2024-2025 Catalog

RLST 10100. Introduction to Religious Studies. 100 Units.

What is religion? Is it the source of truth? Is it fiction? Believe it or not, religion affects what we think, what we do, and how we situate ourselves and others. In this introductory course, we will examine the intertwined histories of the concept of religion and the academic study of religion. We will familiarize ourselves with classical and contemporary theorists of religion and consider the methods, motivations, and historical contexts that have made their theories of religion possible. Along the way, we will survey key concepts such as myth and ritual and relate them to a broader set of problems concerning places, bodies, and politics. Throughout the course, we will apply what we learn about religion to issues within and outside the field of Religious Studies and consider the importance of the study of religion both within and beyond the university. There are no prerequisites for this course. All students are welcome.

Instructor(s): Richard Rosengarten (autumn 2024), Foster Pinkney (winter 2025)     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter
Note(s): This is the required introductory course for RLST majors.
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20541

RLST 11004. Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. 100 Units.

The course introduces the Jewish/Hebrew Bible as a literary treasury with a material history. We will survey the genres and the different works, review scholarly theories about the texts and about ideas in them, and situate them in the history of Israel and Judea and in the culture of ancient Southwest Asia. We will also engage theories of history, literature, and narrative. The course includes a weekly Discussion Section for mixed-modes activities and conceptual discussions.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students. This course counts as a Gateway course for RLST majors/minors.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 31000, NEHC 20504, JWSC 20120, FNDL 11004, NEHC 30504, HIJD 31004

RLST 11040. Introduction to the Qur'an. 100 Units.

The primary goal of this course is to introduce students to the text and context of the Qurʾan. Emphasis is placed upon both the historical setting as well as the thematic and literary features, major biblical figures, and foundational narratives of the Qurʾan. Explorations of medieval exegetical literature on the Qurʾan and its reception in the early (8th - 10th century CE) and medieval periods (11th - 15th century CE) will feature in this course.

Instructor(s): Mehmetcan Akpinar     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30040, NEHC 30040

RLST 12000. Introduction to the New Testament: Texts and Contexts of Interpretation. 100 Units.

This class introduces students to the texts that make up the New Testament through close readings of representative examples. Through course lectures and readings, students will gain familiarity with the historical, geographical, social, religious, cultural, and political contexts of New Testament literature and the events they narrate. We will also learn about the central literary genres found within the collection of texts that came to form the canonical New Testament, including "gospels," "acts," "letters," and "apocalypses"), and we will examine how awareness of genre conventions enhances our reading of these works. Students will also learn about the distinctive theological and cultural viewpoints contained within various New Testament texts. As we learn about the history of biblical scholarship, especially the goals and methods of biblical interpretation, we will practice refining our questions. Assignments and discussion will allow students to develop their skills as attuned readers of both ancient texts as well as modern biblical scholarship. PQ: No prior knowledge of biblical literature, the ancient world, or Christianity is expected. The only expectation is commitment to engaged discussion about the challenges of interpretation with classmates holding various viewpoints.

Instructor(s): Erin Walsh     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students. This course counts as a Gateway course for RLST majors/minors.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 32500, MDVL 12500, FNDL 28202

RLST 13900. Introductory Biblical Hebrew I. 100 Units.

This course is the first of a two-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to the language of biblical Hebrew, with special emphasis on the fundamentals of its morphology, syntax, and vocabulary. The course follows a standard textbook supplemented by lectures, exercises, and oral drills aimed at refining the student's grasp of grammatically sound interpretation and translation. At the conclusion of the two-quarter sequence students will be prepared to take a biblical Hebrew reading course in the spring quarter.

Instructor(s): Tyler J. Harris     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 33900

RLST 14000. Introductory Biblical Hebrew II. 100 Units.

This course is the second of a two-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to the language of biblical Hebrew, with special emphasis on the fundamentals of its morphology, syntax, and vocabulary. The course follows a standard textbook supplemented by lectures, exercises, and oral drills aimed at refining the student's grasp of grammatically sound interpretation and translation. At the conclusion of the two-quarter sequence students will be prepared to take a biblical Hebrew reading course in the spring quarter.

