credit for RELI 537.

Long Title: RELIGION AND POLITICS IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Course explores interdisciplinary perspectives on religion and politics in Africa focusing on indigenous religious, Christianity, and Islam. Readings will reflect theoretical perspectives, historical developments, regional angels, and contemporary issues such as sharia, gender, and reconciliation as political options. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 534. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 424 if student has credit for RELI 534. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: RELIGION AND LITERATURE IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Analysis of the religious imagination and gender issues in postcolonial literature in Africa focusing on Islam, Christianity, indigenous religions and African Initiated Churches. Religious and gender issues addressed include identity crises, power, clash of cultures, modernity, cosmology, community, and socio-religious conflicts in a postcolonial world. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 538. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 426 if student has credit for RELI 538.

Long Title: HISTORY AND METHODS: NINETEETH CENTURY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focused discussion of the history and methods of the study of religion via close readings of classical texts and narratives of the field from 1800-1900. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 527. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 427 if student has credit for RELI 527.

Long Title: HISTORY AND METHODS: TWENTIETH CENTURY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focused discussion of the history and methods of the study of religion via close readings of classical texts and narratives of the field from 1900-present. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 559. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 428 if student has credit for RELI 559.

Long Title: RELIGION, PSYCHOLOGY & CULTURE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A survey of the historical development of the psychology of religion and its conversation with theology, comparative studies, gender studies, sociology, and anthropology. Topics include: mysticism, eroticism, conversion, feminism, psychobiography. Examples drawn from a variety of religious traditions. Readings include: Freud, Jung, Tillich, Erikson, Kristeva, Kakar. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 584. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 430 if student has credit for RELI 584.

Long Title: TIBETAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Readings in Tibetan texts -- debates, philosophical treatises of various kinds, meditation texts for contemplative practice -- accompanied by supportive readings in English and discussion of the thematic issues raised by the material, with an emphasis on cultural awareness. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: ISLAM'S MYSTICAL AND ESOTERIC TRADITION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explores the ascetic and Sufi aspects of Islam from the middle Islamic period until the present day. Readings from al-Ghazali, Ibn al-Arabi, Sa'di, Hafiz and Rumi. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 522. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 440 if student has credit for RELI 522.

Long Title: MAGIC AND POPULAR RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will examine the popular religion in the Middle East from Late Antiquity until the 19th century, focusing on healing practices, astrology, protection, amulets, seasoned/life-cycle rituals, and other popular beliefs common to Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Cross-list: ASIA 441, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 525. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 441 if student has credit for RELI 525.

Long Title: CLASSICAL AND CONTEMPORARY ARABIC TEXTS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Study and read classical Arabic texts with the goal of learning the material as well as the syntax and grammar of Arabic. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: MAIMONIDES "GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED"

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will closely read the classic text of Judeo- Muslim thought, Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed, in its historical philosophical and literary context. It will draw upon additional Jewish and Muslim sources as well. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 565. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 443 if student has credit for RELI 565.

Long Title: EARLY CHRISTIAN CONTROVERSIES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Seminar examines controversies and debates among the early Christians as catholic Christianity emerged from a diversity of Christian movements. Literature reviewed will vary. Students will select to focus on one controversy and write a research paper (undergraduates, 5000 words; graduate students, 7500 words). Oral discussion and presentations will be required. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 549. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 449 if student has credit for RELI 549. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: PHILOSOPHIES & THEOLOGIES OF HISTORY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Modern thought on meaning, direction of history; roots in eschatology, Augustine; flowering in progress, historicism: Hegel, Ranke, Burckhardt, Nietzsche, Troeltsch, Spengler, Heidegger, Toynbee; cultural echo (de Chirico, Proust, Mann, Robbe-Grillet, Bu^uel, Bergman, Fellini). Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 517. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 451 if student has credit for RELI 517.

Long Title: HISTORY OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY: REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Spirituality, sociopolitical movements, and intellectual life in the West. Includes Luther, Calvin, Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, Barth, C.S. Lewis, Tillich, Marx, Nietzsche, and Jung. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 520. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 456 if student has credit for RELI 520.

