REL 103 | RELIGIOUS WORLDS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course introduces the academic study of religion by studying religious communities in a comparative framework. Using methods such as historical, sociological, ethnographic, phenomenological and theological to contextualize religious myths, rituals, moral values, and institutions, this course examines the relation of culture, ethics and religion in the production of religious worlds and religious subjectivities that shape human interactions and experiences.
REL 107 | JUDAISM IN HISTORY: FROM THE BIBLE TO 1492 | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
The purpose of this course is to provide a basic understanding of Judaism as the historic and evolving religious expression of the Jewish people. It seeks to provide students an entree into the world of Jewish religious and historical experience and to help them develop a conceptual understanding of the thought and practice that underlies the Jewish worldview. It also seeks to examine certain continuities and discontinuities in the conception of Judaism as reflected in selected texts which express the full range of Jewish religious and national creativity. Among the topics to be discussed are the complex relations of Jewish thinkers to the surrounding non-Jewish cultures, and how these interactions affected the Jews' understanding of Judaism. The approach to this material will be intellectual-historical. The course is designed as the first part of a two-course sequence on the history of Judaism from the Bible to the present. It focuses on the history of Jewish tradition from the earliest references to Ancient Israel circa 1200 BCE to the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492.
REL 108 | JUDAISM IN HISTORY: FROM 1492 TO PRESENT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
The purpose of this course is to provide a basic understanding of Judaism as the historic and evolving religious expression of the Jewish people. It seeks to provide students an entree into the world of Jewish religious and historical experience and to help them develop a conceptual understanding of the thought and practice that underlies the Jewish worldview. It also seeks to examine certain continuities and discontinuities in the conception of Judaism as reflected in selected texts which express the full range of Jewish religious and national creativity. Among the topics to be discussed are the complex relations of Jewish thinkers to the surrounding non-Jewish cultures, and how these interactions affected the Jews understanding of Judaism. The approach to this material will be intellectual-historical. The course is designed as the second part of a two-course sequence on the history of Judaism from the Bible to the present. It focuses on the history of Jewish tradition from the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 to the present.
REL 109 | JEWISH RELIGIOUS WORLDS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introductory course offering a basic understanding of Judaism as the historic and evolving religious expression of the Jewish people, surveying the basic aspects of traditional Jewish life and thought as well as the people's many-sided experience of the modern world.
REL 110 | CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS WORLDS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introductory course surveying the range of traditions that have emerged within the Christian movement, and offering an historical perspective on the life and thought of Christian communities, and their prospects for the future. Cross-listed with CTH 110.
REL 113 | THE LATINX RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of the diverse nature of Latinx religion, from its indigenous roots to its institutional forms, within the social and political context of American culture. Cross-listed with CTH 182 and LST 113.
REL 115 | THE AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of the religious experience of African Americans and its African precursors through historical and literary resources, reflecting this people's distinctive past and its interactions with other elements of American culture. Cross-listed with ABD 215. Formerly REL 215.
REL 116 | INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will introduce students to the religion of Islam through its sources, practices, and presence in the contemporary world. In this introduction we will briefly explore the Qur'an, the Prophet Muhammad, hadith, law, ritual and practices, and sectarian movements as well as some of the modern reform movements. This course will take primarily an historical approach to the study of Islam. Cross-listed with IWS 116.
REL 142 | HINDU RELIGIOUS WORLDS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A survey of the varieties of Hindu practice and thought. Hinduism in India and throughout the world will be examined.
REL 143 | BUDDHIST RELIGIOUS WORLDS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A survey of the varieties of Buddhist practice and thought. Different forms of Buddhism throughout the world will be examined.
REL 161 | NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIONS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introductory exploration of the close ties particular religious traditions of Native North America have with their own distinctive historical realities, geographic-celestial topographies, and political and social structures. Considers variety of oral, written, ritual, visual and archaeological texts.
REL 171 | INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of the origin, transmission, and interpretation of the Qur'an. Cross-listed with IWS 171.
REL 180 | INTRODUCTION TO CATHOLICISM | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of the breadth of the Catholic experience from a 1st-century Jewish religious movement to a 21st-century global religion. Cross-listed with CTH 180.
