Religion
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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. -
CAS RN 383: African Diaspora Religions
This course introduces students to religions of the African Diaspora, with a specific focus on the Caribbean and the Americas. Religious traditions such as Africanized Christianity, Cuban Santería, Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candomblé, and African American Spiritualism will be explored. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS RN 384: The Holocaust
Rise of German (and European) antisemitism; rise of Nazism; 1935 Nuremberg Laws; the initial Jewish reaction; racial theory; organizing mass murder including ghettos, concentration camps, killing squads, and gas chambers; bystanders and collaborators (countries, organizations, and individuals); Jewish resistance; post-Holocaust religious responses; moral and ethical issues. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. -
CAS RN 396: Philosophy of Religion
Critical investigation of the limits of human knowledge and the theoretical and practical demands for meaning attached to notions of God, providence, immortality, and other metaphysical conditions of human thriving, from Plato to modern philosophies of religion. Effective Spring 2022 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. -
CAS RN 397: Topics in Philosophy and Religion
Topic for Fall 2026: Heidegger’s Lectures on the Phenomenology of Religion. We slow-read Heidegger's Winter 1920-21 lectures and related philosophical and theological literature. Among the authors Heidegger engages is the Apostle Paul, who remains a major figure in late 20th- and early 21st-century political theology. We read Heidegger to understand why Paul has remained vital. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking. -
CAS RN 402: Senior Independent Work
Undergraduate Prerequisites: approval of the Honors Committee. - SR INDEP WORK -
CAS RN 403: Zen Buddhism
Undergraduate prerequisite: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g.,CAS WR 100 or 120). - Explores Zen thought and practice across various Asian and global Buddhist traditions through texts and material culture, focusing on debates on metaphysics, the mind, and knowledge as applied to meditation, ethics, aesthetics, militarism, environmentalism, and aspects of daily life. Effective Spring 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU HUB areas: Creativity/Innovation, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Writing-Intensive Course. -
CAS RN 409: Cults and Charisma
Undergraduate Prerequisites: undergraduates who have taken RN 200 and/or RN 355, and with consent o f instructor. - Examines religious sects, new religions, and charismatic leadership using case- studies from history and the contemporary world, as well as analytical principles from religious studies and anthropology. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I. -
CAS RN 416: Religion, Race, and Climate Change
A multi-disciplinary course delving into the influence of and race on human behavior and non-human, planetary realities at local and global scales. It focuses on the historical, systemic, and societal implications associated with ongoing climate change debates. Effective Fall 2024 fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry I. -
CAS RN 435: Women, Gender, and Islam
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120). - Investigates the way Muslim religious discourse, norms, and practices create and sustain gender and hierarchy in religious, social, and familial life. Looks at historical and contemporary challenges posed to these structures. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS RN 450: Topics in Religion, Science, and Medicine
May be repeated for credit as topics vary. Topic for Spring 2025: Healing and the Body in East Asian Religions. From Ayurveda to Zen, this course explores diverse healing practices and understandings of the human body across various East Asian religious traditions. Covering topics such as Buddhist medicine, Daoist remedies, Mongolian shamanism, and Shinto purification rituals, we discuss how different East Asian religions interpret the body within their philosophical and cosmological frameworks, as well as how practical healing applications were developed and performed. Effective Fall 2021, this course carries a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Critical Thinking. -
CAS RN 452: Topics in Religious Thought
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASWR 120 or equivalent. What is happiness? How can we achieve a balanced, healthy, fulfilling life? Classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu; Stoic, Confucian, Buddhist paths; comparison with contemporary studies on happiness and mindfulness. Effective Spring 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Writing-Intensive Course. -
CAS RN 460: Seminar on the Holocaust
This course will examine historical, ethical and religious issues arising from the Holocaust. We will discuss antisemitism and ideology; what communities were considered "other"; human motivation regarding collaborators, perpetrators and bystanders; the role of individuals, organizations and governments; the treatment of women; the ethics of resistance; the behavior of the Jewish Councils; and attitudes to the existence of God during and after the Holocaust. We will also compare the Holocaust to contemporary crises now occurring around the world. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness. -
CAS RN 466: Religion and the Problem of Tolerance
Explores the religious roots of tolerance as an alternative to secular, more liberal foundations for pluralism. Grapples with the challenge of tolerance to the revealed religions and the ways different societies have met or failed to meet this challenge. Presents multiple case-studies and contemporary connections, explores relevance to students own experiences. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
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. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy. -
CAS RN 494: Magical Texts: Literature & Practice
Undergraduate Prerequisites: prior coursework in theory of religion (e.g., RN 200 or 242), ancient religions, or anthropology of religion recommended. - An advanced course in the interpretation of ancient magical texts that emphasizes the use of theoretical models (Malinowski, Levi-Strauss, Tambiah, J.Z. Smith, et al.) for understanding the complementary uses of sound and symbol, myth and nonsense, and forms of verbal/scribal efficacy in magic, all with attention to social context. Texts include a selection of ritual manuals, amulets, binding tablets, and mystical ascent texts from Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian antiquity. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry 1.
