Department of Religion
Fall 2011 & Spring 2012
FALL 2011
100-level Courses: These lecture courses have no prerequisite, cover at least three religious traditions, and provide an introduction to some theories and methods in the study of religion.
RELG 101 - Introduction to Religion: Religion as a World Phenomenon
TR 9:35-10:50
Credits: 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
This course explores the nature of religion as mirrored in a number of traditions—specifically, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. After a brief survey of each, various theories are taken up to help identify common structures and functions that cut across religions. These structures, rather than specific beliefs, will be the points of comparison.
Enrollment Limit: 30. Instructor: J. Dobbins
RELG 107 – Introduction to Religion: Religious Ethics in Comparative Perspective
MWF 9-9:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
This course provides an introduction to the basic questions and themes in religious ethics from a comparative perspective (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism). Readings will draw from classic and contemporary sources. Topics will include divine command ethics, moral goodness, duty, precepts, virtue, vice, agency and community.
Enrollment Limit: 25 Instructor: J. Swan Tuite
200-Level Courses: These lecture courses have no prerequisite and are typically focused within a subfield in religious studies.
RELG/JWST 205 - Hebrew Bible in its Ancient Near Eastern Context
MWF 11-11:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
An introduction to the literature and history of ancient Israel as contained within the Hebrew Bible and to the methods of interpretation used by modern scholars to understand this ancient text. This course introduces the student to the skill of a close and critical reading of ancient texts and of modern scholarly interpretations of those texts. Thematic emphases will include the emergence of monotheism, the divine human relationship, the mediation of priest, prophet and king, and issues of canon.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: C. Chapman
This course is cross-listed with JWST 205.
RELG 217 - Christianity in the Early Medieval World: 150-1100
MWF 10-10:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU
An interpretive study of the development of Christianity in the Greek east and Latin west, this course will focus on early medieval articulations of the relationship between God and the world through debates on corporeality, evil, martyrdom, asceticism, knowledge of God, and salvation. These debates will be contextualized and conceptualized through the historical developments of monasticism, mysticism, iconography, Christology, heresy, and Christianity as an imperial religion.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: C. Barnes
RELG 229 - Contemporary Christian Thought
TR 11-12:15
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU
This course surveys developments in Christian theology in the last twenty-five years. Special attention is given to those theologies that provide both critical engagements with and constructive alternatives to post-Enlightenment theologies of the West. Topics will include: God and power, the environment, evil and human agency, the cross and salvation. Readings will draw from a range of thinkers including: Catherine Keller, Rita Nakashima Brock, JoAnn Terrell, C.S. Song and Graham Ward.
Enrollment Limit: 25 Instructor: T. Swan Tuite
RELG 235 - Chinese Thought and Religion
EAST 151
MWF 9-9:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
A historical survey of the three major religious and philosophical traditions of China: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Attention is given to how each comprehends the universe and translates its ideal into philosophical thought, religious practice, and social and moral imperative. Interaction and mutual borrowing among the three will be examined to show how each was changed or inspired by the others and evolved under their influence.
Enrollment Limit: 55 Instructor: J. Dobbins
This course is cross-listed with EAST 151
RELG 238 - Bhakti: Encountering the Divine in Hinduism
MWF 11-11:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: HU, CD
This course will introduce students to Hindu traditions of bhakti (or devotion), focusing especially on their expression in the arts and in sacred sites. It would survey Vaisnava, Śaiva, and Goddess traditions from the emergence of bhakti through the contemporary period. Students will encounter the diversity of Hindu conceptions of the divine as well as the sensual and emotional richness of Hindu devotionalism.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: J. Ritzinger
RELG 245 - Modern Moral Issues in Religious Perspective
MWF 1:30-2:20
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or dept major requirements): Law & Society
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU
This course offers an introduction to systematic ethical reasoning by examining select moral issues from Christian, Islamic and secular moral traditions. Likely topics include taking and saving lives (euthanasia, abortion, war and peace, and death penalty) redistribution and recognition (poverty, discriminatory housing practices, immigration), and environmental ethics in recent Christian and secular thought.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: J. Swan Tuite
RELG 250 - Introduction to Judaism: System and Culture
TR 1:30-2:45
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or dept major requirements): Jewish Studies
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
A theoretical introduction to Judaism as a religious system. Special attention will be paid to the historical development of the religion through interpretation of traditional texts and ritual practices.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: A. Socher
This course is cross-listed with JWST 150
RELG 262 - Religious Identity in Multicultural Perspective
TR 3-4:15
Credits: 3 hours Attribute: 3 HU, CD
How do factors such as sexuality, gender, race and nationality affect religious identity? This course investigates answers to that question by contemporary scholars from multiple religious traditions (Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Native American), especially in light of sexism, racism, heterosexism and colonialism. Students will gain familiarity with how current critical theories (standpoint, poststructuralist, feminist, queer, postcolonial) are employed to help articulate religious identity in an increasingly complex, globalized world.