REL 183 | THEMES IN CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introductory and systematic examination of major themes in modern Catholic social thought. Cross-listed with CTH 183.
REL 190 | SACRED TEXTS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A survey of the formation, use and interpretation of sacred texts by religious and secular communities.
REL 200 | DEBATES ABOUT GOD | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of classical and contemporary arguments regarding the existence and meaning of "God," as developed in a variety of theistic traditions. Cross-listed with CTH 244.
REL 201 | CHRISTIAN ETHICS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Analytic and normative approaches to ethics in Western philosophical and Christian traditions. Cross-listed with CTH 246.
REL 202 | ATOM BOMB DISCOURSE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An exploration of religion and ethics from a comparative and international perspective. Ethical dimensions of diverse world traditions (in this case the development and use of atomic weaponry) will be investigated within their own particular historical and cultural contexts, and students will be asked to consider and evaluate their own ethical orientations in the light of these studies.
REL 205 | COMPARATIVE ETHICS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An exploration of religion and ethics from a comparative and international perspective. Ethical dimensions of diverse world religious traditions will be investigated within their own particular historical and cultural contexts, and students will be asked to consider and evaluate their own ethical orientations in the light of these studies.
REL 206 | EARLY CATHOLIC HISTORY: ORIGINS AND EXPANSION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course is an introduction to the history of the Catholic Church and the evolution of Christian thought and practices, from the early Church to the thirteenth century. The course will include not only institutional history but also ecclesiastical, cultural, and social history of Catholicism in relation to foundational theological and spiritual texts written in this period. Main topics: The Early Church; Councils and Heresies; Missions in Northern Europe; Charlemagne, Carolingians and a new Roman Empire; Monasticism; Eastern Orthodoxy; Christianity and Islam (the Age of the Crusades); the Mystical Tradition; the Investiture Controversy. Cross-listed with CTH 220 and HST 218.
REL 207 | CATHOLIC HISTORY FROM MEDIEVAL TO MODERN: REFORM AND REVOLUTION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course provides an overview of the history of Catholicism and its interactions with institutional, political, and social history from 1200 to the French Revolution. The main topics of the class are the origin of the Universities and Scholasticism; Mendicant Orders and their impact on the Medieval Society; the Challenges to Papal Monarchy; Humanism and Erasmus; the impact of the Age of the Reformation; the Council of Trent; the geographic discoveries and the New Worlds; the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution; the Catholic Church and the French Revolution. Cross-listed with CTH 221 and HST 219.
REL 208 | CATHOLICISM IN THE MODERN AGE: SECULAR AND SACRED | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will offer a survey of the political, cultural and intellectual history of the Catholic Church from 1789 through the early twenty-first century. It will include discussions of the Catholic Church in relation to the French Revolution; the Catholic Church and the formation of modern nation-states (including, inter alia, the unification of Italy and the German Kulturkampf); the relation between the Church and Liberalism; intellectual movements like theological Modernism and ressourcement theology; the First Vatican Council; the Church, Fascism and Communism; the Second Vatican Council; the Emergence of a Global Church, Latin American Liberation Theology, and more. Cross-listed with CTH 222 and HST 220.
REL 212 | RELIGION AND POPULAR CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An exploration of various forms of popular culture and their intersection with diverse religious traditions and ethical concerns. The course also examines the marketing in mass media of religious themes in popular culture.
REL 215 | NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of new religious movements in the United States, applying analytical and interpretive methodologies from sociology, cultural anthropology, cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, psychology, and historical/comparative history of religions. Special attention will be given to the operations of race, gender, and sexuality in specific NRMs, and to NRMs as social critique. Theories and issues explored will include revitalization theory, conversion theory, relative deprivation theory, and media representation of NRMs as "brainwashing" and "cults.
REL 217 | ISLAMIC CULTURES AND SOCIETIES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of Islam's developments in various global contexts, including Arabian beginnings, the Middle East, Central, Eastern and Western Europe, China, the former Soviet States and South Africa, with a focus on the impacts that these cultures and Islam have had on each other. Cross-listed with IWS 217.
REL 218 | BLACK INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to Black intellectual traditions which emerge from and inform Black religious traditions and which have religious and/or liberation content. Thinkers and content vary. Cross-listed with ABD 233.
