Religious Studies
The study of religion is a quintessential task of a Catholic, Jesuit college. It invites students, in an academic context, into a long tradition of theological and historical questions about the nature of humanity in relation to God and to the world, and it engages them in the interreligious and intercultural encounter that is taking place today. The study of religion requires a variety of contemporary methodologies and is interdisciplinary. But it also carries the resonances of centuries of critical examinations—theological, philosophical, sociopolitical, and scientific—of religious beliefs, texts, doctrines, rituals, ascetical practices, and moral values.
Given the impetus of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), which addressed the relationship between the Catholic Church and other religions, and given our present historical moment, the Department of Religious Studies is committed to integrating the study of Christian theology with the study of the religions of the world. Through the courses it offers and the structure of its major the Department’s approach to the study of religious belief and practice reflects Catholic theological commitments even as it responds to the needs of all students, Catholic and not, who will make their lives in a diverse, interconnected, and religiously pluralistic world. To major or minor in Religious Studies at Holy Cross is to undertake an integrated study, both intellectual and spiritual, of four areas central to understanding Catholicism and every faith tradition, namely: sacred texts, ethics, theology, and religious worlds.
The Department offers a wide variety of courses that enable students to know and understand the Catholic tradition more deeply and to situate that tradition in the larger religious context of today’s world. Equally important, Catholicism has a distinctive religious culture and rich intellectual heritage that ground and support the study of the liberal arts. As is appropriate in a Catholic Jesuit academic institution committed to diversity and a mission to think critically, the Department offers a range of courses that enable students of all faiths to understand and to appreciate their own particular tradition, to situate that tradition in the wider context of other world religions, and to discover how diverse religious beliefs and practices are related and relevant to global concerns of poverty, injustice, and an environment in distress.
The Department’s courses and its faculty’s research facilitate an appreciation of religion as a central dimension of human life. In a world marked by pluralism, globalization, and multiculturalism, religion—even as it has been associated with violence—also opens a path to peaceful coexistence amidst political conflicts, human failing, and humanitarian crises. Our approach to the study of religion affirms that enduring commitments to faith—while always in need of study and discernment—are reasonable, responsible, and essential to human flourishing.
Alan J. Avery-Peck, Ph.D., Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies
Matthew T. Eggemeier, Ph.D., Professor
Peter J. Fritz, Ph.D., Professor
Karen V. Guth, Ph.D., Professor
Caroline E. Johnson Hodge, Ph.D., Professor, Chair
Todd T. Lewis, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities
Tat-siong Benny Liew, Ph.D., Class of 1956 Chair in New Testament Studies
Mary M. Doyle Roche, Ph.D., Professor
Mathew N. Schmalz, Ph.D., Professor
William A. Clark, , S.J. S.T.D., Associate Professor
Caner K. Dagli, Ph.D., Associate Professor
John F. Gavin, , S.J. S.T.D., Associate Professor
Peter Nguyen, , S.J. Ph.D, Associate Professor
Eduardo Gonzalez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Simona Lazzerini, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Chanelle Robinson, Ph.D, Assistant Professor
Audrey Seah, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Lawrence Fernandes, ,S.J. Ph.D., International Visiting Jesuit Fellow
Jacques Linder, Ph.D., Visiting Instructor
Gary DeAngelis, Ph.D., Distinguished Visiting Lecturer
Lenin Prado, Ph.D., Visiting Lecturer
Academic Plans within Religious Studies
Other Academic Plans Accepting/Requiring Religious Studies Coursework
- Africana Studies Concentration
- Asian Studies Major
- Asian Studies Minor
- Environmental Studies Major
- Environmental Studies Minor
- Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies Concentration
- International Studies Major
- Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies Concentration
- Peace and Conflict Studies Concentration
RELS 101 — Intro to the Comparative Study of Religion Course count: 1
Introduction to the nature and place of religion in the human experience as critically understood through the modern disciplines of comparative history, text criticism, and social science. Viewpoints covered include the psychoanalytic, philosophical, biological, artistic, and anthropological. Sources range broadly from the Bible to modern fiction, Lao Tzu to Celtic myths. The course also examines the effects of modern change on religion in global perspective.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 102 — Mary in Christian Theology Course count: 1
Mary, the mother of Jesus, has held great significance for Christians over the centuries. This class will examine the following topics: Mary in the Scriptures, the development of Marian doctrines (the Virgin Birth, the Immaculate Conception, etc.), depictions of Mary in art and film, popular devotions to Mary (the rosary, the scapular, novenas, etc.) and Marian apparitions (especially Lourdes, Fatima, and Guadalupe). Authors and works for the course include the Scriptures, John of Damascus, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, Ineffabilis Deus, Munificentissimus Deus, Adrienne von Speyr, John Paul II, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Benedict XVI. This study of Mary's significance will help students to understand better the importance of Christian theology and culture throughout history.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
RELS 103 — Race and Religion Course count: 1
This course explores the intersection of race and religion. Given the ambiguity in their constructions and articulations throughout history, it is a challenging yet ultimately worthwhile endeavor to trace their historical and contemporary contours in cultural, social, political, and economic spheres. Though they are often thought of as separate, this course assumes that race and religion are intimately and intricately intertwined. Thus, we will ask such questions as: What is religion? What is race? How have and do religious traditions coöpt race and racism as effective tools for their structure, organization, and propagation, and vice versa? This interdisciplinary course will ask students to form critical theoretical perspectives on race and religion, and to take up the above questions as they arise in the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and American indigenous religious traditions. Spanning 15th c. Europe to modern North America, the course will also explore questions related to gender/sexuality, indigeneity, sovereignty, capitalism, nationalism, and identity.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
RELS 106 — Buddhism Course count: 1
Survey of the Buddhist tradition, from its origins in ancient India through its evolution as a pan-Asian faith. Topics include the legends of the Buddha, the early monastic community, the emergence of Theravada and Mahayana teachings, Buddhist ethics and social philosophy, meditation traditions, and the later development of distinctive Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese schools. Utilizes textual and anthropological sources.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
RELS 107 — Islam Course count: 1
Examination of Islamic religious beliefs and practices from the origins of Islam to the present. Particular stress is placed on Islamic religious ideals, institutions and personalities. Central topics include: Islamic scripture and traditions, prophecy, law, rituals, theology and philosophy, sectarianism, mysticism, aesthetic ideals, art and architecture, pedagogy, and modern reinterpretations of the tradition. Also explores wider issues of religious identity by looking at the diversity of the Islamic tradition, tensions between elite and popular culture, and issues of gender and ethnicity.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
RELS 108 — Hinduism Course count: 1
An examination of Hinduism and the Hindu tradition from the Vedas to the present day. Among the subject considered: the Upanishads; the Ramayana and Mahabharata; village Hinduism; Gandhi; and contemporary Hindu political thought. Evaluation will include both examinations and essays.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually
RELS 112 — Christian Martyrdom Course count: 1
The blood of martyrs is the seed [of the Church]. By these words the second century theologian Tertullian meant that the Christian martyrs, in giving their lives for their faith during times of persecution, inspired new converts to Christianity and gave testimony to the power of the Gospel message. This course examines the phenomenon of Christian martyrdom from the ancient Church to the modern era. During the semester, students will ask such important questions regarding martyrdom as: Why does martyrdom have such power to move minds and hearts? Is martyrdom a positive force or is it simply a form of fanaticism? Why were Christians persecuted during different periods of history? How did Christians understand martyrdom theologically and spiritually? Students will read such primary sources as: the Scriptures; early accounts of the martyrs, along with early theological defenses and critiques of martyrdom; and writings from such well-known and, for some, controversial Christian martyrs as Thomas More, Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Secondary sources will help students to enter into the historical and cultural contexts of the martyrs. In studying this phenomenon, students will come to a better understanding of the influence of martyrdom, the sources of ancient and modern persecutions, and the continuing controversies surrounding martyrdom in the contemporary world.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 114 — Introduction To Theology Course count: 1
Introduction to major claims in Christian theology through a close examination of historical and contemporary Catholic and Protestant theologies. Topics include: methods in doing theology and in biblical interpretation; images of God and of Jesus; the human condition; different marks and models of the church; and religious diversity. Readings address the interplay in theological reflection between religious tradition and social location, and analyze the implications and challenges of Christian claims in light of gender, race and poverty. One unit.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 115 — Angels and Demons Course count: 1