Enrollment Limit: 35. Instructor: T. Swan Tuite
RELG 270 - Islam
MWF 10-10:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
This course provides an introduction to Islam in its religious, intellectual, historical, socio-political and institutional dimensions. It provides an overview of Muslim religious traditions for purposes of further historical study and for understanding contemporary Muslim societies. Topics covered include elements that constitute Muslim traditions, cultures and identities such as: pre-Islamic Arab society and surrounding Persian and Roman civilizations, the Prophet and the Qur’an, Islamic theology, law, devotional rituals, art and literatures, mysticism, mosque and madrasa.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: M. Mahallati
RELG 284 - The History of the African American Religious Experience
TR 3-4:15
This course may also count for the major in (consult the prog or dept major requirements): African American Studies
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
An introduction to the religious movements and institutions of African Americans from the period of slavery to the present. Various topics including: African religions; slave religion; independent black Protestant churches; gender and race relations in American church life; politics in black churches; missionary efforts to Africa and the Caribbean; Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, Pentecostalism; the civil rights movement; modern role of religion in African-American life.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: A.G. Miller
300-Level Courses: These advanced seminars are typically focused within a subfield of religious studies.
Consent of instructor is required for registration.
RELG 324 - Classics of Chinese Buddhism
T 6:30-8:30
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: HU, CD
Texts have played a central role in the development of Chinese Buddhism. The translation of Indian sutras introduced entirely new forms of literature in China as well as new forms of thought and praxis, inspiring in turn an explosion of textual production among the religion’s new adherents. This seminar will provide a deep engagement with a series of foundational texts from a variety of genres—sutras, apocrypha, doctrinal treatises, meditation manuals, and hagiography—including a consideration of their role in religious life.
Enrollment Limit: 15 Instructor: J. Ritzinger
Consent of the Instructor Required
RELG 341 - Seminar: Roman Catholic Ethics
W 7:00-9:00 pm
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or dept major requirements): GSFS
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, WR
Topic for 2011-12: Roman Catholic Ethics
The seminar examines central works and themes in modern Roman Catholic moral theology and ethics from modern critics of traditional manualists to natural law (Fuchs, Grisez, Porter) theories, the rehabilitation of virtue ethics (Keenan) Catholic feminist ethics (Farley, Cahill, Traina), and liberation theology (Sobrino, Ellacuria). In addition, the seminar will devote significant time to papal encyclicals with a specific focus on Humanae Vitae, Evangelium Vitae, Deus et Caritas, and Caritas in veritate.
Enrollment Limit: 15 Instructor: J. Swan Tuite
Consent of the Instructor Required
RELG 373 – Islamic Mystic Traditions and Literature
M 6:30-8:30
Credits (Range): 3 Hours Attribute: 3 HU, CD, WR
This seminar examines Sufism as both an esoteric and a devotional tradition, along with its relevance to modern Muslim life. Topics covered include the theory and history of ascetic movements, Sufi schools and institutions from classical to the modern times. Emphasis will be on reading and discussing selective and representative prose and poetry produced by great Sufi masters such as Ibn Arabi, Attar and Rumi as well as literary figures like Sa’di and Hafez. The course will also explore experiential, artistic and musical dimensions of Sufi-oriented religiosity.
Enrollment Limit: 15. Instructor: M. Mahallati
Consent of the Instructor Required
RELG 300: This courses are for religion majors only. They are designed to promote the development of skill relevant to independent research, writing projects, oral presentations, and graduate study.
RELG 300 - Selected Topics in Approaches to the Study of Religion
W 2:30-4:20
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3HU, WR
This seminar (1) examines the paradigms of scholarship represented by the major approaches to the academic study of religion and (2) aims further to hone your research, writing, and oral presentation skills essential for independent research. Students work independently and within the group peer review process to develop a prospectus for, and begin the writing of, the their capstone project (completed in RELG 400). Students are strongly encouraged to have completed a 300-level seminar before taking RELG 300.
