Fall 2023

Course Code Title/Instructor Meets
RELG 108-01 God in America
Instructor: Jodie Vann
Course Description:
The course chronicles the relationship between religious ideas and cultural context from the founding of the first colonies through the rise of the Religious Right and New Age movements. Our journey will be guided by several key metaphors that have characterized the religious ethos of America: America as "The Promised Land"; America as the "land of opportunity", as the "melting pot." We will use primary sources, including fiction, poetry, and film.
10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
DENNY 317
RELG 203-01 Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament in Context
Instructor: Andrea Lieber
Course Description:
Cross-listed with JDST 203-01 and MEST 200-02. A critical examination and attempt to understand the literature and the antecedent traditions remembered and formulated by the ancient Israelites in terms of their own views of God. This literature is interpreted in the context of events and cultures of the ancient Near East. This course is cross-listed as JDST 203.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, MR
DENNY 304
RELG 209-01 The Age of Faith: Medieval Europe Between Church and State
Instructor: Peter Schadler
Course Description:
Cross-listed with HIST 101-01. This survey course will study the development of European civilization during the period c.400 to 1500 with special attention to the rise of the papacy and religious conflict. It will consider the impact of such events as the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic invasions, the development of Christianity and the Church, the emergence of feudalism, the expansion of Islam and the Crusades, and the creation of romantic literature.
10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MWF
EASTC 411
RELG 211-02 Religion, Fantasy, and Science Fiction
Instructor: Jodie Vann
Course Description:
An exploration of the religious and mythological dimensions of traditional and modern fantasy literature. Our explorations will be guided by three interdependent themes: the nature of the divine, the nature of the human, and the nature of the moral life.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TR
ALTHSE 106
RELG 234-01 Love, Sex and Hebrew Texts (in Translation)
Instructor: Nitsa Kann
Course Description:
Cross-listed with JDST 234-01, MEST 200-01 and WGSS 201-02. This course is a comprehensive study of masterpieces of Hebrew literature in translation, especially about love from different periods, origins, and genres. The literary survey includes Biblical love stories and love poetry, love and sexuality in Jewish mysticism, love and desire poems of the Middle Ages, and various fiction and poetry of modern Hebrew literature from the early 20th century to the present. The students will read translated short novels, short stories, poetry, academic books and articles, and other research materials about Hebrew literature. Students will watch some Israeli films about primary Hebrew authors and their cultural world. Sessions will be divided into discussions of assigned readings, and presentations on the historical background of each period, and literary and biographical background of the various authors. This course is cross-listed as JDST 234.
09:00 AM-10:15 AM, TR
EASTC 314
RELG 259-01 Islam
Instructor: David Commins
Course Description:
Cross-listed with HIST 259-01 and MEST 259-01. An introduction to Islamic beliefs and practices in their classical forms: rituals, law, mysticism, and other topics. The course will consider aspects of Islamic cultures and societies in medieval and modern times. This course is cross-listed as HIST 259 and MEST 259.
03:00 PM-04:15 PM, TF
DENNY 203
RELG 260-01 Beyond Belief: Jewish Secular Culture from Spinoza to Seinfeld
Instructor: Andrea Lieber
Course Description:
Cross-listed with JDST 250-01.Many Jews nowadays define themselves in secular or cultural terms rather than religious ones. But how did the tradition of secular Judaism come to be? This course will survey the development of secular Jewish identity through an examination of key thinkers over the last three and a half centuries, including Spinoza, Freud, Marx and Einstein. The course will conclude with an examination of secular Judaism in American culture - the drama of Clifford Odets and Arthur Miller, the films of Mel Brooks and Sidney Lumet, and the television shows Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
03:00 PM-04:15 PM, MR
DENNY 203
RELG 318-01 Spiritual Not Religious
Instructor: Jodie Vann
Course Description:
(e.g., Religion and Science; Encounters with Death; Liberation Theologies) Prerequisite dependent upon topic.
01:30 PM-04:30 PM, M
STERN 12
RELG 318-02 Keys to Music 2: Sacred Roots
Instructor: Greg Strohman, Robert Pound
Course Description:
Cross-listed with MUAC 125-01.What are the deepest roots of contemporary music, popular and arcane? In this course, we begin by studying the earliest written music in the Western world. We trace its technical developments from the modal music of the secluded monastery to the contrapuntal complexity of Renaissance musical cathedrals. Doing so, we begin assembling a tool kit for musical performance, composition, and analysis, including modes and the incipience of the major-minor key system.
09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MTWRF
WEISS 212
RELG 500-01 Christian Theologies and Practices Before the Reformation
Instructor: Peter Schadler
Course Description:

RELG 500-02 Research in Religious Cults
Instructor: Jodie Vann
Course Description:

RELG 500-03 GOD WINS: Christian Nationalism within the QAnon Conspiracy Movement
Instructor: Jodie Vann
Course Description:

RELG 550-01 Independent Research
Instructor: Andrea Lieber
Course Description: