Hoos’ List

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

Provides a systematic introduction to Tibetan Buddhism with a strong emphasis on tantric traditions of Buddhism - philosophy, contemplation, ritual, monastic life, pilgrimage, deities & demons, ethics, society, history, and art. The course aims to understand how these various aspects of Tibetan religious life mutually shape each other to form the unique religious traditions that have pertained on the Tibetan plateau for over a thousand years.

An introduction to environmental ideas, texts and practices of Buddhism in broad historical and geographical context. Engages Buddhist "environmental imagination" through readings of primary texts, considers the ways that contemporary Buddhists around the world have interpreted environmental problems, and the ways that Buddhist modernist movements draw upon Buddhist ideologies in the service of social-environmental change.

Theravada, Mahayana, and Tantrayana Buddhist developments in India.

Introduces Buddhist literature in translation, from India, Tibet, and East and South East Asia.

This course examines the ways in which Chinese Buddhism differs from the Buddhisms of other countries. The first half of the course introduces Buddhism with a focus on the historical development of the tradition.The second half of the course surveys several philosophical schools and forms of practice including Huayan, Chan, Pure Land, and Tantric Buddhism.

This course focuses on meditation from three overlapping perspectives: traditional Buddhist practices, contemporary scientific research, and modern secular adaptations; students also learn secular meditative practices firsthand. Each day we will explore a major type of meditation that relates to a variety of topics and practices - attention, insight, compassion, aesthetics, somatic work, visualization, open awareness, and so forth.

This is a lecture-based course--an idiosyncratic but hopefully helpful introduction to Buddhist philosophy. A few aspects of Buddhist philosophy, at any rate. The subject is potentially endless and can be grabbed from several different ends. Note: this course emphasizes the history of Buddhist concepts and arguments in premodern South Asia. But we will explore what are hopefully ideas of interest: in philosophy of mind; metaphysics; gender.

This course is an introduction to Buddhism and an exploration of the place of Buddhism within contemporary Asian, European, and North American cultures through film. The goals are 1) to identify longstanding Buddhist narrative themes in contemporary films, 2) to consider how Buddhism is employed in films to address contemporary issues, and 3) to gain through film a vivid sense of Buddhism as a complex social and cultural phenomenon.

Studies the development and history of the thought, practice, and goals of Zen Buddhism.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

This course serves as an introduction to the religious beliefs and practices of China, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora. The course covers several broad themes in Chinese religion, including ritual, self-cultivation, means of communicating with the gods, and the intersection of political authority and religion. We will engage with textual, material, and visual traditions.

This course surveys the history of Daoist literature, thought, and practice. We will consider how early Daoism emerged in the context of other religious practices, how it developed institutional forms, and how textual revelations led to new traditions. We will also examine how Daoism defined itself against Buddhism and the role Daoist ritual plays in the contemporary religious landscape of Taiwan and China

The goal of this course will be to examine different conceptions of Buddhist meditation and how these different conceptions affect the nature of practice and the understanding of the ideal life within a variety of Buddhist traditions. Thus, the study of Buddhist meditation traditions reveals not just intricate forms of practice, but reveals the nature of the good life and how one lives it.

Buddhist Mysticism and Modernity

This course provides an in-depth experience in contemplative practices to prepare students to live more fully, be more engaged & compassionate citizens & professionals, & navigate life's stressors with greater clarity, peace of mind, & healthy behaviors. Besides mindfulness training, this course will also foster the cultivation of compassion and prosocial qualities. For more info: http://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/Mindfulness__Compassion/.

This seminar takes as its point of departure Carolyn Bynum's statements: "No scholar studying religion, no participant in ritual, is ever neuter. Religious experience is the experience of men and women, and in no known society is this experience the same." The unifying theme is gender and Buddhism, exploring historical, textual and social questions relevant to the status of women and men in the Buddhist world from its origins to the present day.

This course is a survey of religions in Japan as well as their roles in Japanese culture and society. The topics that will be discussed are syncretism between Buddhism and Shinto, the development of uniquely Japanese forms of Buddhism, the spontaneous emergence of Pure Land Buddhism, the use of Shinto as a nationalistic ideology, and the role of Christianity. No prerequisites; but a basic knowledge of Buddhism or Japanese history is useful.

Common to all the world¿s philosophies is engagement with the claim that all that exists in the universe is ultimately one, whether in one¿s awareness or in actual fact. This course examines how Hindus and Buddhists have articulated this idea, basing the same in detailed analysis of one¿s subjective awareness of reality, in an examination of the nature of existence independent of one¿s experience of it, and on the basis of scriptural revelation.

This seminar will examine what Buddhists mean when they talk about Nirvana. We'll begin with how the concept of Nirvana develops in the culture in which Sakyamuni Buddha lived and taught, explore how different forms of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Tibet, China, Japan, and in the west developed new ideas about what Nirvana is and how it can be experienced. We'll read classic sutras on the topic, as well as books and essays by contemporary Zen Masters.

Tibet possesses one of the great Buddhist philosophical traditions in the world. Tibetan Buddhist thinkers composed comprehensive and philosophically rigorous works on human growth according to classical Buddhism, works that surveyed ethics, meditation practice, the nature of personal identity, and enlightenment itself. In this seminar we will read and discuss famous Tibetan overviews of Buddhist philosophy. Pre-Requisites: One prior course in religion or philosophy recommended

This course examines social and cultural dynamics of Buddhism in relation to its rapid and recent transmutation into a global religion. Drawing upon anthropological theory on globalization, and ethnographic and historical studies, it addresses topics such as processes of transmission and adaptation, encounters with modernity, and the role of mass migration and electronic media in the process of transnationalization of Buddhist traditions.

This course explores the origins and development of Buddhism in South Asia. It assumes students have no prior knowledge of Buddhism. The goal is to understand the complex of teachings, practices, and relationships that would become known later as Buddhism and, simultaneously, how such a complex has developed within specific cultural contexts.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

This course is a seminar that examines the development of Buddhism in America going from its earliest appearance to contemporary developments.

This topical course provides upper level undergraduate students in Religious Studies an opportunity for advanced coursework in Buddhism

This course will explore how scholars have understood the concept of Orientalism to describe processes in which Westerners have distorted (and even constructed wholesale) understandings of what Buddhism can be to serve their own interests. We will begin with Edward Said's foundational work, Orientalism, then consider how his ideas have been used to develop critiques of Western understandings of Buddhism up to the present day.

A history of Tibetan Buddhist literature from the origins in the 7th century to the early 20th century, focused on literature produced in Tibet, covering major genres and styles from all the major schools, traditions, eras and regions. Weekly readings of excerpts and short pieces. Course is entirely in English translation. Knowledge of Tibetan language encouraged but not required. Seminar format, active discussion required.

