Religious Studies

The interdisciplinary program in religious studies explores the roles, meanings, and phenomenology of religion. Some courses (for the most part those offered by the theology department) focus on the religious traditions themselves, their classical texts, historical figures and movements, conceptual and affectual concerns, ethical and social teachings, and cultural and political impacts. Other courses (for the most part those offered by other departments) identify the significance of religion and of religious ideas and symbolism within the wider world of history, society, literature, and the arts.

All students interested in majoring, second majoring, or minoring in religious studies should discuss their interests with the director. In consultation with the director, each student will develop a program of study. It is important to note that the courses listed in this bulletin are only representative of the choices available. Consultation with the director is necessary for students to have full access to other courses that fulfill major, second major and minor requirements.

Program Activities

The religious studies program offers biyearly roundtables for majors and minors, and cultural outings for all majors.

For more information

Visit the Religious Studies program web page.

Courses in Other Areas

The following courses offered outside the program have the REST attribute and count toward the Religious Studies major and minor:

Course Title Credits
AFAM 3115Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X4
AFAM 3120Black Religion and Black Politics4
AFAM 3132Black Prison Experience4
AMCS 3340Catholicism and Democracy4
ANTH 2500Taboo: Anthropology of the Forbidden4
ANTH 2619Magic, Science, and Religion4
ANTH 3110Ancient Cultures of the Bible4
ARHI 2230Islamic Art4
ARHI 2320The Fall of Ancient Rome: A Material Culture Investigation4
ARHI 251018th Century Art4
ARHI 3350Age of Cathedrals4
ARHI 4250Aztec Art4
CEED 3856Introduction to Bioethics4
CLAS 3050Pagans and Christians4
CLAS 4545Bath Cultures and Bathing Rituals From Antiquity to Brooklyn4
COLI 4570Films of Moral Struggle4
ENGL 3002Queer Iconoclasts: Sexuality, Religion, Race4
ENGL 3136Medieval Mystics4
ENGL 3152Race and Religion in Literature: Beowulf to Wuthering Heights4
ENGL 3207Milton4
ENGL 4005The Medieval Traveler4
ENGL 4120Seminar: Milton4
FITV 4570Films of Moral Struggle4
HIST 1550Understanding Historical Change: Modern East Asia3
HIST 3205Medieval Medicine4
HIST 3270The Crusades4
HIST 3919Christianity in China4
HIST 3925The Holocaust4
HIST 3986Religion and Politics in Islamic History4
HIST 4308Antisemitism4
HPLC 1401Honors: Theology3
HPLC 2811Honors Sacred Texts3
JWST 3474The Arab Israeli Conflict: Cultural Perspectives4
LALS 4620Oscar Romero: Faith and Politics in El Salvador4
LATN 3061Christian Latin4
MEST 3701Urban Theatre Dance and Music4
MEST 4701Urban Theatre, Music, Dance: Culture and the Formation of the Middle East Identities4
MLAL 3085The Russian Icon in Literature, Theology, Avant Garde Art, Film, Music, Museums and Politics4
MUSC 3110Music Before 16004
MVST 3501Between Conquest and Convivencia: The Spanish Kingdoms of the Middle Ages4
MVST 4005The Medieval Traveler4
MVST 4009Medieval Jerusalem4
MVST 4010Medieval Franciscans and the Dream of a Just Economy4
PHIL 3301Problem of God4
PHIL 3307Faith and Rationality4
PHIL 3330Philosophy of Religion4
PHIL 3350Problems in Metaphysics4
PHIL 3501Ancient Philosophy4
PHIL 3557Confessions of Augustine4
PHIL 3565Four Medieval Thinkers4
PHIL 3759Buddhist Philosophy4
PHIL 4418Issues of Life and Death4
PHIL 4473War and Peace: Just War Theory4
POSC 3418Islamic Political Thought4
POSC 3421Political Theory in Popular Culture4
POSC 3424Political Philosophy between Islam and the West4
POSC 3624The Qu'ran and Hadith in the Global Political Perspective4
SOCI 2505Religion and Social Change4
SOCI 4105Religion, Gender, and Sexuality4
THEO 1000Faith and Critical Reason3
THEO 1050Syriac Language and Literature I3
THEO 1060Elementary Coptic I3
THEO 3100Introduction to Old Testament / Tanakh3
THEO 3200Introduction to New Testament3
THEO 3310Early Christian Writings3
THEO 3316Byzantine Christianity3
THEO 3320Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther3
THEO 3330Medieval Theology Texts3
THEO 3332Christians, Muslims, Jews in the Medieval Period3
THEO 3340Christian Mystical Texts3
THEO 3345The Book of Revelation3
THEO 3361Protestant Texts3
THEO 3375American Religious Texts and Traditions3
THEO 3376Spirituals, the Blues, and African-American Christianity3
THEO 3383Latin American Liberation Theologies3
THEO 3390Church in Controversy3
THEO 3542Catholic Social Teaching3
THEO 3546The Bible and Social Justice3
THEO 3605Scripture and the Human Response to Trauma3
THEO 3610Christ in World Cultures3
THEO 3611Scripture and the Struggle for Racial Justice3
THEO 3620Great Christian Hymns3
THEO 3655The Journey of Faith: Autobiography as Sacred Text3
THEO 3670Theology and Contemporary Science4
THEO 3711Sacred Texts of the Middle East3
THEO 3713Classic Jewish Texts3
THEO 3715Classic Islamic Texts3
THEO 3720Hindu Literature and Ethics3
THEO 3723Tibetan Religion: Visionary Experience3
THEO 3724Classic Buddhist Texts3
THEO 3728Buddhist Meditation3
THEO 3785Spiritual Exercises and Culture3
THEO 3822The Bible in Cultural Conflict4
THEO 3826Women in the Bible4
THEO 3832Christian Thought and Practice I4
THEO 3833Christian Thought and Practice II4
THEO 3839Theologies of America4
THEO 3840Atheisms4
THEO 3852LGBTQ Arts and Spirituality4
THEO 3856Introduction to Bioethics4
THEO 3860Contemporary Conversations in Theology4
THEO 3882Comparative Mysticism3
THEO 3884Sufism: Islam's Mystical Tradition3
THEO 3885Women, Gender, and Islam3
THEO 3954Apocalyptic Themes in Film3
THEO 4008Religion and Ecology4
THEO 4010Death and Dying4
THEO 4014Religion and Law4
THEO 4025Future of Marriage in the 21st Century4
THEO 4026Theologies of Peace4
THEO 4027The Ethics of Life4
THEO 4030Moral Aspects of Medicine4
THEO 4035Professional Responsibilities and Organizational Ethics4
THEO 4040Home, Away, and In-Between4
THEO 4110Muslim, Jewish, and Christian Feminist Theologies: Discourses of Difference4
THEO 4430Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Early Christianity4
THEO 4444Anthropocene: Sciences, Fictions, and Ethical Futures4
THEO 4455Eucharist, Justice, and Life4
THEO 4545Bath Cultures and Bathing Rituals From Antiquity to Brooklyn4
THEO 4630G.O. Deeper. Interdisciplinary Inquiries4
THEO 4853Spirituality and Politics4
THEO 4870Economic Foundations of Catholic Social Teaching4
THEO 5075Syriac Language and Literature I3
WGSS 4105Religion, Gender, and Sexuality4
WGSS 4950Christianity and Sexual Diversity4