Theology \ Undergraduate Studies \
Course Descriptions: Lincoln Center Campus
Freshman Core Course
For a more in-depth description of the required freshman course, click here.
RSLU 1000 — Faith and Critical Reason (3 credits)
A course designed to acquaint students with the phenomenon of religion in its varied manifestations-Christian, Jewish, and others-and to give them some critical categories for evaluating the phenomenon. The academic study of some of the forms, concepts, experiences, and expressions of religion found in Christianity and various other traditions will be introduced.
Upper-Level Courses
RSLU 2023 — Old Testament I (3 credits)
The texts of this course will include books of Torah and Prophets in the context of ancient Near Eastern history and literature; topics include creation and fall; patriarchs; Moses and monotheism; exodus and wilderness wanderings; tribal league; law; prophet, priest, and king; united and divided monarchies; prophecy; fall of Israel and Judah; exile and return; the theological ruel of Torah and Prophets in Judaism and Christianity.
RSLU 2024 — Old Testament II (3 credits)
Topics will include: the Psalms, the Book of Job, other Wisdom Literature, and the problem of human suffering, the Books of Ruth, Esther, Song of Songs, Daniel, Tobit, Judith, I and II Maccabees. We will also explore the history of the Jewish people during the 5th to first centuries BCE, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Essene community at Qumran
RSLU 2202 — Introduction to the New Testament I (3 credits)
Christianity began as a Jewish movement. Jesus' followers worshipped the God of Israel and ordered their lives according to the Torah and other sacred texts. As Christians separated themselves from the synagogue, they began composing texts proclaiming the Gospel. This course will engage questions about the origin, development and authority of the Christian canon while reading parts of the NT in the historical context of first century Hellenistic Judaism, and the religious context of the canon.
RSLU 2203 — Introduction to the New Testament II (3 credits)
Topics include: the Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline, Petrine, and Johannine letters, and Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation. We will study social setting of the early Christian Church including the religious, historical, and sociological causes for the "triumph" of Christianity within the Roman Empire.
RSLU 2204 — Exodus (3 credits)
This course will explore the Exodus story through close readings of the Book of Exodus and the narrative portions of Numbers. We will then use these texts as springboards for our exploration of central Biblical themes and of the way these themes are articulated elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible and the ways in which they are transformed in Judaism and Christianity.
RSLG 2222 — Hindu Literature and Ethics (3 credits)
This course involves a study of the four aims of life (purushartha) in Hinduism: kama (enjoyment), artha (material gain), dharma (sacred law), and moksha (liberation). Readings, drawn from a variety of classic and modern Hindu texts, will be viewed in their historical contexts as developments in the evolution of Hinudism.
RSLU 2229 — Jesus in History and Faith (3 credits)
A study of the early Christian understanding of Jesus' life and ministry as this understanding is expressed in the Gospels, and of the so-called problem of the "historical Jesus" which issues from a critical reading of those texts. This course will cover several divergent readings of Gospel texts by contemporary scholars.
RSLU 2244 — The Four Gospels (3 credits)
We will read the gospels of Matthew, mark, Luke and John as separate and distinct testimonies to Jesus, according to their various Jewish and Hellenistic backgrounds with special attention to the parables, the Sermon on the Mount, and other teaching of Jesus. In addition, we will explore other, non-canonical gospels, such as the gospel of Thomas, the quest for the historical Jesus, and the meaning of the Crucifixion and resurrection as they inform early Christologies.
RSLU 2340 — Islam (3 credits)
This course will focus on presenting the basics of the Muslim religion, including readings from the Quran and ancillary religious texts in fields such as commentary, hadith, and law. Students will also be introduced to aspects of Islamic culture important for understanding the religion.
RSLG 2780 — Classic Jewish Texts (3 credits)
An exploration of Jewish beliefs through close readings of the Bible and post-biblical Jewish texts (Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, liturgy). The course will focus on Jewish methods of interpretation, legal discussion, and the relationships between texts, practice, and theology in Jewish tradition.