Study of the Pali and Sanskritic Buddhist philosophical traditions.

Examines selected topics in the major schools of Japanese Buddhism, Tendai, Shingon, Pure Land, Nichiren, and Zen. Prerequisite: RELB 2130 or 3160, or instructor permission.

Examines the Dzokchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhist Tantra focusing on its philosophical and contemplative systems and its historical and social contexts.

Readings in Sanskrit religious and philosophical texts, their syntax, grammar, and translation. Prerequisite: SANS 5010, 5020, or equivalent and instructor permission.

Readings in Sanskrit religious and philosophical texts, their syntax, grammar, and translation. Prerequisite: SANS 5010, 5020, or equivalent and instructor permission.

Studies the Middle Way School of Madhyamika, including Nagarjuna's reasoning and its intent and place in the spiritual path.

Advanced study in the philosophical and spiritual language of Tibet, past and present. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, or equivalent.

Advanced study in the philosophical and spiritual language of Tibet, past and present. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, or equivalent.

Surveys political, social, religious, and intellectual issues in Tibetan history from the fifth to fifteenth centuries, emphasizing the formation of the classical categories, practices, and ideals of Tibetan Buddhism.

This course introduces the structure, scope, and contents of the Tibetan-language Buddhist canonical collections. We will read and discuss selections in both English and Tibetan from the 5000 works in the Scripture (Bka' 'gyur) and Treatise (Bstan 'gyur) collections, as well as reference aids and current research on the canons. The course goal is to develop a firm basis for all research involving Tibetan-language canonical literature.

Topics on the history, scripture, thought, and practice of religious Daoism, with an emphasis on the formative period (2nd-10th c.).

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

Over the fourteen weeks of the semester, we will explore the following question: How did we go from Buddhism as a highly marginal and even overtly marginalized phenomenon at the end of WWII to a highly influential and culturally powerful force? We will move toward one part of the answer by looking at the genealogy of insight meditation in America.

Studies Chinese religion and society within the context of a specific period of Chinese history, or in terms of a specific theme. Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and popular religion will be covered (along with other forms of religion, as appropriate).

Examines the Yogachara-Svatantrika system as presented in Jang-kya's Presentation of Tenets, oral debate, and exercises in spoken Tibetan. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, 5470, 5480 or equivalent.

Examines the Yogachara-Svatantrika system as presented in Jang-kya's Presentation of Tenets, oral debate, and exercises in spoken Tibetan. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, 5470, 5480 or equivalent

Examines the major schools of Chinese Buddhism: T'ien-t'ai, Hua-yen, Pure Land, and Ch'an.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

Readings in various genres, including philosophy, poetry, ritual, narrative, and so forth.

Advanced readings in poetry, psychology, or philosophy.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

This tutorial introduces the structure, scope, and contents of the Tibetan-language Buddhist canonical collections. We will read and discuss selections in both English and Tibetan from the 5000 works in the Scripture (Bka' 'gyur) and Treatise (Bstan 'gyur) collections, as well as reference aids and current research on the canons. The course goal is to develop a firm basis for all research involving Tibetan-language canonical literature.

This course is exploring one of the most important scriptures in the history of esoteric Buddhism, the Thalgyur, and its extensive commentary attributed to Vimalamitra. The two texts are over a thousand pages in length, only existent in Tibetan, and extremely difficult to understand. This course explores the texts through detailed philological and interpretative analysis.

This tutorial constitutes a reading course in Sanskrit, the classical language of India. Students will read the original texts and translate them into English, analyzing and interpreting the materials in light of the Indian tradition of commentary and exegesis and in light of contemporary scholarly and other analyses of the relevant subject matter: Buddhist esoteric literature, a.k.a. Buddhist Tantra.

This course explores classical Tibetan literature and religious systems through a variety of genres in the original Tibetan texts.

This tutorial explores key recent works on the Buddhism of South and Southeast Asia. It includes the study of pre-modern and modern forms of what comes to be called Theravada Buddhism.

This tutorial will train students to read Buddhist Philosophical texts in Sanskrit at an advanced level.

In this course students will read a selection of Pali canonical and commentarial texts.

This tutorial will focus on the translation of Chinese Buddhist texts into English. Texts will be drawn from a variety of time periods, traditions, and genres. Students will gain familiarity with Buddhist Chinese, and the themes and conventions of Buddhist texts.

This tutorial will examine the field of Buddhist Studies from its formation in Asia, Europe, and North America to contemporary critiques. We will consider the underlying assumptions, historical changes in what is taken to be the object of study, and the contributions of different methodological approaches. The aim is to provide students of Buddhism with a means to situate their own research in the context of the larger field of Buddhist Studies.

This tutorial will examine the making of gender in Buddhist practice across Asia. We will interweave discussions in three regions of Asia: We will read historical texts on men, women, and Pa¿¿aka from South Asia; women as patrons of Buddhist art in East Asia; and contemporary ethnographic accounts of gender and gendered Buddhist movements in Southeast Asia

Studies the history, literature, and religion of ancient Israel in the light of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Emphasizes methods of contemporary biblical criticism. Cross listed as RELJ 1210.

Studies the history, literature, and theology of earliest Christianity in light of the New Testament. Emphasizes the cultural milieu and methods of contemporary biblical criticism.

Surveys Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Examines how the Bible becomes sacred scripture for Jews and Christians.

This course traces the rise of Christianity in the first millennium of the Common Era, covering the development of doctrine, the evolution of its institutional structures, and its impact on the cultures in which it flourished. Students will become acquainted with the key figures, issues, and events from this formative period, when Christianity evolved from marginal Jewish sect to the dominant religion in the Roman Empire.

How did Christianity become a global religion with hundreds of denominations and nearly two billion adherents? In this course, we will explore the reform and expansion of Christianity in the second millennium of the Common Era, from the high Middle Ages to the present day.

This course is designed to add substantive depth to a general understanding of American religious pluralism and insight into the socio-historical context of American religion through the study of Mormonism. In addition to introducing Mormonism's basic beliefs and practices, the course will explore issues raised by Mormonism's move toward the American mainstream while retaining its religious identity and cultural distinctiveness.

The story of Christianity's emergence in the Middle East and its migration into Europe and then North America is just one aspect of Christian history, which also has a rich and long history in Africa, Asia and other parts of the global South. This course looks at the shape Christianity is taking in non-Western parts of the world and how this growth impacts Christianity in the West.

This course considers the complex world of Christian thought, examining various perspectives on the nature of faith, the being and action of God, the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, the role of the Bible in theological reflection, and the relationship between Christian thought and social justice. Students will read various important works of Christian theology and become acquainted with a range of theological approaches and ideas.

