Courses

• CAS RN 468: Symbol, Myth, and Rite
  Historical overview of ritual behavior, the role of symbolism in the study of culture, and the narrative quality of worldview and belief. Emphasis on verbal performance and public display events in specific cultural contexts.
• CAS RN 469: Critique of Religion
  Philosophical critiques of revealed religion from the Enlightenment to the twentieth century, including analysis of criticisms in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Major trends examined include rationalism, historicism, anthropological materialism, and nihilism.
• CAS RN 470: Topics in Medieval Religious Culture
  Topic for Fall 2011: Magic, Witchcraft, and the Demonic in Medieval Europe. Explores magic, witchcraft, and the demonic as understood, employed, and feared in Christian and Jewish communities. Emphasis on relationship between literate and "folk" ideas and practices; intersections with formal religious practice; and forms of social control, including counter-magic and inquisition. Meets with CAS HI 407.
• CAS RN 491: Ds: Religion
  
• CAS RN 492: Directed Study
  
• CAS RN 494: Magical Texts: Literature & Practice
  An advanced course in the interpretation of ancient magical texts, emphasizing the use of theoretical models (Malinowksi, Tambiah, J.Z. Smith) for understanding a selection of ritual manuals, amulets, binding tablets, and mystical ascent texts from Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian antiquity. Also offered as CAS CL 406 B1.
• CAS RN 498: Topics in Ancient Christianity
  Topic for Spring 2012: Saints and Their Cults. The cult of living and dead saints was central to the development and spread of Christianity (as also to Islam and Buddhism). This seminar addresses the interpretation of saints' lives, pilgrimage and ritual action at shrines, and the saint's festival.
• CAS RN 499: Topics in Judaic Studies
  Topic for Spring 2012: The Zionist Idea. Zionist ideology carefully examined through the ideas of the main Zionist thinkers, and of the critiques of Zionism. Begins with the mid-late nineteenth century and continues through to contemporary formulations.
• CAS RN 504: Topics in Religion and the Visual Arts
  In-depth discussion of special issues in the study of religion and art. Topic changes each year. May be repeated for credit. Topic for Fall 2009: Religious Architecture in Islam: Mosques, Shrines and Tombs. Also offered as CAS AH 504.
• CAS RN 524: Topics in Religion and Literature
  Two topics are offered Spring 2011. Students may take one or both for credit. Topic for Section A1: Apocalypse and Literature. Literary response to the biblical book of Revelation from ancient to modern times. Readings from the Bible, Dante, Langland, Rabelais, Blake, Wordsworth, Dostoevsky, Lawrence, Lorca, Beckett, and others. Reference to artistic and musical representations of apocalypse. Also offered as CAS XL 560 A1. Topic for Section B1: The Ramayana. An in-depth introduction to the Ramayana, one of the most popular, versatile, and influential stories the world has known. Together with primary source readings, a sample of scholarship on the poem's literary and theological dimensions as well as its cultural impact. Also offered as CAS XL 560 B1.
• CAS RN 526: Topics in Religion and Literature in East Asia
  Focus, each time the course is offered, on one masterpiece of East Asian religion and literature. Topic for Spring 2011: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This sixteenth century romanticized novel tells the story of the separation of the Han Dynasty into three kingdom and draws on history, legend, poetry, and drama, with unforgettable scenes of love, loyalty, bravery, and heroism. Also offered as CAS LC 470 and CAS XL 470.
• CAS RN 555: Dante's Hell
  A close reading of one text, Dante Aligheri?s Inferno, with attention to its medieval contexts: philosophical, theological, and historical. Analysis of the poetic means by which Dante represents both human evil and human hope. Bi-lingual text. Lectures and discussion in English. Also offered as CAS LI 555 and CAS XL 383.
• CAS RN 556: Dante: The Divine Comedy II: Purgatorio and Paradiso
  Focus on the literary, philosophical, and theological ideas Dante uses to represent his experience of himself and of human nature. Bi-lingual texts. Lectures and discussions in English. Also offered as CAS LI 556.
• CAS RN 560: The Politics of Religion, Ethnicity, and Nationalism in International Relations
  Explores causes, consequences, and patterns of resurgent religion, ethnicity, and nationalism in post-Cold War international relations, using interdisciplinary scholarship, policy literatures, and case studies.
• CAS RN 561: Religion and International Relations
  (Meets with CAS IR 561.) Explores the role of religion in contemporary international relations in the context of questions about the common core of modernity. Reviews scholarly and policy literature, and case studies, in order to elucidate religion?s intellectual and operational diversity in international relations.
• CAS RN 563: Muslim Societies: An Interdisciplinary History
  Examines the states, empires, faiths, and ideologies of the Muslim world over a 1500-year period, including states from North and West Africa, through the Middle East, to Turkey, Iran, and then to Central and Southeast Asia. Also offered as CAS AH 539, HI 596, and RN 563.
• CAS SO 100: Principles in Sociology
  An introduction to the major theories and basic principles of sociological analysis. Subjects include methods of social research and investigation; role of individuals in groups, organizations, and society; socialization and education; stratification; race and ethnicity; science, culture, and religion; formal and informal organization; and economic and political systems. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS SO 201: Sociological Methods
  Required of concentrators and minor concentrators. Scientific method, measurement, experimentation, survey research, observational methods, projective techniques, and content analysis.
• CAS SO 203: Introduction to Sociological Theories
  Required of concentrators and minor concentrators. Theoretical problems in sociology. Historical background of theories and methods of sociology; characteristics of most significant sociological systems.
• CAS SO 205: The American Family
  Nature of the American family and its ethnic and class variants. Social changes affecting courtship, mate selection, sexual behavior, reproduction, marital stability, and divorce through the life cycle. Social policies affecting family life. Interrelations of family with economy, state, religion, and other institutions. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.

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