Religion

• CAS RN 100: Introduction to Religion
  Religion matters. It makes meaning and provides structure to life, addressing fundamental questions about body, spirit, community, and time. But what is it? How does it work in our world? This course explores religion in ritual, philosophical, experiential, and ethical dimensions. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS RN 101: The Bible
  Introductory study of Jewish and Christian scriptures; connections between biblical and related ancient cultures; biblical genres (epic narrative, law, prophecy, poetry, historiography, gospels, letters, apocalypse) and their literary character, major classical and modern strategies of reading. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS RN 102: Sacred Journeys
  An introduction to the comparative study of religion through the theme of the sacred journey/religious quest in Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and popular literature. Topics include heroic, romantic, and/or mystical quests; voyages to the underworld; apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic journeys. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS RN 103: Religions of the World: Eastern
  Study of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto. Focus on the world view of each tradition and the historical development of that world view. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS RN 104: Religions of the World: Western
  Continues but does not presuppose CAS RN 103. The study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Introduction to the development, thought, practices, and influence of these religions. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS RN 106: Death and Immortality
  Examines death as religious traditions have attempted to accept, defeat, deny, or transcend it. Do we have souls? Do they reincarnate? Other topics include cremation, ancestor worship, apocalypse, alchemy, AIDS, near-death experiences, otherworld cosmologies.
• CAS RN 111: Multireligious America
  Introduction to American religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, with an emphasis on developments after 1965, when new legislation opened up immigration and dramatically altered the American religious landscape. Exploration of interreligious interactions: conflict, cooperation, and creolization.
• CAS RN 122: Religion in America II
  A survey of the history of religion in the United States from the Civil War to the present, focusing on a series of religious controversies that highlight the pluralistic and conflictive nature of American religious history.
• CAS RN 200: Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Religion
  Origins and history of the academic study of religion. Different constructions of religion as an object of study and the methods that arise from them. The role of the humanities and social sciences in understanding religion's place in history and contemporary experience.
• CAS RN 201: The Hebrew Bible
  Study of the literature of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the religious faith to which these writings bear witness within the context of the history of the ancient Israelite community. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS RN 202: From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of Christianity
  Places Jesus of Nazareth in his contemporary religious and social context of Second Temple Judaism; and accounts for the origins and growth of Christian life, belief, and spirituality up to the second century, as reflected in the writings of that period. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS RN 203: Religion and Film
  An introduction to the fundamental approaches of religion-and-film criticism as well as to the central films in the field. Explores how viewers are challenged by the film medium itself in ways that have religious and ethical implications.
• CAS RN 204: Topics in Religion and the Visual Arts
  Explores interplay between religion and art through the study of historical, contemporary examples. Topic changes each year. May be repeated for credit. Topic for Fall 2010: Buddhist Art of Asia. Study of the philosophical underpinnings, use, and social significance of select genres of Buddhist Art in India, Tibet, China, and Indonesia. Special attention to the representation of key Buddhist concepts and practices through the use of visual narrative strategies. Also offered as CAS AH 204.
• CAS RN 206: Sacred Texts in World Religions
  Introduction to world religious texts, investigating the way sacred texts express, interpret, and make possible religious experience, individual and communal. Sources may include Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. Interactive class, involving close textual reading and interpretation.
• CAS RN 210: Buddhism
  A historical introduction to the major themes of Indian Buddhist thought and practice with special attention to the development of Buddhism in Tibet.
• CAS RN 211: Chinese Religion
  A historical survey of Chinese religion. Covers ancient mythology, cosmology, shamanism, and ritual; the traditional state cult, Daoist mysticism, and immortality; Buddhist schools and Non-Confucian worldview; and sectarian movements and popular cults.
• CAS RN 212: Christianity
  Introduction to Christian thought and practice in a world context, origins to present. Topics include sin, salvation, sacramnent, sacred text, bodies and souls, community, authority and the individual, Christians and non-Christians, and the challenge of modernity.
• CAS RN 213: Hinduism
  Introduction to the Hindu tradition. Ritual and philosophy of the Vedas and Upanishads, yoga in the Bhagavad Gita, gods and goddesses in Hindu mythology, "popular" aspects of village and temple ritual, and problems of modernization and communalism in postcolonial India.
• CAS RN 214: Islam
  The rise and spread of Islam from the seventh century to the present; introduction to its central beliefs, institutions, and practices, and its impact on the religious and cultural history of Asia and Africa. Continuity and change in the modern period.
• CAS RN 215: Japanese Religion
  Introduction to Japanese religions, including Shintoism and Zen, Pure Land, and Tantric Buddhism. Focus on Zen Buddhism and its cultural expression in both geido (way of the arts) and bushdo (way of the warrior). Brief examination of the modern Japanese philosophy of religion.

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