Religion

Department Website:
https://www.haverford.edu/religion

A central mission of the Religion Department is to enable students to become critically informed, independent, and creative interpreters of some of the religious movements, sacred texts, ideas, and practices that have decisively shaped human experience. In their coursework, students develop skills in the critical analysis of the sacred texts, images, beliefs, and performances of various religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. The department’s programs are designed to help students understand how religions develop and change and how religious texts, symbols, and rituals help constitute communities and cultures. Thus, the major in religion seeks to help students develop a coherent set of academic skills in the study of religion, while at the same time encouraging interdisciplinary work in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

Learning Goals

The Haverford religion major is unique in that it provides students with a comprehensive curriculum that includes carefully designed areas of concentrations, specialized coursework, supervised research, a lengthy written research product, and a departmental oral conversation with the entire department as the minimum requirements for fulfilling the major. Through coursework, senior thesis research, and the Senior Colloquium with the Swarthmore Religion Department, the department seeks to fulfill the following learning goals:

  • Expose students to the central ideas, debates, scholars, methods, historiography, and approaches to the academic study of religion.
  • Analyze key terms and categories in the study of religion, and utilize the diverse vocabularies deployed among a range of scholars in religion and related fields.
  • Develop critical thinking, analytical writing, and sustained engagement in theory and method, together with the critical competence to engage sacred texts, images, ideas and practices.
  • Cultivate the learning environment as an integrative and collaborative process.
  • Expand intellectual opportunities for students to broaden and critically assess their worldviews.
  • Encourage students to supplement their work in religion with elective languages (Arabic, Chinese, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi/Urdu, Japanese, Latin, Sanskrit, Yoruba).
  • Foster interdisciplinary methods and perspectives in the study of religion, while continuing to model this through the curriculum.
  • Prepare students for professional careers, for graduate studies in religion or related fields, and for leadership roles as reflective, critically-aware human beings.

Like other liberal arts majors, the religion major is meant to prepare students for a broad array of vocational possibilities. Religion majors typically find careers in law, public service (including both religious and secular organizations), medicine, business, ministry, and education. Religion majors have also pursued advanced graduate degrees in anthropology, history, political science, biology, Near Eastern studies, and religious studies.

Haverford’s Institutional Learning Goals are available on the President’s website, at http://hav.to/learninggoals.

Major Requirements

The major in religion is designed to help students develop a coherent set of academic skills and expertise in the study of religion, while at the same time encouraging interdisciplinary work in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. The major consists of 11 courses with the following requirements:

  • Five courses within an area of concentration: each major is expected to fashion a coherent major program focused around work in one of three designated areas of concentration:
    • Religious Traditions in Cultural Context. The study of religious traditions and the textual, historical, sociological and cultural contexts in which they develop. Critical analysis of formative texts and issues that advance our notions of religious identities, origins, and ideas.
    • Religion, Literature, and Representation. The study of religion in relation to literary expressions and other forms of representation, such as performance, music, film, and the plastic arts.
    • Religion, Ethics, and Society. The exploration of larger social issues such as race, gender, and identity as they relate to religion and religious traditions. Examines how moral principles, cultural values, and ethical conduct help to shape human societies.
      The five courses within the area of concentration must include at least one department seminar at the 300 level. Where appropriate and relevant to the major’s program, up to two courses for the major may be drawn from outside the field of religion, subject to departmental approval.
  • RELG H299 (Theoretical Perspectives in the Study of Religion).                                                                         
  • RELG H398A and RELG H399B, a two-semester senior seminar and thesis program.                                           
  • Three additional half-year courses drawn from outside the major’s area of concentration.                                   
  • Junior Colloquium: an informal required gathering of the junior majors once each semester. Students should complete the Religion Major Worksheet in advance in consultation with their major advisor and bring copies of the completed worksheet to the meeting.

At least six of each major’s 11 courses must be taken in the Haverford Religion Department.In some rare cases, students may petition the department for exceptions to the major requirements. Such petitions must be presented to the department for approval in advance.

Final evaluation of the major program will consist of written work, including a thesis, and an oral conversation completed in the context of the Senior Seminar (RELG H398A and 399B).