An introduction to the Christian tradition regarding angels and demons, focusing upon how Christians relate angelic beings to their own experience of God. Topics include the place of angels in the Scriptures, the nature of angelic beings, the role of angels and demons in creation, the question of demonic temptation and possession, and the distinctions between angels and humans. Readings will include works by Origen and Athanasius of Alexandria, Evagrius Ponticus, Pseudo-Dionysius, Thomas Aquinas, Mortimer Adler, and C.S. Lewis. Students will also have the opportunity to discuss the theology and practice of the contemporary rite of exorcism in the Church. One unit.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 116 — Catholicism Course count: 1
Introduction to the academic study of the beliefs and practices of Roman Catholic Christianity, and of the situation of the church in the contemporary United States. Topics include: approaches to the study of Catholicism; creeds and doctrinal foundations of the Church; structure, authority, and community; spirituality, worship, and the sacramental tradition; Catholic moral and social teaching; current issues and controversies in Catholicism.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 117 — History Of Christianity 1 Course count: 1
A survey of the origins and development of Christianity, both its theology and its structures, from the apostolic period to the eve of the Reformation. Special attention is paid to the evolution of Christian doctrine and worship during the early and medieval periods of the Christian history. The interplay between orthodoxy and heterodoxy will be stressed in a close examination of heretical movements and their impact on the formation of the tradition. The interaction between Church and society will also be addressed.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall
RELS 118 — New Testament Course count: 1
Introduction to early Christian literature and thought in light of the historical, literary, and religious milieu of the Greco-Roman world, including Judaism. Topics discussed include the diverse of representations of Jesus, the emergence of the category "Christian," and the genres of New Testament and other early Christian books. Contemporary approaches are addressed, but the primary focus is the ancient texts themselves. One unit
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually
RELS 119 — History Of Christianity 2 Course count: 1
A survey of the development of Christianity, both its theology and its structures, from the Reformation period to today. Special attention is paid to the development of the various Protestant traditions, and their doctrine and worship. The interplay between Roman Catholicism and the Protestant churches is discussed. The impact of these Christian traditions on American society is also addressed.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 120 — Comparative Religions/World View Course count: 1
Systematic exploration of similarities and differences within and among several traditions (Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam) and an examination of several key issues within the academic study of religion.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 121 — Saints and Sinners Around the World Course count: 1
Discover the diversity of global Catholicism in the modern world through the lives of saints, many who are not canonized, and the spaces, objects, and communities that celebrate them. Learn about Catholic culture and the theologies that undergird various religious practicesa foundation for probing the ways in which popular Catholicism is entwined with the daily struggles for justice in the modern world. Various historical, socio-political, and theological perspectives will be considered.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 124 — Theology of Protest Course count: 1
This class will consider the theological dimensions of protest. We will draw on a number of historical sources to explore what options are available to Christians in times of crisis, and we will examine the religious nature of some contemporary protest movements.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 126 — Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Course count: 1
Introduction to the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament, the course explores the social and cultural worlds that produced the texts, examines the biblical texts themselves, and investigates the assumptions and methods employed by premodern, modern (post-Enlightenment), and postmodern interpreters of the Bible.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
RELS 133 — Contemp Catholic Spirituality Course count: 1
An introduction to contemporary Catholic spirituality. Examines the lived experience and theological writings of influential 20th and 21st century Catholics with a focus on both contemplative and active spiritualities. Authors will likely include: Thomas Merton, Mother Theresa, John Paul II, and Oscar Romero.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 139 — Understanding Jesus Course count: 1
An examination of the figure of Jesus as presented in the gospels with attention devoted to historical questions about Jesus' life and teaching, the theological claims about Jesus being made by the gospel writers, and the direct challenge which the gospel story presents to the church and the world today.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
RELS 141 — Contemporary Christian Morality Course count: 1
This course addresses the implications of Christian belief and identity for personal and social morality. Readings examine fundamental ethics of moral agency, human freedom, conscience, sin, suffering and virtue, as well as the method and themes of Catholic social teaching. The final part of the course explores several areas of contemporary ethical concern including the use of violence, human sexuality, healthcare, and the environment.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall
RELS 143 — Christian Social Ethics Course count: 1
An introduction to moral reasoning and various modes of Christian ethical reflection on contemporary social issues.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall
RELS 147 — Judaism Course count: 1
Introduction to the history, theology, and practices of the Jews which uses the evidence of Judaism to exemplify the interrelationship between a religious civilization and the historical and cultural framework within which it exists. How does what happens to the Jews affect their formulation of their religion, Judaism? By answering this question and by learning the details of Jewish belief and practice, students will come to comprehend both Judaism and the social construction of religion in general.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually
RELS 149 — Judaism in the Time of Jesus Course count: 1
Judaism as we know it took shape in the first six centuries C.E., in the same period that saw the emergence of Christianity. This course describes and interprets early Judaism against its historical backdrop, evaluating the theological beliefs and ritual practices Jews developed and espoused. The main focus is Judaism's central theological conceptions, concerning, e.g., life-after-death, the messiah, divine providence, revelation. The larger goal is to comprehend how religious ideologies respond to and make sense of the world in which the adherents of the religion live.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 165 — Ancient and Medieval Hinduism Course count: 1
Introduction to key themes in ancient and medieval Hinduism. Considers the sacrificial worldview of the Vedas and Brahmanas and then moves to discuss the significance of the Upanishads and yoga. Special attention will be given to the two chief Hindu epics: the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Also examines key elements in Hindu law through a reading of The Laws of Manu. Concludes with a consideration of Hindu devotional theism in the worship Shiva, Krishna, and the goddess Kali.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 170 — The Worlds of C. S. Lewis Course count: 1
This class treats the works of the Anglican scholar and novelist, Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963). In particular, students will focus on Lewiss use of the imagination in the articulation of his Christian faith and in his critique of modernity. A careful reading of such major works Mere Christianity, The Chronicles of Narnia, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and The Abolition of Man will challenge participants to see life through Lewiss baptized imagination and to reevaluate the principles that shape our contemporary world. Class presentations and discussions will allow students to assimilate primary sources and to formulate their own critiques.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 179 — Introduction to Global Catholicism Course count: 1
This course introduces students to the culturally diverse worlds of Catholicism. Focusing on Catholicisms of the Global South (Africa, Asia, and Latin America), the course examines the rich variety of ways in which communal practices and ways of knowing can inform the reception (and even the transformation) of Catholic traditions. Special attention is given to how local, indigenous values and spiritualities interact with the particularities of Catholicism, often resulting in a unique appropriation of the latter. The course offers students the opportunity to explore expressions of Catholic life and thought which illustrate the continuing change and plurality at the heart of a truly global Catholicism.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually
RELS 184 — Theology & Art Course count: 1
This course is an introduction to Christian theology by way of Christology, the theology of the person and mission of Jesus Christ, and by way of visual art. With regard to this latter point, the course will also serve as a brief introduction to contemporary art and art theory. Jesus of Nazareth is called in the Letter to the Colossians the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15). This idea is foundational for Christian ideas of and relations to images. The first part of the course will introduce students to biblical and doctrinal accounts of Jesus Christ, culminating with the eighth-to-ninth-century controversy over images called the Iconoclast Controversy. The second part focuses more proximately on visual art, using the Christological insights gained in the first part to read the works of selected contemporary artists theologically, and to extend Christology into todays world by incorporating hints, challenges, and provocations from contemporary art. Core Christological themes of the Cross, Incarnation, the Sacred Heart, and the Least of These will guide our inquiry. The course entails a significant amount of reading, art viewing, reflecting, and writing outside of class, and in class it will consist of lectures, discussions, and collaborative work. Students are expected to be fully and actively engaged in all aspects of the course. Along the way we will strive to build intellectual community by cultivating personal connections and mutual respect.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 190 — History of the Early Church Course count: 1
