University of North Carolina at Greensboro · Courses
REL
78 courses with the subject REL, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
REL 100Introduction to World Religions 3
This course introduces major religious traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We will begin with a brief survey of theoretical approaches to the study of religion. Topics of study will include each tradition’s historical origins, conceptions of the sacred, rituals and practices, and contemporary trends.
REL 102Faith, Culture, and Community in Greensboro 3
Introduces students to study of religion, with emphasis on religious/cultural diversity in Greensboro/Guilford County. It provides students with an understanding of major religious/cultural groups in the area through site visits, readings, lectures, and guest speakers, as well as develops foundational college skills and familiarity with key programs on campus.
Evaluates answers to the question, “Is love stronger than death?” Examines love, death, and the body in thinkers belonging to one or more religious traditions. May be repeated if topic changes.
This course will explain and compare Hindu, Jain, Christian, Jewish and Muslim foodways and evaluations of food. In the process of this comparative study, we will appraise how each of tradition conceptualizes wellness, and evaluates eating, feeding, overeating, dieting and fasting to promote or impede upon wellness.
This course introduces critical issues in and approaches to religion and popular culture from around the world. Examining a series of case studies drawn from film, television, popular music, video games, and consumer culture, it considers what counts as religion and how people use spirituality in their daily lives.
Comparative study of Asian religions and their contributions to modern religious self-understanding, focusing critically and evaluatively on such patterns of expression as myth, ritual, and social forms.
Concepts of the “supernatural ” have shaped religious imaginaries of cultures/societies throughout history. To gain insights into historical/cultural contexts of these concepts, this course surveys beliefs/practices associated with supernatural beings and forces. The scope of this survey will include, but not be limited to Eastern, Western, and Indigenous Religions.
This course is a study of the relationship between religion and science. Primary but not exclusive emphasis will be placed on the religion-science debates as they have developed in relation to modern science and understandings of Western theism.
American religion has been defined by immigration and new religious movements, creating a staggering array of religious communities in the United States. This course introduces the diversity of religions in the United States and focuses on the difference between encounter, tolerance, religious creativity, and pluralism.
Introduction to the language of a major scriptural tradition, such as Hebrew, Chinese, Tibetan, or Sanskrit. Emphasis on writing system, grammar, and vocabulary.
REL 207Critical Thinking about Religion, Faith and Spirituality: Selected Topics 3
Exploration of ways in which religion, faith and sprituality have been understood in the context of the eclipse of religion in Western culture from the Enlightenment to the present.
REL 212Christianity from the Reformation to the Present 3
Examination of a range of themes in the history of Christian thought from the sixteenth century to present, through reading of a variety of texts representative of Christian traditions.
The synagogue has been and remains the center of Jewish life. This course will explore the nomenclature, history, architecture, art, and literature of the synagogue in ancient, medieval, and modern times.
Introduction to the origin, development, and impact of Buddhism in Asian cultures. Focus on religious doctrines, forms of community, religious practices, techniques, art and iconography, and the implications of the Buddhist perspective for the contemporary world in both Asia and the West.
This course will introduce the broad array of mental and bodily disciplines and philosophies that fall under the term “yoga”. Exploring foundational texts and contemporary yoga communities, we will identify and compare how various strands of yoga understand, define and pursue holistic wellness through bodily and mental disciplines.
Diverse religious traditions and thinkers that have played a significant role in the history of the United States from Native American beginnings to the present.
This course examines politics and religion in North America, Europe, and Asia. The class also focuses heavily on building foundational academic skills and acquainting students with university services and learning resources.
Using a wide range of topics, analytical theories and methods, as well as ethical perspectives, the course introduces students to the concept of evil, digital media, networked society and consumer culture through the critical interpretation of video gaming.
This course explores the intersection of religion and science fiction in works like Star Wars, Star Trek, Dune, and The Matrix. Topics include creation myths, ritual, and redemption, examining how religious themes and fan cultures shape sci-fi narratives and reflect diverse spiritual perspectives in speculative worlds.
REL 247Fandom and Religion: Rituals, Texts, Communities 3
Drawing on conceptual frameworks and case studies, students in this course will examine parallels between religion and fandom to identify and explore how fandoms may resemble, constitute or replace religion in contemporary life.
Comparative study of the ethical teachings of two or more Western and non-Western religious traditions focusing on the diversity within and among traditions and their effects on modes of life.
This course examines both the compatibility and conflict between religious perspectives and the scientific foundations of public health. Emphasis will be focused on the cultural influence of religion on individual and community attitudes toward health care practices and how these influence achieving and maintaining public health goals.