Advising for the major takes place in individual meetings between majors and faculty advisors and in a departmental Junior Colloquium held once each semester. At this colloquium, junior majors will present their proposed programs of study with particular attention to their work in the area of concentration. All majors should fill out and bring the Religion Major Worksheet, which can be found on the Religion Department website, to the colloquium.

Senior Project

The senior thesis research project in the Department of Religion serves as a capstone experience for our majors. The work of RELG H398A and RELG H399B, the required courses related to the senior research project in religion, consists of five stages: the formulation of a thesis proposal; presentation of the proposal; presentation of a portion of work in progress; the writing and submission of first and final drafts; oral discussion with department faculty.

Senior Project Learning Goals

The goals of the senior thesis process are to:

  • further develop research skills and obtain a mastery of academic citation practices.
  • provide students with an opportunity to pursue original research questions and to sharpen scholarly interests as one masters a particular field/argument.
  • enhance written and verbal analysis through participation in the yearlong senior seminar with department faculty and students, weekly meetings with individual advisors, and the final oral presentation of the thesis to the department.
  • nurture group cohesion as a department, through collaborative participation with fellow majors during the course of RELG H398A  and RELG H399B, concretely expressed by way of critical feedback to shared writing.
  • build student confidence in the ability to see to fruition a rigorous project requiring prolonged periods of thought, writing, revising, and research.

Senior Project Assessment

You will receive a regular course grade for RELG H399B, which will appear on your transcript. This overall grade is comprised of three separate grades that evaluate:

  • Your participation in the seminar process outlined above.
    • Participation in the seminar means: punctual attendance at all seminar events; careful preparation, especially the reading of your colleagues’ work in progress; and regular meetings with your advisor and submission of writing, according to the schedule mutually agreed upon.
  • The quality of your thesis.
  • Your thesis will be read by all members of the department, who will mutually agree upon a grade for the written thesis. This grade will be factored into your final grade for the seminar.
  • The effectiveness of your oral exam.
    • The effectiveness of your oral discussion will be factored into the final grade for the thesis and for the seminar as a whole. All members of the department will participate in your oral discussion, but your advisor will not participate in the process of the final evaluation and grading of your work.

Requirements for Honors

The department awards honors and high honors in religion on the basis of the quality of work in the major and on the completed thesis.

Minor Requirements

The minor in religion, like the major, is designed to help students develop a coherent set of academic skills and expertise in the study of religion, while at the same time encouraging interdisciplinary work in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. The minor consists of six courses with the following requirements:

  • Five courses within an area of concentration, with at least one at the 300 level:
    • Religious Traditions in Cultural Context. The study of religious traditions and the textual, historical, sociological and cultural contexts in which they develop. Critical analysis of formative texts and issues that advance our notions of religious identities, origins, and ideas.                                    
    • Religion, Literature, and Representation. The study of religion in relation to literary expressions and other forms of representation, such as performance, music, film, and the plastic arts.         
    • Religion, Ethics, and Society. The exploration of larger social issues such as race, gender, and identity as they relate to religion and religious traditions. Examines how moral principles, cultural values, and ethical conduct help to shape human societies.
  • RELG H299 (Theoretical Perspectives in the Study of Religion).
  • Junior Colloquium: an informal required gathering of the junior majors once each semester. Students should complete the Religion Minor Worksheet, available on the Religion Department website, in advance in consultation with their major advisor and bring copies of the completed worksheet to the meeting.

All six courses must be taken in the Haverford Religion Department. In some rare cases, students may petition the department for exceptions to the minor requirements. Such petitions must be presented to the department for approval in advance.

Study Abroad

Students planning to study abroad must construct their programs in advance with the department. Students seeking religion credit for abroad courses must write a formal petition to the department upon their return and submit all relevant course materials. We advise students to petition courses that are within the designated area of concentration.