This course will focus on the first four centuries of the Christian Church, beginning with the earliest followers of Christ described in the New Testament and continuing through the conversion of Constantine in the 4th century. We will examine how the structure of the church develops, as well as its theologies, doctrines and liturgies. We will pay attention to the variety of Christian viewpoints in these early centuries and how Christians debated with each other and with outsiders on their most basic beliefs. We will track various themes throughout this period, such as prophesy, heresy vs. orthodoxy, gender dynamics, martyrdom, asceticism, interaction with non-Christians, the importance of ritual.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Historical Studies, Studies in Religion
RELS 192 — Political Theology Course count: 1
This course introduces students to the major themes, authors, and controversies in the field of political theology. The question of how - and to what extent the Christian tradition impacts the political order has motivated debates for more than two thousand years. In this course, we examine how Christianity has impacted and interfaced with the political order in the United States by analyzing Protestant and Catholic political theologies on both the left and the right. We will track debates in the field on the following issues: economy, war, state violence/revolutionary violence, race, and gender.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually
RELS 199-F09 — Intro to Political Theology Course count: 1
This course introduces students to the major themes, authors, and controversies in the field of political theology. The question of how - and to what extent the Christian tradition impacts the political order has motivated debates for more than two thousand years. In this course, we examine how Christianity has impacted and interfaced with the political order in the United States by analyzing Protestant and Catholic political theologies on both the left and the right. We will track debates in the field on the following issues: economy, war, state violence/revolutionary violence, race, and gender.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 199-F12 — Buddha's Life in Text & Image Course count: 1
The life of the Buddha is one of the most influential and enduring religious narratives in human history. For over two millennia, it has remained a central story across all Buddhist traditions, told and retold in a wide range of textual and visual forms. This course explores the narrative of the Buddhas final life as Prince Siddhartha and his awakening as Shakyamuni, along with stories of his many prior existences, known as jatakas, which celebrate the Buddhas long path of moral and spiritual cultivation over countless lifetimes. These biographical and previous life narratives form the core of some of the earliest and most iconic Buddhist art. Through close engagement with both translated Buddhist texts and visual materials, we will examine how these stories were represented in premodern Asian contextsparticularly from India, Central Asia, and China. The course will consist of illustrated lectures, discussion of primary and secondary readings, and opportunities for students to engage in close analysis of both textual and visual materials. No prior background in Buddhism or art history is requiredstudents need only curiosity and a willingness to engage with a rich range of textual and visual sources.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 199-F13 — Intro to East Asian Religions Course count: 1
This course provides an overview of the major themes and historical developments of the religions of China, Japan, and Korea from the earliest myths to present-day practices. This includes early evidence of religious practices in the Neolithic, Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Shinto, Christianity, Korean Shamanism, and a variety of New Religious Movements. The course is organized both chronologically and thematically to give students a sense of the broad sweep of East Asian religious history. Topics covered in class include ritual and religious practices, gender and sexuality, death and funerary customs, the interplay between religion and popular culture, sacred space and the environment. Course materials consist of academic articles and book chapters from textual, historical, artistic and ethnographic studies; news reports; primary sources (in English) including Buddhist texts and Shinto mythical narratives; videos, podcasts, anime, and manga.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 199-F14 — Deaf and Disability Theology Course count: 1
How do experiences of disability shape ideas of the divine? What do these ideas tell us about what it means to be human? Disability theology is the attempt by disabled and non-disabled Christians to understand and interpret the gospel of Jesus Christ, God, and humanity against the backdrop of the historical and contemporary experiences of people with disabilities. In this introduction to Deaf and disability theology, students will engage scholarship in Deaf and disability studies, theology, and religious studies to examine ways that scripture, tradition, reason and experience are employed to discern Christian doctrine (i.e. theologies of creation, Christology, the afterlife) and practices (i.e. daily living, worship and social action). Students will also learn to apply disability theories and theologies of disability to contemporary issues.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 199-F15 — Religion and the Marginalized in India Course count: 1
India is a home to some of the worlds oldest religious traditions and some of its deepest social inequalities. This course explores the relationship between religion and marginalized communities in India, one of the worlds most religiously diverse democracies. It examines how religious traditions have both legitimized social hierarchies and inspired movements of resistance, reform, and emancipation. Using historical, philosophical, and sociological approaches, students analyze how caste, gender, tribe, class, and minority identities intersect with major religious traditions including Hinduism,This course will study how religion has shaped, justified, challenged, and transformed the lives of marginalized communities in India.Through case studies, field engagement, films, group discussion, texts, lectures and lived narratives, the students will examine how caste, gender, tribe, class and minority identities intersect with religion. It looks into live narratives of Dalits, Adivasis, Women, tribals, indigenous groups, LGBTQ, new religious movements and other marginalized sectors in IndiaThrough historical, sociological and contemporary approaches the course studies caste, gender, tribe, class and minor identities in relation to Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhs, Tribal, indigenous religions and contemporary religious movements. It looks into key thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar, Rabindranth Tagore, Amartya Sen, Kabir, Mirabai and looks into the relevant texts in relation to religion and the marginalized.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 199-S09 — Chinese Religious Traditions Course count: 1
This course offers a chronological and thematic introduction to Chinese religionsincluding Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhismfrom their beginnings to modern times. We will examine distinctive concepts, practices, and institutions, with emphasis on both the diversity and unity of religious expression in China. Readings will be drawn from a wide range of sources: religious scriptures, philosophical texts, popular literature, and modern historical and ethnographic studies. Special attention will be given to practices and ideas shared across elite and folk traditions, including cosmology, family and communal rituals, afterlife, morality, and mythology. We will also consider material culture and the visual and artistic dimensions of religious life. More broadly, the course raises questions about gender, class, political patronage, and shifting concepts of religion.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 199-S10 — Afro-Caribbean Religions Course count: 1
What ancestral traditions and wisdom resources survived the Trans-Atlantic slave trade? How were spiritual technologies for healing and resistance recontextualized on the shores of the Americas? This course examines religions of the African diaspora, with a focus on South America, the Caribbean, and surrounding regions. Students will gain an understanding of religious traditions often excluded from the category of world religions. Students will analyze the formation of race and religion in the Atlantic world, by utilizing interdisciplinary approaches. Through an engagement with primary and secondary sources, students will examine the diverse religious traditions that continue to thrive among African descended communities. Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería/ Lucumí, Brazilian Candamblé, Jamaican Rastafari, and Hoodoo/Conjure in the United States are examples of some traditions that students will study in this course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 199-S11 — Vatican II: Papal Reception and Witness Course count: 1
Pope John Paul II called the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) the great grace conferred on the Church in the twentieth century and a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the twenty-first century. Its sessions and documents touched upon all major elements of Catholic life: scriptural interpretation; liturgy; Church governance; ecumenism and interreligious dialogue; the relationship between Church and state; the needs of the poor; and evangelization in the modern world. Though the Council has genuinely inspired Catholics for over a half century, it has also been the source of controversy and division regarding its significance. This course will examine how five PopesPaul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and Leo XIVshaped the implementation of the Council through their writings and personal witness. Students will read select conciliar documents, along with associated writings from each of these Popes, to discover both the riches and challenges of the Second Vatican Council. Students will also examine the Councils historical and theological contexts to better evaluate its influence on the modern Catholic Church and the world. All students will participate in the McFarland Center conference Interpreting Vatican II: Papal Teaching and Public Witness from Paul VI to Leo XIV in April, 2027.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 199-S12 — Religion in Asian Popular Culture Course count: 1