This course engages in a historical survey of American Catholicism from colonial beginnings to the present. It especially explores the theme of how Catholicism has been enculturated in America, how Catholic faith and practice have interacted with the social, cultural, and political environment of the nation.

The course will trace the origins and development of Roman Catholic doctrine in light of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). The following topics will be treated: the nature and person of Christ as examined in the first ecumenical councils from Nicaea (325) to Chalcedon (451); the nature of the Church and its authority vested in bishops and the pope; original sin, grace, and justification; the rise of hte Reformation in western Christianity;

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Christianity

"The Black Church" carries unique symbolic weight in America--but why? This course explores how the idea of the Black Church gained moral authority, whether there is a collective Black Church or only black churches, the traditions and practices the concept names, who the concept celebrates and who it marginalizes, and how--or whether--the Black Church, as myth or reality, is still relevant in African American life today.

This course examines the influence of theological ideas on social movements in twentieth- and twenty-first-century America and investigates how religious commitments shape everyday living, including racial perception and economic, political, and sexual organization. The course will examine the American Civil Rights Movement, late 1960s counter-cultural movements, and recent faith-based community-development movements and organizing initiatives.

A text-focused class that will read the entire City of God, supplementing that work with several other of Augustine's smaller texts (particularly letters and sermons) to attempt to understand that work's argument, paying attention to the various audiences to which it was addressed, and to Augustine's larger thought as captured in that one great and difficult book

This course uses the category of protest to understand western Christian thought in the modern period. We examine the rise and development of Protestant thought, considering how Christians conceptualized challenges to established ideas, norms, and institutional structures during and after the Reformation.

This course focuses on Jesus of Nazareth as an historical figure, that is, as he is accessible to the historian by means of historical methods. Our most important sources of information on Jesus are the canonical Gospels, and so much of the course will involve reading and attempting to understand these texts. We will attempt to reconstruct at least the broad outlines of Jesus activity and teachings, keeping in mind the limits of our sources.

Intensive study of the theological ideas and arguments of the Apostle Paul in relation to their historical and epistolary contexts.

This course is an introduction to the thematic core of the Orthodox Christian tradition. There is first reviewed the major elements of the Orthodox faith, its theology and doctrine, that developed over the course of the Byzantine era, This study is followed by an examination of writings on scripture and tradition, iconography. liturgy and sacrament, as well as the relationship of Orthodox Christianity to the culture.

Critical analysis of Ten Commandments, seven deadly sins, and shifting prominence of sin in Judaism and Christianity

Studies selected classics of the Christian imaginative traditions; examines ways in which the Christian vision of time, space, self, and society emerges and changes as an ordering principle in literature and art up to the beginning of the modern era.

In the context of Christian thought, "liberation theology" refers to scholarship that links reflection on God, Jesus of Nazareth, human beings, creation, the Holy Spirit, and ethics with normative analyses of race, sex and gender, economic injustice, poverty, sexuality, post-colonialism, and human rights. This course engages both landmark and cutting-edge texts in this field of study.

This course treats the phenomenon of prophecy in ancient Israel in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Biblical texts often deal with plagues and pestilence. Does our current location in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak help us understand these texts in new ways? How do these stories reveal ancient Israel's most cherished values? Do biblical accounts of plagues and pestilence offer us insight into our own predicament in the age of corona?

From the revivals of George Whitefield to the antebellum abolitionists to the unexpected rise of Donald Trump, Evangelicals have played a vital and contested role in American society. Evangelicalism has also burgeoned into a truly global faith tradition, with an estimated 600 million+ adherents around the world. This course presents a multidisciplinary and polyperspectival introduction to this religious movement in World Christianity.

Salem Witch Trials

Reading historical and social analyses along with a range of environmental theologies, this seminar investigates entanglements of Christianity with modern environmental problems. It considers the influence of Christianities in various environmental imaginations, and the role of ecological science and environmental stress in reshaping religious imaginations.

This course introduces students to the extensive philosophical, theological and exegetical work of St. Thomas Aquinas. Students will read his foundational texts, a range of important tractates from the *Summa theologiae*, and a range of Aquinas's scriptural exegeses. Comparisons will be made to other scholastic theologians and commentators, including those of the previous generation, i.e., the monastic theologians.

This course is about America's newer religious movements: Scientology, Nation of Islam and Mormonism. The class will be using theories of ritual and text to understand how religious communities constitute themselves around an originating vision and retain a sense of continuity notwithstanding dramatic change. We will ask also why these three movements have created such crisis for the American state and anxiety among its citizens.

A seminar focused upon some of the most significant philosophical and religious thinkers that have shaped and continued to shape American religious thought and culture from the founding of the Republic to the Civil Rights Movement, including Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jane Addams, William James, Reinhold Niebuhr and Martin Luther King, Jr. We will explore how their thought influenced the social and cultural currents of their time.

Surveys the development of religious reform movements in continental Europe from c. 1450 to c. 1650 and their impact on politics, social life, science, and conceptions of the self.

Introduces the major mystical traditions of the Middle Ages and the sources in which they are rooted.

An examination of the legal evolution, philosophical underpinnings and political application of the First Amendment religion clauses. Analysis of specific controversies and court opinions will be supported by attention to such key concepts as "secularism," "tolerance," "civilization," "gender" and "race" in the application of these clauses domestically and in U.S. foreign policy.

Surveys the history of Christianity in the Byzantine world and the Middle East from late antiquity (age of emperor Justinian) until the fall of Constantinople.

A seminar on the biblical book of Job (with attention to its literary artistry and compositional history) and its subsequent interpretation.

Survey of development of Christian ethical thought and teaching from beginnings through Reformation era. Major ethical themes are traced through the centuries, as the church's scripture, evolving doctrine, and emerging tradition interact with secular society, politics, and philosophy. Readings will be taken mostly from primary texts, such as the Bible and the writings of selected Christian thinkers.

This course examines the history of the interplay between theology, morality, social movements, and politics in America. Topics covered include temperance and prohibition, abolition, labor, civil rights, anti-war and pacifism, and environmentalism. Lecture, weekly readings (often a book), class presentations, short papers, and original research.

There are four gospels, one book of "acts," and one "apocalypse" (that is, "revelation") in the canonical New Testament -- but early Christian authors produced far more literature than that. In this course, we will read a wide range of "apocryphal" (or "noncanonical") gospels, acts, and apocalypses, focusing on texts that, despite their noncanonical status, were widely read and highly influential in the history of Christianity.

Christian Europe gave rise to modern science, yet Christianity and science have long appeared mutual enemies. In this course we explore the encounter between two powerful cultural forces and study the intellectual struggle (especially in Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Freud) about the place of God in the modern world.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of Christianity.

