Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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- African American & Black Diaspora Studies
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CAS RN 311: African American Religious History
A historical survey of religions practiced by people of African descent living in North America. Students explore the diverse terrain of African American religiosity, which includes Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Spiritualism, and African-derived religions. -
CAS RN 312: Buddhism in America
The transplantation and transformation of Buddhism in the United States. Time period ranges from the eighteenth century to the present, but the emphasis is on contemporary developments, including the new Asian immigration, Jewish Buddhism, feminization, and engaged Buddhism. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS RN 316: Modern Islam
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one course in RN or PH, or CC101/102, or consent of instructor. First- Year Writing Seminar" (CAS WR 120 or equivalent) - Pre-Req: First-Year Writing Seminar" (CAS WR 120 or equivalent). Challenges students to sociologically evaluate the concept of meritocracy, its origins, its societal implications, and contemporary adoption as an ideal worth striving for. Reviews empirical research on perceptions around and explanations of social inequality. Explores how beliefs about inequality are mobilized in class and racial conflict and in what ways people's beliefs are or aren't likely to change. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Social Inquiry I, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS RN 317: Greek and Roman Religion
Survey of ancient Greek and Roman religions and their development from earliest beginnings to the eclipse of paganism. Theories and practices of these religions, comparisons with other religions, and relationships to Judaism and Christianity. Cannot be taken for credit in addition to CAS CL 317. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. -
CAS RN 322: History of Judaism
This class surveys Jewish history from the classical period to modern times. It covers: the destruction of the 1st Temple; the encounter with Hellenism; the Roman period; the destruction of the 2nd Temple; the rise and influence of rabbinic Judaism; the medieval era under Muslim and Christian rule; medieval antisemitism; Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah); and philosophy (Maimonides). For the modern era we will discuss: the Renaissance; the Reformation; the complex issue of Emancipation; coming to America; the growth of American Judaism; religious reform; modern antisemitism; and Zionism. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. -
CAS RN 326: Jewish Mysticism
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (CAS WR 120 or equivalent) - This course explores the rich world of Jewish Mysticism from its earliest roots to its contemporary expressions in the 21st century. We look at the interaction between Jewish mystics and major western schools of thought such as Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Aristotelianism, and Sufism. The course also introduces students to the Kabbalistic tradition and its various historical manifestations. No prior knowledge of Hebrew or other themes in Jewish studies required. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Aesthetic Exploration, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CAS RN 328: Modern Judaism
Encounters between Judaism and modernity from the Renaissance and Reformation; the Spanish expulsion and creation of Jewish centers in the New World; emancipation and its consequences; assimilation, Reform Judaism, Zionism, the American Jewish community, non-European communities, Jewish global migration, and modern antisemitism. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. -
CAS RN 337: Gender, Sexuality, and Judaism
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - Explores the role of gender and sexuality in Judaism and Jewish experience, historically and in the present. Subjects include constructions of masculinity and femininity, attitudes toward (and uses of) the body and sexuality, gendered nature of religious practice and authority. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS RN 338: Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar; and one course from among the following: P hilosophy, Religion, Core Curriculum (CC101 and/or CC102) - A thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on the dynamics of religious experience. Readings will be drawn from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings. -
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. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Research and Information Literacy . -
CAS RN 343: Jewish Fundamentalisms
Exploration of Jewish Fundamentalist identities: diverse global communities reflecting a strict interpretation of Jewish law, the formation of Haredi societies in the 19th century, unprecedented growth, marriages and family life, religious studies' social and symbolic centrality, economy, and Haredi trans-national communities. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork and Collaboration . -
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. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Ethical Reasoning, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS RN 350: Comparative Religious Ethics
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - 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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Ethical Reasoning, Writing-Intensive Course. -
CAS RN 351: Health and Medicine in Asian Religions
Investigates how religious and moral narratives in Asian religions have informed understandings of the body in premodern and modern times. Topics include understanding illness, sexuality, and the body with particular attention to East Asia. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Ethical Reasoning, Research and Information Literacy. -
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. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS RN 356: Religion in the Digital Age
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (CAS WR 120 or equivalent) - How has technology impacted religion' This hands-on course explores how digital technologies like the Internet, social media, gaming, and artificial intelligence have changed the way that people think about religion. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Writing-Intensive Course, Creativity/Innovation. -
CAS RN 364: Buddhist Literature
What do Buddhist texts seek to do, and how do they do it' How are Buddhist texts deployed to engender personal and social transformation' Focusing on works from Indian, Tibetan, and Euro-American Buddhist traditions, we will explore these questions through varied literary genre, including Pāli folktales, Sanskrit poetry. canonical discourses, autobiography and contemporary socially engaged Buddhist writings. Particular attention will be given to the shifting valuation of embodiment in varied Buddhist works. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
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. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration. -
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. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness.