Unlike most religion courses that focus on elite culture and canonical texts, this seminar will shift attention to mass media, sampling comic books, graphic novels, and movies to understand popular religious beliefs and practices in South Asia (Hinduism), China (Buddhism, New Religions), and Japan (Zen, Shinto). After surveying theoretical analyses of popular culture in the history of religions, the course will focus on Indian films (Jai Santoshi Mai and Kantara) centered on village religious life and read comic books in the Amar Citra Katha series that retell the great epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Popular East Asian religions will be considered in graphic novels on the life of the Buddha (Osamu Tezukas, The Buddha) and the Ming novel Journey to the West. Chinese movies will highlight popular afterlife traditions (A Chinese Ghost Story) and "New Religions" (The Pig, the Snake, and the Pigeon); Japanese movies on Shinto (Princess Mononoke) and Zen Buddhism (Zatoichi: The Blind Samurai) will examine these ancient religious traditions reimagined in modern media.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 204 — Early Christian Monasticism Course count: 1
A seminar examining the origins of Christian monasticism through close readings of primary sources. Topics include the motives for the Christian flight into the desert, monastic practices and daily life, the nature of monastic prayer, early monastic rules, the influence of monasticism upon theology and culture, and the continuing presence of ancient monastic ideals in modern monasticism. Authors and works include Athanasius of Alexandria, Evagrius Ponticus, the Apophthegmata Patrum, Palladius, John Cassian, and early monastic rules (e.g., Pachomius, Augustine, and Benedict). Students will also examine how ancient monastic traditions continue in modern Christianity by staying overnight in a monastery and meeting with several monastic communities.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
RELS 205 — God: A Love Story Course count: 1
This course is an inquiry into Christian belief in God, and how it is shaped and conveyed in the stories that Christians have received, adapted, or told about themselves and God over the centuries. Following a method known as Narrative Theology, we will use stories from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and other traditional sources. We will also consider contemporary narratives of belief, doubt, and rejection or recovery of belief, as well as narratives that challenge, contradict, or reject the overarching Christian narrative. Throughout the course, we will discuss how these stories originated, what relationships they have to each other, what convictions and values they convey, and how they might function as sources for theological reflection. Such discussions will lead into an examination of what Christians mean by the term "God," and in particular, the significance of thinking of God as Divine Persons (the Trinity) in relationship with each other, with the cosmos, and with humanity. This will lead in turn to reflection on what Christians might mean by loving God and being loved by God.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 206 — Liberation Theology Course count: 1
Based on the principle of God's special identification with history's oppressed, liberation theology explores the problems of biblical interpretation, church teaching and Christian commitment in the contemporary world. This course examines the relationship between the socio-political consciousness of marginalized peoples and their Christian faith. Among the topics to be covered will be racism, global poverty, sexism, and environmental degradation. This course has three primary sections: (1) Black Theology; (2) Latin American Liberation Theology; (3) Feminist Theology.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually
RELS 207 — Theology of Freedom Course count: 1
What is freedom? This is a basic question of modern life, but one often left unexamined and unanswered. "Freedom" is appealed to continually in American political discourse, but almost always without definition, and usually toward less-than-reputable ends. This intermediate theology lecture course considers freedom from the standpoint of Christian theological traditions, drawing from exemplary theologians from the Bible, early Christianity, the Middle Ages, early modernity, and up to the present day. The courses four main parts will develop a theological account of freedom by examining (1) Gods freedom, (2) angelic and demonic freedom, and (3) human freedom, and then (4) applying this theological account to selected global crises in the present (e.g., the ecological crisis).
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Fall
RELS 215 — Defense Against the Dark Arts Course count: 1
With the 1998 publication of The Sorcerer's Stone J. K. Rowling began creating a universe that continues to house the imagination of millions of readers around the globe. Although not a religious work, the series is a portal into a world that is. Both the world of faith and the world of fiction depend on imagination, and the Harry Potter series provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on what makes these worlds alike and what makes them different. The faith-world brings us to questions about ultimate meaning and value; so does the HP series. The faith-world has to do with self-discovery, personal growth and transformation; so does the series. The faith-world works from a sense of enchantment and divine providence; the HP series is predicated on the possibility of magic, although the ultimate source of that magic (and the possibility of dark magic) is left unexplained. The faith-world has to do with moral choices and their consequences, and so does the series. Why does imagination give permission to miracles but dismiss magic as fantasy? How and why are faith and fantasy different? How does the mind distinguish what is "real" from what is not? And how does the mind defend itself against dementors, chaos, and spiritual darkness? Religious imagination is one such defense.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 216 — Readings: Asian Sacred Texts Course count: 1
Focuses on critical and analytical readings of sacred writings in translation from the Asian religious traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daosim. The genres sampled include law codes, works of ascetic mysticism, religious biography, popular narrative, and scholastic treatises. Also examines the cross-cultural definition of "text," the idea of a "scriptural canon," and the construction of tradition in the western historical imagination.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 217 — Eucharist/History & Theology Course count: 1
Provides a detailed study of the historical development and theological significance of the Eucharist in Christian tradition. Treats underlying concepts in sacramental theology in terms of Eucharistic ritual. Special attention is paid to the Roman Catholic experience, but other Christian traditions will be discussed.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 218 — Christian Sacraments Course count: 1
Provides a general study of the historical development and theological significance of Christian sacraments. Begins with discussion of key underlying concepts in sacramental theology: the experience of the sacred; sign, symbol, ritual; and Christ/Church as sacrament. Special attention is paid to the Roman Catholic experience, but other Christian traditions are discussed.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 219 — Christian Prayer in Theory and Practice Course count: 1
Considers Christian prayer as both a topic for theological study and a body of disciplines and practices. Topics include basic theological perspectives; historical origins and important figures in the development of Christian spirituality; personal and liturgical prayer; prayer and psychology; prayer and global awareness. Diverse traditions, methods, and practical approaches to Christian prayer will be considered, including Pentecostal prayer, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, Christian meditation and Centering Prayer. Readings draw from both classic sources and contemporary interpretations. Weekly practicum sessions focus on observing and/or participating in various forms of Christian prayer.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 221 — Women In Early Christianity Course count: 1
Exploration of the activity of women in the early church as witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, missionaries, teachers, ascetics, martyrs, and deacons. Considers the historical and social context of women's lives in the Greco-Roman world in an environment of religious pluralism, women's self-understanding, and the controversy over women's leadership in the developing church. Texts studied include the canonical gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John, the non-canonical Gospel of Mary,as well as Christian texts from the 2nd - 4th centuries.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
RELS 225 — Love, Friendship and Catholicism Course count: 1
This seminar explores the Catholic Christian understanding of love and friendship, from the ancient world to the present. It will consider the relationship between these concepts, the ethical and social consequences of various understandings, and their significance in Christian theology. Authors and works include Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, the Scriptures, Aelred of Rievaulx, Thomas Aquinas, C.S. Lewis, Graham Green, Raissa Maritain, Josef Pieper, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Benedict XVI, and John Paul II and Prudence Allen. In addition, students will participate in a dinner colloquy with married Holy Cross couples. By studying these great thinkers of the past, students will better understand present debates and struggles surrounding love and friendship.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
RELS 229 — Walking with Paul Course count: 1
Study of the writings, thought, and historical context(s) of the apostle Paul and the Christians who claimed his authority. Particular attention is paid to Paul's self-representation, to the positions he took on issues of vital concern to the first Christians, and to the diverse representations of both Paul and his teachings by second- and third-generation Christians.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Every Third Year, Fall
RELS 230 — Theological Perspectives on Medical Ethics Course count: 1
This course examines important developments in contemporary medical ethics considered in the context of the wider cultural assumptions of western philosophical traditions, the rise of the technological imperative, market capitalism, and globalization. These are brought into conversation with theological commitments to human dignity, the pursuit of virtue, the common good and the option for the poor. Topics to be considered will include healthcare relationships, treatment decisions, beginning and end of life issues, research using human subjects, the just distribution of healthcare resources, reproductive technologies, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and health and human rights.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 233 — Households& Early Christianity Course count: 1