Anxiety is the affliction of most striving college students and the most common mental health disorder of our time. What are its religious and theological meanings, causes, and consolations?

Who are the great modern Christian theologians? What do they have to say to us? What do they argue about? Who did they offend and why? In this seminar we shall read major works by four of the truly great modern theologians of the twentieth century. Two are Protestant (Karl Barth and Paul Tillich), and two are Catholic (Karl Rahner and Henri de Lubac).

This course is an introduction to Christology, that part of Theology concerned with the claim that Jesus is the Christ. How is this doctrine built up from Scripture, Church Councils, and the Fathers? What roles do heresies and creeds play in the construction? What events in the life and death of Jesus are most relevant to Christological claims? Particular attention is given to Jesus's preaching of the Kingdom of God.

This course explores the experience and idea of mystery in theological perspective. The goal is to understand, analyze and appreciate the diverse expressions of mystery in human identity and psychology, social and ethical relation, and aesthetic encounter.

This course will interrogate the complex and diverse picture of gender and sexuality presented in the Bible. Students will read stories focusing on key biblical figures generating their own analysis on the dynamics of gender at play, while also considering ancient and modern interpretations and methodological approaches. Throughout, students will be exposed to the cultural and historical milieu that produced these texts.

Why were women excluded from the priestly hierarchy of the church? How did male clerics subsequently circumscribe women's roles in the church? And how did women respond? These are the questions that we will explore in this course on the intersection between gender and power in pre-modern Christianity.

This class engages debates about Christianity, gender, and sexuality in past and present. Topics addressed include: biblical treatments of sex, gender, and sexuality; theological views of the human in patristic, medieval, and modern theology; Christianity, feminism, and feminist theology; sexuality and sexual ethics; and queer theology.

A close reading of the Gospel of John, this course considers literary, historical, and theological issues. Questions raised include: What is distinctive about the portrayal of Jesus in the Gospel of John in comparison with the synoptic gospels. Why was this gospel so important for the development of Christian theology? Some attention will also be given to the book's reception history, especially its role in the early centuries of the church.

What is the origin of human sexuality and what are it's purposes? What do sexual identities as male and female have to do with the Christian doctrines of Creation, the imago Dei (image of God), original sin, and salvation? Are male and female complementary or incidental? What value does the Christian faith five to the body? How should we view the body with respect to our sexuality. Premarital sex, dating, cohabitation, and marriage.

The course covers the major fiction of two important American writers of the twentieth century who challenged and tested the modern temper with a Christian imagination and vision of the human condition

Examines the life and thinking of Augustine of Hippo, a major figure in Christian history and a formative influence on Christian thought to this day. Prerequisite: Any RELC course or instructor permission.

This seminar examines American Catholic social and political thought.

This course examines the great fairy tales and works of children's literature for their capacity to communicate moral norms and to instill virtue..The stories that are read raise a host of theological questions that touch on the meanings of faith, grace, good and evil, sin, forgiveness, and redemption. Stories included: Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Wind in the Willows, Narnia Chronicles, and fairy tales of Andersen, the Grimms, and MacDonlad

Historical and topical survey of Christianity in Africa from the second century c.e. to the present. Cross listed with RELA 389. Prerequisite: a course in African religions or history, Christianity, or instructor permission.

What is the nature of religion and its role in American society? This seminar will explore the limits of spiritual convictions in a liberal democracy which guarantees religious freedom. This course will examine: 1) the First Amendment; 2) legal methodology; and 3) the contemporary debate over whether citizens and public officials have a duty to refrain from making political and legal decisions on the basis of their religious beliefs.

An examination of Christian missions in Africa in the 21st Century. Through a variety of disciplinary lenses and approaches, we examine faith-based initiatives in Africa--those launched from abroad, as well as from within the continent. What does it mean to be a missionary in Africa today? How are evangelizing efforts being transformed in response to democratization, globalization and a growing awareness of human rights?

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of Christianity.

A theological overview of Jewish and Christian reflection on proper sexual conduct in the United States, with specific emphasis on pre-marital sex, adoption, abortion, gay marriage, and the teaching of sex education in public schools.

A text-focused class that will read the entire City of God, supplementing that work with several other of Augustine's smaller texts (particularly letters and sermons) to attempt to understand that work's argument, paying attention to the various audiences to which it was addressed, and to Augustine's larger thought as captured in that one great and difficult book

The course has four goals: (1) to understand the theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Martin Luther King Jr.; (2) to explore the themes of resistance and reconciliation in their writings and actions; (3) to examine their ambivalent relationships with academic theology; and (4) to consider the promise of lived theology for contemporary religious thought.

A study of important theological writings from the past fifty years by Orthodox theologians on such topics as the dovtrine of God, Christology, liturgy, theological aesthetics, and ethics.This will include major works of Vladmimir Lossky, Seerius Bulgakoc John Zizioulas, and Alexander Schmeman, as well as more recent writers such as Kallistos Ware, Phillip Sherrard, ChrsitosYannaras, David Hart, Elizabeth Behr-Sigel and Olivier Clement.

For the past forty years the role of Pius XII and the Vatican during World War II has been controversial. This seminar will look at that controversy and place it in the context of newly available archival material. The students will read several books on both sides of the question and then present their own research papers, the topics of which will be chosen in consultation with the professor.

A graduate seminar overview of Christianity's remarkable cross-cultural presence, highlighting the community's global scope, cultural pluriformity, and confessional diversity, as well as its historic and current centers in the Global South. Throughout, the class examines how a range of chronological, ideological, social, political, linguistic, and cultural contexts interact with Christian communities, beliefs, and practices.

A constructive treatment of questions related to the possibility of the experience of being and God or of the being of God.

This course is designed to provide a solid understanding of the historical roots, from the New Testament period to the Reformation, of Christian ethics, experience in working with historical source materials, and familiarity with some important interpreters of this history. In seminar discussions, we will primarily explore primary materials, but also consider the work of interpreters such as Ernst Troeltsch and Peter Brown.

This course considers the complex world of Christian thought. Engaging a wide range of ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary sources, it considers various approaches to theological reflection and diverse views on the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, the meaning of salvation, the being and action of God, and the nature of creation.

This course engages landmark Christian statements about atonement. For about two-thirds of the semester, we read classic texts by Anselm of Canterbury, Julian of Norwich, Martin Luther, G. W. F. Hegel, and others. In the remaining third of the course we consider contemporary statements, with an especial focus on liberationist perspectives that examine the possible connections between Christian doctrines, violence, and discrimination. Prerequisite: The course is open to graduate students in Religious Studies and undergraduates who have taken at least three academic classes on Christian thought at the university/college level.