Long Title: MYSTICISM: THEORIES AND METHODS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A history of the development of the modern category of "mysticism" from the seventeenth century to today, with side studies of cognate terms like "spirituality," "metaphysical religion," and the "paranormal," as these forms of extreme religious experience are by social-scientific and humanistic methods. RELI 558: Additional readings and writing. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 558. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 458 if student has credit for RELI 558.

Long Title: ENGLISH SPIRITUALITY AFTER HENRY VIII: PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC, OR ANGLICAN?

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Reformation's aftermath explored through key topics, texts in spiritual practice, e.g.: ecclesiastical discipline; secularization; stylized and free-form intersections of English time with Christian eternity; King James Bible; Book of Common Prayer; "saintly revolution;" Thomas Cranmer; William Laud; William Shakespeare; Lancelot Andrewes; John Donne; J.H. Newman; hymnody; C.S. Lewis; T.S. Eliot. Cross-list: MDEM 462, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 543. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 462 if student has credit for RELI 543.

Long Title: BUDDHIST WISDOM TEXTS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Indo-Tibetan analyses of the mind and its functions, especially differing views on the role of reasoning and the nature of the "ultimate" in major philosophical schools of Tibet and India. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 570. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: KABBALAH SEMINAR

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar will delve into literature known as "kabbalah." through close readings of first-hand accounts of thinkers and mystics known as "kabbalists," will explore themes like secrecy and mystery, the nature of the divine, and religious ecstasy. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 582. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 472 if student has credit for RELI 582.

Long Title: GEM SEMINAR: SPECIAL TOPICS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Special topic seminar on subject related to Gnosticism, Esotericism and/or Mysticism. Team-taught. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 601. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 473 if student has credit for RELI 601. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: SHAMANISM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explores the dynamics of shamanism, initiatory practices, otherworldly journeys, spirit control, magic, healing, divination, psychopomy, and social remedies. Study will be transhistorical and cross-cultural, with emphasis on shamanism within early Greek, Egyptian, Jewish, Christina, Hermetic and Gnostic religions. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 603.

Long Title: FROM DECOLONIZATION TO GLOBALIZATION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Taught in English. Novels, and films, from North and West Africa, and the immigrant population in France, from 1960 to 2010. Emphasis on the tensions between narratives of political emancipation, modernity, secularism, and religious fundamentalism and mysticism. Extra reading for graduate students in theories of colonialism, postcolonialism, globalization. Cross-list: FREN 324, POLI 324, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 604. Recommended Prerequisite(s): Any 200 level course or above in English or French, or HUMA 101 or HUMA 102, or a FWIS course. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 476 if student has credit for RELI 604.

Long Title: THE BIBLE AND THE BRAIN

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: What does cognitive science and linguistics have to do with religion and being religious? This seminar explores religious practices, beliefs and texts from the perspective of the burgeoning field of cognitive studies. Case studies will be focused on biblical and parabiblical texts. RELI 574: Write 10,000 word research paper, serve as discussion leader component in addition to the roundup reviews. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 574. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 477 if student has credit for RELI 353/RELI 574.

Long Title: GNOSTICISM SEMINAR

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In depth examination of one (or more) Gnostic texts within its literary, social, historical, and religious landscapes. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 581. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 481 if student has credit for RELI 581.

Long Title: THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS SCHOOLS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An historical survey of the History of Religions School that emerged in the 1960s and 70s at the University of Chicago and came to play such an important role in the comparative study of religion. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 588. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 488 if student has credit for RELI 588.

Long Title: AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In this seminar students will read and analyze African American literature in order to explore the various ways in which African Americans have understood and articulated the nature and meaning of African American religious experience and practice. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 590. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 490 if student has credit for RELI 590.

Long Title: INTERNSHIP IN RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Student collaborates with a faculty member in the department and a pre-approved local institution, completing original research to be presented in a public setting at the end of the internship and/or working on an outreach initiative. Projects must focus on applying the study of religion to areas of public life and interest. Department Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: RELIGIONS FROM INDIA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 500 and RELI 232.

