Course Catalog

Religion

HUMANITIES 101. Western Traditions.
An interdisciplinary introduction to enduring ideas of the classical and Judeo-Christian traditions at the root of Western civilization. Through study of selected works of literature by Greek, Roman, Hebrew, early Christian, and Renaissance authors, students will explore issues surrounding citizenship, leadership, justice, honor, war, death, and friendship. This course may be substituted for Hist 101, Eng 116, or Rel 103. Cornerstone 1A. Three hours.

102. Introduction to Christian Thought.
An introduction to the major ideas, authorities, and themes of Christian theology, including interpretations of the trinity, creation, salvation, and church as understood through scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

103. Religious and Philosophical Foundations of the West I.
A study of the religious ideals, passions, and movements that decisively shaped Western thought and life from antiquity to the late middle ages. The interplay between Greek and Biblical categories and ideas, the meaning, impact and continuing significance of the great religious controversies, and the profoundly religious character of western thought will be explored. Enduring themes, questions and ideas will be clarified. Cornerstone 1A. Three hours.

104. Religious and Philosophical Foundations of the West II.
This course begins with an examination of the religious ideas and motivations of the Protestant Reformation. It will investigate the development of Western religious thought in interaction with the appearance of new forms of philosophy, the scientific revolution, social revolution and experiment, and the bewildering events and movements of the twentieth century. Cornerstone 1B. Three hours.

111. Introduction to the Old Testament.
Introduction to the history, literature, and religion of the Old Testament/Tanakh, with emphasis on the emergence of monotheism and the development of the religion that came to be known as Judaism. The course considers how Jews and Christians may read this literature differently, and emphasizes how interpretation of various texts from the Tanakh/Old Testament has influenced contemporary Western culture. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

112. Introduction to the New Testament.
This survey course introduces students to the literature and background of the New Testament. Students will become acquainted with the various literary forms (gospels, letters, apocalyptic literature, sayings, parables) in the New Testament. Students will be exposed to the formation of the community that later became the institutional church, and will explore the relation of the New Testament to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

120. Introduction to World Religions.
This course provides a basic introduction to several major world religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism from the Eastern tradition and Judaism, Islam, and Christianity from the Western tradition. The course will acquaint students with foundational rituals, concepts and/ or literature of each tradition, and will introduce the comparative study of religion. Students will become aware of global religious movements as well as the diversity of religious traditions currently practiced within the United States. Cornerstone 7. Three hours.

190. Special Topics in Religion.

201. Readings in the Tanakh (Old Testament)
This course will rotate its specific content depending on the interest of students. Typically the class will concentrate on one portion of the Tanakh (Pentateuch, Prophets, or Writings). Students will become acquainted with the biblical literature itself, as well as with historic and recent interpretive methods related to the literature being studied. In every case, the class will connect the biblical material to the Christian New Testament since the older stories set the stage for the story of Jesus. The class will explore how the earlier texts influence modern concepts such as slavery and freedom, gender, and the relationship of humans to the natural environment. Prerequisite: Rel 111 or permission of instructor. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

212. Gospels
Students will explore the New Testament gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), focusing on the portrayal of Jesus in each gospel and charting the development of the early church during the latter decades of the first century CE. To better understand the history and culture of the New Testament material, students will also read portions of Thomas and other non-canonical gospels. Prerequisite: Rel 112 or permission of instructor. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

217. Paul’s Interpretation of Jesus.
This course will explore the writings of the Apostle Paul. Attention will be given to the categories he used, the traditions he drew upon, and the structure of the arguments in his monumental effort to think through the meaning of Jesus. How Paul’s teaching was understood later in the Christian tradition may be included as well. Prerequisite: Rel 112 or permission of instructor. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

219. Employment Experience in Religion.

221. American Religion.
A survey of the major figures, events, and ideas in American Religion from the Puritans to today, including the Great Awakening, black religion, the Social Gospel, Christian realism, Catholicism, and Judaism. Emphasis on how the American context influenced theological development and the ongoing relationship between church and state. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

222. Theologies of the Oppressed.
An exploration of the ways theological traditions change in response to the experience of marginalized groups in American life. Through the study of black, feminist, gay, and liberation theologies, students will explore the importance of race, gender, sexual orientation, and class as moral and religious categories, coming to understand political marginalization as a theological category with unique relevance to specific communities. Prerequisite: Rel 102 or permission of the instructor. Cornerstone 6. Three Hours.

225. Women and Religion in American Culture.
An introduction to the life and thought of selected American religious women who have participated in the struggle for justice and equality in religious institutions and society at large. Readings will include history, biography, autobiography and contemporary feminist perspectives. Cornerstone 6. Three hours.

