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Religious Studies Courses
| 032:001 Judeo-Christian Tradition |
3 s.h. |
| Introduction to Judaism and Christianity with focus on biblical foundation and historical development of these related traditions; texts and other forms of religious expression, especially art, music, literature; readings from Hebrew Bible, New Testament, selected Jewish and Christian thinkers. GE: historical perspectives. |
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| 032:002 Religion and Society |
3 s.h. |
| Meaning of religious questions and answers in traditional and modern social contexts in the West. Offered spring semesters. GE: humanities. |
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| 032:003 Quest for Human Destiny |
3 s.h. |
| Quests for destiny in terms of perceived options/goals and ability to recognize, pursue, achieve them. GE: humanities. |
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| 032:004 Living Religions of the East |
3 s.h. |
| Religious beliefs, practices in India, China, Japan. GE: foreign civilization and culture or historical perspectives. Same as 039:064. |
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| 032:006 Introduction to Buddhism |
3 s.h. |
| Basic tenets, religious paradigms, historical phases important in the development of Buddhism; from the Buddha's life to evolution of Mah:mac.ay:mac.ana Buddhism; readings from India, Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia. GE: foreign civilization and culture or humanities. Same as 039:006. |
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| 032:008 Asian Humanities: India |
3 s.h. |
| Four thousand years of South Asian civilization. GE: foreign civilization and culture or humanities. Same as 039:018. |
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| 032:009 Asian Humanities: China |
3 s.h. |
| GE: foreign civilization and culture or humanities. Same as 039:019. |
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| 032:010 Chinese Religions |
3 s.h. |
| Survey of Chinese religions; Chinese traditional religious beliefs and practices among the elite and the general population; recent developments in mainland China, Taiwan, and the West; religious ideas of Confucianism, Daoism, aspects of Buddhism, ancestor worship, cults of deities, practices such as spirit possession, faith healing, ghost marriages. Same as 039:007. |
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| 032:011 Introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament |
3 s.h. |
| History, religion, and thought of ancient Jews as recorded in their scripture. |
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| 032:012 Introduction to the New Testament |
3 s.h. |
| History, religion, and thought of early Christians as recorded in the New Testament. |
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| 032:014 Introduction to Indian Religions |
3 s.h. |
| Religions with origins in the South Asian geographic region (e.g., Vedas in mid-second millennium BCE, Jainism and Buddhism from sixth to fourth centuries BCE, Sikhism in 15th century, Indian Christianity, Islam); focus on Hinduism and Buddhism; rise of varied literary forms, ritual, rise of devotional religion, Tantra, how religious practices affect indigenous medical traditions, how these traditions developed in different South Asian regions; broad changes in South Asian religion in 20th and early 21st centuries, current politicization of religion. |
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| 032:016 Religion and Liberation |
3 s.h. |
| Reflections on the life stories of Black Elk, Maya Angelou, and the Dalai Lama. GE: cultural diversity or humanities. |
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| 032:017 Religion in Japanese Culture |
3 s.h. |
| Introduction to Japanese religious and aesthetic traditions from early times through the early modern period; prehistoric artifacts, literature, poetry, drama, architecture, landscaping, tea practices, the visual arts. Same as 39J:017. |
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| 032:020 War and Peace in Western Religious Thought |
3 s.h. |
| History, major themes, and contemporary applications of western religious traditions regarding proper use of armed force; Christian just war and pacifist traditions, Islamic traditions of jihad, debates of issues such as humanitarian intervention, terrorism, nuclear weapons. |
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| 032:025 Medieval Religion and Culture |
3 s.h. |
| Religion in Europe from classical antiquity to dawn of the Reformation; the religious element in traditions such as art, architecture, literature. GE: historical perspectives. Same as 016:035. |
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| 032:026 Modern Religion and Culture |
3 s.h. |
| European and American religious life from Renaissance to 21st century; focus on specific themes, such as secularism, regionalism, pluralism. GE: historical perspectives. Same as 016:036. |
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| 032:030 Introduction to Islam |
3 s.h. |
| Major areas of Islamic religious tradition: Qur'an, traditions of the Prophet, development and character of Islamic law, theology. GE: foreign civilization and culture and historical perspectives. |
