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.

• CAS RN 697: 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.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
• CAS RN 703: 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.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS RN 709: Cults and Charisma
  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.
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  • Historical Consciousness
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS RN 716: Religion, Race, and Climate Change
  A multi-disciplinary course delving into the influence of religion 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.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS RN 732: Gender, Sexuality, and Buddhism
  Examines gender and sexuality in various Buddhist cultures from a broad range of time periods such as ancient India, medieval China, and modern America. Topics include: family, the body, lust, abortion, and menstruation. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
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  • Aesthetic Exploration
  • Critical Thinking
  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
• CAS RN 735: Women, Gender, and Islam
  Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing. - 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 2024, 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.
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  • The Individual in Community
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS RN 750: 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.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
• CAS RN 752: 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 Fall 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.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS RN 760: 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.
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  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
• CAS RN 766: 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.
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  • Ethical Reasoning
  • The Individual in Community
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS RN 768: 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
• CAS RN 791: Approaches to Religion I: Classical Approaches
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Admission to the GDRS PhD program, or permission of the instructor. - Surveys in roughly chronological order classic theoretical and methodological works in religious studies. Covers the history of the field, and critically analyzes the ways religion is studied and taught in modern universities.
• CAS RN 792: Approaches to Religion II: Religion and Contemporary Theory
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Admission to the GDRS PhD program, or permission of the instructor. - Surveys contemporary theoretical and methodological works in religious studies. Topics might include the category of experience; ritual; modernism and postmodernism; sexual, racial, and cultural difference; postcolonial theory; historicism; narrative theory; gender and sexuality studies; secularism; and the politics of interpretation.
• CAS RN 794: 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 I.
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  • The Individual in Community
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS SO 631: Seminar: Genders, Sexualities, and Youth Cultures
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior standing or consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: graduate student standing or consent of instructor. - Investigates the social construction of gender and sexuality in adolescence. Engaging critical approaches to youth cultures, the course examines the structural conditions that shape gender and sexuality norms, and the ways youth navigate and redefine their social worlds. Effective Fall 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • The Individual in Community
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
• CAS SO 701: Advanced Sociological Theory (Classical)
  Primarily for first-year graduate students. Required for master's degree in sociology. Advanced survey and review of classical sociological theory and theorists.
• CAS SO 702: Proseminar: Sociological Methods
  Designed primarily for first-year graduate students. Review of major sociological methods.
• CAS SO 708: Contemporary Sociological Theory
  Covers the basic elements of the major theoretical paradigms in modern sociology, covering topics and problems in the philosophy of social science and current controversies in the field.
• CAS SO 712: Qualitative Methods
  Introduces qualitative methods in sociology, highlighting ethnography and interviews. Strengthens students' evaluation skills, enhances understanding of the logic of qualitative design, and allows students to employ qualitative methods and develop a research proposal.
• CAS SO 716: Macro Organization Theory
  Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing. - Organization theory aims to explain the origins, persistence, and disappearance of organizations. This seminar introduces the major theoretical approaches and debates in organizational theory. Besides providing a roadmap to the field, it also aims to help generate original research ideas.