226. History of Christianity I.
A study of the major events, figures, and ideas in the history of Christianity from the time of the New Testament to the Reformation, including the Patristic and Medieval periods. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

227. History of Christianity II.
A study of the major events, figures, and ideas in the history of Christianity from the Reformation to the present, emphasizing the work of the Reformers, the development of theological liberalism, and the reactions of the major figures of the modern period. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

233. Islam.
A survey of the major texts, figures, events, and ideas of religious life and practice in the Islamic tradition. Through the study of the Qur’an, Islamic history, ritual practices, law, and ethics, students will explore the impact of the tradition on the contemporary world. Cornerstone 7. Three hours.

251. Introduction to Christian Ethics.
An exploration of the relationship between faith and practice in the Christian tradition, emphasizing the importance of Christian community and identity. Students will learn the basics of ethical theory in relationship to Christian sources and norms, as well as applications of theory to a number of social-ethical issues, such as poverty, racism, capital punishment, marriage, sexuality, and crime. Prerequisite: Rel 102 or Rel 112, or permission of instructor. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

260. Feminist Interpretation of the Bible.
This course explores feminist interpretation of the Bible, both as a theoretical orientation and as a feminist interpretive lens pertains to selected texts of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Students will be exposed to the work of Jewish and Christian feminist scholars from around the globe. The course introduces feminism as a hermeneutic for sacred texts, and also explores the history of textual interpretation from a feminist perspective. Most students enrolling in this course will want to have taken either Introduction to Women’s Studies or any introductory biblical studies course. Cornerstone 7. Three hours.

261. Christian Ethics, Wealth and Property.
An examination of basic economic themes drawing on biblical, classical, and modern theological resources. Students will explore the function of money in community, the moral dimensions of private property, and the relation of economic systems to theories of justice. Specific topics may include economics in the Torah and New Testament, the prophetic tradition, Aquinas, Luther, capitalism, Christian socialism, the Social Gospel, and American Evangelicalism. Prerequisite: Completion of Cornerstones 1A and 1B, or permission of instructor. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

262. The Body in Christian Ethics.
An examination of issues in medical and sexual ethics, drawing on biblical, classical, and modern theological resources. Topics include extramarital sex, homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, genetic screening, aging, cloning, and human research. Prerequisite: Rel 102 or Rel 112, or permission of instructor. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

263. Ethics, Religion, and Conflict.
An exploration of the role religion plays in social and political conflict on the international stage. After an introduction to the traditions of holy war, just war, and pacifism, students will examine how political theories account for religion, as well as the role of religion in terrorism, ethnic religious conflict, and humanitarian intervention. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

280. New Testament Greek I.
The course will introduce students to basic concepts of New Testament Greek, including an introduction to present active indicative verbs. All basic aspects of New Testament grammar except for the complete verb system will be covered. The course will emphasize inductive learning, with students reading New Testament texts as soon as possible. Three hours.

281. New Testament Greek II.
This course is a continuation of REL 280. By the end of the semester, students will have enough familiarity with New Testament Greek to read, with a lexicon, New Testament passages. Students will be able to consult commentaries that work with the Greek text, will be introduced to issues related to the development and transmission of the New Testament in the ancient world, and will be exposed to software designed to aid in the research of the Greek New Testament. Prerequisite: Rel 280 or equivalent. Three hours.

290. Special Topics in Religion.

301. Major Figures in Christian Ethics.
An advanced examination of major figures in Christian moral theology, including Augustine, Aquinas, the Anabaptists, Luther, Calvin, Niebuhr, and Barth. Students will learn how the classical expressions of systematic theology relate to morality, with particular attention to moral psychology and sanctification. A broad overview of each figure in historical context will give way to specific treatments of marriage, sexuality, and political theory. Prerequisite: Rel 102 or permission of instructor. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

310. The Growth and Development of Judaism.
In this course students will investigate the development of Judaism and Jewish life from the intertestamental to the modern periods. Students will grapple with central themes and ideas, practices and movements. Both classical and contemporary texts will be employed in order to give students as full an understanding as possible of the rich, fertile and diverse reality of Judaism. Figures as different as Philo, Akiba, Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, the Baal Shem Tov, Spinoza, Theodor Herzl, Hermann Cohen, Abraham Heschel, and Richard Rubenstein will be introduced. Time will also be spent examining Jewish life in America and the development of Jewish thought and life here. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

315. Readings in Contemporary Theology.
An advanced seminar in which students analyze the work of important contemporary figures in Christian theology, resulting in a significant exercise in independent research. Prerequisite: Rel 102 or permission of instructor. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

319. Internship in Religion.

331. Theology and Social Theory.
An advanced seminar treating significant movements in political theology, selected from classical and contemporary sources. Theological examination of nationality, ethnicity, race, and other social distinctions will be examined in conjunction with particular political contexts, leading to a significant exercise in student research. Prerequisite: Rel 102 or permission of instructor. Cornerstone 4A. Three hours.

380. Independent Study in Religion.

385. Senior Seminar in Religion.
This capstone course for majors in religion requires students to engage some of the important methodological questions in doing research in religion. Each student will prepare a major research paper and present it to the departmental faculty in a public forum, during the final weeks of the semester. Three hours.

390. Special Topics in Religion.

Last Updated: 6/10/09