Affiliated Faculty

Matthew Farmer
Associate Professor and Chair of Classics

Molly Farneth
Associate Professor of Religion

Pika Ghosh
Visiting Associate Professor of Religion

Hank Glassman
The Janet and Henry Richotte 1985 Professor of Asian Studies; Associate Professor and Chair of East Asian Languages and Cultures

Guangtian Ha
Assistant Professor of Religion

David Harrington Watt
Douglas & Dorothy Steere Professor of Quaker Studies

Naomi Koltun-Fromm
Professor and Chair of Religion

Ken Koltun-Fromm
Robert and Constance MacCrate Professor of Social Responsibility and Professor of Religion

Charles Kuper
Visiting Assistant Professor of the Writing Program

Anne McGuire
The Kies Family Professor of Humanities; Associate Professor of Religion; Coordinator of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Zolani Ngwane
Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology

Terrance Wiley
Assistant Professor of Religion and Coordinator of African and Africana Studies

Courses

RELG H101  INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION  (1.0 Credit)

Molly Farneth

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

An introduction to the study of religion from multiple perspectives: overviews of several religions with classroom discussion of primary sources; cross-cultural features common to many religions; theories of religion and approaches to its study and interpretation.

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H104  RELIGION AND SOCIAL ETHICS  (1.0 Credit)

Molly Farneth

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course introduces students to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim approaches to contemporary social ethics. Topics may include labor, poverty and economic justice, racism, immigration, incarceration and capital punishment, civil disobedience, gender roles, sexuality, and sexual ethics. Lottery Preference: 15 spaces reserved for incoming first-year students

RELG H106  THE SENSE AND SENSES OF ISLAM  (1.0 Credit)

Guangtian Ha

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course introduces students to the debates about the senses in Islam. What is the relationship between sound and the sacred, between the sensorium and the meanings of Islam? Course readings will include Sufi texts, works by Islamic scholars, ethnographies of Muslim musical practices, as well as philosophical works.

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H110  SACRED TEXTS AND RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS  (1.0 Credit)

Anne McGuire

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

An introduction to Religion through the close reading of selected sacred texts of various religious traditions in their historical, literary, philosophical, and religious contexts.

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H112  MYTH, FOLKLORE, AND LEGEND IN JAPAN  (1.0 Credit)

Hank Glassman

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

An introduction to stories of the weird and supernatural in Japan and a reflection on genre and the scholarly enterprise of taxonomy-making. Readings from Buddhist miracle plays, early modern puppet drama, etc., supplemented by scholarly secondary sources.

RELG H117  RELIGION, THE BODY, AND THE SENSES  (1.0 Credit)

Ken Koltun-Fromm

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course explores the multi sensuous nature of religious experience and expression. Religion is not just a practice or a set of texts; it is also an embodied, felt experience that activates sights, sounds, tastes, touch, and particular smells. These embodied senses are also gendered and raced, and we want to pay close attention to how religious traditions map particular bodies onto specific senses. Pre-requisite(s): None

RELG H119  BIBLE, RACE AND SEXUALITY  (1.0 Credit)

Naomi Koltun-Fromm

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course focuses on the interpretive history and historical contexts of a selection of biblical passages which form the core of "biblical" understandings of race, gender and sexuality. In comparative and historical textual exploration students will learn the variety of ways these texts have been understood across time and community, as well as how these same texts continue to provoke new interpretations and new understandings of race, gender and sexuality. Lottery Preference: Ten spaces reserved for first years.

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H122  INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT  (1.0 Credit)

Anne McGuire

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

An introduction to the New Testament and early Christian literature. Special attention will be given to the Jewish origins of the Jesus movement, the development of traditions about Jesus in the earliest Christian communities, and the social contexts and functions of various texts. Readings will include non-canonical writings, in addition to the writings of the New Testament canon.

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H131  THE LURE OF IMAGES: RELIGION AND VISUAL MEDIA  (1.0 Credit)

Pika Ghosh

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course examines representations from figural forms to abstractions, found objects and beautiful writing to understand the power of sacred imagery. We will examine formats from medieval manuscripts and painted walls to films, panoramas and comic books to observe the dynamics that emerge among viewers and images in spatial contexts ranging from altar pieces, sculpture, stained glass and painting in neo-Gothic churches, calligraphy in mosque and shrine interiors, deity icons in Hindu temples and potent fabrics in Buddhist monastic complexes. Crosslisted: VIST.