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| 032:032 Introduction to Qur'an |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:034 Introduction to African American Religions |
3 s.h. |
| GE: cultural diversity or humanities. Same as 129:050. |
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| 032:042 Religion, Ethics, and Politics |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:051 Religious Thinkers of the West |
3 s.h. |
| Augustine, Bonaventure, Fichte, Kierkegaard, Heidegger. GE: humanities. |
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| 032:052 Women in Islam and the Middle East |
3 s.h. |
| Women in the Islamic community and in non-Muslim Middle Eastern cultures; early rise of Islam to modern times; references to women in the Qur'an and Sunnah, stories from Islamic history; women and gender issues. GE: foreign civilization and culture or humanities. Same as 131:060. |
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| 032:054 Introduction to Catholicism |
3 s.h. |
| Catholic doctrine, liturgy, moral teaching. |
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| 032:055 Religion and Violence in America |
3 s.h. |
| Movements in North American history marked by violence (i.e., Peoples Temple, Lakota Ghost Dance, Branch Davidians, Shawnee Movement); the role of violence in expressing and shaping some religious movements. |
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| 032:056 Christianity in the United States |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:057 Religion in Modern India |
3 s.h. |
| Topics vary. |
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| 032:058 Liturgy and Devotion in Christian Tradition |
3 s.h. |
| Liturgical traditions and devotional practices in western Christianity; Medieval Christian tradition, changes in liturgy and devotion that occurred with reformations of the 16th and 17th centuries; overview of modern developments. Same as 16E:058. |
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| 032:060 Introduction to Native American Religions |
3 s.h. |
| GE: cultural diversity. Same as 149:060. |
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| 032:061 Middle East and Mediterranean, Alexander-Suleiman |
3 s.h. |
| GE: foreign civilization and culture. Same as 016:045, 20E:071. |
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| 032:063 African American Islam/International Perspective |
3 s.h. |
| Same as 129:063. |
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| 032:066 Introduction to Religion and the Arts |
3 s.h. |
| Religion in different art genres, including visual, performing, and literary. |
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| 032:067 Theological Questions |
3 s.h. |
| Treatment of basic religious questions, such as the meaning of "God," nature of religious symbols, phenomena of skepticism and atheism. |
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| 032:069 Kabbalah in the Marketplace: Jewish Mysticism and the American Religious Environment |
3 s.h. |
| Main ideas of Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism from a scholarly perspective; how and in what form these ideas were incorporated into American pop culture and American religious culture. |
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| 032:070 Judaism in the Modern World |
3 s.h. |
| Judaism in the modern period; Jewish religion, influence of major historical events (enlightenment, emancipation, Holocaust, the establishment of the State of Israel); questions of Jewish identity, theology, thought. |
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| 032:071 Sexual Ethics |
3 s.h. |
| Christian, Jewish, secular perspectives on meaning and value of human sexuality; contemporary sexual ethical issues. Same as 154:071. |
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| 032:073 Nature in Religious Thought and Ethics |
3 s.h. |
| Diverse religious perspectives on the natural environment; corresponding ethical implications for individual and collective human behavior. |
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| 032:075 Asian Religious Classics |
3 s.h. |
| Works of South and East Asia; may include Bhagavad Gita, Life of Milarepa, Mencius, Great Learning, Chuang-tzu, Lotus Sutra, Platform Sutra, selected Korean and Japanese works. Same as 039:075. |
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| 032:078 American Indian Women: Myth, Ritual, and Sacred Power |
3 s.h. |
| Same as 149:082. |
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| 032:081 Hindu Religion and Art |
3 s.h. |
| Hinduism's mystery dispelled through examination of its basic concepts, using art works, sacred texts, myths, devotional poetry; what divine power is, what sculpted and painted images of gods and goddesses mean, how Hindu devotees relate to these awesome personages today. |
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| 032:084 Introduction to Mysticism |
3 s.h. |
| Mysticism and mystical experiences in religious traditions. |
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| 032:090 Women and the Bible |
3 s.h. |
| Construction of women's characters and roles in the Jewish and Christian canonical texts; modern feminist biblical interpretations. |