REL 219 | SLAVERY, RACE AND RELIGION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This class examines religious arguments, from the 1500's through the 1700's, for and against slavery. Students will investigate different historical and theoretical definitions of slavery. Students will also gain an introduction to the relationship between slavery, evangelicalism, capitalism, and Enlightenment moral philosophy.
REL 220 | PSYCHOLOGY AND RELIGION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Psychologically, religion exists because it meets the needs of believers. This course explores those dynamics and strives to deepen our appreciation of human psychological experience in general and religious experience in particular. Topics include: religion and health, emotion processing and management, emotional intelligence, cognitive dissonance theory and motivated reasoning, attachment, identity and belonging, activating authoritarian tendencies, psychology of rituals, etc. Students from a wide variety of viewpoint and religious backgrounds are encouraged to take this course as it adds to the richness of our exploration.
REL 221 | RELIGION IN SOCIETY IN SOUTH ASIA | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Focusing on South Asia, this course will explore how religion is both embedded in, and dynamically interacts with, the wider socio-cultural contexts of which it is a part. We will examine how religious ideas constitute and are constituted by social forces such as race, caste, class, gender, and sexuality both in South Asia as well as within the wider diaspora. We will analyze how religious ideas are re-shaped as people negotiate the changing social, economic and political circumstances of everyday life and construct self and identity in our increasingly transnational world.
REL 223 | LITERATURE AND THE SACRED | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Variable topics. How human beings across cultures express their intimations of ultimate meaning in a variety of genres ranging from aphorisms and autobiographies to mythic and fictional narratives. Cross-listed with CTH 265.
REL 224 | RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Variable topics. Explores the interplay of religion, politics and culture in the United States, focusing on citizenship and religious identity in the USA's multicultural, multiethnic, multireligious society. Various sections will focus on different particular religious communities and themes, such as the Religious Right and the Religious Left, the political activities of particular communities, and the challenges of interreligious dialogue.
REL 225 | RELIGION AND THE ARTS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Variable topics. How human beings across cultures express their comprehension and experience of ultimate meaning in a variety of artistic forms.
REL 226 | TECHNOLOGY, ETHICS AND SOCIETY | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of the impact of modern technologies on society with particular attention paid to ethical issues.
REL 227 | RELIGIOUS ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of the ethical dimensions of contemporary professional life from the standpoint of religious traditions and values, focusing primarily on medicine, law and business.
REL 228 | BUSINESS, ETHICS AND SOCIETY | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will examine the nature and purpose of economic life and contemporary commerce as understood from the perspective of religious and secular communities, as well as the ethical implications that flow from the various worldviews. Sections of the course critically examine the thought of different religious traditions on specific business-related issues, placing a variety of religious discourses into direct conversation with secular voices regarding ethical business conduct. Cross-listed with MGT 228.
WRD 103 or HON 100 or HON 101 is a prerequisite for this class.
REL 229 | MEDICINE, ETHICS AND SOCIETY | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of moral/ethical issues arising in health care in light of contemporary biomedical advances and social changes (cultural, religious, economic, etc.). The viewpoints of various religious traditions and their rationales will be examined and critiqued.
REL 232 | ANCIENT ISRAEL: HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
The development of Judaism from Moses to the Rabbinic era with special attention to social and historical questions. Cross-listed with CTH 212.
REL 233 | THE NEW TESTAMENT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to the historical-critical investigation of the New Testament. Topics include the earliest Christian writings (letters of Paul), the production of "gospels" about Jesus, and the development of early churches in the context of ancient history and society. Cross-listed with CTH 213.
REL 236 | VARIETIES OF JUDAISM IN THE GREEK AND ROMAN WORLD | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of Judaism from the Jews' return from Babylonian exile in 538 BCE to the promulgation of the Mishnah in 200 CE, with a focus on the Roman period. The Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as concepts of the Messiah, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment and the idea of the "Bible" will be studied.
REL 237 | GODS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course examines the role of gods in the social, political, and economic world of the first four centuries of the Roman Empire. Topics will include: the role of gods in civic life; the imperial cult; the use of the categories religion, superstition, and magic to mark social status; gods, family, and social values; religious innovation and the emergence of new gods; and the rise of Christianity and the worship of Jesus as a god. This course will pay special attention to the social interactions that create and sustain the plausibility of the existence of unseen deities governing the affairs of humans.