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H134  AMERICAN SPIRITUALITIES  (1.0 Credit)

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

"Spirituality" has become a common-place descriptor in contemporary American culture. As a practice that cuts across racial, ethnic, class and gender lines, how are we to understand this particular form of religiosity? This course will explore mainstream as well as alternative spiritual practices and ideas, from the Lakota Sundance to Spiritualist seances, Quaker Meeting for Worship to Tik Tok witches. Students in this course will interrogate how the categorization of "spirituality" operates in the modern United States.

RELG H137  BLACK RELIGION AND LIBERATION THEOLOGY  (1.0 Credit)

Terrance Wiley

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

An introduction to the theological & philosophical claims raised in Black Religion & Liberation Thought in 20th C America. In particular, the course will examine the multiple meanings of liberation within black religion, the place of religion in African American struggles against racism, sexism and class exploitation and the role of religion in shaping the moral and political imaginations of African Americans.

RELG H150  SOUTH ASIAN RELIGIOUS CULTURES  (1.0 Credit)

Pika Ghosh

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

An introductory course covering the variegated expressions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Sikhism in South Asia.

RELG H155  THEMES IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION: RITUAL  (1.0 Credit)

Zolani Ngwane

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

What is it that rituals actually do? Are they enactments (affirmations) of collective ideals or are they arguments about these? Are they media for political action or are they expressions of teleological phenomena? The course is a comparative study of ritual and its place in religious practice and political argumentation. Concrete case studies will include an initiation ritual in South Africa, the Communion Sacrament in Christianity, a Holocaust commemorative site in Auschwitz, and the cult of spirit-possession in Niger. Cross-listed: Anthropology, Religion

RELG H159  GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN ISLAMIC TEXTS AND PRACTICES  (1.0 Credit)

Guangtian Ha

Division: First Year Writing

This course introduces students to the different views of gender and sexuality in Islamic thought, and situates these views within Muslim histories and societies. We will draw on primary sources, historiographical work, ethnographies of Muslim societies, fiction, poetry, and play. One major focus will be on homosexuality in Islam and Muslim societies. In the course of this examination we will also have a chance to question what “homosexuality” is and whether this term can be applied cross-culturally and cross-religiously. To think critically about homosexuality in Islam will thus compel us to reconsider homosexuality and Islam at once. Open only to first-year students as assigned by the Director of College Writing.

RELG H160  FROM MALCOLM X TO DAVE CHAPPELLE: ISLAM, HUMOR, AND COMEDY IN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Guangtian Ha

Domain(s): A: Creative Expression; B: Analysis of the Social World

This course excavates a remarkable genealogy of African American Muslim humor that both shatters the stereotypical image of the ‘cheerful black man’ and exposes the admirable struggles of contemporary African American comedians. We will read philosophical works on humor and comedy, the history of Islam and slavery in the US and the Americas, and a range of works addressing laughter and foolery. The class includes three workshops that require close hands-on engagement. Lottery Preference: Religion; Africana Studies; Anthropology

RELG H186  REINVENTING QUAKERISM: HAVERFORD COLLEGE, RUFUS JONES, AND THE INVENTION OF LIBERAL QUAKERISM  (1.0 Credit)

David Harrington Watt

Division: First Year Writing

Quakerism isn’t stable. It varies from place to place and from generation to generation. There is a real sense in which Orthodox Quakerism (the form of Quakerism that is most closely connected to Haverford College) was reinvented in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Students in this course will examine some of the changes that Orthodox Quakerism underwent between the 1860s and the 1940s by analyzing the life and thought of Rufus Jones (1863-1948). Jones is the most famous Quaker ever to teach at Haverford and one of most influential scholars ever produced by the Religious Society of Friends. Open only to first-year students as assigned by the Director of College Writing.