RSLG 2811 — Sacred Books of the Mideast (3 credits)
First, an introduction to selected sacred literature of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Israel, with attention to the social and historical contexts of the writings. Then, a similar consideration of selected readings from the New Testament of Christianity and the Mishnah and Talmud of Judaism. Finally, a study of the Quran, with the rise of Islam, and some early Muslim writings.
RSLG 2812 — Sacred Books of the East (3 credits)
This course is an introduction to those traditions of India and China that have influenced the religions of Asia generally: Hinduism, Taoism, and Buddhism. We will focus on primary religious texts, their historical and cultural background.
RSLG 2813 — Sacred Texts of India (3 credits)
This course includes the classical religious texts of the south Asian religions. We will read texts important to Hindus and Buddhists. Various perspectives of these sacred texts will be considered such as historical context, philosophical and psychological import, and religious belief.
RSLU 2815 — Mysticism East and West (3 credits)
In this course, we will study selected texts from the mystical traditions of Christianity, Islam, and religions of India. Attention is given to critical analysis of the way mystics employ symbol, poetry, and narrative in expressing their religious experience. Textual analysis will be complemented by the study of scholarly theories about the nature of mystical experience.
RSLU 2251 — Classic Buddhist Texts (3 credits)
As an in-depth study of the Buddhist tradition starting with the early sectarian canon in South Asia and progressing through Chinese Buddhism to Japan, with a strong emphasis on Zen Buddhism, this course will explore these religious texts in terms of their historical, cultural, and artistic contexts.
RSLU 2870 — Classic Texts in American Religion (3 credits)
A critical and contextualreadingof classical texts in American religious history, focusing on diverse traditions and the crucial importance of religious perspectives to American culture, society and self-understanding. Of special interest willbe the political and social impact of various American religious traditions as they have both legitimated and critiqued any current social order. Texts by women, racial and ethnic minorities, and dissenters will be examined, along with more traditional sources.
RSLU 3000 — Classic Christian Texts I (4 credits)
A selective study of the writings of prominent Christian theologians from the Church fathers through the Middle Ages focusing on early beliefs concerning God, the church, and the sacraments.
RSLU 3001 — Classic Christian Texts II (4 credits)
This course is a continuation of RSLU 3000 and explores the central theological topics of Christianity as they develop in texts from the period extending from the Reformation to the present.
RSLU 3333 — Women in the Bible (4 credits)
In this course, we will employ various traditional exegetical and recent feminist tools to examine figures from both the New and Old Testaments including Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Ruth, Elizabeth and the Samaritan women as well as figures from the extra-Biblical Apocrypha.
RSLV 3365 — Problems in Bioethics (4 credits)
A study of ethical problems in medicine, healthy care, and genetic engineering. Topics will include decisions to terminate life-sustaining treatment, "living wills," euthanasia and physician assisted suicide; cloning and other forms of genetic manipulation, human embryo research, reproductive technology, surrogate motherhood and related issues; the right to health care, strains on the health care system serving a rapidly aging population, inadequacies and inequities in a world of "managed care."
RSLV 3407 — Ethics, Law and the Court (4 credits)
This seminar gives students the opportunity to study the American judicial system and voice their convictions on controversial constitutional issues that have been the subject of federal and state court decisions. Topics include the death penalty, private sexual relations, affirmative action, free exercise of religion, flag desecration, the exclusionary rule in criminal law, assisted suicide, abortion and allegations of institutional racism. Each issue will be the subject of formal student presentations and debate.
RSLP 3420 — Religion in the 60s/70s (4 credits)
This course studies the religious explosion of the 1960s using methods of analytic interpretation. Topics will include the anti-war movement, orientalism, God and drugs, astrology and the occult. Beginning in the 1950s with Zen, spirituality of the road, monastic revival, anxiety in the aspirin age, we will conclude with a look at the 1970s through Jonestown, the cults, and the religious right.