Instructor: C. Barnes, C. Chapman
Consent of the Instructor Required
SPRING 2012
RELG 102 - Introduction to Religion: Roots of Religion in the Mediterranean World TR 9:35-10:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
This course introduces students to the academic study of religion and provides a historical framework for understanding the development and central ideas of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, beginning from their origins in the Mediterranean region. The foundation of the course will be close reading of primary texts, both the sacred texts of each tradition and reflections on these texts by classical interpreters from the second century to the medieval period.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: C. Barnes
RELG 104 - Introduction to Religion: Asian Traditions TR 11-12:15
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or dept major requirements) : East Asian Studies
Credits: 3 hours Attribute: HU, CD
This course introduces the academic study of religion through the examination of three Asian traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. It will include a consideration of doctrine but focus particularly on narrative and the way in which it embodies and explicates a tradition’s metaphysical conceptions and ethical ideals, informing the religious lives of adherents of both mainstream and marginalized groups. Special attention will also be paid to its role in modern nationalist projects.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: J. Ritzinger
RELG 208 / JWST 208 - New Testament and Christian Origins MWF 11-11:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU
An introduction to the diverse writings that make up the New Testament. We will examine these texts in the historical context of Judea in the first two centuries CE and also in relation to the earlier writings of the Hebrew Bible. Thematic emphases include the development of the biography of Jesus, the social structure of the Jesus movement, the writings of Paul, and the development of house churches. No previous knowledge of the New Testament is assumed.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: C. Chapman
Cross List Information This course is cross-listed with JWST 208.
RELG 218 - Christianity in the Late Medieval World: 1100-1600 MWF 10-10:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU
An interpretive study of late-medieval Christianity through reform movements from the twelfth-century renaissance to the Protestant and Catholic reformations of the sixteenth century, all of which tried to retrieve an idealized past. Topics include clerical authority and abuse, the role of women, free will, grace, embodiment, asceticism, mysticism, and heresy. The background will be the changing landscape of medieval Europe through urbanization, crusades, plagues, and economic developments.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: C. Barnes
RELG 226 - Modern Religious Thought in the West: Mid-19th Century to the Present MWF 1:30-2:20
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU
This course analyzes our assumptions and judgments about religion in light of the clash of religious and secular frameworks. Topics to be examined include religious responses to modern scientific and historical consciousness, secular critical analyses of religion, debates on the human condition, efforts to address cultural and religious issues arising from the devastation of the two world wars, and the challenge of religious pluralism. Thinkers and movements studied include: Schleiermacher, Hegel, Feuerbach, Nietzsche, Buber, Barth, Rahner, post-Holocaust theologies, feminist and liberation theologies.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: T Swan Tuite
RELG 236 - Japanese Thought and Religion MWF 9-9:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
A historical survey of the development of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan and the roles they have played in Japanese culture and society. Among the topics to be discussed are the ancient myths of Shinto, the transmission of Buddhism to Japan, the emergence of new forms of Buddhism (i.e., Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren), and the use of Shinto as a nationalistic ideology.
Enrollment Limit: 55 Instructor: J. Dobbins
Cross List Information This course is cross-listed with EAST 152
RELG 240 - Theravada Buddhism MWF 11-11:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
Theravada Buddhism is the oldest form of Buddhism practiced today and dominates the religious landscape of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. This course will survey the development of Theravada Buddhism from its origins in India up through its spread and adaptation to new lands, as well as its transformations in the modern era. Special attention will be given to Theravada doctrine and practice as well as popular religiosity and relations with the state.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: J. Ritzinger
RELG 242 - Love and Its Critics TR 3-4:15
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU
Drawing from theological and philosophical thinkers, this course examines the ethics of love in Western religious traditions with a specific emphasis upon the advocates and critics of self-sacrifice. Readings are drawn from both pre-modern (Aquinas, and Luther) and modern (Barth and Rosenzweig) defenders of love, along with modern critics (Friedrich Nietzsche, naturalistic interpreters, and Freud among others). Finally, the course concludes with response to the love critics (Max Scheler, Simone Weil, Benedict XVI).
Enrollment Limit: 25 Instructor: J. Swan Tuite
RELG 249 - Issues in Medical Ethics TR 9:35-10:50
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or dept major requirements) : Law and Society
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU
This course examines issues in medical ethics and the methods of ethical reasoning used to study these issues, focusing on comparative religious and moral approaches. Issues are framed and explored as issues addressed in a medical context, using case studies throughout.
Likely topics include psychiatric classification practices, addiction, human research, public health, enhancement technologies, assisted suicide, organ transplant, and resource allocation and community support for psychiatric patients returning from incarceration.
Enrollment Limit: 25 Instructor: J. Swan Tuite
RELG 251/ JWST 151 - Modern Jewish Thought TR 1-2:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD, WR
A historical and philosophical investigation of modern Jewish thought. This course will consider the approaches of major Jewish thinkers from a range of movements and ideological perspectives. We will explore perspectives on topics including the meaning of Judaism, the authority of rabbinic tradition, the role of ethics, the relationship between Jews and non-Jews, and the nature of God.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: A. Socher
RELG 258 - Introduction to the Talmud: Argument and Interpretation TR 3-4:15
Credits (Range): 3 Hours Attribute: 3 HU, CD, WR
The Talmud is a sprawling multi-volume compendium of rigorous legal argument, ingenious and fanciful biblical interpretations, rabbinic anecdotes, jokes, and deep moral and theological investigations. Compiled between 200 and 600 CE, it has been the most important generative force in Jewish religion and culture for the following two millennia. Exemplary texts will be studied (in English translation) with an emphasis on developing students’ skills in close reading and critical discussion.
Enrollment Limit: 25 Instructor: A. Socher
RELG 272 - Introduction to the Qur'an TR 9:30-10:50
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU, CD
Introduction to the Qur’an, the sacred scripture of the Islamic religious tradition. Topics include: approaches to the idea of revelation and the history of the written text, its overall content and themes, the style of the Qur’an, the Life of Muhammad as a source for interpreting the Qur’an, and Muhammad and the Qur’an as the foundation of law, theology, aesthetics, politics, and practices of piety such as recitation. Emphasis on reading the Qur’an in English-language interpretation.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: M. Mahallati
RELG 282 - Survey of American Christianity TR 11-12:15
Credits (Range): 3 hours Attribute: 3HU
Introduction to major issues, figures and movements in American religious history and American Christianity. Attention will be given to persistent themes such as individualism, the search for community, religion and reform, religious conservatism and innovation, and the religious nature of American culture. Class, race, ethnicity and gender will also be addressed as we explore American religious experience in all its diversity. The goal is to better understand the place of religion in American society, and to evaluate its past impact and future role.
Enrollment Limit: 35 Instructor: A.G. Miller
RELG 303 / JWST 303 - Anthropological Approaches to the Study of the Bible: M 2:30-4:20
Kinship and the Family in Ancient Israel
Credits (Range): 3 Hours
Attribute: 3 HU, WR
This course examines the structure and function of the kinship unit known as the “House of the Father” in the Hebrew Bible. The function of the “natal family” or “House of the Mother” will also be identified and explored. Modern ethnographic studies of kinship will provide a comparative framework for conceptualizing the Israelite family. Topics include: patterns for brokering marriages, patterns of inheritance, perceptions of intimacy, the practice of blood vengeance, royal succession, and evidence for household religion.
Enrollment Limit: 15 Instructor: C. Chapman
Prerequisites: RELG 205 or 208 and consent of instructor required.
This course is identical to JWST 303.
RELG 322 - Seminar: Pure Land Buddhism M 2:30-4:20
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or dept major requirements) : East Asian Studies
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3HU, CD, WR
Unlike many forms of Buddhism, Pure Land is primarily devotional in outlook and practice. This seminar examines its origins and development, particularly in Japan. Topics include devotional practices in early Buddhism, the Pure Land scriptures, religious practices such as visualization meditation and chanting the Buddha’s name, and the teachings of Honen, Shinran, and Ippen.
Enrollment limit: 15 Instructor: J. Dobbins
Consent of the Instructor Required
RELG 343 - Selected Topics in Modern and Contemporary Religious Thought: Human Being
Credits (Range): 3 hours W 6:30-8:30
Attribute: 3HU, WR
A critical analysis of a significant problem in modern and contemporary religious thought, examined through the writings of selected philosophers of religion and theologians.
Topic for 11-12: Human Being: Suffering, Sin and Salvation
Who am I? Where am I going? What ought I do? This course examines Christian responses to basic questions concerning human being as well as modern secular analogues tracing a gradual shift in thinking about human persons from an emphasis on their spiritual, immaterial nature to an emphasis on their embeddedness in the material world. Some questions that will be considered are: What is human being? What makes human being distinctive from other sorts of being in the world? Are suffering and death inherent to human life or consequences of sin? How do human beings relate with the divine? What is the destiny of the human person? How is the end of the individual related to that of other persons and the world? In light of answers to these questions, what sort of life ought one to live? Readings include selections from classic and contemporary sources.