Intensive consideration of a selected issue, movement or figure in Christian thought of the second through fifth centuries. Prerequisite: RELC 2050 or instructor permission.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of Christianity

Anxiety is the affliction of most striving college students and the most common mental health disorder of our time. What are its religious and theological meanings, causes, and consolations?

This seminar examines perspectives on freedom in landmark texts of Christian theology, western philosophy, and recent critical theory. It engages diverse accounts of (a) the relationship of divine and human action; (b) the nature of sin and grace; and (c) gender, sex, race, and class as they bear on human subjection and/or liberation.

This is a study of major figures of the Patristic and medieval Christianity as well as several modern or contemporary theologians who have reflected on the Imago Dei and the humanity of God with respect to Christology and Christian anthropology and inclusive of Christian dogmatics, hymnody, poetry, and sacramentology.

This seminar traces the making of Christian 'orthodoxy' in Late Antiquity. Our focus will be debates concerning the doctrines of God and Christ, which we will place in their historical, philosophical and exegetical contexts. Our study is informed by the move in modern scholarship towards anti-essentialist notions of orthodoxy and heresy, and so we will be attentive to the myriad ways in which early Christians sought to authorize their own views.

Theological assessments of culture, considered as the human-made environment comprising: language and patterns of living; structures of belief, norms, and practices; and forms of work, thought, and expression. Topics include cultures as contexts for identity, secular experience and secularization, critiques of religion as an aspect of culture, cultural conflict and religious plurality, and theological interpretations of culture and nature.

Course explores the history and theology of the icon. How is the icon itself a form of theology, and how does it function in liturgy and worship? Iconography understood as interpretation of Scripture and dogmatic teaching. Study of the theological aesthetics of the icon and of the images themselves, both traditional icons of the Byzantine and Russian type and gospel illuminations of the Armenian, Ethiopic and Coptic traditions.

Examines various conceptions of love and justice in selected Protestant and Catholic literature mainly from the last fifty years.

Amid a global resurgence of localism, populism, strong identity heritages, and nationalist political cultures, this graduate seminar explores the history, ideology, current form, and critiques of Christian Nationalism. It further raises questions about how Christians have thought, do think, and should think about their cultural contexts, national identities, and political orders.

This course examines Christian discussions of death & dying. It starts with a historical analysis of topics like Stoic influences, whether death is a good, the early modern art of dying tradition, & twentieth century shifts in dying. The second half of the class brings this historical material into discussion with key contemporary bioethical debates at the end of life including euthanasia, withdrawing treatment, & the determination of death.

A comparative study of key works by F. D. E. Schleiermacher and Paul Tillich, two of the most important Protestant thinkers of the last two hundred years. The course attends particularly to both authors' attitudes to the category of "religion," the nature and meaning of cultural production, and the vexed category of "experience." It also engages both authors' perspectives on central issues in the fields of Christian thought and religious ethics.

A semester-long engagement with the writings of the most important Protestant theologian in the twentieth century. While we will read some of Barth's earlier work, our main focus will be the *Church Dogmatics*.

An analysis of America's church-state conflicts and enduring questions that have tested and contributed to its evolving understanding of First Amendment guarantees of church disestablishment and freedom of conscience.

An advanced graduate class, run tutorial-style, which will acquaint graduate students with core texts, themes, and thinkers in Christian thought.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Christianity.

In this tutorial, students will work with manuscripts to produce an edition of a Greek text, an English translation of that edition, and a short commentary on the text. Students will also assemble an annotated bibliography.

In this tutorial, students will work on developing translation skills: grammar will be reviewed as necessary.

A tutorial covering major themes and texts in Christian moral thought from antiquity to present.

The Bible played a deeply formative role in shaping the culture of the later Roman Empire, particularly in the Eastern regions, where Christianity had initially spread much more widely and more rapidly than in the West. This seminar will examine, through a close reading of a wide variety of texts in English translation, the various ways that the Bible was woven into the fabric of the later Roman and Byzantine empires.

In this tutorial, we will examine works by Karl Barth, arguably the most important European Protestant theologian of the twentieth century. In addition to considering occasional works, we will read large portions of the Church Dogmatics. We will engage major doctrinal themes -- revelation, the Trinity, Christology, pneumatology, theological anthropology and ethics, ecclesiology, Christian life, -- and a range of philosophical and political issue

This tutorial explores Christian statements regarding the origin of the world and the relationship that God has with the world and its creatures. Topics include the doctrine of creation from nothing, divine action, the nature of human and nonhuman beings, sex and gender, problem of evil, and the relationship between Christian theology, philosophy, scientific inquiry, and critical theory.

This tutorial will provide a critical overview of the development of early Christian thought in Late Antiquity. We will also include narrative sources in our analysis. We will focus, in particular, on texts that are concerned with questions pertaining to the nature of God, the person of Christ, and the human condition.

This tutorial critically engages literature in the fields of African American religion, Christian theology, and Black queer studies. It considers constructions of sexuality, gender, and normativity in African American Christian communities in light of cutting-edge theological works, while also paying close attention to the concrete lives of the marginalized.

Tutorial introducing graduate students to advanced scholarly inquiry into the history of the category of "peace" from Greco-Roman antiquity until today, and its associated and secondary literature.

This individualized tutorial will introduce graduate students to some of the major Roman Catholic documents and theologians of/following the Second Vatican Council, with coverage of a variety of themes (including theological aesthetics, mysticism and contemplation, inculturation, liberation theology, and theopoetics) and geographies.

This tutorial will focus upon the doctrine of God in 19th and 20th century theology with a special focus on Schleiermacher, Karl Barth and the Barthian tradition. It will examine both the features of the doctrine of God and the theological methods used by the various thinkers to construct their doctrine of God. Authors include Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth, Jürgen Moltmann, Eberhard Jüngel, Robert Jenson and John Webster.

In the academic study of Christian thought, ¿liberation theology¿ encompasses scholarship that ties reflection on God, Jesus of Nazareth, human beings, creation, the Holy Spirit, and ethics to analyses of race and racism, sex and gender, economic injustice, poverty, sexuality, and colonialism. This graduate tutorial engages landmark and contemporary texts by liberation theologians, many of whom hail from North and South America.

This tutorial examines icon and their position in Christian practice and theology, with an emphasis on Eastern Christian traditions (Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Church of the East). The tutorial will address the theology of icons, the iconoclasm controversy, the spiritual practice of creating icons, and the use of icons in prayer and worship.

What is religion? Why do people reach out to God(s) or other unseen powers? How are beliefs in spiritual entities expressed and perpetuated? Why do people come together to form religious communities? How does religion order people's lives, and what impact have religious visionaries and institutions had on societies through the ages? This is a co-taught seminar that introduces students to the rich and interdisciplinary field of Religious Studies.