RSLU 3436 — Women and Religion (4 credits)
The focus will be on the experience that women have in relation to traditional religions and their own religious experiences, including accounts of Christian women in China, Buddhist women in Thailand, Jewish women in the United States, and African women of the diaspora.
RSLU 3444 — War, Peace, and Revolution (4 credits)
A study of ethical models ("just ware" theory and pacifism) will be employed to judge the propriety of the use of force, followed by an application of these models to various political contexts, such as conventional military engagements, guerrilla tactics, terrorism, nonviolent civil disobedience, the nuclear war. Students will have the opportunity to role-play conflicts, e.g., Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Grenada, and Falkland.
RSLU 3542 — The Enigma of Jesus (4 credits)
A study of the doctrine and disputes about Jesus, focusing on the period of the Christian gospels, the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries, and modern theological and cultural interpretations.
RSLU 3550 — Modern Catholic Thought (4 credits)
This course will survey modern Catholic thought as it relates to questions of revelation, christology, spirituality, church, morality, the sacraments, and ecumenism. Texts will be taken from the work of 20th-century Catholic thinkers, and from Vatican documents.
RSLV 3676 — Death as a Moral Question (4 credits)
This course will explore death and dying as (a) a test of human authenticity, meaning, and value; (b) a test of theology as it tries to explain God's relationship to human suffering. Readings will be drawn from religious, literary, philosophical, and psychological sources: the Hebrew Bible, Christian Scriptures, Plato, Tolstoy, Joyce, de Beauvoir, C. S. Lewis, Kubler-Ross, contemporary theological and philosophical probings of death as a moral challenge.
RSLU 3718 — Evil and Suffering (4 credits)
What is the origin of evil? Why would a loving and omnipotent God allow suffering? How should human beings regard their responsibility for evil acts? The Western religious tradition has struggled to answer these questions from the ancient world to the present. Readings include Jewish and Christian Scriptures, the Talmud, Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Dostoevsky, Bernanos, and Wiesel.
RSLU 3877 — The Bible and Beyond (4 credits)
This course will explore the interpretation of selected biblical texts in ancient, medieval, and modern culture. In examining the history of biblical interpretation, the course will pursue a number of leading questions. How has the Bible shaped religious and cultural imagination? What do specific biblical interpretations tell us about the cultures that produced them? How have writers, artists, and film makers interpreted the Bible?
RSLU 3885 — Judaism and Gender (4 credits)
The goal of this course is to introduce students to the basic philosophies and practices of Judaism, and to the gender issues that have been raised about these ideas and practices. Focus on covenant, sacred time, sacred space, and sacrality of life through both traditional and feminist hermeneutics.
RSLU 3987 — Religion and Social Ethics (4 credits)
This course will study the ways the relationship between religion and social ethics has been construed in history and in contemporary society. What can religion contribute to social issues regarding justice, racism, sexism? How is religion limited in its ability to respond to social crises?
RSLU 4000 — Senior Thesis Colloquium (4 credits)
This course is designed as a capstone to the Theology major. In it, students will conceive, research and write their Senior theses under the guidance of the colloquium director.
RSLU 4999 — Independent Study (variable)
Other departmental offerings include:
RSLU 3401 — Religion and the Law (4 credits)
RSLU3402 — Secret Societies (4 credits)
RSLU 3408 — Religion and Politics (4 credits)
RSLU 3422 — Gods of the city (4 credits)
RSLU 3433 — Goddess Traditions (4 credits)
RSLU 3719 — Religion and Literature (4 credits)
RSLU 3720 — Moral Themes in Fiction (4 credits)
RSLU 3725 — Sociology of Religion (4 credits)
RSLU 3726 — Psychologyand Religion (4 credits)
RSLU 3802 — Religions of India (4 credits)
RSLU 3810 — World Religions (4 credits)
RSLU 3811 — World Mythologies (4 credits)
RSLU 3876 — Judaism (4 credits)