Instructor(s): Tyler J. Harris     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): BIBL 33900 in Autumn Quarter.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 34000

RLST 14100. Introductory Koiné Greek I. 100 Units.

In this two-course sequence, students will learn the basic mechanics of Koine Greek and begin reading texts from the Greek New Testament and Septuagint. The autumn course and the first three-fourths or so of the winter course will introduce the vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and style of the Greek New Testament, and to a limited degree those of the Septuagint, after which point we will focus on reading and interpreting a New Testament document in Greek at length. Upon the conclusion of the sequence, students will be able to read and comprehend entire passages of Koine Greek text with the aid of a dictionary. This sequence aims to prepare students to successfully participate in a Greek exegesis course.

Instructor(s): Doug Hoffer      Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 35100

RLST 14200. Introductory Koiné Greek II. 100 Units.

In this two-course sequence, students will learn the basic mechanics of Koine Greek and begin reading texts from the Greek New Testament and Septuagint. The autumn course and the first three-fourths or so of the winter course will introduce the vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and style of the Greek New Testament, and to a limited degree those of the Septuagint, after which point we will focus on reading and interpreting a New Testament document in Greek at length. Upon the conclusion of the sequence, students will be able to read and comprehend entire passages of Koine Greek text with the aid of a dictionary. This sequence aims to prepare students to successfully participate in a Greek exegesis course in Spring quarter or thereafter.

Instructor(s): Doug Hoffer     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Must have taken BIBL 35100 in Autumn quarter.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 35300

RLST 15100-15200-15300. Introductory Qur'anic Arabic I-II-III.

Introductory Qur'anic Arabic I-II-III

RLST 17700. Advanced Readings in Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez) 100 Units.

In this course we will read excerpts from literature written in Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez), such as Enoch, Jubilees, Kebra Nagast, Beauty of Creation, and others, and review some basic grammatical structures of the language. Students will need a good grasp of the basic grammar of Ge'ez in order to take the class.

Instructor(s): Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Elementary Geez 1-3 or equivalent
Equivalent Course(s): LING 22700, BIBL 30700, LING 32700, GEEZ 30700, GEEZ 20700

RLST 20124. The Bible Throughout History: From the Dead Sea Scrolls to King James. 100 Units.

While the collection of ancient texts found in modern Bibles appears fixed and is read by many people as a source of edification or theological insight, it has not always been this way. Though absent from most Bibles, there is an entire body of literature commonly known as "rewritten bible": early translations, retellings, or entirely new stories with familiar names and faces that update, retcon, or subvert their "biblical" sources. How might we understand these ancient forms of fan fiction? The class will introduce this corpus (including some of the Dead Sea Scrolls) and its sources, production, and historical contexts. We will confront significant problems in understanding religious texts: how is it that some texts become authoritative while other very similar texts do not? Who gets to retell foundational religious narratives, and within what social or political constraints? What does it mean to relate to sacred texts as artistic prompts or imperfect points of departure? Can a biblical text be rewritten for an entirely different religious tradition? We will consider similar questions for contemporary religious practice, asking: how did rewriting the Bible get started, and has it stopped?

Instructor(s): Doren Snoek     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 20124, MDVL 20124, FNDL 20124, HIST 29908, JWSC 20924

RLST 20149. Religion in the Eastern Mediterranean: First Millennium BCE. 100 Units.

This course will offer a survey of religious traditions and innovations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the first millennium BCE. Following a comparative, cross-cultural approach, we will cover practices and religious expressions among Phoenicians, Israelites, and Greeks (among others), featuring themes such as communication across divine spheres from "above" and "below," divine participation in the political arena, and divine roles in family life and the funerary realm. We will examine artifacts, iconography, architecture, literature, and documentary sources.

Instructor(s): Carolina López-Ruiz and Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HREL 30149, BIBL 30149

RLST 20201-20202-20203. Islamicate Civilization I-II-III.