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H201  INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHISM  (1.0 Credit)

Hank Glassman

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

Focusing on the East Asian Buddhist tradition, the course examines Buddhist philosophy, doctrine and practice as textual traditions and as lived religion. Crosslisted: East Asian Languages & Cultures, Religion

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H208  SACRED MATTERS: MATERIAL DIMENSIONS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA  (1.0 Credit)

Pika Ghosh

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

An examination of the bodily, sensorial and emotional experience of things, substances, architecture, sculpture, landscape, textiles, and texts, the aesthetics of epic poetry, drama, song, dance in South Asian religious cultures. Topics may include how such practices inscribe religious experience, provide parameters for social organization, and offer religious critique. Prerequisite(s): One course in Religion or Visual Studies

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H209  CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY  (1.0 Credit)

Matthew Farmer

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

An introduction to the primary characters and stories of Greek and Roman mythology including cosmic creation, Olympian and other deities, and heroes both as they appear in Greek and Roman literature and art and as they are later represented in modern art, music, and film. Crosslisted: Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, Religion

RELG H212  JERUSALEM: CITY, HISTORY AND REPRESENTATION  (1.0 Credit)

Naomi Koltun-Fromm

Division: Humanities

An examination of the history of Jerusalem as well as a study of Jerusalem as religious symbol and how the two interact over the centuries. Readings from ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary sources as well as material culture and art.

RELG H221  WOMEN AND GENDER IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY  (1.0 Credit)

Anne McGuire

Division: Humanities

An examination of the representations of women and gender in early Christian texts and their significance for contemporary Christianity. Topics include interpretations of Genesis 1-3, images of women and sexuality in early Christian literature, and the roles of women in various Christian communities.

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H222  GNOSTICISM  (1.0 Credit)

Anne McGuire

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

The phenomenon of Gnosticism examined through close reading of primary sources, including the recently discovered texts of Nag Hammadi. Topics include the relation of Gnosticism to Greek, Jewish, and Christian thought; the variety of Gnostic schools and sects; gender imagery, mythology and other issues in the interpretation of Gnostic texts.

RELG H228  BREAK EVERY YOKE: INCARCERATION, ABOLITION, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE  (1.0 Credit)

Staff

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

Students in this course will be invited to explore the intersection of religion with issues of mass incarceration, prison abolition, and social justice in the United States. Students will read important works of abolitionist thought, will explore the religious origins of the modern penitentiary, and will produce original research that draws on the history of religious approaches to incarceration, abolition, and social justice to comment on contemporary debates over these same issues. Crosslisted: PEAC. Lottery Preference: Religion Majors, PJHR Concentrators

RELG H230  RELIGION AND BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE  (1.0 Credit)

Terrance Wiley

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

This course will examine the background for and the key events, figures, philosophies, tactics, and consequences of the modern black freedom struggle in United States. The period from 1955-1965 will receive special attention, but the roots of the freedom struggle and the effect on recent American political, social, and cultural history will also be considered.

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H242  TOPICS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGIOUS HISTORY: THE RELIGIOUS WRITINGS OF JAMES BALDWIN  (1.0 Credit)

Terrance Wiley

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course will explore the intellectual thought of novelist, writer, activist, James Baldwin. The course will cover four decades of James Baldwin's fiction and non-fiction writings. Students will also be asked to read relevant biographical materials that help to contextualize Baldwin's life and literary corpus.

RELG H254  RAP AND RELIGION: RHYMES ABOUT GOD AND THE GOOD  (1.0 Credit)

Terrance Wiley

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

We will explore the origins, existential, and ethical dimensions of Rhythm and Poetry (RAP) music. Giving attention to RAP songs written and produced by African American artists, including Tupac, Nas, Jay-Z, The Roots, Lauryn Hill, and Kanye West, we will analyze their work with an interest in understanding a) the conceptions of God and the good reflected in them, b) how these conceptions connect to and reflect African American social and cultural practices, and c) how the conceptions under consideration change over time.

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H257  YOGA: ART, TEXT AND PRACTICE  (1.0 Credit)

Pika Ghosh

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

This course investigates the range of meanings attributed to the term yoga over two thousand years and across multiple geographical and cultural communities. These include exploring relationship between texts, images, and the practice of yoga in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain communities, as well as modern manifestations associated with nationalist developments of the nineteenth century and global cosmopolitanisms and contemporary politics as part of ongoing transformations.