Enrollment Limit: 15 Instructor: T. Swan Tuite
Consent of the Instructor Required
RELG 400 - Senior Capstone Colloquium W 2:30-4:20
Credits (Range): 2-4 hours
Attribute: 2-4HU
This colloquium is a team-taught advanced course where students work on a substantive independent research project while also participating in a colloquium setting to discuss the research process and engage in peer review and interdisciplinary exchange with department faculty. Required for majors declaring in or after the academic year, 2008-09.
Instructor: C. Barnes, C. Chapman, J. Dobbins, M. Mahallati, A.G. Miller, T. Swan Tuite
Consent of the Instructor Required
RELIGION
Albert G. Miller, Davis Associate Professor; Department Chair
Esra Akin, Visiting Assistant Professor and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
Joyce K. Babyak, Associate Professor
Corey Barnes, Assistant Professor
Cynthia R. Chapman, Associate Professor
James C. Dobbins, Fairchild Professor
David G. Kamitsuka, Associate Professor
Margaret D. Kamitsuka, Associate Professor
Mohammad Mahallati, Presidential Scholar in Islamic Studies
Justin Ritzinger, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion
Paula S. Richman, Danforth Professor
Abraham P. Socher, Associate Professor
James Swan Tuite, Visiting Assistant Professor
Teresa Swan Tuite, Visiting Assistant Professor
The Religion major is designed to serve as a focus of a liberal arts education for the general student and as a pre-professional foundation for those pursuing the study of religion beyond the baccalaureate degree. While offering a broad curriculum in the study of religion, the major also affords an opportunity for concentrated study in particular religious traditions and specific areas of religious thought and practice. Students who contemplate graduate study in religion or professional study in seminary or rabbinical school after graduation are advised to consult with the chair or other members of the department as early in their undergraduate careers as possible.
Approaches to the academic study of religion have developed in engagement with a host of historical factors. Understanding religious studies as an academic discipline requires an appreciation of the intersections and divergences among a variety of approaches. In our major, we focus on the following three influential general approaches:
- • The tradition-based approach to the study of religion predates the “invention” of the Western academic study of religion in the 19th century, but continues to be vitally important for the academic study of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in our curriculum. Religious tradition-based approaches provide the means for in-depth study of the synchronic and diachronic aspects of religions in global contexts. This approach includes historical, textual, and ethnographic methods of investigation.
- • The modern-culture-based approach to the study of religion emerged with the development of modern religious thought in the West and modern religious social ethics. This approach initially focused on modern Western philosophical questions of metaphysical and moral truth and meaning but has expanded to include issues arising from other forms of critical theory such as gender theory and postcolonial theory.
- • The geographical religion-based approach analyzes religious forms of life in terms of the history and cultures of a region. Oftentimes historical, anthropological, and archeological frameworks and methods are employed by this approach. This approach has been influential in the modern academic study of ancient Near Eastern religions (including biblical studies) and in the study of East Asian, South Asian, and African religions, and religions of the Americas—previously underrepresented in religious studies.
Some courses in the Religion Department are cross-referenced or cross-listed with, or generally fulfill requirements of, other programs of study in the College—e.g., African American Studies; East Asian Studies; Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; Jewish Studies; and Law and Society. Courses offered in the department are grouped in the following categories:
First-Year Seminars and 100-level Courses.
First-year seminars and lecture courses at the 100 level are intended primarily for non-majors. First-year seminars are writing intensive and focus on the essential skills of reading, analysis, writing, and discussion. The 100-level Introduction to Religion courses are intended to introduce students to at least three religious traditions. In a few colloquia for first- and second-year students are offered in varying years.
200-Level Courses.
Most 200-level courses serve as “gateways” to our major in that they are designed to introduce students to one or more general approach (described above) and disciplinary subfield in the academic study of religion. In addition, 200-level courses are where the breadth and concentration for the major are acquired. The particular focus of each 200-level course is indicated more fully in the course descriptions below.
300-Level Seminars.
Advanced 300-level seminars are primarily intended for Religion majors and minors who have completed at least one 200-level course in the applicable subfield.
RELG 300 – Approaches to the Academic Study of Religion.
The overarching learning objective of this course is to train students in the skills necessary for doing primary research in the academic study of religion, particularly in light of the three general approaches to the study of religion of the major. This course will culminate in the development of a prospectus for the student’s Senior Capstone Project along with the relevant subfield literature review.