REL 238 | THE HISTORICAL JESUS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An investigation of the early Christian Gospels and other sources for reconstructing the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The relation of historical reconstruction and religious interpretation, and the significance of conflicting interpretations of Jesus, will also be considered. Cross-listed with CTH 214.
REL 239 | RELIGION AND FILM | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course examines the idea of religion as a human cultural construct. Even though religions seem to be diminishing, human beings continue to attempt to answer their existential questions of meaning. Using films as frameworks, we will review the basic constructs of the Abrahamic essentials as enculturated in Western Euro-American culture and we will attempt to answer the question, "Has popular culture and film replaced institutional or organized western religions?" In other words, are movies answering the human existential questions once answered by organized religious traditions in Western cultures?.
REL 241 | RELIGION IN CHINESE HISTORY, SOCIETY AND CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An exploration of the Chinese religious landscape, focusing on social and practical dimensions of Chinese religion, such as state rituals and private cults, liturgies and individual practices of Taoist priests and adepts, politico-religious ideas that inspired popular messianic movements throughout Chinese history, and interrelations of Buddhist and Taoist clergies and institutions in the state. Cross-listed with AAS 241.
REL 242 | HINDU THOUGHT AND CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Hinduism is one of the world's oldest religions, but it is also the world's most diverse religion. Despite its variety, certain themes have remained throughout the ages--karma and ethical responsibility, liberation from the bonds of worldly existence through yoga and devotion, communication with the divine through ritual, and the many forms, male and female, that God can take. This course traces the development of Hinduism from 5000 years ago to the present, with emphasis on change and continuity in those themes. Cross-listed with AAS 224.
REL 243 | BUDDHIST THOUGHT IN CULTURAL CONTEXT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An exploration of the Buddhist tradition, using original sources, from its beginnings in ancient India to a world religion with strong roots in the US. Students will discover how Buddhism interacts with cultures from Sri Lanka and Thailand to China, Japan and Tibet. Although this course is online, students in the region will have the opportunity to practice meditation at a Chicago zendo and tour the Buddhist art at the Chicago Art Institute. Cross-listed with AAS 243.
REL 244 | RELIGION AND ETHICS IN JAPANESE FOODSCAPES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
What would be your last meal?" We may all have to reflect on this question once or twice in our lives. The potential diversity of our responses to this question suggests that our relation to food can be quite personal and intimate, as well as cultural and social. In this regard, investigating food is a powerful analytical tool for understanding ourselves and our relations with our surroundings. In particular, in Japan, many TV programs on food, including quiz shows, dramas, and documentaries, have been produced and have garnered attention. Thus, the course equips students with a grasp of the Japanese culture from the vantage point of food, and the benefit of a personal self-reflection and understanding. Studying food in Japan, with particular attention to the underpinnings of religious doctrines, spiritual sensibilities, and ethical implications will inform students not only of the cultural ethos of Japan, but also of its social and political orders. Students will explore the relations between religion and food by examining the ways in which food is used in religious rituals, in which religious beliefs dictate dietary habits and thereby fortify the adherents' identity and reinforce their membership. But the function of food is not to bring people together, but also to divide them. The course also investigates how religious proscriptions on foods render them either sacred or taboo, thereby fostering a corresponding social hierarchy in which status is closely linked to what one consumes and produces; certain foods (e.g. salt, rice, sake) are consecrated and used for rituals, while other foods (e.g. meat) are forbidden.
REL 245 | RELIGION IN JAPANESE HISTORY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Explores the specific interplay between religion and culture in Japan. Taking historical and cultural factors into account, it considers prehistoric Japanese religion, ancient imperial myths, the assimilation of Buddhism, Confucianism, and continental (Chinese/Korean) culture, the religious and aesthetic worlds of the court nobility and the warrior class, popular mountain cults, the revival and systematization of Shinto, the impact of western culture, Japanese ultranationalism, and the religious situation in the post-war period. Cross-listed with AAS 245.
REL 246 | TRADITIONS OF CHINESE POPULAR CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Most of the Chinese, throughout history, did not subscribe to one exclusive belief system or belong to a single institutional religion. They, instead, participated in a web of popular religious practices, held multitudinous popular beliefs, and shared with each other imaginaires of heroes, monsters, ghosts, and gods. This course focuses on what has been popular and provides an understanding of Chinese religions from the perspective of the common people. Students are expected to learn aspects and elements of religion-related Chinese culture, such as mythology, ancestor veneration, divination, demonology, hero cults, festivals, local deities, and drama while paying attention to the internal logic of religious practices and imagination.
REL 247 | LITERATURE AND RELIGION IN JAPAN | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Focuses on the pervasive influence of religious thought and sentiment on Japanese literature from ancient to modern times and explores the intricate relationship between religion, aesthetics, and the arts in Japanese culture. Considers original works including ancient Japanese mythology and poetry, the memoirs of court ladies and Buddhist hermits, romance, epics, folktales and social satire, with attention to their historical, social, religious and social dimensions, as well as to the individual experience expressed in them. Cross-listed with AAS 247.
REL 248 | LITERATURE AND RELIGION IN CHINA | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course focuses on the interpretation of renowned Chinese literary works, with attention paid to the intersections between literature and religion. Students are expected to acquire skills of literary appreciation and basic religious literacy by engaging with both texts and their contexts. This course explores major literary genres, such as revealed texts, rhapsody, lyrics, regulated verse, popular tales, plays, and novels, and discusses related thematic topics, such as the religious themes, mythological contexts, literariness, aesthetics, and individual experiences.
REL 249 | RELIGION IN MANGA AND ANIME | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Because of manga and anime's global popularity, growing market size, and artistic qualities, they become a window on Japanese history, culture, and society. The religious dimensions of manga and anime have deep roots in the history of Asian religion, visual arts, and literature, and they are key to a nuanced understanding of many important works. This course will address and discuss topics of religious significance in connection to manga and anime, such as death, afterlife, spiritual purity, personal cultivation, nature, among others. This course intends to help students understand various aspects of Japanese religions through manga and anime, where religious elements abound.
REL 250 | MYSTICISM IN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will look at the phenomena of mysticism, its doctrines and practices, in various religious traditions. It will also look at how various forms of mysticism have influenced the religious traditions with which they associated, (e.g. how Sufism has impacted Islamic religion, civilization and society.) The course will then look at the present situation of mysticisms in regard to religious traditions and to broader societies.
REL 251 | THE IDEA OF "EVIL | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will try and answer the question what is evil? In religious traditions is evil a relative term? Or is it a universal absolute? Does evil exist independently, or is it a result of the absence of good? How do religious traditions deal with the notion of evil? After we look at the religious, philosophical, historical, conceptualization of evil and how different religious traditions deal with it, the class will look at evil in popular culture (anthropological understanding of evil). How does the popular imagination understand evil? How do they depict and imagine evil (in film, and in literature)? Are these universalities or are they cultural relativism? How has popular culture dealt with evil? Finally the course tries to see if there is any connection with the popular imagination and religious traditions when it comes to evil.
REL 252 | FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of various understandings of "forgiveness" and "reconciliation" in several religions and cultures. The nature and dynamics of forgiveness and reconciliation will be examined both theoretically and in relationship to specific conflicts. Cross-listed with PAX 252.
REL 253 | DESPAIR AND HOPE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course addresses the important religio-ethical concepts of despair and hope from both theoretical and applied perspectives. The course explores: a) various religious, ethical, and psychological understandings of these concepts and b) applications of these concepts, along with various methods and approaches, to a number of case studies involving personal and/or societal challenges. Cross-listed with PAX 253.
REL 257 | DEATH AND ITS BEYOND: EXPERIENCE, MYTH AND RITUALS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Religious attitudes and practices responding to the phenomena of death and dying, studied cross-culturally, conceptually and ethically.
REL 259 | RELIGION AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An investigation of the ways in which various religious traditions engage the social order. Traditions, persons and movements that form the focus of the course will vary from section to section. The course will integrate theory and practice in studying forms of religious engagement. All students will perform some service to a community or within a community organization or agency.
Sophomore standing or above is a prerequisite for this class.
REL 260 | RELIGION AND POLITICAL CONFLICT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of the role of religions and religious movements in political conflicts. Particular sections will examine the relationship of religions to violence and peacemaking in different areas of the world.
REL 261 | RELIGION AND CONFLICT IN SOUTH ASIA | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Religion has become central to conflict in contemporary South Asia. This course examines the relationship between religion and conflict both within and between nations in South Asia. It will examine how religion fuels conflict as well as how religion is used to find a nonviolent resolution to conflict. It will also analyze how religion is used to challenge and resist victimization, marginalization, silencing, and indeed violence during conflict. Finally, the course will examine how the cultural politics of class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality constitute and are constituted by religion.
REL 262 | RELIGION AND GLOBALIZATION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of the moral, religious, and social dimensions of the phenomenon of globalization. Through a critical assessment of both the positive and the negative dimensions of globalization, students will seek to understand more fully the ethical implications of globalization for economics, culture, and society.
REL 263 | RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An exploration of Judaism, Christianity and Islam as they develop and interact in the Middle East, historically and in terms of contemporary religious and political issues. Includes a study of personal narratives of people from Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. Cross-listed with IWS 263.
REL 264 | COLONIZATION, RELIGION AND RESISTANCE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will explore the religious traditions and cultural identities of some of the peoples native to the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania; problems they have with the "civilized" world and their potential solutions to them.
REL 265 | ISLAMIST POLITICAL MOVEMENTS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will introduce the student to Islamic political movements around the globe. The course will look at their history as well as their intellectual and theological underpinnings. Cross-listed with IWS 265.
REL 266 | ISLAM IN THE UNITED STATES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will explore Muslim cultures in Canada and the U. S. While the course may also investigate histories, ethnicities and religious ideologies, the organizing focus will be on struggle, contestation, maturity and change. Although Canadian provinces and U.S. states claim that religion should present no bar to full participation in the public square and religious discrimination is illegal, Muslims, in fact, are challenged as citizens. Living in religious Diasporas as minorities, communities north and south of the Canadian border, Muslims have found themselves contesting notions of integration, pluralism and acculturation. Often labeled "as the enemies within," Muslims have laid their claims as productive citizens, determined to contribute to the security, welfare and advancement of their home. Cross-listed with IWS 266.
REL 268 | MODERN JUDAISM | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of central features of the modern Jewish experience including the transition from traditional to modern religious life and practice, American Judaism, the Holocaust, and the establishment of the State of Israel.
REL 270 | WOMEN IN THE BIBLE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of the historical role of women in the Bible and the contemporary concerns of feminist theology, women's spirituality and ethical issues arising from the contemporary application of these biblical texts to women's experiences.
REL 272 | GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN MUSLIM CULTURES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Explores historical and contemporary trends in writing on Muslim women along modern and contemporary narratives on gender and sexuality in Muslim majority and minority cultures. Cross-listed with IWS 272.
REL 273 | JESUS ACROSS CULTURES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of the multiple and diverse (primarily theological, but also literary, artistic and philosophical) historical and contemporary images of Jesus, as a way of understanding the diversity of this tradition and of its impacts on society, and of understanding the issue of plurality or diversity itself in religious traditions. Cross-listed with CTH 270.
REL 274 | IRELAND: RELIGION AND THE CONTEMPORARY "TROUBLES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course is an examination of the role of religions and religious movements in political conflicts. We will be working on understanding the modern conflict in Northern Ireland, a region in which history, memory, culture, religion, and politics have frequently collided to produce resentment and suspicion at best and brutal violence at worst. The period known as the "Troubles," roughly the late 1960s to the late 1990s, was notable for its frequent spasms of viciousness between and among people who divide themselves according to which of the Christian traditions, Catholic or Protestant, they claim as their own. Cross-listed with CTH 274 and IRE 103.
REL 275 | COMMUNITY AND AUTHORITY IN MEDIEVAL JUDAISM | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to the history, religion and culture of the Jewish people under Christendom and Islam from the fourth through the end of the fifteenth centuries.
REL 278 | GENDER IDENTITIES, SEXUALITY AND RELIGION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of the historical and contemporary complexities of gender identities and sexuality within major religious traditions.
REL 280 | ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL THINKING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of the Roman Catholic tradition of "faith seeking understanding'' examining the content and the process of emergence of Catholic beliefs about such matters as God, sin, Jesus Christ, revelation, the church and eschatology. Cross-listed with CTH 243.
REL 281 | ROMAN CATHOLIC LITURGY | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of the emergence, meaning and dynamics of ritual in the Roman Catholic tradition. Cross-listed with CTH 231.
REL 283 | ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT IN CONTEXT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A study of Roman Catholicism's understanding of its relation to the social world, including such matters as the relation between Church and State, the moral authority of the Church, and of its teaching on such issues as social ethics, politics and economics. Cross-listed with CTH 247.
REL 284 | CATHOLICISM AS A SPIRITUAL PATH | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An experience-centered study of the relationship between contemplation and action, prayer and service, liturgy and social justice, personal religious experience and the wider experience of Catholics. Both historical and contemporary spiritualities will be explored. Cross-listed with CTH 229.
REL 287 | ROMAN CATHOLIC MORAL THOUGHT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course examines various moral topics within a Roman Catholic framework. Papal pronouncements, Magisterial statements, Episcopal texts, the works of influential theologians, and critical voices both within and beyond the Church will be critically examined. Special attention will be paid to the method of moral argumentation.
REL 290 | LATINX LIBERATION TRADITIONS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
What does liberation mean in the context of the Americas today? How have people of Latin American descent -- both in Latin America and the United States -- connected conceptions of liberation to related ideas of liberty and freedom, as well as to notions of political revolution, cultural identity, and prophetic forms of religious faith? This course examines how these questions have been theorized across the Latino/a Americas, especially as they relate to questions of religion. Topics include liberation philosophy, critical pedagogy, prophetic religion, cultural praxis, Latina feminism, and decolonial thought. Cross-listed with LST 290.
REL 291 | LIBERATION THEOLOGIES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of religious traditions such as Catholicism, indigenous religions, and Protestantism in Latin America, with special focus on how these traditions have been transplanted and reshaped upon entry into varied Latino communities in the United States. Historical analyses of the Latin American roots of these traditions will provide contextualization for the ongoing examination of transnational religious cultures in the U.S. Cross-listed with LST 291.
REL 295 | SHI'ITE ISLAM | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will look at the history and the various divisions of Shi'i Islam. Cross-listed with IWS 295.
REL 298 | THEORY AND METHOD IN THE STUDY OF RELIGION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course introduces students to the history of the discipline of religious studies with special attention to its emergence in the contexts of colonialism and the Enlightenment. The first goal of this course is for students to acquire a beginning understanding of how the field was constructed as a discipline of study and to explore the connections of its foundational methods of inquiry to the particular historical contexts in which those methods were developed. The second goal of this class is to expose students to important contemporary conversations within the discipline through the exploration of selected areas of inquiry and methods of analysis.
Any 100-level REL course is a prerequisite for this class.
REL 299 | RELIGIOUS STUDIES, OFF-CAMPUS | 4-8 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Religious Studies credits earned off-campus. Topics vary.
REL 300 | THEORIES OF CULTURE AND RELIGION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This seminar explores contemporary approaches used to study religion as a cultural phenomenon. Drawing on scholarship from a variety of disciplines that has shaped the academic study of religion, we will explore the relationship among religion, culture, and power in the contemporary world. We will examine some of the key issues that confront scholars in the field as they grapple with the politics of knowledge production and representation in the contemporary world.
REL 301 | THEORIES OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An interdisciplinary investigation into the nature of religious experience drawing on the fields of anthropology, psychology, sociology, and theology.
REL 302 | THEORIES OF RELIGION AND ETHICS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This seminar explores the intersection between religion and ethics, centering on the question of how the study of religion contributes to contemporary academic discourse on ethics and, in turn, how the discipline of ethics helps to deepen understanding of the roles of religion in society. To this end, the course prepares students not only to grapple with religious and ethical theories, but also to analyze modern economic, political, social and environmental structures with critical attention to the religious worldviews and ethical frameworks that emerge out of, and at once underwrite, those structures. The course is therefore designed to enable students to bring familiar norms, traditions, and cultural behaviors under critical scrutiny. Consequently, the nature of this seminar is comparative, proceeding through comparisons both within and among diverse religious traditions.
