Course Schedule and Catalog
Course Schedule - Spring Semester 2026
Meeting location information can now be found on student schedules in ESTHER (for students) or on the Course Roster in ESTHER (for faculty and instructors).Additional information available here.
Meeting location information can now be found on student schedules in ESTHER (for students) or on the Course Roster in ESTHER (for faculty and instructors).Additional information available here.
RELI 607 001 (CRN: 25467)
ARCHIVES OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
Long Title: ARCHIVES OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
Department: Religion
Instructor: Kripal, Jeffrey
Meeting: 4:00PM - 6:30PM W (12-JAN-2026 - 24-APR-2026)
Part of Term: Full Term
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Research
Language of Instruction: Taught in English
Method of Instruction: Face to Face
Credit Hours: 3
Course Syllabus:
Course Materials: Rice Campus Store
Restrictions:
Must be enrolled in one of the following Level(s):
Graduate
Section Max Enrollment: 20
Section Enrolled: 7
Total Cross-list Max Enrollment: 20
Total Cross-list Enrolled: 9
Waitlisted: 0 (Max 198)
Current members of the waitlist have priority for available seats.
Enrollment data as of: 25-NOV-2025 6:12AM
Final Exam: No Final Exam
Description: After reading Prof. Kripal's Authors of the Impossible as a basic theoretical structure for the semester, this advanced archival research seminar will involve students engaging original historical documents contained in Rice University's archive on Paranormal Currents in American Culture toward the writing of a graduate or undergraduate thesis. Graduate students will be responsible for a much more extensive engagement with Whitley Strieber's corpus. They will be required to read examples of Stieber's nonfiction (particularly COMMUNION and THE AFTERLIFE REVOLUTION) and fiction, including WOLFEN, THE GRAYS, and THE HYBRIDS. Each of these books bears directly or indirectly on the content of the Anne and Whitley Strieber Collection. Cross-list: RELI 407. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for RELI 607 if student has credit for RELI 407.