Studies the major religious traditions of the Western world; Judaism, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam.

Introduces various aspects of the religious traditions of India, China, and Japan.

This course introduces key figures in early Chinese philosophy, and how they defined the good life, ethical ideals, and exemplary rulership. Through close readings, we will consider where these philosophers located what they called the Dao¿in human society, in the natural world, or in the cosmos¿and how they thought humans could best apprehend truths about their world. Intended for first and second year students.

This course explores human flourishing, well-being, and resiliency across academic, personal, and professional spheres. The course presents a balance of theory and practice, organized into five domains: self-awareness, well-being, connection, wisdom, and integration. Each week explores a single quality of flourishing through scientific research, humanistic reflection, and artistic expression, as well as a detailed set of contemplative practices.

These seminars introduce first- and second-year students to the academic study of religion through a close study of a particular theme or topic. Students will engage with material from a variety of methodological perspectives, and they will learn how to critically analyze sources and communicate their findings. The seminars allow for intensive reading and discussion of material. Not more than two Intro Seminars may count towards the Major.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Religious Studies.

This class examines the role religion plays in defining a racial category known as whiteness. By reading cultural histories and ethnographies of the religious practices of various communities, we will examine how groups now classified as white (Irish, Italians, Poles, Jews, etc.) and religious images (depictions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary) "became white" and the role that religious practice played in this shift in racial classification.

Includes American religious pluralism, religious responses to social issues, and the character of contemporary American religious life.

Studies religious meanings in modern literature, emphasizing faith and doubt, evil and absurdity, and wholeness and transcendence in both secular fiction and fiction written from traditional religious perspectives.

This course interprets humanity's changing ecological relationships through religious and philosophical traditions. It takes up ethical questions presented by environmental problems, introduces frameworks for making sense of them, and examines the symbols and narratives that shape imaginations of nature.

Engaging commentary from a range of religious traditions and media sources, this course examines the enduring intellectual and political challenges of engaging religion in a pluralistic and democratic context. In addition to religious studies and theology, course readings will include material from media studies, law, political science, philosophy, and cognitive psychology.

Politics and religion are links to the exploration to culture, history, and current events. This course seeks to understand what is meant by religion and the multiple ways in which it is politically important by examining the world views of various religious traditions and their political implications.

Examines several contemporary moral problems from the perspective of ethical thought in the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish traditions.

This course introduces undergraduates to seminal writings in modern Western thought that explore and question the meaning, truthfulness, and uses of religious belief. The goal is to develop a multi-storied narrative of the variety of interpretations given to the idea of God in modernity and to clarify the conditions of responsible religious belief in a pluralistic world. Requirements include two exams and a research paper.

This course examines how Latine religious traditions--including Latine Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Mainline Protestantism, Indigenous traditions, and religious "nones"--interact with political and democratic cultures in the United States.

An introduction to the personality of God as portrayed in the sacred literatures, histories, and practices of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. (For the religious studies major, or minor, this counts as either RELC, RELI or RELJ)

If religious teachings so often focus on love and peace, why is so much violence committed in the name of religion? In this course, we will consider the ways in which religion and violence have intersected in Western religions (particularly Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) over the past two millennia, from the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire to the modern world.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Religious Studies.

This course studies how to be a moral agent in a market society. It attends to how economic issues influence different spheres of human life, both public and private, and discusses the ethics of a professional career, the moral obligations of corporations, the nature of inequality, the economic ethics of major world traditions, and how to live a morally sane human life in a market system.

Analyzes various moral problems in medicine, health care, and global health from Christian (Catholic and Protestant), Jewish, and Islamic theological perspectives with reference to salient philosophical influences.

This course asks: what does "spiritual but not religious" mean, and why has it become such a pervasive idea in modern America? We'll study everything from AA to yoga to Zen meditation, with stops in Christian rock, Beat poetry, Abstract Expressionist painting and more. In the end, we'll come to see spirituality in America as a complex intermingling of the great world religions, modern psychology, and a crassly commercialized culture industry.

Readings will include contemporary ethnographies of religious festivals in the Caribbean ans South, Central, and North America, and increase their knowledge of the concepts of sacred time and space, ritual theory, and the relationships between religious celebration and changing accounts of ethnicity.

Seeing is believing. Or is it? In this course, we will examine the role of sensory perception in religious imagination. We will consider how religious practitioners think about the senses, utilize the senses to experience the world, and assign meaning to the senses. We will also probe the ways in which religious traditions deploy sensory metaphors to describe human experience of the sacred.

This course serves as an introduction to the religious beliefs and practices of China, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora. The course covers several broad themes in Chinese religion, including ritual, self-cultivation, means of communicating with the gods, and the intersection of political authority and religion. We will engage with textual, material, and visual traditions.

This course traces the history of Jerusalem with a focus on its significance in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. How has Jerusalem been experienced and interpreted as sacred within these religious communities? How have they expressed their attachments to this contested space from antiquity to modern times? Discussion will be rooted in primary texts from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sources, with attention to their historical context.

The growing role of robots in society presents new challenges, but many of the ethical and philosophical issues raised by robots have long histories. This course will examine golems, automatons, robots, and cyborgs to consider what distinguishes humans, what it means to create other beings, what it means to be embodied, and what relationships we should have with the nonhuman.

Critical appraisal of classical and contemporary approaches to the sociological study of religion and society.

An analysis of African-American social criticism centered upon, but not limited to, the life and thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X

Explores how ethical issues in religious traditions and cultural narratives are addressed in literature, scripture, essay, and memoir. How do stories inquire into "the good life"? How may moral principles and virtues be "tested" by fiction? How does narrative shape identity, mediate universality and particularity, reflect beliefs and values in conflict, and depict suffering?

This course is about the felt experience of religion across time and place. Through readings, essays, presentations and exercises we will become familiar with a variety of perspectives on the relationships between religions and bodies in their multiple cultural contexts.

The undergraduate seminar will explore as inter-related topics the religious formation and outlook of Thomas Jefferson, his conception of the proper relation of religion and the civil power, his idea of the university as a secular institution, ad the role of religion in the founding and subsequent history of the University of Virginia.

The seminar considers the American Civil Rights Movement, its supporters and opponents, in religious and theological perspective. While interdisciplinary in scope, the seminar will explore the religious motivations and theological sources in their dynamic particularity; and ask how images of God shaped conceptions of personal identity, social existence, race and nation in the campaigns and crusades for equal rights under the law.