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| 032:092 Prophecy in the Bible |
3 s.h. |
| Literary, historical, and theological analysis of biblical prophecies and their impact. |
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| 032:094 Jesus and His Interpreters |
3 s.h. |
| How Jesus was depicted in the writings of the early church; reasons for the different portrayals. |
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| 032:095 The Apostle Paul |
3 s.h. |
| Paul, as seen through his letters; social, historical, and religious environments in which the apostle lived and wrote. |
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| 032:103 Biblical Archaeology |
1, 3 s.h. |
| Contributions of Syro-Palestinian archaeological research to understanding historical, cultural backgrounds of biblical period. |
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| 032:105 The World of the Old Testament |
3 s.h. |
| Historical, intellectual background; focus on patterns of thought, religion in Near East, relation to Israelite religion. |
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| 032:107 The Psalms and Wisdom of Biblical Israel |
3 s.h. |
| Book of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job examined as classics of biblical hymnody and wisdom poetry. |
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| 032:111 Religion and Women |
3 s.h. |
| Sexism and its disavowal in biblical narrative, law, wisdom texts, Gospels, epistles; contemporary impact. GE: humanities. Same as 131:111. |
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| 032:112 The Bible in Film: Hollywood and Moses |
3 s.h. |
| How Hollywood has interpreted the Biblical stories of Adam and Eve, Moses, and David the King. |
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| 032:118 Roman Religion and Society |
3 s.h. |
| Religious beliefs, practices, and writings of Romans from eighth century B.C.E. to second century C.E. GE: humanities. Same as 20E:116. |
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| 032:119 Jewish Mysticism |
3 s.h. |
| History of Jewish mystical thought over the past 2,000 years. |
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| 032:120 Jewish Religious Thought |
3 s.h. |
| Medieval and modern theological tradition of Judaism: Maimonides, Spinoza, Buber, others; historical contexts, modern interpretations. |
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| 032:121 The Bible and the Sacrifice of Animals |
3 s.h. |
| Why the biblical God permits humans to eat other animals' flesh; fundamental dietary differences between humans and the beasts. |
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| 032:126 Twentieth-Century African American Religion: Civil Rights to Hip-Hop |
3 s.h. |
| Twentieth-century African American religious history; major political and cultural movements, such as civil rights, black power, black feminism/womanism, hip-hop. Same as 129:123. |
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| 032:132 Medieval and Reformation Religious Thought |
3 s.h. |
| Classics of patristic, scholastic, reformation theology; special attention to relationships among authors, periods, genres. |
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| 032:135 American Revolutionary Theologies |
2-3 s.h. |
| Religious worldviews in America, colonial times to present, that emerge during cultural change or perceived danger, make startling breaks with received tradition, and reconceptualize the human condition and religious redemption. Same as 16A:125. |
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| 032:136 Religious Thought in Enlightenment |
3 s.h. |
| Religious thought (1680-1790) that challenged the legitimacy of tradition and attempted to base all of life, including religion, on nature and reason; readings from Spinoza to Lessing, Kant. |
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| 032:137 Modern Religious Thought: 19th Century |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:138 Modern Religious Thought: 20th Century |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:140 Religion and Literature |
3 s.h. |
| Religious themes in great works of literature. |
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| 032:141 Varieties of American Religion |
3 s.h. |
| World views of religious groups (e.g., Mormon, Scientology, Jehovah's Witness, Black Muslim, Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon). Same as 16A:122. |
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| 032:142 The Puritan Experience |
2-3 s.h. |
| Historical survey; concepts of sacred book, redemption, world's end, church and state, family, women, Indians, sex. Same as 16A:121. |
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| 032:144 Religious Thought in America 1860 to Present |
2-3 s.h. |
| Selected American thinkers. Same as 16A:124. |
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| 032:145 Ultraconservative and Radical Theologies in American History |
2-3 s.h. |
| Intellectual patterns of the far right and left. Same as 16A:118. |
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| 032:147 Quest II: Sex, Love, and Death |
3 s.h. |
| Readings from the Hebrew Bible, Sophocles' Antigone, Melville's Billy Budd, Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, Salinger's A Perfect Day for Banana Fish, the film From Here to Eternity. |