REL 305 | TOPICS IN RELIGION AND CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Examines particular issues in the relationship between religion and culture. Specific topics for current offering are noted in the current class schedule.
REL 322 | FEMINIST ETHICS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An investigation of theoretical issues regarding women's moral experiences and of feminist ethical arguments combatting various forms of oppression.
REL 340 | INQUIRIES IN WORLD RELIGIONS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Various topics within the comparative study of religions. Specific topics for current offering are noted in the current schedule.
REL 342 | ZEN MIND | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Mind, due to its purported ability to achieve enlightenment, is at the center of Zen theories and practices. This course explores several aspects of Zen in relation to the discourse of mind in East Asia and features three main components: Buddhist meditation (dhy/na/chan) in India and China, how Chan developed into Zen in Japan, and the possible dialogue between Zen and contemporary philosophy. The topics include, but are not limited to the nature of mind, meditative experiences, intuition, koans, and Zen aesthetics.
REL 344 | YOGA AND TANTRA | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An examination of the history, philosophy and cultural meaning of body-oriented liberative techniques as they developed on the Indian subcontinent and Himalayan region in Hinduism and Buddhism. Students registering for this course are expected to have studied one or both of these traditions in courses such as REL 142, 143, 242, or 243, or in other courses. Background in theory is also useful. Cross-listed with AAS 344.
REL 351 | LIBERATION THEOLOGY | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Focuses upon the ideas and practices of a radical movement for the transformation of Christianity and for social justice that originated in the "Basic Christian Communities" of Latin America and spread from there to North America and the Third World. Entails either an Applied Research or Service Learning component. Cross-listed with CTH 341 and PAX 331.
REL 362 | JEWS AND THEIR MESSIAHS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will introduce students to the history of messianic beliefs in Judaism from biblical times to the present. It is often assumed that "messianism," i.e. the belief in a savior figure destined to come in the future to usher in a new age of redemption and moral goodness, has always been central to Judaism. The course will examine whether our modern concept of "messianism" can be used as a valid tool to describe Jewish religious experience. The course will also analyze the extent to which Jewish messianic beliefs varied over time by examining major messianic texts and movements in their historical, literary, and cultural contexts.
Sophomore standing or above is a prerequisite for this class.
REL 370 | FEMINIST THEOLOGIES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An exploration of women's experience as a primary resource and norm for theology, focusing on themes of inclusion, exclusion, representation and liberation in particular social, political and historical contexts.
REL 382 | RELIGION IN THE CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An advanced examination of traditional communities and contemporary movements in the United States.
REL 390 | INTEGRATING SEMINAR | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This seminar is intended for Religious Studies majors and is designed around existing research projects in which students demonstrate their ability to analyze specific examples of religion in cultural context and to situate their analytical perspectives within particular approaches in the academic study of religion. Class readings and discussions will help students reflect critically on the relation of religious studies as a discipline to other disciplines, to their previous coursework, and to their intellectual development. Students will be expected to present their research projects at a meeting of the Religious Studies department, and encouraged to present their work in other venues.
Junior Standing or above is a prerequisite for this class.
REL 392 | FOREIGN STUDY IN RELIGION | 4-8 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Under this number, students taking courses in religion or theology as part of a DePaul-sponsored program of study abroad may receive Religious Studies credit when approved in advance by the director of the Foreign Studies Program and the chair of the Religious Studies Department.
REL 393 | INTERNSHIP IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Open only to students working on Religious Studies major or minor concentrations. For more information contact the department chair.
Junior Standing or above is a prerequisite for this class.
REL 397 | SENIOR THESIS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Religious Studies majors who wish to undertake a special project of independent study are encouraged to apply. Student works towards completion of a special project under the direction of a project coordinator and faculty committee of three. Student must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.000 overall, 3.100 in Religious Studies courses, and permission of the department chair.
REL 399 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | 3-5 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Independent Study course done under the supervision of a faculty member with the permission of the Department Chair.
Junior Standing or above is a prerequisite for this class.