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H264  RELIGION AND VIOLENCE  (1.0 Credit)

Staff

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course explores the academic ways we think about religion and violence. We will read scholars including Rene Girard, Judith Butler, Talal Asad, and Mark Jeurgensmeyer. We will examine moments of religious violence across time and space, with special focus on episodes in recent U.S. history, including the events at Jonestown in 1978, the MOVE Bombing, the attacks of September 11th, 2001, and the assault on the U.S. Capitol Building in 2021.

RELG H268  ANARCHISM: RELIGION, ETHICS, POLITICAL OBLIGATION  (1.0 Credit)

Terrance Wiley

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Anarchism emerged in the nineteenth century as an important transnational sociopolitical philosophy and religious movement. Course participants will analyze anarchism as a political philosophy and as a social movement, from the nineteenth century labor movement to the ongoing global justice movement.

RELG H272  AMERICAN RELIGIOUS HISTORY  (1.0 Credit)

Staff

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course will investigate the historically shifting roles of religion in American society and the increasing prevalence of religious diversity throughout the country. The class will consider the functions of religion within settler colonialism, slavery, and immigration, and explore how religion has shaped popular culture, the legal system, and American identity. The class will also examine the role of religion within changing notions of gender, sexuality, and race.

RELG H274  THE PROBLEM OF EVIL: ANCIENT ANSWERS TO A DIFFICULT QUESTION  (1.0 Credit)

Charles Kuper

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

What is evil, and where does it come from? The difficulty of answering these questions is only matched by their importance to our lived human experience. Together we will study a wide range of texts from Archaic Greece through the early Middle Ages, and throughout the course, students will be encouraged to consider and reconsider their own understanding of these urgent issues. No previous experience in Classics or the ancient world is required. Crosslisted: COML,RELG. Pre-requisite(s): None Lottery Preference: Ten slots reserved for first years, preference to Classics majors and minors

RELG H286  RELIGION AND AMERICAN PUBLIC LIFE  (1.0 Credit)

Molly Farneth

Division: Humanities

What is religious freedom? How have debates about the role of religion in public life shaped American politics? And how have anxieties about race, gender, and sexuality determined the limits and possibilities of religious freedom? Grounding contemporary political debates in their historical context, students analyze speeches, court cases, visual and popular culture, and political theory and philosophy to explore the complex relationship between religion and politics in the U.S.

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H295  QUAKERS, WAR, AND SLAVERY, 1646-1877  (1.0 Credit)

David Harrington Watt

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

In the 1640s and 50s, many Quakers believed that Christians should fight in wars; none of them (as far as we know) believed that Christians ought not own slaves. By 1723, most Quakers had renounced war; a good many of them had begun to assert that owning slaves was contrary to the will of God. Students in this course will try to determine how—and also why—Quakers changed their minds about war and slavery. Crosslisted: Independent College Programs; Peace, Justice and Human Rights; Religion Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H299  THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN THE STUDY OF RELIGION  (1.0 Credit)

Molly Farneth

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

An introduction to theories of the nature and function of religion from theological, philosophical, psychological, anthropological, and sociological perspectives. Readings may include: Schleiermacher, Marx, Nietzche, Freud, Tylor, Durkheim, Weber, James, Otto, Benjamin, Eliade, Geertz, Foucault, Douglas, Smith, Berger, Haraway.

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H301  SEMINAR IN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS IN CULTURAL CONTEXT: INTERPRETING MYTHS OF CREATION  (1.0 Credit)

Anne McGuire

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This seminar explores myths of creation from various cultural and religious contexts. The seminar will bring a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, with a focus on theories of myth and the role of creation myths in shaping conceptions of the cosmos, the divine, and what it means to be human. We’ll employ theories and methods from various fields, including anthropological, historical, psychological, literary, and religious studies.

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H303  RELIGION, LITERATURE AND REPRESENTATION: IMAGES OF KRISHNA  (1.0 Credit)

Pika Ghosh

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course approaches the Hindu god Krishna through varied expressions in architecture, sculpture, paintings, textiles, landscape design, poetry, music, dance, and drama. We will ask how these practices were employed to visualize the divine, to nurture faith and passion, and to gain proximity to the transcendent deity. Class work will include field trips to local temples and museums.

