53 courses with the subject RELI, 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.
Offered Both Fall and Spring,Topics course; Lecture hours:3; RepeatableThis course will introduce students to the academic study of religion to provide a foundation for religious literacy. Multiple sections of this course are offered every semester, under a variety of titles.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3Critical, literary, and historical analysis of Hebrew (Tanak) and Christian scriptures.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3A comparative survey of the three major monotheistic traditions, including their histories, scriptures, beliefs and practices. Attention also will be paid to issues that each tradition has faced in the modern world.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3A comparative study of the basic teachings and practices of Asian religions through lectures, discussions, readings and films; inquiry into similarities and differences and views of nature. Crosslisted as EAST 115.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3An introductory course in ethical reflection draws from a variety of religious and philosophical perspective to address a range of contemporary moral issues. Open to first-year or sophomore students. Others by permission of the instructor.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3This course will examine the ways in which a wide variety of Americans have articulated and practiced their religious commitments.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3An introduction to the relationship between food, health and religious identities. The course surveys the significant role of food across diverse religious traditions — including its function within myth, taboo, and ritual – in determining the health of individual and social bodies alongside the health of the soul. Religious ideologies concerning food in contemporary American society will also be examined.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3,Other:1An interdisciplinary introduction to Buddhism, including basic teachings of liberation from suffering, impermanence, no-self, ethics, and meditation. Also explores the historical development of various streams of Buddhism in Asia and the West, with attention to the mutual influence between Buddhism and society, politics, and material culture. Crosslisted as EAST 251.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3An overview of the many cultural expressions of Islam, which emerged in the 6th century and spread from Arabia to the larger world. The course will cover Muhammad as prophet, Qur'an as scripture, Hadith as religious narrative, and tensions between law, modernity, and mysticism.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3A historical survey of Hindu religious traditions. This course traces the development of Hindu scriptures, rituals, philosophies, and ethics from the ancient to the contemporary world. Concepts such as karma, yoga, and reincarnation will be put in the broader contexts of Hindu dharma (religious law), theism, and ritual.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3; RepeatableDuring the Holocaust more than six million Jews, one third of the Jewish population of the world, were systematically killed. We study the event, reflections by major thinkers and scholars, and the aftermath of the Holocaust.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Study of the complex relationship between Judaism and the sacred traditions of the Jews as related to the Land of Israel including the cultural situation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3A survey of Jewish religious traditions, addressing major historical developments (e.g., biblical, rabbinic, and modern periods) and basic rituals and theological issues (e.g., "chosenness", covenant, salvation).
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3A broad introduction to Christianity, including a survey of Christian scripture, various Christian doctrines and beliefs, and major traditions of thought and practice within Christianity.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3Study of various philosophical, religious, and scientific theories regarding the concept of divine nature, human nature, and non-human nature.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3Problems for rational inquiry arising from the claims and practices of religious faith, e.g., the nature of religious language, arguments for the existence of God, the concept of evil. Crosslisted as PHIL 223.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3This is a writing class (W2) focusing on Jerusalem (Israel), its history, as a pilgrimage site, and the three Western religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) in the city.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Explores the presence and practice of global relations and analyzes the cultural and political challenges of religious pluralism. Students will examine a wide variety of religious traditions, assess how minority religions negotiate issues of acculturation, and evaluate the political problems often created by religious diversity. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3A survey of the major theories of environmental ethics, with particular attention to the challenge of developing an ethic commensurate with increasing human power. Crosslisted as ENST 236.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3Exploration of theoretical models and methods in religious studies. Readings from major texts may include sociological, psychological, anthropological and phenomenological approaches, along with challenges to such theories from thinkers of feminist, postmodern and postcolonial perspectives.
Offered Occasionally,Topics course; Lecture hours:3,Other:1; RepeatableFocus on interdependence of religion and cultural phenomena: ideology; alienation; formation of world view; understandings of time and space; relation between church and state; faith and science.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3This course examines the relationship of religion to contemporary popular culture, both in how religion is portrayed (in music, movies, sports, and consumer culture) and how it is replicated (in ritual, myth, and morality).
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3This course is an introduction to the mystical path of Islam, Sufism, and its transformation across time and place. It will cover Sufism’s major figures, institutions, genres, its global expansion and adaptation, as well as its use of art, music, and, most importantly, coffee.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3This is an introduction to Judaism in Film. Judaism has been characterized as a culture, a civilization, a philosophy, a nation, an ethnic group, and a religion. In this introductory class we will discuss ritual, ethical and historical issues.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Examination of new approaches (linguistical, philosophical, and hermeneutical) that challenge traditional Western religious ideas and the role of faith in contemporary world. Emphasis is on intersection of religion and critical theory.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3This course will examine some of the diverse perspectives and ideas associated with religious naturalism. Students will explore the ways religious naturalists reconceptualize traditional concepts (God or supernatural theism), and examine their various approaches to understanding evil, morality, human nature, and humans' connectivity to nature.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3This course focuses on religion in modern China under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. It examines the development of Buddhism, Taoism, popular religions, and western religions in China, from ancient times to the present day, against the backdrop of political ideology that traditionally deems religion "the opiate of the masses." Crosslisted as EAST 252.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3An exploration of the diverse meanings, effects and cultural significance of being alone. This course engages philosophical and religious traditions that view solitude as a valuable practice rather than a problem to solve. It also considers the loneliness epidemic in America and various responses to it.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3An exploration of the earliest Christians through the writings that later became the New Testament. We will examine these sources in the context of their specific social and historical concerns and consider the complex process in which some writings were included in Christian scripture while others were rejected. Crosslisted as CLAS 252.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Early Christians were attracted to dramatic narratives of suffering--whether about spectacular deaths in the arena or extreme self-denial in the desert. This course explores the world of martyrs and monks and considers how ancient ideals about pain, gender, and sexuality continue to influence Christian thinking about holiness and sainthood. Crosslisted as CLAS 235 and WMST 245.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3This course introduces the history of Islam and Muslims in America starting from the first enslaved Muslims who were brought to the colonies to the present. It will also review US political and social relations with Muslim majority regions as well as Islam’s role in the discourse of American power.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3Far from a new age health trend, yoga arose in the Indian subcontinent two millennia ago. This course explores the religion, history, and culture of yoga by reading classical yoga texts; examining the rise of guru-based yoga lineages and the development of postural yoga; and studying yoga’s recent global spread.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3An exploration of how Muslims have conceived of and performed gender, both historically and today. Counter to the trope that “Islam oppresses women,” we will consider an array of gendered dynamics that characterize Muslim societies. We will also examine the geopolitical contexts that contribute to this trope to begin with. Crosslisted as WMST 260.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3An introduction to Islamic law, examining how it developed, how it works and how it has shaped Muslim societies, past and present. In exploring these topics, students will engage with a wide range of sources, including legal theory, fatwas (legal opinions) and court cases.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Theories of Judaism, masculinity and maleness applied to the bodies of athletes; Jewish/Black bodies; the body of soldiers; stereotyping; human and divine bodies; Jewish feet, nose, ideal bodies.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Explores the cultural and ethical complexities of Jewish Law in the U.S., Europe, and the unique legal system of the state of Israel.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3This course explores the developing relationship between religion and American constitutional law, focusing on historic documents and Supreme Court decisions relating to the First Amendment. Crosslisted as POLS 247.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3This course explores the historical relationship of religion and American politics, focusing on the impact of religion in both domestic and foreign policy.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3This seminar explores the entanglement of religion and pharmacology as a widespread, historic phenomenon found across diverse religious traditions. It considers the use of drugs and intoxicants by religious communities seeking to induce healed bodies and altered states of consciousness. Focusing on the question of efficacy, it analyzes the worldviews and expectations of transformation that make drugs potent cultural symbols.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3The cumulative force of human impacts on the planet has led scientists to name our era the Anthropocene or Age of Humans. This course will explore the profound dilemmas of living in a time of increased responsibility and extreme uncertainty. How should we think about ethics in this new context?.
Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3Examination of the various factors that have resulted in a loss of traditional faith and exploration of new religious perspectives grounded in humanism, naturalism, and atheism. Topics include emerging views of humanity; the interplay of artistic creativity and religion; the role of science; ecology and religion; and atheistic, ethical perspectives.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Investigates the male body from Jewish and comparative perspectives: the body of athletes; Jewish/Black relations; theories of masculinity; the body of soldiers; stereotyping; human and divine bodies. Prerequisites: sophomore, junior, or senior status and permission of the instructor.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Judaism and Jewish sectarianism include numerous Messianic figures: from Jesus to Messiah Ephraim; Shabbetai Zvi; Zionism; kabbalistic, midrashic, philosophical, Hassidic, and contemporary ideas of redemption. Prerequisite: sophomore, junior, or seniors only. Others by permission of instructor.
Offered Occasionally,Topics course; Lecture hours:3; RepeatableThis course will examine aspects of the relationship between religion and law in global, regional, tradition-based, and/or historical contexts. Prerequisite: sophomore, junior or senior status only. Open to others by permission of the instructor.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3This course considers the relationship between food, consumption, and the construction of religious identity. Students will read a wide range of sources from antiquity to the present, exploring the ways in which food customs structure human belief and function as a point of communication between humanity and divinity.
Offered Occasionally,Topics course; Lecture hours:3; RepeatableThis course will examine specific topics in American religion including in-depth analyses of religious movements and traditions in America. Prerequisite: sophomore, junior or senior status only. Open to others by permission of the instructor.
Offered Occasionally,Topics course; Lecture hours:3; RepeatableThis course will examine the interrelation between religion and cultural phenomena in diverse contexts of human experience. Prerequisite: sophomore, junior or senior status only. Open to others by permission of the instructor.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Study of self-cultivation as a central theme in religious and philosophical reflection. Students will explore different meanings of self-cultivation as a practice of training the self's energies to attain an ideal of human excellence in multiple traditions. Prerequisite: sophomore, junior or senior only. Open to others by permission of instructor.
Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3Text-based class: cultural influences upon Jewish thought and practice in major Jewish books, traditional and contemporary Judaism, from Philo to Derrida: Human existence and identity. Prerequisite: sophomore, junior, or senior only. Open to others by permission of instructor.
Offered Both Fall and Spring,Topics course; Lecture hours:Varies,Other:Varies; RepeatableGuided investigations. Open to qualified students with some previous study of religion who wish to pursue individual programs of study in the field. Prerequisite: Only by permission of the instructor.
Offered Occasionally,Topics course; Lecture hours:3; RepeatableThe thought, historical setting, and influence of one or more classical religious thinkers, e.g., Paul the Apostle, Augustine, Kierkegaard, Confucius, Rosenzweig, Gandhi. Prerequisite: sophomore, junior, or senior only. Open to others by permission of the instructor.
Offered Occasionally,Topics course; Lecture hours:3; RepeatableHonors thesis. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
Topics course,Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3The Senior Seminar is required for all majors in Religious Studies, and is designed to give majors an opportunity to integrate the knowledge and skills they have acquired, and to hone their research, writing, and oral skills. Prerequisites: Open to seniors in Religious Studies and others by permission of instructor.
Source: Bucknell University's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 59