This course focuses on how the household influenced early Christianity, both as a primary meeting place and as a conceptual tool for constructing Christian discourses on marriage and kinship, poverty and wealth-getting, work and leisure. We begin with a broad study of the ways that ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish writers conceived of the household: its economic production, religious practices, and role in larger society. We will also examine the physical structures of houses in the Roman empire in order to learn more about the occupants and their lives. Students will thus learn to draw upon both literary and archaeological evidence. We will then investigate how households, both as physical spaces and ideological focal points, influenced the development of Christian worship and theology. A major goal of the course is to understand how Christian values and theologies, as articulated in the New Testament and other early Christian literature, are shaped by the social structures in the environment, such as households. A second, related goal is to identify connections between religion, power and gender, especially in the production of Christianity's foundational texts.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 234 — Conflicts in the Church Course count: 1
Examines selected issues which have generated considerable controversy in the contemporary Catholic church (e.g., liturgical change, the Church and politics, women's leadership, contraception, clergy sexual abuse, homosexuality, etc.). Topics are considered in relation to differing views on the origin, structure, and purpose of the church itself, and include discussion of structures of authority in the church; differing rhetorical styles and traditions of thought in church history; change and the development of doctrine; church moral and social teaching. Readings draw from official Catholic Church teaching as well as writings of so-called "progressive" and "neoconservative" theologians.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall
RELS 238 — Christian Ethics and Mental Illness Course count: 1
This reading and writing intensive seminar studies the ways in which the discipline of Christian ethics challenges, is challenged by, enriches, and is enriched by contemporary conversations about mental illness.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
RELS 241 — Scripture and Script: The Bible and Contemporary Art, Media and Literature Course count: 1
The Bible is a foundational text for contemporary culture and political discourse, as well as a sacred text for several religious traditions. This course explores narratives from the Hebrew Bible and how these narratives have been used in literary, poetic, artistic and cinematic creations to reflect and grapple with personal, familial, societal and political concerns. We will focus on the role of biblical texts in American political discourse, social criticism, and cultural productions, while also including works from Middle Eastern writers and artists. Students will read biblical texts closely and then analyze interpretations of those texts in modern and contemporary literature, film, poetry, and the arts. By looking at old texts and new interpretations, the course aims to give students the opportunity to see their own cultural contexts anew, and to determine how the Bible might or might not be considered relevant to our time.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 242 — Sex, Gender & the Hebrew Bible Course count: 1
What does the Bible have to say about gender and human sexuality? Using a variety of historical-critical and contemporary interpretive approaches, and through close analyses of key biblical texts, this course critically examines the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament with respect to a broad range of topics pertaining to gender and human sexuality.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 243 — Theology Of The New Testament Course count: 1
Drawing on contemporary biblical exegesis, this course explores both the major theological questions that the New Testament writers were addressing in their own time and place, and the theological questions those writings force the church of today to raise in light of its present historical and cultural circumstances. What is faith? What is salvation? How does revelation happen? What does the New Testament tell us about the mystery of God? In what way is Christian religious experience the platform for thinking about church? How does the New Testament help us to face major concerns of today, such as Christianity's relationship to the other world religions, environmental justice, a shifting moral landscape, and the perennial thirst for the transcendent?
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 255 — Ecology & Religion Course count: 1
Explores various perspectives on nature articulated in the history of the world¿s religions beginning with hunter-gatherer and tribal peoples. Distinctive doctrines derived from sacred texts and by philosophers/ theologians, as well as the impact of ritual practices, are reviewed to understand the impact of religion on human ecology. After considering the perspective of Enlightenment thought on the natural world, the course surveys early North American exponents of ecological spirituality (Thoreau; Emerson; Muir), the writings of Eco-theologians (Fox; Berry; Schweitzer; McFague), and how cosmologies articulated by modern ecologists (Leopold; Lovelock) and activists (Earth First! And Greenpeace) have sought to define as sacred the human connection with the natural world.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 260 — Comparative Mysticism & Human Ecology Course count: 1
A phenomenological analysis of mystical experience, both theory and practice, and an investigation of the epistemological and ontological status of this experience. Approach is pluralistic considering mysticism from the following perspectives: psychological, religious, anthropological, philosophical and scientific. Examines various conceptions of ultimate reality and a variety of practices constituting the mystic path or way. Mystical experience is broadly conceived as a state of consciousness whose dominant symbols and structures of thought, behavior and expression relate to the ultimate transformation of self and world.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall
RELS 270 — The Quran Course count: 1
This seminar will give students a window into the religious and spiritual world shaped and filled by the Quran. The topics covered will relate to Islam in general and the Quran in particular, such as language, law, mysticism, theology, art, and comparative religion. This will involve a study of the exegesis of the text, which records the ways in which Muslims have interpreted and taught the Quran through the ages up to our present day.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 276 — Comparative Catholicisms Course count: 1
Comparative examination of Catholicism in four broad culture areas: the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. Topics include: inculturation, interreligious conflict, popular devotion and the cult of Mary, sanctity, Catholic charismatic and healing movements, as well as Catholic social and political resistance. Special attention is given to whether we can understand world Catholicism as a unified system of religious beliefs and practices.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 277 — Modern Religious Movements Course count: 1
This course examines religious movements in contemporary America. Some of these movements are popularly known as cults, and one of the courses most important objectives will be to examine critically this term along with other categories such as brainwashing. The course will be divided into two overall sections. The first section will examine cult controversies surrounding Peoples Temple, The Branch Davidians, UFO religious groups, Scientology, and the Children of God. The second section will be focused on an extended study of the traditions, practices, and culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Special and respectful attention will be given to both LDS history and LDS literary fiction. The fundamental purpose of the course is to provide students with the analytic tools to consider not only modern religious movements themselves but also the discourse surrounding them.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 279 — Religion and Violence Course count: 1
Religion and Violence considers religious justifications of violence. The course begins with an examination of sacrifice through a survey of Aztec culture in relation to the theory of generative scapegoating articulated by Rene Girard. The course then moves to discuss religious justifications of warfare as crusade and jihad. The class also reads the Hindu epic The Mahabharata and examines its theory of ethical obligation in extreme circumstances. The course then considers terrorism through a comparative discussion of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and Palestinian organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. A crucial part of this discussion is engaging ethical theories regarding the classification of non-combatants as well as considering both critiques and defenses of asymmetrical forms of violence. Substantial attention will be given to analyzing the category terrorism and to what extent it has value as a classification for certain kinds of violence. The class concludes with a consideration of violence to the body as reflected in asceticism, torture, and ordeal.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course or consent of the instructor
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 284 — Sex, Money, Power & the Bible Course count: 1
This course explores the assumptions and portrayals that various biblical texts make about sex, money, and power, as well as the implications of those assumptions and portrayals. Although we will locate these biblical texts in their historical and social contexts, we will also use them to consider broader theoretical questions about reading, gender and sexuality, the economy, and the practice of power.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall
RELS 285 — Jesuit Spirituality Course count: 1
Examines the distinctive characteristics of Jesuit Spirituality as reflected in the four weeks of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, his autobiography, and other early Jesuit writings. Examines the religious experience that gave birth to the Society of Jesus, the Society's keen interest in education, and contemporary expressions of the Ignatian vision.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
RELS 287 — Early Christian Preaching Course count: 1