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H305  SEMINAR IN RELIGION, ETHICS, AND SOCIETY: PRODUCTIVITY AND REST  (1.0 Credit)

Molly Farneth

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

We often think of rest as recovery from, and preparation for, a life devoted to work. But religions have other ways of thinking about rest — not merely as a break from the rat race, but as a reorientation to the divine and the world. In this course, students will read 20th and 21st century Jewish and Christian texts on work, productivity, and rest, and consider them in relation to contemporary conversations about work, time management, and the attention economy.

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H309  EXPERIENCING THE RAMAYANA  (1.0 Credit)

Pika Ghosh

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This seminar will explore the South Asian epic, the Ramayana, in a few of the many texts, images, and performance contexts in which it has flourished for over two millennia. We will also consider the Ramayana as a discourse that has been used to present and contest ideas and ideals: a way of talking about everything from gender roles to political ideologies to the nature of the divine. Prerequisite(s): Two courses in Religion or Visual Studies

RELG H315  RELIGIOUS ORGANIZING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE  (1.0 Credit)

Molly Farneth

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

This course considers the role of multireligious organizations, coalitions, and movements in the struggle for racial justice in the contemporary U.S. Students will learn about the roles, practices, structures, and strategies that these groups use to build solidarity and exercise power. Through readings and discussions, interactions with local organizers, and hand-on activities, students will consider and engage the aims and challenges of religious organizing for racial justice. Pre-requisite(s): At least 2 previous courses at the 200-level in religion, political science, sociology, and/or anthropology, or permission of the instructor. Lottery Preference: Senior religion majors/minors, junior religion majors/minors, other seniors, other juniors, then open to all

RELG H317  ETHNOGRAPHIES OF MAGIC AND THE MAGIC OF ETHNOGRAPHY  (1.0 Credit)

Guangtian Ha

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

Do ethnographies of magic exude their own magical quality, thus enfolded into the very thing they purport to explain? This seminar examines what constitutes ‘good’ ethnographic writing, and in what manner ethnography may be considered a type of modernist literature that crosses over into the science of social investigation. Crosslisted: ANTH. Pre-requisite(s): at least one 100-level course on Religion or Anthropology, preferably a 200-level course in either field Lottery Preference: 1. Religion majors and minors 2. Anthropology majors and minors

RELG H319  BLACK QUEER SAINTS: SEX, GENDER, RACE, CLASS AND THE QUEST FOR LIBERATION  (1.0 Credit)

Terrance Wiley

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

Drawing on fiction, biography, critical theory, film, essays, and memoirs, participants will explore how certain African American artists, activists, and religionists have resisted, represented, and reinterpreted sex, sexuality, and gender norms in the context of capitalist, white supremacist, male supremacist, and heteronormative cultures. Crosslisted: Africana Studies, Religion Prerequisite(s): 200-level Humanities course, or instructor consent

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H343  SEMINAR IN RELIGIONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY  (1.0 Credit)

Naomi Koltun-Fromm

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This seminar will focus on the historical origins and origin myths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from within the cultural matrix of late ancient Greco-Roman, Byzantine, and Persian imperial socio-politics. We will stress the interrelationships of these religions as they develop between the 1st to 8th centuries CE. Prerequisites: one course in Religion or Classics.

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H398A  SENIOR THESIS SEMINAR PART 1  (1.0 Credit)

Pika Ghosh

Division: Humanities

A practical methodology course which prepares senior Religion majors to write their senior theses.

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H399B  SENIOR SEMINAR AND THESIS  (1.0 Credit)

Ken Koltun-Fromm

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Senior Thesis

(Offered: Spring 2024)

RELG H460  TEACHING ASSISTANT  (1.0 Credit)

Division: Humanities

Teaching Assistant

(Offered: Fall 2023)

RELG H480  INDEPENDENT STUDY  (1.0 Credit)

Ken Koltun-Fromm

Division: Humanities

Independent Study

(Offered: Fall 2023)