Religious
Studies
Course
Offerings – Spring 2008
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RELI 1000-41 |
Introduction to Religion - C1/G1,
CH/G
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Garrett/Fall
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Online |
Religion
is central in shaping culture. While cultural differences stem from religion,
many similarities find their expression in religion. Learn about several world religions and the
way each understands the world and influences its adherents. |
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RELI
2150-41
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New
Testament Survey
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Wood
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Online |
Introduces academic study
of the New Testament. Focuses on questions of history, religious and cultural
context, occasion and purpose for writing the different books and theological
development of early Christianity. |
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RELI
2320-01
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History of
Islam - CH/G (Meets Non-Western Certification for
A&S)
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Ward
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TR |
The Media gives the impression of Islam as a religion
of "angry young men" who hate. Learn how Islam is a religion
of love of God and family, as well as respect for others. Learn how Islam has
been practiced through time and what events shaped it. |
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RELI
2320-41
|
History of
Islam - CH/G (Meets Non-Western Certification for
A&S)
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Ward
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Online |
See description Reli 2320-01 above. |
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RELI 2500-01
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Comparing the Holy Texts of Judaism, Christianity, & Islam
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Ward
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TR |
Read the scriptures which have shaped so much of Western culture! Get
to know the Qur’an, Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Mormon scriptures, and
sacred writings of near-scriptural status. Discuss tensions between
traditional, modern and women’s commentaries; the roles of translation,
textual history, tradition and authority in shaping how Scripture is
understood in various religious communities.
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RELI
2500-02
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Bible as
Literature
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Nye
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MWF |
This course deals with the special status of the
Bible as a sacred text and its profound influence on our culture. We
learn techniques of literary close reading, the history of text and
translation, the relation of doctrine and story, narrative style and literary
form, the culture and politics of the ancient Mideast, the emergence of the
Hebrews as a distinct people centered on a book–a law--and how these all
affect modes of interpretation. |
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RELI 4000-01
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Theory of Religion (Prerequisite: Reli 1000 and junior
standing)
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Newell
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T |
Is religion an
"illusion" or a "neurosis," as Freud wrote? Is it
anthopology’s "cultural system," or society's representation of
itself, or…? Examine what some of the world's most influential thinkers have
said about what religion is and how it should be studied. Warning: this
capstone course is not for the intellectually faint of heart. |
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RELI 4090-01
|
Film & Religion
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Flesher/Torry
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R 6:30-10:30 pm |
Film is one of the most
powerful media and use of religion helped make it so. Study how filmmakers
use religious themes to depict ideals and promote social positions. Learn how
religion provides the structure for films—making their plots clear and
compelling. |
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RELI 4100-41
|
Steal Away: African American Religious Culture – WC,D
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Keller
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Online |
This mid-level
writing-intensive seminar compares African American religious celebration,
primarily in the context of Afro-Christianity, but touching on Islam,
Candomble, "Voodoo," Santeria, and Rastafarianism |
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RELI 4400-01
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Internship
|
Newell
|
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TBA |
Put your religious studies
knowledge to work in the “real world” in a paid or volunteer internship. To find out about internship opportunities,
and to enroll, contact Dr. Quincy Newell, the internship coordinator |
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RELI 4500-01 |
Topic: Gender & Religion in American History
|
Newell
|
|
TR |
How have religious beliefs
and practices shaped and been shaped by ideas about gender throughout
American history? How have people used gender and religion to express
inter-group hostility? How have class, race, and ethnicity affected
gender and the practice of religion? |
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RELI 4500-02 |
Topic: Death, Dying & the Ethics of Life
|
Palmer
|
|
M |
In a death-denying
culture, religion & psychology are partners in understanding the stages
of dying as well as offering a deeper way to accept the reality of loss. This
course charts the way to see death as “natural,” & then to look beyond it
to religious & non-religious views of passing to a different realm. It
ends by exploring the ethics of preserving Life, both for humans & for
the whole of a created world. No Prerequisites. |
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RELI 4500-03 |
Topic: Folk Religion in Mexico/Latin America
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Bantjes
|
|
T |
Examine the “folk
Catholicism” of Mexico and Latin America. This syncretic religion is the
product of the complex interaction of Indian & European cultures. Study
Indian and Spanish popular religion, shamanism and witchcraft, saints’ cults,
and the history of the Virgin of Guadalupe. |
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RELI 4500-04 |
Topic: Religion & Fantasy
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Aronstein
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M TR |
This course begins with
the “founding” of Modern High Fantasy by the Inklings (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R.
Tolkien, and Charles Williams) during the turbulent years surrounding World
War II. We will then read more recent authors (Susan Cooper, Patricia
McKillip, Guy Gavriel Kay, Phillip Pullman, Ian Hearn) who expand the world
of High Fantasy, building on and disputing the founders’ moral and religious
vision as they offer readers a new vision. |
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RELI 4500-41 |
Topic: African Spirits Into the New World
|
Keller
|
|
Online |
Study how African
religions survived the depredations of slavery in the New World and were
transformed by that experience and their contact with Christianity into the
new religions of Santeria, Voodoo, Candomble, and Rastafarianism. |
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Other courses offered to fulfill Religious Studies
Minor |
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ANTH 2210-01 |
North American Indians
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MWF |
Morris
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ART
2720-01 |
Islam Art & Culture
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MW |
Hunt
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ENGL
4190-01 |
Milton
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MWF
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Nye
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PHIL 2300-01 |
Ethics in Practice: Life, Death Liberty &Justice
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MWF |
Sherline
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PHIL
4560-01 |
Metaphysics
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W
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Moffett
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