Every preacher should give forth a sound more by his deeds than by his words (St. Gregory the Great). The great Christian preachers of the first five centuries of Christianity sought to combine the power of well-crafted oratory, prayerful theological reflection, and exemplary living in order to convey the gospel message in tumultuous times. In this seminar we will study the style, historical contexts, and theology of some of the greatest early Christian theologian-preachers: Augustine of Hippo, Gregory of Nazianzus, Leo the Great, John Chrysostom, and Peter Chrysologus. In addition, each student, as a final project, will compose and preach a sermon based on a selected biblical text. Students will learn how to analyze sermons from various perspectivesstyle, theology, history, etc.while developing composition and speaking skills.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Every Third Year, Spring
RELS 290 — Teología Andina Course count: 1
A study of religion, culture, and theology in the Andean region of Bolivia. The course examines the way in which Christian faith has been appropriated by the Aymara and Quechua people, and it introduces students to a worldview that is both distinctive and challenging in its focus on the earth (the Pachamama) and community life. The course also studies the history of cultural and social oppression that paved the way for contemporary efforts in the region at religious and political self-expression. Taught in Spanish; requires the ability to read, speak, and write in Spanish.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Fall
RELS 291 — God, Race, and Imagination Course count: 1
What can science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels, TV shows, and films teach us about Christianity, race/racism, power, and the U.S. American popular imagination? Is there a God at work in fantastic imaginaries of speculative and science fictions that represent our society? If so, then does God have anything to say about the monstrosity not only of the monsters, themselves, but of their human counterparts, or about the plight of those struggling against these horrors? In this course we will approach these questions using both critical theoretical works on race/racism, religion, and Christian theology, while also allowing the literary and visual worlds of science fiction, fantasy, and horror to inform and elucidate our understanding of how popular social imaginaries capture, distort, or artfully utilize the themes of race/racism, power, and the religious.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 292 — Medieval Christianity Course count: 1
This seminar provides an in-depth study of the origins and development of medieval Christianity in Western Europe. It covers theology and structural evolution from the fall of the Roman Empire to the eve of the Reformation. Special attention is paid to the evolution of Christian doctrine, spirituality, architecture and worship during the "high" and "late" Middle Ages, the interplay between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, their impact on the formation of the tradition, and the interaction between church and society.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 294 — Sexual Justice: Social Ethics Course count: 1
This course explores the ethical significance of human sexuality within the context of Christian theology and in relation to larger issues of social, political, and economic well-being. One unit.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course.
GPA units: 1
RELS 295 — Un tal Jesus Course count: 1
This seminar is a biblical and theological study of the four gospels focused on the life and mission of Jesus of Nazareth. The course follows a theological line called theology of liberation. This theological line draws attention to the humanness of Jesus and the dimension of justice in his preaching about the reign of God. The main work we study is Un tal Jesus: La Buena Noticia contada al pueblo de America Latina. The seminar introduces students to a theology that arises from daily experience, the connection between faith and culture, and the enduring legacy of Latin American liberation theology. In Spanish.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 296 — Religion and Asian America Course count: 1
This course explores how Asian Americans have adopted and interpreted their religious beliefs and practices (e.g., Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim) in relation to their racial/ethnic identities, including how their faith communities have been sites of empowerment and sources of pain in their experience of generational change and in their struggle for social change. It will also look at how larger discourses of race and immigration correspond to religious ideas about conversion and belonging, as well as how race and religion influence Asian Americans views on controversial sociopolitical issues. Instead of introducing students to world religions, this course aims to equip students with a set of basic concepts and skills for interrogating the importance of religion in the life of Asian Americans, on the one hand, and for scrutinizing the importance of race/ethnicity in the workings of religious communities, on the other. This interdisciplinary course will draw from religious studies sources, but it is also rooted in an Asian American Studies perspective, which foregrounds the agency of Asian Americans and their lived realities in diaspora.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Fall
RELS 298 — African Americans and the Bible Course count: 1
As soon as Africans were enslaved in America, they were told about the Bible by their white enslavers, and they quickly learned that their enslavers thought of themselves as builders of a biblical nation. Longing to unlock the mysteries of this holy book or talking book, African Americans sought literacy in general and knowledge of the Bible in particular. Even before they were able to read the Bible for themselves, African Americans began to embrace certain biblical motifs, such as exodus, in their quest for freedom. Given the importance of the Bible in African American history and experience, this course will look at how African Americans in different time periods have continued to read and engage the Bible in their long struggle for liberation and justice, including how African American biblical scholars use the Bible today to negotiate various economic and sociopolitical issues in this racially divided country called the United States of America.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Every Third Year, Fall
RELS 299-F08 — Race, Sex, & Theology Course count: 1
This course explores how theologians grapple with the interlinking realities of race, sex, class, and religion. Students will be introduced to intersectional methods in theology. Students will examine how sex, gender, and sexuality, in addition to race, shape contextual forms of God-Talk. Taking a global approach, the course prompts analysis of theological arguments from various angles, including Asian, Black, and Latinx perspectives.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 299-F09 — Global Decolonial Theologies Course count: 1
The 20th century gave rise to numerous anti- and decolonial movements wherein formerly colonized peoples/nations rose to power following centuries of exploitation, expropriation, and extermination by Western powers. Although global decolonial movements are not identical, they have nevertheless shared many of the same conditions, aspirations, and obstacles, which are often evident in the voices and scholarship of the oppressed. Since this time, myriad decolonial theologies have arisen, joining a rich history of liberation and contextual theologies that prioritize the knowledge, faith, and worship practices developed in the midst of colonial history through its many legacies and beyond: slavery, imperialism, genocide, and capitalism. In this course, we will explore decolonial movements through historical, sociological, political-economic, and theological lenses. We will assess the impact of global colonialist projects in Latin and North America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and the growth of theological imaginaries from these vantages, which challenge the lingering effects of colonialism. Ultimately, students will learn about the rich and complex veins of Christianity, faith, and theological insights from believers all over the world and, hopefully, alter and augment their own in the process.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 299-F10 — Early Christian Worship: Ritual and Space in the Early Church Course count: 1
This course will explore the rituals and the ritual spaces of the first four centuries of Christian history. From houses to shops to catacombs to basilicas, Christians developed their worship practices in a variety of contexts. Early believers, drawing both from their sacred stories and also from traditional cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world, created devotional practices both in communities and in daily life activities. Students will learn how Christian rituals and spaces relate to each other as they consider how Christianity took hold in the Roman empire. We will examine both the process of institutionalization (looking at leadership and organizational structures) as well as the contributions and influence of everyday practitioners. Course materials will include both texts and material evidence.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 299-F11 — Bible With and Without Jesus Course count: 1
This seminar investigates the shared scriptures of ancient Israel - known as the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament - to understand why Jewish and Christian traditions often read the same stories in strikingly different ways. We will analyze specific texts of the Hebrew Bible through three lenses: their original historical meanings, their reuse within the New Testament, and their ongoing interpretation in Jewish literature after the biblical period. Students will explore how translation choices and religious beliefs shape the meaning of a text. The course examines how these ancient writings have functioned as both sources of comfort and points of conflict throughout history. Ultimately, students will learn to recognize the different ways religious communities find meaning in the same verses, moving from historical disagreement toward a clearer understanding of these diverse scriptural traditions and fostering more respectful dialogue between Jewish and Christian communities.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 299-S04 — War, Prisons, & Immigration Course count: 1
The Crucial Questions Seminars are dynamic seminar courses specifically designed for second and third-year students. In these courses, students and faculty take on big, important questions that matter deeply to our world now and in the future. Second and third-year students who enjoy independent work, discussion-based learning, and complex problem-solving are encouraged to apply for instructor permission to take one of these intellectually enriching and challenging seminars. These courses are coordinated through Scholar Programs, and are standalone offerings not connected to any program, department, or major. They often fulfill common area and concentration requirements, and can be excellent opportunities for students who may someday want to pursue one of the College's thesis programs.
