Courses

• 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. Also offered as CAS AH 204.
• CAS RN 206: Sacred Texts in World Religions
  Introduction to scriptures of world religions, investigating the relationships between sacred texts and religious experience. Sources drawn from both Eastern and Western traditions.
• 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.
• CAS RN 216: Judaism
  Systematic and historical introduction to doctrines, customs, literature, and movements of Judaism; biblical religion and literature; rabbinic life and thought; medieval mysticism and philosophy; modern movement and developments.
• CAS RN 220: Holy City: Jerusalem in Time, Space, and Imagination
  Transformation of an ordinary ancient city into the holy city of Jews, Christians, and Muslims; and development of modern Jerusalem, as shaped by British rule, Zionism, and Palestinian nationalism. Jerusalem's past, present, and meanings considered through analyses of religious and secular rhetoric.
• CAS RN 224: Women and Religion
  Explores the roles, images, and experiences of women across a range of religious traditions. Topics key to the study of religion and gender are considered, including religious experience, the gendering of the body, and sources of religious authority.
• CAS RN 239: Religion and Science
  Examines the complex relationship between science and religion, focusing on historical episodes (e.g., the "Galileo Affair") and curent controversies (e.g., "Intelligent Design" movement's influence on school curricula, "Spirituality and Health" research, and "Ecology and Religion.")
• CAS RN 241: Topics in Religion & Evil
  Topics vary; may be repeated for credit.
• CAS RN 242: Magic, Science, and Religion
  Boundaries and relationships between magic, science, and religion from late antiquity through the European Enlightenment. Topics include transformation of pagan traditions, distinctions between learned and popular traditions, Scientific Revolution, and changing assumptions about God and Nature. Also offered as CAS HI 203.
• CAS RN 243: Shamans and Shamanism
  Shamans in global and theoretical perspectives. The origins and construction of the category of shamanism. Modern theories and debates about the category and the appropriateness of applying it cross-culturally. Also offered as CAS AN 243.
• CAS RN 245: Religious Thought: The Quest for God and the Good
  Introduction to religious thought, exploring the aims of human life, the place of God in the good life, and the role of contemplation and action in the spiritual quest. Readings from Plato, Aristotle, Bible, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Augustine, Maimonides, Ghazzali.
• CAS RN 301: Varieties of Early Christianity
  Surveys the many different and often competing forms of Christianity that arose and flourished in the second to the seventh century, from the "apostolic period" to the Arab conquest in the Middle East.
• CAS RN 308: The Open Heaven: Apocalyptic Literature in Early Judaism and Christianity
  Examines literary and historical roots of "apocalypticism" in early Judaism and Christianity. Attention to literary genre, symbolism, metaphor, heaven, hell, angelology, demonology, attitudes toward the end of the world. Examines relationship of apocalypticism to shamanism, mysticism, magic, magic, gnosticism, liturgy.
• CAS RN 309: Theology and Piety in Catholic Christianity
  Roman Catholic Theology, tradition and piety, with additional reference to the Orthodox Churches and to the Anglican Communion. Dogmas, a sacramental view of reality, a vision of human nature, forms of devout life. Catholic inspiration in art and music.

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