RELG 400 – Senior Capstone Colloquium.
The colloquium is a team-taught course for senior religion majors only, designed to facilitate independent research that deepens and synthesizes student learning in the major. Students complete their capstone project while also participating in a colloquium setting to discuss the research process and engage in peer-review and interdisciplinary exchange with department faculty.
Major
Before declaring the major in Religion, students must complete the following forms, in consultation with an advisor (a continuing faculty member in the department): a Plan for the Major and a Majors Checklist (available on Blackboard) and the Declaration of Major form (available from the Office of the Registrar). The Plan for the Major should describe the student’s intentions and goals for the major as well as a strategy for achieving those goals. The student and advisor should re-visit the Plan for the Major several times during the student’s work in the department and revise it as appropriate.
The Religion major consists of a minimum of 30 credit hours in the department. Under ordinary circumstances, no more than one first-year seminar or colloquium for first- and second-year students and one of the nine “Introduction to Religion” (RELG 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109) courses may be counted in the 30 hours required for the major.
Students majoring in Religion must complete the following:
1. At least one course in each of the three general approaches to the academic study of religion.
The tradition-based approach:
- • Judaism (250, 251, 253, 258)
- • Islam (270, 272, 273)
- • Christianity (217, 218, 228)
- • Hinduism (231)
The modern-culture-based approach:
- • Modern Religious Thought in the West (225, 226, 227)
- • Religious Social Ethics (242, 243, 244, 245, 246)
- • Gender & Religion (247, 261, 262)
The geographical region-based approach:
- • Ancient Near East (202, 205, 208, 210)
- • East Asia (235, 236)
- • South Asia (233)
- • Modern North America (263, 282, 283, 284)
2. Take one 200-level course in at least four of the subfields represented in our major. (Courses identified under the general approaches requirement may also count toward this subfield requirement.)
- • American Religious History (282, 283, 284, 285)
- • East Asian Religions (235, 236)
- • Religious Social Ethics (242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 249)
- • Gender and Religion (261, 262, 263, 247)
- • History of Christianity (217, 218)
- • Islam (270, 272, 273, 274)
- • Jewish and Christian Scriptures (202, 205, 208)
- • Judaism (250, 251,253, 258)
- • Modern Religious Thought in the West (225, 226, 227)
- • South Asian Religions (231, 233, 234)
3. Take at least one additional 200-level course in one of the four subfields, thus forming a subfield concentration (along with a 300-level seminar).
4. Take at least one 300-level seminar. Majors will normally take the seminar within their subfield concentration.
5. Take Approaches to the Academic Study of Religion (RELG 300) no later than first semester of the senior year. Students must have completed at least one 200-level course in two of the three general approaches to the study of religion as a prerequisite for RELG 300. RELG 300 is normally taken in Fall semester of senior year. Students are strongly encouraged to have completed an advanced 300-level seminar before taking RELG 300. Students wishing to enroll in RELG 300 before their seventh semester require the recommendation of their major advisor.
6. Take the Senior Capstone Colloquium (RELG 400). RELG 300 is a prerequisite for RELG 400. The Senior Capstone Colloquium is a team-taught advanced course where students work on a substantive independent research project while also participating in a colloquium setting to discuss the research process and engage in peer-review and interdisciplinary exchange with department faculty.
7. Students planning graduate or professional study in Religion are encouraged to take at least one year of foreign or classical language study at the college level.
Minor
The minor in Religion consists of 5 courses, totaling at least 15 hours. One of these courses must be a 300-level seminar.
Minimum Grade
Students must earn a C– or higher in any Religion course they wish to count for the major or minor.
Transfer of Credit
Students wishing to transfer credit toward the Religion major are advised to provide the department with as much information about the transferred course as possible (including the syllabus, papers, and exams). The department will not normally count more than six hours of transfer credit toward the major and does not normally accept transferred courses to satisfy distribution requirements in the major. Students should seek preapproval from the Chair for coursework they intend to take elsewhere and transfer to Oberlin.
Honors
Students will be considered for honors based on their performance in the major, the quality of their senior capstone project, and an oral examination. Please consult with the Chair of the department for further information about honors.
Winter Term Faculty in the Religion Department sponsor a wide variety of Winter Term projects, particularly projects related to their areas of scholarly expertise. Students planning projects are invited to approach individual faculty members to discuss their ideas and plans.