REL 250Religious Traditions and Care of the Earth 3
Examination of the thought, ethics, and practice of major religious traditions and worldviews with regards to the care of the earth. Emphasis on non-Western, indigenous, and ecofeminist traditions.
Inquiry into the social teachings of diverse religious traditions with respect to such current topics as economic development and social justice, human rights, democracy, freedom, human well-being and the environment.
Study of religion in traditional societies in which the basic question "What is it to be human?" is raised by entering into the diverse symbolic worlds of native Americans, Africans, or others.
This course will address Alcoholism and other substance use disorders on society and individuals. The course will critically examine the dynamics of substance use disorder with an emphasis on the history, spirituality, and practice of 12-step recovery as developed by Alcoholics Anonymous. Interfaith influences on the 12-steps will be considered.
Arguments concerning God's existence, the problem of evil, God's foreknowledge and human freedom, the analysis of divine attributes, immortality and the soul.
This course examines “digital religion”, the ways people use new media technologies to practice religion. This course will prepare students to navigate cross-cultural climates in an increasingly digital world by familiarizing them to the range of ways religious expression takes place.
Aimed at majors and non-majors alike, this course will provide students both with a conceptual or theoretical understanding of what is “media” and what is “religion”, while also working through case studies that explore the wide range of applications for such a study.
Critical reflection on the academic study of religion. Evaluation of theories of religion drawn from the social sciences, humanities, and religious traditions themselves through their application to case studies.
Explores the formation of Orthodox Christianity from the sixth to the twelfth century. Topics include liturgy, icons, church architecture and decoration, saints' cults, monasticism, and lay practice.
REL 310Christianity and the Construction of Gender 3
Study of the role of categories of male and female in the creation and maintenance of Christian notions of holiness, authority, and hierarchy in historical perspective.
Examination of specific biblical texts, themes, or interpretations in the context of Jewish and Christian religious traditions or in terms of significant literary or historical issues.
Subject
REL
Type
course
Repeatable
May be repeated for credit when topics vary, with permission of instructor.
REL 314Saint and Society in the Early Middle Ages 3
Examination of the concept of sanctity and of the rise and function of the veneration of holy men and women in Christian tradition from the fourth to the seventh century.
REL 323Religious Movements and Communities: Selected Topics 3
Selected topics will bring to bear historical, analytical, theological, and ethical tools to understand religious movements. Faculty and topics will vary.
Topics to vary. Analysis and evaluation of major works by an American religious thinker, e.g., Jonathan Edwards, or works exemplifying a particular intellectual movement, e.g., the Puritan Christian Enlightenment.
REL 332Contemporary African American Religious Thought 3
Explores the variety of contemporary African American religious thought: Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Judaic, and New World Yoruba. The relation between religious racial identities is a primary focus.
In this class we focus on Nave American fights for sovereignty and control of sacred lands in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We also consider how Nave Americans are using religion, ritual, and spirituality as a mode of identity formation in contemporary America.
This seminar will introduce both ancient and contemporary Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist perspectives on suffering and joy, and place these perspectives in conversation to find shared and unique approaches to two concerns at the heart of the human experience.
Selected aspects of religion in South Asia. Possible topics include ritual, myth, festivals, and pilgrimage in Jainism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or other religions of the Indian subcontinent.
REL 375Religion and Popular Culture: Selected Topics 3
This course examines the relationship between religion and popular culture. We will read foundational texts in the field of religious studies, explore academic writings on the intersections of religion and popular culture, and watch, listen, discuss, and critically analyze television, film, music, sports, celebrity, and other popular cultural movements.
This course will select topics relevant to the study of religion and media. Through case studies emerging from traditions of the east and west, historical and contemporary, students will develop skills to articulate how religion and media combine to express and shape human thinking and behavior.
Death has always been a part of videogames: a way of dividing up playtime, effort, and accomplishment. Through a combination of reading about and playing games this course offers a hands-on approach to studying videogaming as an academic pursuit and what that can teach us about death and dying.
Study of role, nature, and function of selected social forms of religious life through cross-cultural comparison or intensive study of one religious tradition.
Critical reflection on the academic study of religion. Evaluation of theories of religion drawn from the social sciences, humanities, and religious traditions themselves through their application to case studies.
Practical experience in a variety of professional settings. Includes 10 hours per week at internship site, plus regular meetings with a faculty advisor.
Study of role, nature, and function of selected social forms of religious life through cross-cultural comparison or intensive study of one religious tradition.
