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 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 720: Maimonides
  A study of major aspects of the thought of Maimonides. Primary focus on the Guide of the Perplexed, with attention to its modern reception in works by Baruch Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, Leo Strauss, and others. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
• 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 752: Topics in Religious Thought
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASWR 120 or equivalent and one course from among the following: Religion, Philosophy, Core Curriculum (CASCC 101 and/or CC 102). - Topic for Spring 2026: Happiness, East and West. 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: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
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  • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS RN 753: Topics in Religion and Sexuality
  Exploration of key topics and themes in the study of religion and sexuality, especially as they intersect with gender, race, and politics. Historical periods and religious contexts vary according to instructor. Topic for Spring 2025: Queer and Trans Religion. Religious language figures prominently in both attacks on and affirmations of queer and trans existence. We use religious studies and queer and trans studies to analyze fiction, film, and poetry that explores the relationships between gender, sexuality, and religion. Effective Spring 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Historical Consciousness
• 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 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 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 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.
• CAS SO 721: Seminar on Social Networks
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (GRSSO702) or equivalent graduate research methods course; or consent of instruct or. - Explores the theoretical justifications for the study of social networks using classical and contemporary formulations as well as empirical research. Also covers mainstream methods and computer applications for the visual and quantitative analysis of social networks.
• CAS SO 724: Quantitative Methods in Sociological Analysis
  Introduction to a wide range of standard statistical techniques typically used in the sociological analysis of large-N data. Covers quantitative approaches to sociological research, basic univariate and bivariate analysis, multiple regression, and binary logistic regression.
• CAS SO 742: Urban Inequality
  Presents key theoretical approaches to the study of the city and uses them to investigate features of urban inequality; examines how space is produced and utilized to marginalize at the bottom and seclude at the top of the social structure.
• CAS SO 765: The Sociology of Religion
  Explores the relationship between religion and society, considering religious language, symbols, communities and practices as social phenomena and the social processes at work in congregations and denominations, new religious movements and conversion, religious communal identity and ethnic conflict.
• CAS SO 770: Topic for Spring 2025: Teaching Workshop
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: For Advanced Methods in Social Networks - Students should have taken a course in the fundamentals of social networks. - Topics seminar that takes in-depth look at a social issue. May be repeated for credit as topics change. Two topics are offered Fall 2021. Section A1: Meritocracy. This course critically evaluates the concept of "meritocracy," its origins and contemporary adoption as an ideal worth striving for. What would a true meritocracy look like, what are its societal implications and what social processes may stand in its way? Section B2: Advanced Methods in Social Networks. Course covers applications of common advanced methodologies in the analysis of social networks like blockmodeling, ERGM, topic modeling and HLM for ego networks. Focus will be applications of methodologies analyzing small and medium size network data. Topic for Spring 2022, Section A1: The Craft of Theorizing Research. Research projects are like gems that need polishing and the craft of polishing them to uncover a theoretical contribution can partly be learned. This intensive course is designed to help participants polish their gems-in-the-making and sharpen their emerging contributions. The seminar is primarily designed for doctoral students who have already collected and/or analyzed data. The common denominator for participants is that they be engaged in research projects reliant on qualitative or quantitative data (e.g., archives, interviews, field observations, and surveys) and be willing to share with the class a draft analytical memo, paper, or chapter from their research.
• CAS SO 800: Student Editorial Interns Practicum
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: currently enrolled in Sociology graduate program. - Students get familiarized with day-to-day practices of running an academic journal, including the overall workflow, including initial evaluation of submitted manuscripts, selecting and inviting reviews, evaluating reviews and editorial decision-making. Also assist in other tasks, such as post-publication promotion of articles through social media, organizing virtual discussion forums and connecting authors to classroom instructors.