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| 032:148 Ethics and Modern Religious Thought |
3 s.h. |
| How modern thinkers address issues at the intersection of religion and ethics; relationship between religion and ethical reasoning, place of authority in the moral life, social and political issues shape modern religious discourse; may include Hume, Kant, Barth, MacIntyre, Adams. |
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| 032:150 The Bible and the Holocaust |
3 s.h. |
| Religious and philosophic implications of the Holocaust viewed through survivors' writings. |
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| 032:151 Religion and Law |
3 s.h. |
| Why do we follow religious and secular laws--to avoid divine wrath or civil punishment? Does obedience to law express or degrade ethical meaning? How Jewish and Christian thinkers have answered these questions; how historical debates in the Jewish and Christian religious traditions have shaped contemporary Anglo-American legal history. |
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| 032:152 Religion and Democracy |
3 s.h. |
| Debate by theologians, American Constitutional law scholars, other intellectuals of three issues: whether democracy erodes religious traditions' moral understandings; what role religious communities and arguments should play in American public life; and whether democracy can sustain social practices that cultivate virtue among citizens. |
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| 032:153 Religion and the Arts |
3 s.h. |
| Analysis, interpretation of religious themes in literature, film, painting. |
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| 032:154 Religious Conflict/Early-Modern Period |
3 s.h. |
| Reformation of 16th century--Lutheran, Calvinist, Radical, English; readings from major representatives of each. Same as 16E:123. |
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| 032:155 Human Rights and Islam |
3 s.h. |
| Human rights in religious and secular discourse, seventh century to present; Islamic law, human rights law, religion, politics. GE: humanities. |
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| 032:156 The Karma of Words |
3 s.h. |
| Key issues in the relationship between Buddhism and the literary arts. Same as 039:156. |
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| 032:157 Modern Islamic Thought and Political Movement |
3 s.h. |
| Major trends in Islamic religious thought since the colonial period, focusing on encounters between Islamic and the modern world; Ibn Khaldun; renewal movements; varieties of religious reform and accommodation; nationalism, socialism, and so forth. Recommended: prior Islamic course work. |
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| 032:158 Native American Women and Religious Change |
3 s.h. |
| Native women's diverse experiences and their roles in native societies, examined through contact experiences between native and nonnative peoples; changes in women's roles in context of interactions between native people, missionaries, European colonists, and Americans; approaches to re-imaging women's early contact roles presented in cultural narratives, archaeology, history, ethnography, and missionary records. Same as 131:159, 149:158. |
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| 032:159 Comparative Islamic Law |
3 s.h. |
| Sources of Islamic law; origins and functions of varied schools of jurisprudence; Islamic legal philosophy and Islamic legal rulings in contexts of five major schools of law; major legal topics covered by the Ottoman Legal Code. Same as 091:223. |
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| 032:161 History of Religious Ethics |
3 s.h. |
| Christian, Jewish ethics from Paul to Martin Buber; focus on meaning and value of love. |
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| 032:162 Genes and the Human Condition |
3 s.h. |
| Ethical, legal, and social implications of the new genetics, with focus on the Human Genome Project. |
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| 032:163 Turning East |
3 s.h. |
| The global nature of pilgrimage, primarily religious travel in or to Asia; journeys to single sacred sites, travel circuits to multiple destinations, internal or metaphorical pilgrimages. Same as 039:162. |
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| 032:164 Greek Religion and Society |
3 s.h. |
| From Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period, in context of Mediterranean culture; evidence such as choral hymn, inscribed prayers, magical curses inscribed on lead, architecture, sculpted offerings to the gods. GE: humanities. Same as 20E:115. |
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| 032:165 Anthropology of Religion |
2-3 s.h. |
| Religious activity in folk and tribal settings; application of theories of origin, functions of religion in human affairs. Same as 113:142. |
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| 032:167 Islamic Ethics and Political Thought |
3 s.h. |
| Islamic ethics and political movements from seventh century CE to modern times. Taught in English. Recommended: Islamic course work. |