Long Title: TIBETAN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE I

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introducing the Tibetan alphabet and basics of grammar and Tibetan literary genres. Topics vary; Buddhist literature and art, personal narrative, core cultural characteristics. Readings in English and Tibetan. RELI 531: write a paper approximately one-third longer than the undergraduate equivalent (RELI 233) and complete a more substantial presentation. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 502 if student has credit for RELI 233.

Long Title: EARLY CHRISTIAN GOSPELS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In depth examination of one (or more) early Christian gospel within its literary, social, historical, and religious landscapes. Original language work assumed.

Long Title: AMERICAN METAPHYSCIAL RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Beginning with a historical survey of the American metaphysical tradition, this course turns to a close study of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, as a unique window to some of the different ways tradition has appropriated Asian religions, psychological models of the unconscious, and contemporary scientific paradigms. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 231. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 505 if student has credit for RELI 231.

Long Title: ASIAN RELIGIONS IN AMERICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A survey course on Hinduism, Buddism, Taoism, and Jainism in America, from the colonial period to the present, with a special focus on American metaphysical religion, the counterculture, the New Age, and the history of Western colonialism, transcultural encounter, translation, and immigration. Graduate section requires additional readings and research papers.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW I

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An introduction to Biblical Hebrew with emphasis on grammar and vocabulary. Write an exegetical paper on a Hebrew text of your choice. Instructor Permission Required.Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 125. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 507 if student has credit for RELI 125.

Long Title: ANGELS, POWERS, AND MONSTERS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: "Every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings." Course examines the natures, roles, physical appearances, and functions ascribed to the intermediate beings (angels, powers, and monsters) in western thought from the Ancient Near East to the modern Period, in both academic and popular opinion. Additional readings, research, and additional paper required in RELI 508. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 326. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 508 if student has credit for RELI 326.

Long Title: LOST JUDAISMS: THE APOCRYPHAL WRITINGS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: After the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament canon was closed, Jews and Christians continued to compose texts and attributed them to the biblical figures of the past. Seminar offers a close reading of some of these apocryphal/pseudepidgraphic little known texts. Students in RELI 509 will additionally conduct a research project. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 382. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 509 if student has credit for RELI 382.

Long Title: APOCALYPSE THEN AND NOW

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A close reading of some early Jewish apocalypses and a discussion of the apocalyptic worldview. Texts include the Book of Daniel, 1 Enoch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Book of Revelation. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 339. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 510 if student has credit for RELI 339.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HEBREW II

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Continuation of RELI 507. We will finish the grammar in the second half of this semester and then read selections from the Hebrew bible. Write an exegetical paper on a Hebrew text of your choice. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 126. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 511 if student has credit for RELI 126.

Long Title: INTERMEDIATE BIBLICAL HEBREW III

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): RELI 125 AND RELI 126

Description: Readings in the Hebrew Bible as well as some unvocalized texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Review of grammar and vocabulary. Write an exegetical paper on a Hebrew text. UG/GR Equivalent: RELI 127. Instructor Permission Required.Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 127. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 512 if student has credit for RELI 127.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO SYRIAC

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An introduction to Syriac Grammar and vocabulary. Graduate students are expected to write an exegetical paper on a Syriac text of their choice. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 313. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 513 if student has credit for RELI 313.

Long Title: RELIGION IN FICTION AND FILM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The sacred in interreligious, international, and interdisciplinary encounter, approached via social sciences, theology, theories of literature and mythology. Authors and directors can include Waugh, Mishima, Mann, Proust, Hesse, Percy, Gardner, Updike, Gibson, Sterling, Coupland, Ray, Resnais, Fellini, Bergman, Anderson, Bunnel, and Nutley. Term paper twice as long as undergraduate requirement. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 294. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 514 if student has credit for RELI 294.

Long Title: NIETZSCHE AND RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 515 and RELI 301.

Long Title: INTERMEDIATE BIBLICAL HEBREW IV

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Continuation of RELI 512 (RELI 512 is not a prerequisite). Write an exegetical paper on a Hebrew text. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 128. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 516 if student has credit for RELI 128.

Long Title: PHILOSOPHIES AND THEOLOGIES OF HISTORY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 517 and RELI 451.

Long Title: HISTORY OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY: REFORMATION TO THE PRESENT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 520 and RELI 456.

Long Title: ADVANCED STUDY OF ISLAM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The purpose of this course will be to give graduate students a working knowledge of Islam historically and religiously.

Long Title: ISLAM'S MYSTICAL AND ESOTERIC TRADITION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 522 and RELI 440.

Long Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 15

Description: Multiple sections of this course are offered. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 9

Description: Multiple sections of this course are offered. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: MAGIC AND POPULAR RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 525 and RELI 441.

Long Title: HISTORY AND METHODS: 19TH CENTURY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focused discussion of the history and methods of the study of religion via close readings of classical texts and narratives of the field from 1800-1900. Graduate course will require reading of more books and a longer paper to write. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 427. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 527 if student has credit for RELI 427.

Long Title: PEDAGOGY PRACTICUM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hours: 2

Description: As an integral part of the department's apprenticeship program, this is a semester-long practicum through which a graduate student apprentices with a faculty member teaching an undergraduate course in order to be trained in all aspects of course design, lecturing, advising, and grading. Required of all graduate students. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: ADVANCED TIBETAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): RELI 131

Description: This class builds on RELI 232 and 234, now including more challenging material in Tibetan, and continuing the trajectory of gaining familiarity with Buddhist philosophical systems as these touch on epistemology, ontology, and contemplative practice. Instructor Permission Required.Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 332. Recommended Prerequisite(s): Basic reading ability in Tibetan. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: RELIGION AND POLITICS IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Course explores interdisciplinary perspectives on religion and politics in Africa focusing on indigenous religious, Christianity, and Islam. Readings will reflect theoretical perspectives, historical developments, regional angels, and contemporary issues such as sharia, gender, and reconciliation as political options. RELI 534 requires additional reading, review a book on the subject, and write a 25 page research paper. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 424. Recommended prerequisite(s): Basic reading ability in Tibetan. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 534 if student has credit for RELI 424.

Long Title: CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will focus upon the history and conflict of Christianity and Islam in Africa, with emphasis placed upon indigenous African developments, cultural and artistic themes, and conversion narratives as well as exploring the co-existence and conflict of the two major faiths of the continent. RELI 536: Write longer (20-25 page) paper, teach/lead class discussions and read additional literature. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 348. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 536 if student has credit for RELI 348.

Long Title: AFRICAN MYTHS AND RITUALS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: . Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 423. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 537 if student has credit for RELI 423.

Long Title: RELIGION AND LITERATURE IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 538 and RELI 426.

Long Title: THEOLOGY IN AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Introductory readings on theological thinking in Africa. Course will address methodological issues as well as constructive theological work on enculturation, social and economic justice, gender, health, and liberation. RELI 539: read 5 major texts, write a major review, lead class discussions, discuss texts used. and write 20 page research paper. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 340. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 539 if student has credit for RELI 340.

Long Title: THE CHURCH OF AFRICA

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 540 and RELI 338.

Long Title: CREATING MAGIC: KEY WRITINGS ON MAGIC AND RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focusing on social theories of magic from Durkheim to Tambiah, this course will also investigate how the idea of magic is already embedded against religion in theological writings. Graduate work includes extra reading, additional seminars, and a more extended final project. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 317. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 541 if student has credit for RELI 317.

Long Title: ENGLISH SPIRITUALITY AFTER HENRY VIII: PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC, OR ANGLICAN?

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Reformation's aftermath explored through key topics, texts in spiritual practice, e.g.: ecclesiastical discipline; secularization; stylized and free-form intersections of English time with Christian eternity; King James Bible; Book of Common Prayer; "saintly revolution;" Thomas Cranmer; William Laud; William Shakespeare; Lancelot Andrewes; John Donne; J.H. Newman; hymnody; C.S. Lewis; T.S. Eliot. RELI 543: additional presentations required. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 462. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 543 if student has credit for RELI 462.

Long Title: THE RELIGIOUS THOUGHT OF MARTIN L. KING, JR. AND MALCOLM X

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 546 and RELI 312.

Long Title: WHAT'S RELIGIOUS ABOUT BLACK RELIGION?

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines two questions: How is religion defined within the study of lack religion? What constitutes the nature and meaning of blackness within black religion? These questions provide opportunity to explore how scholars explain what it has meant to be black and religious within the United States. Additional requirements for RELI 547: Write 5 reflection papers; lead at least two class discussions; complete a 30-page research paper; and complete additional readings. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 357. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 547 if student has credit for RELI 357.

Long Title: LIBERATION THEOLOGIES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 548 and RELI 158.

Long Title: EARLY CHRISTIAN CONTROVERSIES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Seminar examines controversies and debates among the early Christians as catholic Christianity emerged from a diversity of Christian movements. Literature reviewed will vary. Students will select to focus on one controversy and write a research paper (undergraduates, 5000 words; graduate students, 7500 words). Oral discussion and presentations will be required. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 449. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 549 if student has credit for RELI 449. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: DIVINE SEX

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will examine key medieval works, with special attention to women's writing, focusing on gender construction in mysticism and theology. Primary readings will include works by Hildegard of BinGen, Birgtta of Sweden, Margery Kempe, and others. Graduate work includes extra reading, additional seminars, and a more extended final project. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 314. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 551 if student has credit for RELI 314.

Long Title: THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 553 and RELI 383.

Long Title: MEDIEVAL LATIN SAINTS' LIVES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): LATI 101 AND (LATI 102 OR MDST 102)

Description: This course will introduce selected lives from St. Anthony to St. Francis of Assisi which will be read in Latin; grammar review, as necessary. Focus will be on continuity and change in the Hagiographic tradition and representation of saint in relation to community. Intermediate Level Latin. Substantial research paper treating a vita in its historical context. Cross-list: LATI 505, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 254. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 554 if student has credit for RELI 254.

Long Title: HISTORICAL ANTHROPOLOGIES OF RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will address the study of the religious past through conjunctions of anthropology and history. Readings will include books and selections by Max Weber, Marshall Sahlins, Victor Turner, Jacques Le Goff, Aron Gurevich, and others. Cross-list: ANTH 550.

Long Title: REPRESENTING THE DEVIL IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ART

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will focus on representations of the devil in Christian sources from the early medieval to early modern period. Primary texts will begin with Augustine's On Divination by Demons and move on to include some medieval saints' lives, cycle plays, and versions of the Faust story. Added reading, a second seminar presentation, and more substantial final essay is required in the graduate course level. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 367. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 557 if student has credit for RELI 367.

Long Title: MYSTICISM: THEORIES AND METHODS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A history of the development of the modern category of "mysticism" from the seventeenth century to today, with side studies of cognate terms like "spirituality," "metaphysical religion," and the "paranormal," as these forms of extreme religious experience are by social-scientific and humanistic methods. RELI 558: Additional readings and writing. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 458. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 558 if student has credit for RELI 458.

Long Title: HISTORY AND METHODS: TWENTIETH CENTURY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focused discussion of the history and methods of the study of religion via close readings of classical texts and narratives of the field from 1900-present. Graduate course will require reading of more books and a longer paper to write. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 428. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 559 if student has credit for RELI 428.

Long Title: MODERN JEWISH THOUGHT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 561 and RELI 371.

Long Title: TIBETAN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE II

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Continued training in Tibetan language-extending vocabulary and facility with grammar. Final includes a paper drawn from readings and class discussion. RELI 564: Write a paper approximately one-third longer and complete a more substantial oral presentation. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 234. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 564 if student has credit for RELI 234. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: MAIMONIDES "GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED"

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will closely read the classic text of Judeo- Muslim thought, Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed, in its historical philosophical and literary context. It will draw upon additional Jewish and Muslim sources as well. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 443. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 565 if student has credit for RELI 443.

Long Title: PAIN, ECSTASY AND EMBODIMENT IN RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: From exorcism to other worldly visions, we experience religion as embodied human beings. This course explores embodied religion by focusing on connections between pain and transcendence, looking at medieval Christianity as well as contemporary and cross-cultural examples. Graduate students will do additional presentation, extra reading, and longer final essay. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 305. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 566 if student has credit for RELI 305.

