DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES

There is no understating the significance of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in Western Culture. The Bible is a text that has been repeatedly turned to for spiritual guidance, for explanations of mankind's origins and as the basis of both classical art and contemporary cinema. English idiom is peppered with phrases that originate in the Hebrew Bible and many a modern political clash can be understood as a conflict over what the Bible's messages and their implications. This course introduces students to the Hebrew Bible by reading sections of most of the Bible's books. But reading is itself a complicated enterprise. The Bible has been put to many different uses; even within the world of academic scholarship, the Bible is sometimes a source of history, sometimes a religious manual, sometimes a primitive legal code and sometimes a work of classical literature. This course will introduce students to the various challenges that present themselves within the study of the Hebrew Bible and the varied approaches scholars take when reading the Hebrew Bible. This course is a critical introduction to the Hebrew Bible. (Spring 2020, Professor Barry Wimpfheimer)

Nonviolence refers to any spiritual, ethical, or political disposition that refuses to use violence in the navigation of daily life and/or in the resolution of conflict. It is found in cultures around the globe and throughout history. Some people and communities feel a strong ethical or spiritual impulse toward nonviolence. For them, nonviolence is a matter of principle and may or may not also be seen as a tool for political change. For others, nonviolent strategies are ways to resolve social conflict at all levels. In the 20^th century nonviolence came to be seen as a powerful force against repressive regimes. This course will examine critically the theory and practice of nonviolence and assess its limitations and potential. We will begin look at the feasibility of nonviolence for our species through an inquiry into the interconnection between violence, nonviolence, and human nature. We will look at the role of spiritual and ethical conviction in the establishment of nonviolent dispositions and explore the uses and limits of nonviolence toward contemporary political ends. (Spring 2020, Professor Mark McClish)

Islamic law – the sacred law of Islam grounded in the Qur’an, the practice of the Prophet Muhammad, and the writings of Muslim scholars and jurists – stretches back nearly 1400 years. This course offers, first, an overview of the origins and evolution of Islamic law from the life of Muhammad to end of the classical era. We then seek, secondly, to understand how colonialism and the modern nation-state affected the conceptualization and implementation of Islamic law in the modern period. To these ends, we look in-depth at two specific areas of law – marriage and divorce, and criminal law – in two specific regions: the Ottoman empire and contemporary Iran. *Counts towards Religion, Law and Politics (RLP) major concentration. *Prerequisite: 250 or consent of instructor. (Spring 2020, Professor Brannon Ingram)​

The central question of this course is: What Makes a Difference? Analyzing a variety of works of media addressing environmental themes, including works drawn from advertising and marketing, we will consider different types of environmental messaging and attempts to mobilize public moral engagement. (Spring 2020, Professor Sarah Taylor).

“Interest in media has become one of the most significant areas of academic growth in the study of religion over the past twenty years" [Mia Lövheim and Gordon Lynch, Culture and Religion.] In this graduate seminar, we dive into one of today’s most exciting and rapidly expanding areas of scholarship – the intriguing intersections and complex entanglements of religion and media. Drawing from a diverse array of interdisciplinary sources, and taking cognizance of the intertwined histories of media and religion, we will explore what media studies and communication theories have to offer the study of religion and, reciprocally, how religious studies scholarship might enrich media studies. We will look at such areas as: how religion gets mediated; the religious dimensions of transmedia storytelling and media world-building; religion as communication; online group identity formation and religious identity construction; the blurred boundaries between the so-called “sacred and the secular” in the study of religion and media; conducting netnography and its research applications; controversies and conflicts in both religious institutions and media worlds over the authorized and unauthorized circulation of content; and how a better understanding of intermediality in the digital age might inform our theoretical understandings of religion.  Of particular interest in this course will be the impact of digital culture on the media-religion interface. Students will be asked to conduct original research, compose a final seminar paper, and to present their research in a conference-like format at the conclusion of the course.  Students will also receive an introduction to key professional organizations, guilds, and research centers that support work on media, religion, and culture. (Spring 2020, Professor Sarah Taylor)