GPA units: 1
RELS 299-S08 — Black Feminist & Womanist Theology Course count: 1
This seminar course explores the historical trajectory of Black Feminist thought, examining womanist theology in relation to this movement. As a theological approach, womanist theology centers Black womens religious experiences, literary works, and cultural productions. Taking an intersectional approach, the course will engage the intertwined themes of gender, race, and religion. Students will be introduced to the works of major figures such as Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Patricia Hill Collins, Katie Cannon, Delores Williams, and M. Shawn Copeland.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 299-S11 — Th.REL-FreshStart Christianity Course count: 1
Theology of religions is a branch of theological science that has developed largely in our modern globalized world in which Christians have come into contact with people of other religious traditions. This seminar, after introducing the topic, will offer perspectives on Christian Faith in a multi-religious context of authors like K. Barth, K. Rahner, Balthasar, J. Daniélou, H. Küng, J. Hick, P. Knitter, R. Panikkar, J. Dupuis and G. DCosta, concluding with the perspectives of the Popes: Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. The specific issues treated will be salvation, Jesus Christ as the unique savior, revelation, concept of God and dimensions of truth. The students will finally be invited to articulate their own perspective in the light of the aforementioned study.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 299-S12 — Edith Stein: Philosopher, Feminist, and Saint Course count: 1
This course examines the life of Edith Stein, also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a figure who embodies the despair and hopes of the modern world. Born into a devout Jewish family in 1891 in Germany, she became an atheist during her teenage years. She was murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz in 1942. Over the course of four turbulent decades, she dedicated her life to seeking truth and advocating for the human person. She led an eclectic and intense life: volunteering with the Red Cross during World War I; earning a doctorate in philosophy summa cum laude under Edmund Husserl; converting to Catholicism; tirelessly campaigning for educational opportunities for women while teaching high school girls and aspiring teachers at a teachers training college; writing against the rise of Nazism; and becoming a Carmelite nun. Steins story serves as a valuable resource for theological reflection in todays world. We will read her writings on empathy, the nature of Catholic education, womens issues, the dignity of the human person, resistance to totalitarianism, and the spirituality of the Cross. Her writings act as a link between philosophy and theology, as well as between Judaism and Catholicism.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 299-S13 — Religious Worlds of Cuba Course count: 1
What do a Taíno healer who sings to plants, a Catholic saint, a Yoruba divinity, a sacred tree, and a spirit speaking through a medium have to do with one another? This seminar explores the remarkable diversity of religious life in Cuba, from Taíno spiritualities in the islands Indigenous past and present to the arrival and transformation of Catholicism, Afro-Cuban traditions such as Santería and Palo, and the enduring presence of Spiritism. Along the way, students will encounter saints and divinities, ancestors and spirits, devotional practices, healing traditions, sacred objects and places, music, ritual, and communication with the dead. Rather than treating these traditions as separate worlds, the course asks what happens when religious practices meet, overlap, and reshape one another amid colonialism, slavery, migration, revolution, and everyday life. Through Cubas religious landscape, students will engage larger questions about culture, identity, memory, power, and the many ways religious traditions persist, change, and become something new.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 300 — Ethics of Work & Family Course count: 1
Explores work and family as ethical themes in the Christian tradition. The course will consider the meanings and goals of work and family each in its own right and will also cover contemporary dilemmas at the intersection of work and family. Theological frameworks of virtue, vocation, feminist ethics, and social ethics will figure prominently in the course. Readings will draw on material from the documentary heritage of Catholic social teaching as well as contributions from theologians representing different Christian denominations, other religious traditions, and secular thinkers.
Prerequisite: One previous Religion Studies course.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 302 — Challenge of Happiness Course count: 1
A survey of major Western scientific, sociological, philosophical, theological, and historical interpretations of human happiness.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 303 — Theology & Science Fiction Course count: 1
This seminar will examine Christian theological themes through the literary genre of science fiction/speculative fiction. Readings from the genre of fantasy may also be studied. Theological themes addressed may include: the nature of religion; the concept of God/the divine; the quality of humanity in other species; the problem of evil and suffering; the question of sin and salvation; the nature of faith and belief; the role of myth and symbol; doctrine as redemptive or demonic; heaven, hell and the afterlife; the believer as scientist/explorer.
Prerequisite: One previous courses in RELS or permission of the instructor
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
RELS 304 — Land and Creation Course count: 1
This course explores environmental issues from the religious side, grounded in the Bible and especially the Hebrew Bible. In the Bible, discussions of the environment cannot be disentangled from broader issues of justice, so throughout the semester students will explore the Bibles varied perspectives on the environment within the broader framework of justice. They will also learn to read in light of an "ecological hermeneutics," which means recognizing that the Bible contains neither easy maxims about environmental justice nor explicit strategies, and that bridging the gap between the Bible and present-day concerns involves more than just identifying biblical texts that deal with nature, the environment, or justice more broadly. Rather, what is needed are reading strategies and interpretive perspectives that are attentive to how a wide range of biblical issues and themes intersect with and inform questions of justice. Such an ecological hermeneutic entails not only the creative and nuanced exegesis of specific texts from the perspective of land care, environmental conservation and human rights, but also the cultivation of biblical perspectives and principles that can transform our theological convictions, daily practices, and community leadership.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
RELS 306 — American Civil Religion, Racism, and Film Course count: 1
A course that considers the phenomenon of American Civil Religion, a complex tradition that justifies the United States as a sacred nation. It will focus specifically on major feature films and documentaries, most created in Hollywood, that depict colonists, Native Americans, Africans, and Asians in narratives related to the nations history, development, moral norms, and attitudes toward non-Whites. The course will begin by defining religion and race, and be grounded in the scholarship of sociologist Robert Bellah (d. 2013) as we examine the movies that have defined and sustained American Civil Religion. We will trace the refinements and extensions to Bellah's theory, including topics such as "Confederate Civil Religion." The course will be centered on plenary weekly movies. Some are famous such as Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind; some iconic such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Especially prominent are Westerns such as Fort Apache. Others convey historical national acts and individual lives such as Come See the Paradise and Loving.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually
RELS 311 — Zen Buddhism Course count: 1
Examination of Zen Buddhism and its influences on East Asian civilizations. Surveys the texts and monastic practices that define Zen spiritual cultivation and the history of the Soto and Rinzai schools' evolution. Special attention is also devoted to the distinctive poetic (haiku), fine arts (painting, gardening, tea ceremony)) and martial arts (swordsmanship) disciplines that this tradition has inspired in China and Japan. Recommended but not required: previous course on Asian arts, religion, philosophy or history.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Spring
RELS 312 — Theravada Buddhism Course count: 1
Seminar examining the prominent texts, doctrines and practices of the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Surveys the historical development of the tradition in India, with attention to major schools of interpretation and practice. Theravada social philosophy and ethics are studied, as are the patterns of accommodation with non-Buddhist religions. The second half of the course focuses upon the distinctive practices of Burma, Sri Lanka, and Thailand as well as reformist modern movements.
Prerequisite: RELS 206 or permission of instructor.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 313 — HIV/AIDS and Ethics Course count: 1
Explores the many ethical questions brought into relief by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, arguably one of the most pressing global public health issues of our time. Focusing primarily on issues of social justice, the course mines the traditions of Christian ethics and Catholic social teaching for resources with which to address topics including HIV prevention, treatment, research, access, and global public health. We will become familiar with key ethical methods and concepts, including casuistry, the common good, solidarity, and the option for the poor.