Long Title: BUDDHIST WISDOM TEXTS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Indo-Tibetan analyses of the mind and its functions, especially differing views on the role of reasoning and the nature of the "ultimate" in major philosophical schools of Tibet and India. RELI 570: More difficult readings and two longer papers required. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 470. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHISM: ARTS FOR LIFE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Buddhist ideas, art, and meditation. Exploration of the Buddhism in India, China, and Japan and their impact in the USA today. Readings include Buddhists classics and contemporary responses from mediators and scientists. Additional readings, more writing. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 322. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 572 if student has credit for RELI 322.

Long Title: KNOWING BODY/GLOWING MIND: BUDDHIST ARTS OF CONTEMPLATION AND ANALYSIS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Buddhism is a performing art engaging both mind and body. Our course investigates Buddhist and other literature, epistemology and rituals with an eye to how they speak to contemplative practice. Contemplative practice itself, in class and out, supplements our exploration of the interplay between traditional Asian and contemporary Western perspectives. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 333. Recommended prerequisite(s): One course in Buddhism. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 573 if student has credit for RELI 333. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: THE BIBLE AND THE BRAIN

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: What does cognitive science and linguistics have to do with religion and being religious? This seminar explores religious practices, beliefs and texts from the perspective of the burgeoning field of cognitive studies. Case studies will be focused on biblical and parabiblical texts. Write 10,000 word research paper, serve as discussion leader component in addition to the roundup reviews. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 477. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 574 if student has credit for RELI 477.

Long Title: FRENCH RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Taught in English. Texts by Bergson, Bataille, Maritain, Levinas, Jean-Luc Marion, Michel Henry, Derrida, Deleuze. Being, identity, difference, ego, ecstasy, essence, immanence and transcendence, God (and "death" of), "return of" religion, infinite, ontotheology, self, other, phallogocentrism, subject (and "death of"), totality. Cross-list: FREN 595.

Long Title: THE KNOWING BODY: BUDDHISM, GENDER, AND THE SOCIAL WORLD

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 577 and RELI 323.

Long Title: RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IN THE CRUCIBLE OF GLOBALIZATION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explores context and consequences of the concept of religious tolerance in the crucible of globalization politics. Background in settlement of Reformation-era religious wars; American attitudes; impetus for tolerance policies and their implementation, 1945 to present (including governmentality and surveillance); results for historically Christian populations, esp. in US and Europe. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 359. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 580 if student has credit for RELI 359.

Long Title: GNOSTICISM SEMINAR

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In depth examination of one (or more) Gnostic texts within its literary, social, historical, and religious landscapes. RELI 581 requires preparation and delivery of public presentations. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 481. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 581 if student has credit for RELI 481.

Long Title: KABBALAH SEMINAR

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This seminar will delve into literature known as "kabbalah." through close readings of first-hand accounts of thinkers and mystics known as "kabbalists," will explore themes like secrecy and mystery, the nature of the divine, and religious ecstasy. RELI 562 requirements: Additionally write a lengthy research paper and lead a session. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 472. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 582 if student has credit for RELI 472.

Long Title: RELIGION, PSYCHOLOGY, AND CULTURE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 584 and RELI 430.

Long Title: GOD, TIME AND HISTORY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Credit cannot be earned for RELI 585 and RELI 385.

Long Title: SEXUALITY & CHRISTIANITY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Studies the development of attitudes toward sexuality & the body in many varieties of early Christianity. A historical- critical and feminist study of biblical texts will be made, as well as extracanonical materials from Nag Hammadi, the Church Fathers, the apocryphal Acts, and the monastic literature. Additional research and oral presentation required for graduate students.

Long Title: WESTERN ESOTERICISM: METHOD AND THEORY

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course explores the relation between esoteric texts and the idea of "Western Esotericism." We will look at primary writings from Agrippa to Madame Blavatsky and consider the historical and methodological approaches emerging as Esotericism is constructed as an academic area. Extra readings and writing a longer essay is required in RELI 587. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 387. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 587 if student has credit for RELI 387.

