Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • CAS RN 340: The Quran
    The emergence of the Quran as a major religious text, its structure and literary features, and its principal themes and places within the religious and intellectual life of the Muslim community.
  • CAS RN 341: Islamic Mysticism: Sufism
    Rise and development of the mystical movement in early Islam; analysis of the thought of leading Sufi brotherhoods, their organization, liturgy, and religious life; the impact of Sufism on classical and postclassical Islam.
  • CAS RN 345: Shariah Law
    Shariah Law looks behind the stereotypes and headlines--despotic rulers, barbaric punishments, women's oppression--to understand the origins, history, and structure of Islamic law. Explores its implementation in various times and places, modern transformations, and contemporary debates over legal reform.
  • CAS RN 348: Rumi and Persian Sufi Poetry
    Introduction to the Persian Sufi poet Rumi's narrative and lyric writings. Focus on Islamic mysticism, the innovative aspects of Rumi's poetry, and the problem of profane vs. sacred love. All readings in English translation. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Also offered as CAS LZ 381. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • CAS RN 350: Comparative Religious Ethics
    This course invites students to consider what organized religion has to offer those seeking to live a good life by looking at the ethical teachings of two Western (Judaism and Christianity) and two Eastern (Confucianism and Buddhism) traditions. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Ethical Reasoning, Writing-Intensive Course.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS RN 355: Religion and Violence
    What is the relationship between religious belief and violence enacted in the name of religion? This course will explore historical, social, ideological, and political contexts from which violent acts, conducted in the name of religion, emerge through studies of sacred texts, religious activists' writings, and recent case studies in multiple traditions and geographic contexts. This course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS RN 361: Chinese Classics in Today's World (in English Translation)
    Discusses canonical texts, such as the "Five Confucian Classics" and "Four Books," which for millennia have defined Chinese culture, and reflects on their appeal, significance, and current comeback in Chinese pop culture and politics. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • CAS RN 364: Buddhist Literature
    Focuses on Buddhist sutras and other literature to explore key issues of doctrine, philosophy, and praxis in the Theravada and Mahayana traditions of Buddhism. Topics include the Buddha's life, practicing the path, emptiness, and interdependence.
  • CAS RN 365: Art, Media, and Buddhism
    Examines how textual, visual, and material forms of religious expressions have been conceptualized by Buddhists as well as how Buddhist objects are understood and re- contextualized in the West. Topics include: self- immolation; museums; war propaganda, and pop culture. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS RN 369: Science and Religion: Dialogue and Debate
    Challenges conventional wisdom that science and religion have always been at war in Europe and North America. Explores their interactions, mutual existence, and conflict from Copernicus' claim that the earth revolved around the sun to contemporary debates about evolution. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS RN 375: Culture, Society, and Religion in South Asia
    Ethnographic and historical introduction to the Indian subcontinent with a focus on the impact of religion on cultural practices and social institutions.
  • CAS RN 379: Religion and Politics
    Introduction to the comparative study of the political role of religious institutions and beliefs. Covers issues such as religion's relationship to violence and terrorism, democracy and human rights, group identity, gender and sexuality, and modernity and secularism. Also offered as CAS IR 337 and CAS PO 379.
  • CAS RN 382: History of Religion in Pre-Colonial Africa
    The study of the development of religious traditions in Africa during the period prior to European colonialism. An emphasis on both indigenous religions and the growth and spread of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the continent as a whole. Also offered as CAS AA 382 and CAS HI 349.
  • CAS RN 383: African Diaspora Religions
    An introduction to religions of the African Diaspora, with a specific focus on the Caribbean and the Americas. In this course, students engage diverse traditions such as Africanized Christianity, Cuban Santeria, Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candomble, and African American Spiritualism.
  • CAS RN 384: The Holocaust
    Background of German (and European) anti-Semitism. Rise of Nazism and early oppression, initial Jewish reaction, mechanics of destruction, ghettos, camps, world response and nonresponse, literature of the Holocaust, and religious implications.
  • CAS RN 385: Representations of the Holocaust in Literature and Film
    Questions of representation in literature and film about the Holocaust, including testimonial and fictive works by Wiesel and Levi, Ozick, and others; films include documentaries and feature films. Discussions of the Holocaust as historical reality, metaphor, and generative force in literature. Also offered as CAS CI 269 A1 and CAS XL 281 A1. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Ethical Reasoning.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Ethical Reasoning
  • CAS RN 387: Anthropology of Religion
    Myth, ritual, and religious experience across cultures. Special attention to the problem of religious symbolism and meaning, religious conversion and revitalization, contrasts between traditional and world religions, and the relation of religious knowledge to science, magic, and ideology. Also offered as CAS AN 384. This course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
  • CAS RN 390: Archaeology in the Holy Land
    In Israel, archaeology is part of current events. The study of remains from the Israelite to the Muslim conquests (c. 1200 BCE -- 640 CE) to learn how material evidence created and still plays a role in a larger historical drama. Also offered as CAS AR 342.
  • CAS RN 397: Topics in Philosophy and Religion
    Topic for Fall 2019: Wisdom and Transformation. A study of the relationship between wisdom and moral transformation in several different philosophical and religions, from ancient Greece to the modern day, including an encounter with the classical traditions of India and China. This course is designed to run side by side with the Institute for Philosophy and Religion's fall lecture series.
  • CAS RN 400: Writing Religion
    A writing-intensive seminar focused on the close reading and careful writing on spirituality and religion in various non-fiction genres (memoir, Instagram essays, op-eds, academic articles). Possible authors: Ann Lamott, Jeff Sharlet, J. Z. Smith, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Annie Dillard. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing-Intensive Course.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course

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