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| 032:169 Quest III: Heroes, Lovers, and Knaves |
3 s.h. |
| Tension between Paganism and the Bible regarding heroism and eroticism; the Song of Songs, stories of Rachel, Samson, Saul, Bathsheba; Plato's Symposium, Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Salinger's For Esmé with Love and Squalor; The Highlander, The Matrix, Bridget Jones' Diary; unmasking knaves to truly appreciate heroes and lovers. |
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| 032:172 Comparative Ritual |
3 s.h. |
| Practice and theory; rituals from religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Indian religions; theories of interpretation. Same as 039:172. |
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| 032:178 East Meets West: The Western Reception of Eastern Religion |
3 s.h. |
| Introduction of religious ideas and forms from India, China, and Japan into Europe and America to late 20th century, from Greeks to New Age. Same as 039:188. |
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| 032:179 The Islamic Cultural Presence in Spain |
3 s.h. |
| Taught in Spanish. Same as 035:179. |
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| 032:187 Monks, Merchants, and Samurai |
3 s.h. |
| Major trends in culture and thought of Japan's early modern period (1600-1868), including developments in dramatic and visual arts, popularization of Buddhism, debates among Confucian scholars, merchant culture, "the way of the samurai," and rise of protonationalist ideas in the second half of the period. Same as 39J:187. |
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| 032:195 Individual Study: Undergraduates |
arr. |
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| 032:196 Senior Majors Seminar |
3 s.h. |
| Issues central to academic study of religion. |
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| 032:201 Teaching Religious Studies |
3 s.h. |
| Teaching methods, course development, examination construction. |
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| 032:202 Asian Religious Traditions |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:203 Western Religious Traditions |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:205 Methods and Theories in the Study of Religion |
3 s.h. |
| Principal methods, theories in academic study of religion. |
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| 032:208 Asian Religions Colloquium |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:218 Seminar: Religion in America |
3 s.h. |
| Religious experience in America; topics. |
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| 032:220 Seminar: Topics in Western Religious Thought |
3 s.h. |
| In-depth reading of original sources and modern scholarship on selected problems in the modern study of Western religious thought. |
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| 032:222 Seminar in Historical Theology |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:223 Seminar: Reformation Culture and Theology |
arr. |
| Culture and theology of 16th-century Europe. Same as 016:223. |
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| 032:224 Seminar: Contemporary Theology |
arr. |
| Ricoeur's hermeneutics. |
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| 032:225 Seminar in Religion and Politics |
3 s.h. |
| Issues at the intersection of religion and politics; may include comparative study of theological and philosophical approaches to politics, nature and purposes of law, ethics of war, human rights; topics vary. |
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| 032:226 Seminar: Religious Ethics |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:231 Seminar: Religion and Society |
3 s.h. |
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| 032:235 Seminar: South Asian Religion |
3 s.h. |
| Topics in South Asian religions. Same as 039:235. |
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| 032:237 Seminar: East Asian Religion |
3 s.h. |
| Emphasis on China and/or Japan. Same as 039:237. |
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| 032:243 Religion and the Arts |
3 s.h. |
| Repeatable. |
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| 032:261 Readings in American Religions |
arr. |
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| 032:262 Readings in History of Christianity |
arr. |
| Repeatable. |
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| 032:263 Readings in Theology and Religious Thought |
arr. |
| Repeatable. |
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| 032:264 Readings in Religious Ethics |
arr. |
| Repeatable. |
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| 032:265 Readings in Asian Religions |
arr. |
| Repeatable. |
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| 032:266 Readings in Classical Arabic |
3 s.h. |
| Repeatable. |
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| 032:267 Readings in Islamic Studies |
arr. |
| Current scholarship in the field of Islamic studies; major works in areas such as modern Islamic thought, Islamic legal and philosophical traditions, religion and politics. |
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| 032:290 Individual Study: Graduates |
arr. |
| Repeatable. |
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