Long Title: THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS SCHOOL

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: An historical survey of the History of Religions School that emerged in the 1960s and 70s at the University of Chicago and came to play such an important role in the comparative study of religion. Graduate Students will have twice the reading and will require a longer paper. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 488. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 588 if student has credit for RELI 488.

Long Title: MUTANTS AND MYSTICS: THE PARANORMAL AND POPULAR CULTURE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Traces the "paranormal" from its elite origins around Cambridge and Harvard to its later pop-cultural expressions in pulp and science fiction, superhero comics, and film. Particular attention will be given to the role that the anomalous experiences of authors, artists, and scientists have played in this still emerging Super Story. RELI 589 requires: Double the reading and a 30-page paper. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 393. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 589 if student has credit for RELI 393.

Long Title: AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND RELIGION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In this seminar students will read and analyze African American literature in order to explore the various ways in which African Americans have understood and articulated the nature and meaning of African American religious experience and practice. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 490. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 590 if student has credit for RELI 490.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO COPTIC LANGUAGE I

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: A first semester introduction to Coptic grammar and vocabulary. Select a Coptic text, read in its original language, and prepare a commentary or an exegesis on that text (5,000 words). Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 307. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 591 if student has credit for RELI 307.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO COPTIC LANGUAGE 2

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): RELI 307

Description: Second semester introduction to Coptic grammar and vocabulary, with selected readings from the Coptic New Testament, nag Hammadi, and monastic literature. Pre-requisite: Introduction to Coptic Language I RELI 592: Select a Coptic text, read in its original language, and prepare a commentary or a exegesis on that text (5,000 words). Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 308. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 592 if student has credit for RELI 308.

Long Title: READING COPTIC TEXTS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Varied readings in original language to include the New Testament, Nag Hammadi, and monastic literature. Pre-requisite: Coptic 1 and 2. RELI 593: Students will select a Coptic text, and in addition to reading it in its original language, prepare a commentary or an exegesis on that text (5,000 words). Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 309. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 593 if student has credit for RELI 309. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: PATRISTIC LITERATURE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: In depth examination of patristic literature within its literary, social, historical, and religious landscapes. Authors, texts, and geographical location will vary. Original language work assumed.

Long Title: THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The American Constitution embodies a complex experiment in religious tolerance, including the promise of "free exercise of religion" and the prohibition of laws "respecting an establishment of religion". In this class we will primarily seek a critical understanding of our tolerance-rich legal invocations of religious freedom and address fundamental issues such as how can we distinguish "religious" actions and commitments from other morally important beliefs and activities. RELI 596: Write additional paper and more readings. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 596 if student has credit for RELI 320.

Long Title: CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICUM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hours: 1

Description: Literary and artistic creativity, religious experience, and textual interpretation often draw on focused states of consciousness made possible by contemplative practices. The practicum will provide historical information about such practices and offer opportunities to participate in techniques ranging from meditation and observing breath to freeform writing and T'ai Chi. Graduate students would be expected to write a longer paper and/or to include a segment on contemplative practice in connection with whatever course they are taking. In either case this will involve readings and issues beyond what the undergraduates are responsible for, and which will be developed with each graduate student on an individual basis. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 399. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 597 if student has credit for RELI 399. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: RESEARCH SEMINAR

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 1 TO 3

Description: Graduate students will be mentored collectively in research methods and study topics. Seminar topics and assignments usually are linked to regular course offerings of the faculty member, so that the seminar functions as a research addendum or supplement to a faculty's course offering(s). Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: RESEARCH SEMINAR

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 1 TO 3

Description: Graduate students will be mentored collectively in research methods and study topics. Seminar topics and assignments usually are linked to regular course offerings of the faculty member, so that the seminar functions as a research addendum or supplement to a faculty's course offering(s). Instructor Permission Required. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: GEM RESEARCH FORUM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 1

Description: The GEM Research Forum meets regularly throughout the academic year to share and engage the ongoing research of the GEM faculty and students. The annual capstone experience of the Forum features an invited speaker. Evaluation is based on student participation, research and presentations. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: GEM SEMINAR: SPECIAL TOPICS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Special topic seminar on subject related to Gnosticism, Esotericism and/or Mysticism. Team-taught. RELI 601 requires: Write more substantial papers and oral presentations. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 473. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 601 if student has credit for RELI 473. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: THE SACRED ARTS OF SECULAR MODERNISM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course examines various representations of spirituality and the sacred in modernist and post modernist aesthetics, and their corresponding expressions in historical and contemporary museum practices. Special emphasis will be placed on the outstanding collections of the adjacent museum district, the Menil Collection, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. RELI 602 will be expected to complete a larger-scale final project in consultation with the instructor. The final project will engage a broadened scope of critical methodologies which, in turn, reflect the ways in which both texts and artworks serve as primary objects of study. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 602 if student has credit for RELI 394.

Long Title: SHAMANISM

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Explores the dynamics of shamanism, initiatory practices, otherworldly journeys, spirit control, magic, healing, divination, psychopomy, and social remedies. Study will be transhistorical and cross-cultural, with emphasis on shamanism within early Greek, Egyptian, Jewish, Christina, Hermetic and Gnostic religions. RELI 603: Write 7,500-10,000 word research paper. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 475.

Long Title: FROM DECOLONIZATION TO GLOBALIZATION

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Taught in English. Novels, and films, from North and West Africa, and the immigrant population in France, from 1960 to 2010. Emphasis on the tensions between narratives of political emancipation, modernity, secularism, and religious fundamentalism and mysticism. Extra reading for graduate students in theories of colonialism, postcolonialism, globalization. Cross-list: FREN 524, Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 476. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 604 if student has credit for RELI 476.

Long Title: DEMONS, MENTAL ILLNESS AND MEDICINE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Treats complex connections between religious beliefs/practices and formulation of human psychology in western tradition, through a historical reckoning with demonology. Consider the way demons are represented -- from semi-corporeal beings to marks of mental illness -- by looking at texts from the ancient world to modern psychiatry. RELI 605 requires: 7,500-10,000 word research paper and oral presentation. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 350. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 605 if student has credit for RELI 350.

Long Title: READING WRIGHT: THEISM AND ATHEISM IN THE WRITINGS OF RICHARD WRIGHT

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Richard Wright's fiction and nonfiction are important resources for understanding the nature of radicalized life in the United States. This course explores his writings for what they tell us about the role of religion in the development of identity and life meaning, and we will juxtapose the role of religion with Wright's commentary on the nature and significance of atheism for countering injustice. RELI 606 requires additional reflection papers, longer research paper and class presentations. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 369. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 606 if student has credit for RELI 369.

Long Title: PILGRIMAGE AND CRUSADE

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Focus on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Mecca by Jews, Christians, and Muslims within the context of the crusade period. Also covers the historical religious events of the crusades (approximately 1000-1300) from both a Muslim and a Christian perspective. RELI 608 requires additional readings, lengthy paper, and oral presentations. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 384. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 608 if student has credit for RELI 384.

Long Title: RELIGION & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Designed to introduce the student to classic and contemporary texts in the social scientific study of religion. Topics include: mysticism, the social construction of gender, the guru-disciple relationship, secularization, healing traditions East and West, cross-cultural debates. RELI 609: Additional readings and longer research paper. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 336. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 609 if student has credit for RELI 336.

Long Title: RELIGION AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This advanced seminar analyzes interdisciplinary efforts by scholars of religion to engage scientific research. We assess the possibilities for collaboration, as well as conflict, between humanistic and scientific disciplines, asking how the tools of interpretation and empiricism might enrich our understanding of religious phenomena. RELI 610 requires additional reading and longer research paper. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: RELI 405. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 610 if student has credit for RELI 405.

Long Title: READINGS IN MEDIEVAL LATIN

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Guided readings in Latin from a range of medieval genres, including medicine, theology, visionary literature. Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: GRADUATE RESEARCH

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 1 TO 12

Description:  Repeatable for Credit.

Long Title: RESEARCH AND THESIS

Department: Religion

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 9

Description:  Repeatable for Credit.