Beginning with Islamic-ruled Spain and the Aztec and Incan empires, the course examines historical changes in the religious practices of indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans and European settlers in Latin America and the Caribbean under European colonization and the transatlantic slave trade. Topics include: religious violence, human sacrifice, the Inquisition; missions; race, gender and sexuality; slavery, revolts, revolutions, nationalism.

This course in spiritual writing chronicles quests for meaning, purpose and direction. The reading and writing assignments explore encounters with the sacred, and consider such written wrestlings within faith communities, and other sources of wisdom. Over the semester, students will study examples of contemporary spiritual writing in diaries, memoir, and fiction. They will also write about "matters of the spirit" in various genres.

Students study and research religion as it has been practiced in everyday life in two different traditions and write up and communicate their findings in articulate and thoughtful ways. As they focus on the themes of feasting and fasting in Jewish and Christian communities, they engage in various forms of interdisciplinary inquiry, including the study of sacred texts, history, ethics, and ethnography.

Is thought always already racialized, gendered, sexed? This Introduction to Black and Womanist Thought course argues that thought does not have to submit itself to modern regimes of knowledge production, that there are alternative ways to think and practice and be in the world with one another. An introduction to major thinkers in both religious thought and traditions with attention to theology, philosophy, and history.

To what extent does the pursuit of sustainability require restraining or retraining our desires? How can people be encouraged to consume less, or in less destructive ways, when cultures of consumption prove resistant to change? This seminar will explore these questions from the perspective of South Asian traditions (Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain). We will consider classical sources as well as contemporary debates about sustainable development.

Exploration of how what we feel colors what we believe, what we claim to know. What are human emotions and why do we have them? Philosophers, psychiatrists, neurologists and religious thinkers disagree. We will analyze these disagreements, along with the question of how the emotions can be controlled or educated. We will focus on William James, who influentially argued that for most believers, religious experience is first and foremost emotional.

This course introduces students to the moral frameworks of Aristotle, Maimonides, Machiavelli, and Jeff McMahon and then examines pressing moral issues in contemporary America.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Religious Studies.

Examines the works of several playwrights, some of whom dramatize explicitly religious themes or subjects, and others who are predominantly concerned with secular situations and contexts that imply religious questions and issues.

This course will teach students to evaluate critically the leadership and strategies of social impact campaigns, and the ways in which governments, religious actors and civil society have tried to reduce violent conflict. Students will be organized into small integrated teams to research the root causes and triggers for religion-related violence across the Middle East and North Africa.

Beginning with Biblical sources and concluding with contemporary texts, this course will examine the philosophical framework of casting idolatry as an unspeakable sin: What is an idol, and why is idolatry so objectionable? With an emphasis on Judaism, though not exclusively, we will discuss idolatry in the context of representation, election, otherness, emancipation, nationalism, secularism, religious innovation, and messianism.

This course examines the relationship between black religion and the criminal justice system in the U.S. from Jim Crow to the Black Lives Matter era. We will focus on the ideas, lived experiences, and activism of the incarcerated; religious engagements with policing; and movements for criminal justice reform and prison abolition. Authors likely will include Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Elijah Muhammad.

This seminar explores the major conversations that scholars of religion are having, and have had, about what "religion" is and the best ways to study it. Focusing on classical controversies, ongoing debates, and new developments, this course will help students map out the field of religious studies and begin to situate their own studies within it. This course is geared towards Religious Studies majors but open to any interested student.

This class is study of the influence of the Bible (both Hebrew and Christian canons) on the fiction of William Faulkner. We will also see how this ancient text and its heritage informed Faulkner's views on race, community, and personal identity as well.

This course will explore African American religious traditions in their modern and historical contexts, combining an examination of current scholarship, worship and praxis. It will examine the religious life and religious institutions of African Americans from their African antecedents to contemporary figures and movements in the US.

This seminar takes up questions of responsibility and fairness posed by climate change as ways into a search for shared ground across moral traditions. It investigates the ethical dimensions of climate change as a way to consider broad frameworks for developing responsibilities across national, cultural, and religious borders.

Investigates how modern thinkers have understood the character of evil and the challenge it poses to human existence. Evaluates the proposals made in response to that challenge. Prerequisite: Any course in religious studies.

This course will explore the role of religion in the black freedom struggle in the United States, with a focus on the twentieth century to the present. We will consider the question, how have black people harnessed religion to conceptualize and fight for various notions of black progress and the salvation of black people (broadly construed) amid the persistence of racial inequality?

The course enables students to spend time in medical settings as 'participant-observers,' in order to gain first-hand experience of the subject matter that is the focus of the theory, teaching, and practice of bioethics. Prerequisites: Bioethics Major/Minor

Multidisciplinary examination of religious self-perception in relation to the dominant values of American life. Readings represent a variety of spiritual traditions and autobiographical forms.

Students in this course will fashion their own approach to studying religion and develop a retrospective project that interweaves the various strands of their prior study over the course of the major. Building on earlier courses in Religious Studies, this capstone seminar completes the major's sequence by applying questions and conversations in the study of religion to some advanced theme crafted by the instructor.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Religious Studies.

This course offers third- and fourth-year Religious Studies majors resources for conceiving and executing a major research project. As a follow-up, students usually take RELG 4900 ("Distinguished Major Thesis"), which affords them an opportunity to write the research project they have conceived in this course. Whether you plan to write a thesis or not, RELG 4800 offers an accessible introduction to the craft of research in Religious Studies.

This seminar seeks to develop a close reading of major religious poetry by two major religious poets

Students write a thesis, directed by a member of the department, focusing on a specific problem in the theoretical, historical or philosophical study of religion or a specific religious tradition. The thesis grows out of the project proposal and annotated bibliography developed in the Research Methods seminar. Prerequisite: Selection by faculty for Distinguished Major Program and completion of RELG 4800.

Analyzes existentialist, phenomenological, structuralist, literary, historical, and psychological approaches to the interpretation of texts, especially narrative religious texts; and the interactions of language, history, and understanding.

The title of this course is not just a play on words. It suggests the common mind of both authors concerning the character of the modern world. Each has given us an acute and haunting diagnosis of modernity. Each has explored the failures of faith and love among the inhabitants of modernity. Yet each also has rendered a compelling vision of a reintegrated world of community, communion, and salvation..

Introduces the basic thinkers in the field of history of religions and to fundamental problems in the study of religious sociology, mythology, and ritual.

This course gives particular attention to music and sounds that are created or used by various religious communities, and we discuss the ways sounds are imagined and experienced by audiences, congregations, & gatherings. We also explore sound itself, instrumentation, and noise. We investigate uses of ambient sound and silence. We listen and respond to voices. We ask what does the production of sound mean for the practice of religious community?