Prerequisite: One previous course in Religious Studies
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 314 — Everyday Ethics Course count: 1
What does ethics have to do with a day in the life of a college student? So much of ethics focuses on big issues and exceptional cases that seem to have little discernible bearing on everyday life. While such approaches are important (and big issues do bear on daily realities for many), an exclusive focus on grand issues like abortion, war and peace, or capital punishment, as traditionally conceived, risks neglecting both the ethics of ordinary day-to-day activities and how they are connected to the big issues. Taking an imagined day in the life of a college student as its guide, this course explores various philosophical and Christian ethical reflection on issues related to sleep, food, shopping, work/study, sports, social media, friendship, sexuality, the environment, and failure.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
RELS 315 — Islamic Philosophy & Theology Course count: 1
Introduction to the major issues, figures, and texts of Islamic philosophy and theology. Attempts to answer the question of what Islamic philosophy and theology are and how they figure in Islamic tradition. While dealing with such towering figures as Kindi, Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Hazm, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Bajjah, Suhrawardi, the school of Ibn al-Arabi, Nasir al-Din Tusi, and Mulla Sadra, also discusses central issues and concepts of Islamic philosophy, including existence and essence, God's existence and knowledge of the world, knowledge and its foundations, cosmology, causality and its role in sciences of nature and political thought. Kalam or Islamic theology is the focus of the second part of the course. Examines classical debates around such issues as God's names and qualities, free will and determinism, reason and revelation, ethics, and political philosophy.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies or Philosophy course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 327 — Holocaust: Confronting Evil Course count: 1
Seeks to interpret an event that defies representation and lacks discernible logic or meaning. By evaluating how others have depicted, attempted to create meaningful narratives about, and drawn conclusions from the Holocaust, we hope ourselves to reach some understanding of this event, of its significance for modern society, and of its potential for helping us to recognize our own responsibilities in a world in which ultimate evil is possible.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually
RELS 329 — Messiahs and Worlds to Come Course count: 1
Concepts of the messiah, resurrection, and world-to-come (kingdom of heaven) are central in Christianity. We therefore assume that similar thinking must be intrinsic to all religions and especially to Judaism, out of which Christianity arose. But is it? The history of Judaism, both prior to and following the emergence of Christianity, exhibits divergent thinking about the existence of a messiah; and this history is full of discordant views regarding the possibility of resurrection and the hope for a world-to-come. Christianitys approach turns out to be neither necessary nor completely natural within Judaism. To enhance our understanding of human thinking about death, on the one hand, and the end of time, on the other, we pose a series of questions What are the foundations of Jewish messianism? Who are the messiahs, including Jesus, that Judaism produced? How was messianic thinking incorporated into, and why was it rejected by, diverse forms of Judaism from antiquity and until our own day? Our answers to these question will help us understand Judaism, Christianity, and, most importantly, the frameworks within which religions in general think about Gods plans for us as individuals, for humanity overall, and for the world. To study the messianic idea in Judaism, we will examine Jewish literatures that focus on messiahs in the Land of Israel during the Roman and Byzantine periods. We then look ahead to how these same ideologies were centrally located in the Jesus movement and, later, in medieval and even modern Judaism. We thus survey the entire span of messianic thinking and messiahs in Judaism. Our study overall yields two points that we should be conscious of from the beginning. Despite the Jews rejection of Jesus and classical Judaisms ambivalence concerning the arrival of the messiah, messiahs and messianic movements are present throughout the history of Judaism. At the same time, Judaisms messianic ideologies respond to the distinctive life situation and social and theological needs of those Jews who, in each age, developed and depended upon these ideologies to give meaning to their lives. This means that to truly understand messianism in Judaism (and in religions more broadly), we must expand our definition of the messiah and the messiahs place in history well beyond the model offered by Jesus and the subsequent history of Christianity that declared him, and only him, the messiah.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
RELS 333 — Comparative Theology Course count: 1
An exploration of the meaning and significance of Christianity's encounter with the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and other religious traditions, both new and old. Investigates major theological questions emerging from the dialogue between Christianity and other world religions.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 340 — Gardens & World Religions Course count: 1
A survey of the historical and cultural backgrounds of the major garden traditions of the world associated with religions. This course moves from considerations of human aesthetic and spiritual experience in the natural world to a survey of the major garden traditions associated with the western Mediterranean and Europe: in classical Greece and Rome, Christianity, and Islam. The course then moves to East Asia and classical traditions of China and Japan. Special focus will be given to elements of the campus Japanese Garden Initiative: teahouse gardens and monastic viewing gardens. Field trips to regional gardens will be made. For the final project, students design small virtual contemplative gardens for possible construction at specific campus sites.
Prerequisite: One previous course in Religion, Asian Studies or Middle East Studies
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Cross-Cultural Studies, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 355 — Purity and Filth Course count: 1
The concepts of purity and pollution influence the ways in which human beings interact in the world, from the micro level (germs/viruses) to the macro level (God/the divine). This seminar will examine the notion of purity from the perspective of ritual studies, and will explore the ways this notion affects human behavior and culture. Case studies, primary sources, and short stories will all be included in the readings assigned. Among the possible topics: the body and its 'margins'; food and meals; cleanliness and sanitation; the sacred and the profane; holiness and sin; sex and gender; birth and death; illness and health; obsession and compulsion; environment and ecology.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years, Spring
RELS 357 — Modern Catholic Theology Course count: 1
Examines selected theological questions addressed by modern Catholic theologians such as Rahner, Schillebeeckx, Dulles, Tracy, Gutierrez, and Ruether. Several major works are read and discussed in detail.
Prerequisite: One previous Religious Studies course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
RELS 360 — Theology of Thomas Aquinas Course count: 1
Christian theology, the discipline in which the Christian church does its thinking, has a particularly urgent responsibility in our so-called post-truth context to speak on truths behalf, to convince people Christian believers, but nonbelievers and people of other religions, too that truth still abides, it remains accessible to us (with undeniable difficulties), and we are responsible before it. To aid its efforts in this vein, Christian theology would do well to look to wise guides from the past. This seminar does exactly that. Thomas Aquinas (12251274) is acclaimed as the common doctor of the Catholic Church, that is, the teacher who has something trustworthy and truthful to say about virtually every aspect of the Christian faith. We shall explore somewhat this common breadth in Aquinas, but for the most part we shall focus, laser-like, on his preferred theme: truth itself, ipsa veritas. The main text we shall consider is Thomass great, yet unfinished work: Summa theologiae (left unfinished in 1274). We shall, in conjunction with it, consult secondary sources from the twentieth and twenty-first century to discover Thomass continued pertinence in our time. By examining both the common sweep of Thomass works and his specific attention to truth, students should gain insight into not only this one author and selected latter-day followers of his, but into the vital stakes of the Catholic religion more generally.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 395 — Nature and Animals in the Bible Course count: 1
In light of current questions about climate change and species extinction, this course considers if and how the Bible relates to questions we may have about nature and animals. To do so, we will pay attention not only to biblical studies and religious ethics but also to ecological and animal studies that have been developed across various disciplines in recent years. In addition to reading and thinking about the Bible with the help of biblical scholars, we will spend time learning and discussing influential ideas about the natural and animal world from a diversity of scholars in other fields, including Carol J. Adams, John Maxwell Coetzee, Jacques Derrida, Pope Francis, Donna Haraway, Emmanuel Levinas, Bill McKibben, and Anna Tsing.
Prerequisite: One previous RELS course.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
RELS 399-S01 — Liturgy and Culture Course count: 1
This seminar is a survey of the history and theology of Christian liturgy through the lens of culture. Working directly with primary sources and secondary scholarship, students will identify the historical, theological, and social factors that drive liturgical change in both Eastern and Western traditions from a global perspective. Special attention will be paid to developments in the decades immediately before and after the Second Vatican Council.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Studies in Religion
RELS 411 — Tutorial Course count: 1
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring