RLGS 4001 Judaism (4 Credits)

This course will consist of a literary and historical journey through Judaism. Because Judaism is strongly rooted in written traditions and their interpretations, this class will examine the “Jewish story” from its roots to its modern-day manifestations across various times and spaces. To do so, this course will focus on reading select primary classic Jewish texts in their historical contexts and will secondarily shed light on the development of Jewish tradition and practice familiar today. We will actively engage with and in the vivid interpretive imagination that is so characteristic of the authors of Judaism throughout the ages, and students will have the opportunity to experience first-hand various Jewish spaces.

RLGS 4050 History of Islam (4 Credits)

RLGS 4102 Early Judaism (4 Credits)

This course traces the development of Judaism in history and literature from the biblical period until the completion of the Babylonian Talmud and the triumph of rabbinic Judaism (c. 450 BCE to the c. 650 CE), but will focus primarily on the pivotal era of late Second Temple Period (c. 200 BCE-100 CE). Our primary activity will consist of reading primary Jewish sources and in doing so, we will briefly survey the foundational biblical heritage and how the biblical traditions were reinterpreted as Jews adapted to new social settings. Special attention will be placed on how "bible" came to be and how textual interpretation became the central activity and core marker of identity for Jews at the formation of the Hebrew Bible and end of the Jerusalem Temple. The emergence of new "peoples of the book" laid the foundation for the role of the written law and the authority of sacred texts, which continues to shape various Bible-reading religions and cultures today.

RLGS 4149 The Bible & Dead Sea Scrolls (4 Credits)

This course takes an in-depth look at the 2000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls, with a particular focus on what they reveal about the development of Bible and other “lost” traditions of the Bible. Students will learn about various biblical and para-biblical traditions found in the Scrolls and will be challenged to think about the complex history of how “Bible” came to be for different groups today. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain the earliest substantial copies of the Hebrew Bible and some of the earliest examples of biblical interpretation, which becomes a defining activity for Jews (and later Christians) during the end of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and the beginnings of early Christianity. Students will have a rare look at these mysterious texts that some have called the greatest archaeological find in biblical history.

RLGS 4151 Dead Sea Scrolls (4 Credits)

The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the most exciting and enigmatic collections of ancient texts. This library of nearly 1,000 scrolls contains some of the only surviving primary texts from the end of the Hebrew Bible and the advent of (rabbinic) Judaism and the Jesus movement. Contemporaneous to Jesus and other notable Jewish rabbis and movements, the Dead Sea Scrolls challenge us to rethink many earlier assumptions about the origins of Judaism and Christianity, the formation of biblical texts, authority of the sacred text and “lost” biblical manuscripts. The course will provide students with an overview of the literature contained in the Dead Sea library, the archaeology of the site at Qumran, theories about who wrote these ancient texts, and the state of the field in studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Students will read and interpret these texts in English translation, while graduate students will have the opportunity to read some original texts when possible.

RLGS 4192 Christian Literature (4 Credits)

During the early centuries of Christianity, a large number of texts were produced. These texts were written by early Christians who were recording stories and documenting their beliefs about this new religion. By the fourth century, these texts were separated into canonical (which became the New Testament) and non-canonical, or apocryphal, texts (which were not included in the New Testament). Yet, even after this division, texts continued to be written, copied, and preserved. This course will focus on a selection of New Testament apocryphal texts including infancy gospels, apocryphal gospels, apocryphal acts, and apocalypses. The primary focus will be critically reading and thinking about the texts themselves, but a secondary focus will be considering what these texts tell us about the development of Christianity.

RLGS 4201 Religion and Revelry in Rome (4 Credits)

Rome is a city filled with references to religion. The Pantheon and the Roman forum remind visitors of the centuries where Romans worshiped gods and goddesses; the Vatican and numerous other Catholic churches exemplify the religion that dominates the current context of Italy: Christianity. This travel course will immerse students in both the ancient and the contemporary religious revelry that is found in Rome and the surrounding regions including Florence and Naples. Students will experience Italy through visits to museums, community dinners, archaeological sites, tours, food, and dialogue.

RLGS 4203 Christianity (4 Credits)

This is an introductory course about the Christian religion, with a substantial component devoted to experiential learning. The primary goal of the course is to acquaint students with the richness, dynamism and diversity of one of the world’s largest and most influential religious traditions. Even those students who have some general knowledge of Christianity benefit from the disciplined approach of the academic study of religion.

RLGS 4300 Psychology of Religion (4 Credits)

This course encourages theoretical and empirical study of the psyche and religious thought, feeling and behavior. It relies on research articles to examine the rationales for psychological theories of religion and the support extent of empirical support for them. It also includes the reading of depth psychologies that theorize unconscious elements of religious teachings and practices. It draws on the authors' presentations of their positions to launch critiques of other authors' writing. It includes an individually written paper based on a group's field observation of religious practice.

RLGS 4302 Islamic Fundamentalism (4 Credits)

This course introduces graduate students to the history and scope of fundamentalist movements in the Muslim world, focusing on the Middle East. Beginning with a look at internal traditions of renewal and reform, the course examines the rise of major movements from the 1700s to the present. Students will engage with key questions, including: What distinguishes fundamentalism from radicalism? How do Sunni and Shii fundamentalisms differ? What roles have these movements played in politics and society, and how might these evolve in the future? How might policy makers and others best approach fundamentalist groups?.

RLGS 4315 Religion & Moral Psychology (4 Credits)

In this course we will explore different ways the psyche (mind or soul) has been understood to function in moral life. Some of the conceptions about the psyche come from modern psychology, some from philosophy, some from religion. We will begin to see mutual influences among psychologies, philosophies, and religions, and to critique scholars' models of their intersection.

RLGS 4350 Culture, Psyche, and Religion (4 Credits)

This course will prepare students to explore the intersections of cultural, psychological, and religious studies approaches to religions. The capacity to explore is the long-range aim, so the particular models studied and critiqued in this course are meant introduce the process of investigation rather than to answer all questions about how culture, psyche, and religion intersect. Through readings of influential scholars’ writings and research, and through their own writing, students will learn the outlines of particular approaches to these topics. The course helps fill the “theory” requirement in the study of religion for Religious Studies majors, minors, M.A. students, and certificate students.

RLGS 4370 Freud, Psychology, & Religion (4 Credits)

This course explores the life and work of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and the uses of his theories in studies and theories of religion and culture. Of prime importance is Freud’s understanding of how symbols arise from the unconscious and work in conscious life. We will first emphasize ideas from Freud’s earlier writings that expound what is known as the “first topography” and his earlier instinct theory. Then we will pursue his thought through works that lead to his later theory of the mind, the more familiar “id-ego-super-ego” model, as well as the later theory of the instincts of life and death. We will consult sources that help us understand influences of culture on Freud’s thought and the ways that people of different cultures today appropriate it. We will look at analyses of religion by later scholars who are heavily influenced by Freud’s ideas.

RLGS 4448 Theory of the Subject: From Hegel to Zizek (4 Credits)

The great French philosopher Michel Foucault in his Collège de France lectures in the early 1980s characterized the theory of the subject as the very key to the development both of Western philosophy and Western thinking in general. This course will explore Foucault’s thesis with reference to different theoretical models of subjectivity and “subjectification” (as Jacques Lacan calls it). It will do so through close readings of selections from the works of G.W.F. Hegel, Søren Kierkegaard, Lacan, Alain Badiou, and Slavoj Žižek as well as select portions from Foucault’s lectures on the “subject”.

RLGS 4452 Political Theology (4 Credits)

The course will investigate the relationship between political theory and the varieties of late modern religious and theological thinking that is known as “political theology”, a term coined by the 20th century German jurist and philosopher Carl Schmitt. Rather than constituting a general survey, the course will focus exclusively during this go-round on the foundational and quintessential issue of political theology as characterized by Schmitt, namely, that of “sovereignty”. Major works of the twenty and twenty-first century addressing the issue of sovereignty, including the writings of Schmitt, will be considered in the course.

RLGS 4453 Is God a Racist Sexist?: Black Liberation and Womanist Theology (4 Credits)

This graduate-level course offers an in-depth examination of Black liberation theology and womanist theology as critical traditions within modern Christian thought and religious studies. Grounded in the historical experiences of African American communities, these theological frameworks engage questions of race, gender, class, sexuality, and power, articulating religious responses to oppression and envisioning practices of liberation and justice. The course traces the emergence of Black liberation theology in the context of slavery, segregation, and the Black Freedom Struggle, alongside the development of womanist theology as a critical intervention that centers the religious, ethical, and cultural insights of Black women. Students will engage foundational and contemporary texts by key thinkers such as James H. Cone, Delores S. Williams, William Jones, Albert Cleage, Jr., Jacquelyn Grant, Kelly Brown Douglas, and others. Through close reading and critical analysis, the course explores how scripture, doctrine, ethics, and lived experience are reinterpreted through the lenses of Black and womanist thought. Attention is given to methodological questions, critiques of Eurocentric theology, intersections with feminist, postcolonial, and queer theories, and the ongoing relevance of these traditions for religious scholarship and social praxis.

RLGS 4454 Capitalism, Religion, Democrac (4 Credits)

The course explores the historical and contemporary relationship between capitalism, religion, and democracy at a theoretical level. Focus will be on the question of what exactly is capitalism as understood by key political philosophers and social theorists in relationship to the religious world views and values that authorize it. At the same time, the course will examine in what measure these world views and values also promote liberal democracy, or work against it, while offering a genealogical account of such phenomena as slavery, colonialism, gender and class domination, along with present day iterations of populism and neoliberal hegemony.

RLGS 4460 Nietzsche & the Death of God (4 Credits)

The course will explore the writings of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche with attention to select texts, especially his magnum opus entitled Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The course will be conducted primarily as an intensive seminar with students engaged in collaborative research and discussion under the guidance of the instructor.

RLGS 4465 Derrida and Postmodernism (4 Credits)

The course will explore the origins of “post-structuralist” (commonly known as “postmodern”) philosophy and religious thought with specific consideration of the early writings of Jacques Derrida and the notion of “deconstruction.”  Readings will include key selections from certain philosophers such as Hegel, Heidegger, and Husserl who have significantly impacted the development of the concept of “deconstruction” as well as the major writings of Derrida prior to 1980.

RLGS 4500 Islam (4 Credits)

Introduction to the history, faith, practice, culture(s), and politics of Islam, starting with the Judeo-Christian Near Eastern context in which it emerged and tracing its theological development and geographic spread around the world. Proceeding thematically along a broad historical frame, the course ends with an examination of the numerous, often competing, trends in contemporary Muslim communities.

RLGS 4502 Contemporary Islam (4 Credits)

This course introduces graduate students to the broad array of approaches to and practices of Islam around the world in the contemporary era. It argues that the past 250 years have seen a democratization of Islam, marked by the flattening out of previously existing hierarchies and the increasing importance of the individual believer. At the same time, under colonial and ‘modernizing’ pressures, formal religious study has been increasingly relegated to formal courses taught in secondary schools or universities, both of which in many countries are subject to heavy government regulation. The effect has been to discredit ‘official’ clerics while empowering individual believers to interpret faith and practice for themselves – with equally progressive and radical results. After a historical overview, the course looks thematically at different spheres of Muslim life. It considers changes that relate to political systems and forms of governance, styles of education, labor and professional work, changes in daily life habits such as timing and organization, changes in gender relations, and changes in ordinary believers’ relationships with religious authority figures. It also pays attention to the ways in which faith and practice are articulated through cultural practices like pop music and film.

RLGS 4503 Qur’an and Hadith (4 Credits)

This course introduces students to the key texts of Islam--the Qur’an and Hadith--including their origins and meaning as well as how they have been interpreted by Muslims over time. It focuses as well on case studies that highlight issues of crucial relevance for today and the future.

RLGS 4504 Islam and Gender (4 Credits)

This graduate course introduces students to key debates, historical developments, and thematic issues in the study of Islam and gender. It grounds this study in theoretical texts but takes a lived religions approach, focusing primarily on the production of "modern" gender norms in the colonial and post-colonial era. It proceeds thematically, with class sessions on sexualities, dress, reproduction, family roles, masculinities, pious self-construction, and the gendering of pilgrimage, and concludes with a look at contemporary and likely future debates.

RLGS 4642 Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Civil Rights (4 Credits)

This graduate-level course offers a comparative study of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. as religious, political, and ethical thinkers whose visions profoundly shaped the modern Civil Rights Movement. Situating both figures within the broader contexts of African American religious history, Black nationalism, and American democracy, the course examines how differing theological commitments, rhetorical strategies, and political philosophies informed their approaches to racial justice, nonviolence, self-determination, and social transformation. Students will analyze primary sources including speeches, sermons, autobiographical writings, and interviews, alongside critical secondary scholarship. Particular attention is given to Malcolm X’s evolving religious thought—from the Nation of Islam to Sunni Islam—and its implications for Black dignity, human rights, and global consciousness, as well as King’s theological grounding in the Black church, Christian personalism, Gandhian nonviolence, and democratic socialism. The course explores common misconceptions that flatten their legacies, emphasizing points of convergence as well as substantive differences in their understandings of religion, violence, love, citizenship, and resistance. Through close textual analysis and seminar discussion, students will assess how Malcolm X and King engaged religious traditions to critique American racial structures and imagine alternative moral and political futures. The course also considers their enduring influence on contemporary movements for racial justice and the ongoing relevance of their thought within religious studies and social ethics.

RLGS 4645 Religious Nationalisms: A Comparative Approach to White Christian Nationalism and Hindu Nationalism (4 Credits)

This course examines the religious nationalism in the context of South Asia and the US. We investigate the religion, identity, politics, and power with readings/materials that explore historical memory, religious symbols/rituals/canon, political upheavals, and violent actions in both regions. In the context of South Asia, we will examine the British colonial period and post-independence India. In the US, we will focus our attention on post-Civil War politics and the development of the modern US polity. We necessarily interrogate the history and dynamism of important terms such as “religion”, “nationalism”, and “secular” in the context of Hindu Nationalism and white Christian Nationalism in South Asia and the US respectively. At the core of our inquiry is how specific religious traditions have been invoked in political contexts (and vice-versa), public displays of religiosity, and the complex dynamics of religion and the state. The case studies for this course will focus on religious nationalism within Hindu, Sikh, and Islamic contexts within South Asia and various iterations of white Protestant Christianity in US. More broadly, we will also delve into the intersections of religious and national identity in terms of its impact on belonging, citizenship, communities, and the making of cultural publics in both the US and South Asia. In considering what constitutes “religious nationalism”, we engage with questions of religious identity, networks of knowledge and power, the role of the state, and violence.

RLGS 4695 Digital Religion (4 Credits)

This course introduces students to the study of digital religion from a lived religions perspective, including how artificial intelligence is impacting religious belief and practice. It begins with an examination of the history, concepts and methods of the field, and continues with thematic explorations of digital religion and artificial intelligence scholarship across varied religious traditions. Students develop an understanding of how scholars study religion and spiritual identities, beliefs, and practices online, and how the religious and digital arenas influence and shape one another.

RLGS 4705 Acts and Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (4 Credits)

The book of Acts, found in the New Testament, tells the story of the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to the broader Roman world. Full of drama, miracles, and comedic scenes, Acts of the Apostles bridges the gap between Jesus in the Gospels and Paul’s letters. Later Christians wrote similar “Acts” that featured the travels and teachings of other apostles and these texts are known as the Apocryphal Acts. Widely read in the first few centuries of early Christianity, the Apocryphal Acts include women, enslaved persons, and questions about sexuality. This course will focus on the primary texts of the canonical and apocryphal Acts. Students will read these texts closely with a focus on the portrayals of early Christianity found within the narratives. Topics to be discussed include: gender, sexuality, status, class, disability, and violence.

RLGS 4707 Religion and Film (4 Credits)

Understanding religion requires us to take culture seriously. In doing so, we must consider products of culture, including popular culture. This course engages both classic and more recent films as “texts” to be analyzed, not as mere entertainments or diversions. We focus not only on those films that identify themselves explicitly as “religious” or reflect a particular religious tradition, but also movies that render the subject more obliquely, which reveal – via image and sound – religion as a complex human activity.

RLGS 4732 Feminist and Queer Theory in Religion (4 Credits)

This course explores the intersection of feminist and queer theories with religious studies. Beginning with feminist theory, we will trace the beginning of the feminist movement and consider the ways in which religion participated and also resisted feminism. Moving into queer theory, we will critically examine gender and sexuality and center these topics in the field of religious studies. During the course, students will reinterpret religious texts through the use of feminist and queer theory, providing a challenging critique, an imaginative reframing, or even a queering of a sacred text.

RLGS 4740 Bodies and Souls (4 Credits)

This course will examine the unique place of the body and embodiment as a construct in biblical religions. We will ask how the Bible and its interpreters have shaped current views on sex and the gendered body in contemporary cultures. How has the Bible been (mis)used in relation to current understandings of the physical body? Is the saying that a "human" does not have a body, but is a body as true for the Hebrew Bible as the Christian New Testament? How has Judaism and Christianity (de)valued sexuality, procreation, and celibacy? How has the Bible been used and misused in historical colonialism and related constructs of race and ethnicity? How do the biblical traditions shape some modern opinions about the ideal physical body and body modification? How can we understand "out-of-body" experiences and notions of death and afterlife in Abrahamic religious traditions? Students will be encouraged to self-reflect on their own lenses of interpretations and think critically about their own beliefs from a uniquely embodied perspective.

RLGS 4760 Globalization and Religion: Theory and Methods (4 Credits)

The course will explore how religious movements around the world both affect, and are affected by, the process of globalization. A major segment of the course will be devoted to various theories of globalization and how they account for the increasingly important role of religion in the twenty-first century. Focus will be on the various theories of the relationship between religion and culture in a globalizing, and de-globalizing, world.

RLGS 4814 Modern Hinduism (4 Credits)

Doctrines, practices and history of South Asian Hinduism; conceptions of Gods and gods; image worship and temples; and the influences of caste and gender on the experience of Hinduism.

RLGS 4820 Buddhism (4 Credits)

This is an advanced overview of Buddhist history and Buddhist traditions around the world. The course charts the history of the tradition from its place of origin in India to other regions of Asia and around the globe. The course exposes students to foundational pieces of Buddhist literature and introduces aspects of Buddhist ethics, meditation, ritual, and philosophy. There will also be significant reading and discussion on the topics of Buddhist identity, adaptations of Buddhism in the modern world, and the legacies of colonialism on Buddhist traditions. Students will have to complete two site visits (in-person or virtually).

RLGS 4832 Religious Lives: The Dalai Lamas (4 Credits)

This course explores the many lives of the Dalai Lamas and the transformation of a reincarnated religious teacher into the political leader of Tibet and, eventually, a worldwide religious personality. In order to understand that transformation, the course investigates the institution of the Dalai Lamas from historical, doctrinal, and ritual perspectives. We will look at the role of the Dalai Lama as an embodiment of the bodhisattva of compassion at the center of a tapestry of religious ceremony and ritual performances. We will examine and compare how the current, fourteenth, Dalai Lama is represented in Tibetan, Chinese, and English language sources. The course will also consider the religious, ethical, and political thought of several of the most prominent Dalai Lamas, with significant attention given to the writings and work of the current Dalai Lama.

RLGS 4890 Religion and Diaspora (4 Credits)

In this course we will explore the meaning of land, exile and diaspora and the connection between space and place. What is the relationship between place and the construction of religious identity? What does the land have to do with it? How can we understand the construction of “landless religion?” How can “center” vs. “periphery” be understood within the religious imagination, especially in light of other intersectional identities of race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, etc.? How have the biblical themes of exodus, diaspora, promise and restoration been applied to contemporary experiences? How have these ideas empowered or oppressed communities, even until today? Through primary and secondary readings and sources, students will be encouraged to think critically about their own beliefs, identities and social location. How do power and memory shape our own theories about land and sacred?.

RLGS 4891 Justice: A Biblical Perspective (4 Credits)

In this course, we study and critique various religious, theological, philosophical and ethical theories of justice. In the process, we explore the ways in which the Bible and various related religious traditions have impacted these notions of and attempts towards achieving (social) justice, thinking critically about the historical and socio-cultural role this sacred text has played in histories of oppression and liberation. We will always keep an eye towards intersectionality, questioning how overlapping identities of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, socio-economic status, and religion have impacted the quest for justice. In the end, students will be asked to self-reflect about their own positionality and how they can contribute to a more just and equitable world.

RLGS 4893 Buddhism and Social Justice (4 Credits)

The course introduces major Engaged Buddhist movements from Asia and around the globe. It offers knowledge and provides reflection opportunities for differentiating between self-designation practices by Engaged Buddhists and analytical approaches to the development and agency of contemporary Buddhist movements. It contextualizes these movements from a historical perspective, focusing on the emergence of the pan-Asian Buddhist renewal around 1900. Often originating in Asia, Buddhist movements are today acting globally, and the course enables the students to understand Engaged Buddhism in the context of global religious actors.

RLGS 4980 Internship (1-4 Credits)

Designed to provide masters students with valuable experience in non-profit, educational, faith-based, governmental, and related organizations. It helps students translate the knowledge and analytical skills learned in Religious Studies courses into a professional context, while exploring potential career paths and professional opportunities. Students interested in pursuing an internship must meet with the Undergraduate Advisor at the start of the previous quarter to discuss internship goals and identify potential placements. Students meet weekly with a faculty supervisor to monitor their internship experience, and complete the internship by writing a reflective essay. For MA students only.

RLGS 4981 Internship in Religious Community (1-4 Credits)

RLGS 4990 Religious Studies: Graduate Careers of Purpose (1 Credit)

This professional development course for Religious Studies graduate students blends academic insight with professional exploration. It is part of the CAHSS 4D Career Fridays initiative, supporting CAHSS students in developing careers and lives of purpose. Students will engage with Religious Studies alumni working in diverse fields, learn about and apply NACE career readiness competencies to their courses and program of study, and complete reflective exercises that help them envision meaningful career futures after completing the MA program. Through reflective practice and creative thinking, this course will help students translate their graduate-level religious studies skills and knowledge into versatile career pathways.

RLGS 4991 Independent Study (1-10 Credits)

RLGS 4995 Independent Research (1-10 Credits)

RLGS 5991 Independent Study (1-10 Credits)