This course considers the radicalism internal to a European Mystical Tradition but also its delimitation, particularly with how it gets cognized in western thought. We will then investigate a Black Radical Mystical Tradition that cannot be, as Robinson might say, "understood within the particular context of it genesis." It is a lived and living tradition, a tradition against religion, a tradition against western thought and modern Man.

This course examines the history and theology of the religious left in the United States from the nineteenth century until the present. It charts how liberal religion shaped both electoral politics and activism around issues that include abolition, women's suffrage, the peace movement, civil rights, the labor movement, and immigration. It also explores the impact of theology and religious modernism on the American left.

The seminar considers the American Civil Rights Movement in religious and theological perspective. While interdisciplinary in scope, the seminar will explore the movement's religious influences and theological sources and ask how differing images of God and doctrinal commitments shaped particular ways of interpreting and engaging the social order.

Examines classic and contemporary discussions of problems in the philosophy of religion.

Advanced research on religion, politics and conflict for students of "religion-on-religion" conflict/conflict resolution. Research methods drawn from religious studies, politics, anthropology and linguistics, history, sociology, nursing, philosophy, systems analysis and data science. Topics recommended by current work in the Global Covenant of Religions, the UVA Initiative on Religion in Conflict, and other professional work in the field.

The Proseminar for MA students in Religion, Politics & Conflict meets monthly each semester to discuss student research, to integrate methods and themes in the field, to facilitate professional development, and to deepen relationships with colleagues.

How do, might, or ought the aesthetic dimensions of human experience inform engagement with religion in the public life of a pluralistic society? Employing the theological aesthetic principles of foregrounding and interlacing to structure our investigation, our study examines philosophical, theological, and ethical (both religious and theological) responses to this question.

How is a religiously pluralistic society to pursue a societal common good? This graduate seminar explores responses to this question within religious ethics at local, national, and global levels. Readings will address major contributions to this topic within political philosophy before pivoting to responses in religious and theological ethics, including broadly Augustinian, Thomistic, and critical theological approaches.

This course introduces graduate students to classic and major recent scholarly texts in the field of African American religious history, from transatlantic slavery to the civil rights movement and Black Power.

Over the past decade, Sylvia Wynter has emerged as one of the most influential voices in Black Studies, Decolonial Studies, and Religious Studies.  Her distinct oeuvre has occasioned multiple edited volumes, collections, special issues of journals, conferences, and more.

In this course we shall explore in depth works published in the last decade or two that demonstrate, to varying degrees, feminist thought as increasingly integral to on-going conversations and controversies in ethics, both social/political and theological, and at the same time instrumental in taking those discussions in new and important directions. The emphasis in the course is on careful reading and explication, and on recognition and critique

American Religion and Social Reform examines the history of the interplay between theology, morality, and politics in American history. Topics covered include temperance and prohibition, labor, civil rights, the peace movement, and environmentalism. Weekly reading, class presentation, and original research will be important components of the class. Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates.

An examination of the social and political thought of selected religious thinkers.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of general religion.

Caring well for an aging population is among the greatest challenges facing both the United States and the world. Significant gaps persist between the health and social systems that older adults need, and those to which they have access. This course uses a multidisciplinary approach--encompassing history, public health, ethics, the social sciences, and literature--to explore these gaps, their impact, and their meaning

Analyzes, in terms of fundamental theory, the purposes, problems, and possibilities of interdisciplinary work in religion and literary criticism.

The course examines "religion" as an element of socio-political activity in major conflicts in the past two decades: examining the global phenomenon of irremediable, religion-related violent conflict, recent efforts to diagnose religion-specific sources of both violence and peacebuilding, and prospects for cooperative peacebuilding efforts among governmental, civil society, and religious agencies.

A close reading of Wallace Steven's major poems and an evaluation of their theological significance. Prerequisite: Graduate seminar plus advanced undergraduates in approved.

This course offers MA students in Religious Studies resources for conceiving and executing a major research project or thesis. By the end of the semester, each participant will have completed a well-organized, detailed prospectus. The prospectus will reflect the guidance of one's thesis advisor as well as the scrutiny of the instructor and input from peers. Each student will thus be poised to begin writing his/her thesis the following semester.

A study of key texts by G. W. F. Hegel and their impact on philosophical, theological, ethical, and religious thought in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Topics considered include philosophical method, the relationship between philosophy and theology, the meaning of Spirit, dialectical materialism, critical theory, and key topics in Christian theology (God, Christology, pneumatology, etc.).

An interdisciplinary course that includes the following elements: studies in the textual traditions of particular religions; studies in literary theory; studies in literary traditions; the application of literary theory to studies in religious text traditions; and the application of the history of religions to the study of literary canons.

This monthly seminar explores methods and issues vital to the combined study of literatures and religions. It brings all MA students together, under faculty guidance, to attend to the broad range of individual projects and to foster a rich conversation that traverses the emergent field of study.

This course familiarizes students with a range of ways of studying practice in religions as it is evidenced in sacred texts, religious artifacts, images and locations; as it is chronicled in historical documents; as it is reflected in literary and artistic creations; and as it revealed in contemporary practice.

Examines the nature of narrative modes of representation and argument, and how narrative theory has been employed in contemporary ethics and religious thought.

This course will explore the interrelations between evil and suffering of 20th- and 21st- century European and American thinkers, theologians, and theorists, as well as literary authors and artists, with particular attention to the Holocaust and American slavery.

This seminar examines responses to climate change from law and from ethics in order to ask questions about the relation of regulatory instruments and moral culture. Co-taught by a scholar of environmental law and a scholar of environmental ethics, the course is jointly listed in the Law School and the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

The modern state is often depicted in irreparable conflict with visions of sovereignty and ethical goals of diverse religions, earthy and transcendent. However, recent research has pointed not only to shared genealogies between state and religion, but also how both have come to shape one another. Readings will consist of ethnographic and micro-historical cases of religions within and beyond the state from the dawn of modernity to the present.

'What is Scripture?' That is the defining question for this introductory seminar in Scripture, Interpretation, and Practice - one of three entry courses for the SIP program. While SIP prides itself in not asking 'what is?' questions, this course risks the question but only as a source of context-specific, tradition-based reasonings. The goal is sampling: examining selected passages from each canon to answer the question, what is scripture?

What is "spirituality" and why has it become such a pervasive term in contemporary American culture? This course explores this question through historical interrogation of the category and its development since the early nineteenth century. The encounter of historic religious traditions, especially Protestant Christianity, with the intellectual, cultural, economic, and social currents of modernity will form the larger background for our analysis.

Given the multidisciplinary character of religious studies, it is imperative for new scholars to gain a basic sense of theoretical and methodological options in the field. By way of an examination of landmark texts, this course surveys the formation of religious studies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and considers some important contemporary approaches.