Islamicate Civilization I-II-III

RLST 20223. Magic, Miracles, and Medicine: Healthcare in the Bible and the Ancient World. 100 Units.

This course examines the complex issues surrounding the body, disability, and medical care in antiquity. It will be guided by a variety of questions, such as what was the root cause of bodily infirmity and disease in antiquity? How did cultural views of sex, gender, and race influence perceptions of the body and what it meant to be able bodied? Such questions are significant when considering what kind of access to healthcare marginalized groups had. In order to explore these questions, we will examine ancient Mediterranean views of medical care through material remains (e.g., magical amulets and healing shrines) and textual evidence (e.g., Galen and Hippocrates). After considering this wider cultural context, we will examine treatments in the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and early Christianity. We will also explore how Christian concepts of medical care evolved in light of accounts of Jesus as a divine healer. In addition to this ancient evidence, we will engage with modern disability studies and sociological analyses to better orient our readings. At the end of the course, students will be better acquainted with the complex relationship between religion and medicine and how that affects modern healthcare decisions.

Instructor(s): Richard Zaleski     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 25305, JWSC 20923, KNOW 20223, CCTS 21021, HLTH 20223, HIPS 20223

RLST 20228. History of Jews in the Middle East. 100 Units.

This class examines the history of Jews in the Middle East from the early modern period, when many Jewish refugees fleeing Spain and Portugal settled in the Ottoman Empire, to the modern Period, when Jews debated and challenged colonialist, reformist, nationalist, leftist, and secular ideologies. Reading novels, memoirs, and new works in the fields of Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies, we will examine how early modernity and modernity gave birth to new identity formations and new frames of belonging. We will visit the unknown histories of early modern Jews who produced translations and explications of the Hebrew Bible in Arabic, of Jews and Muslims who fought together Christian missionary activities, of Arab Jewish feminists, and of Jewish communists who established anti-Zionist societies in the Middle East.

Instructor(s): Orist Bashkin     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20228, JWSC 23405, HIST 25810

RLST 20401-20402-20403. Islamic Thought and Literature I-II-III.

This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required.

RLST 20490. The Plagues in Egypt: Tradition and Composition. 100 Units.

This course will pursue an in-depth investigation of the plagues in Egypt as presented at length in Exodus 7-12 and Psalms 78 and 105 and in brief in several other biblical texts. It will focus especially on source-critical and tradition-historical issues in these texts. All texts will be read in their original languages.

Instructor(s): Jeffrey Stackert     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Strong biblical Hebrew; those with questions about their Hebrew proficiency should consult with the instructor.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 40490

RLST 20505. Pagans and Christians: Greek Background to Early Christianity. 100 Units.

This course will examine some of the ancient Greek roots of early Christianity. We will focus on affinities between Christianity and the classical tradition as well as ways in which the Christian faith may be considered radically different from it. Some of the more important issues that we will analyze are: "The spell of Homer." How the Homeric poems exerted immeasurable influence on the religious attitudes and practices of the Greeks. The theme of creation in Greek and Roman authors such as Hesiod and Ovid. The Orphic account of human origins. The early Christian theme of Christ as Creator/Savior. Greek, specifically Homeric conceptions of the afterlife. The response to the Homeric orientation in the form of the great mystery cults of Demeter, Dionysus, and Orpheus. The views of the philosophers (esp. Plato) of the immortality of the soul compared with the New Testament conception of resurrection of the body. Ancient Greek conceptions of sacrifice and the crucifixion of Christ as archetypal sacrifice. The attempted synthesis of Jewish and Greek philosophic thought by Philo of Alexandria and its importance for early Christianity.

Instructor(s): David Martinez
Equivalent Course(s): CLCV 26216, MDVL 20505

RLST 20510. Early Jewish Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. 100 Units.

Explores Jewish ideas and hermeneutics at Exodus 19-20 and select other biblical texts, in sources from the Septuagint and Dead Sea scrolls through Targumim and Rabbinic literature to Medieval Jewish commentaries.

Instructor(s): Simeon Chavel     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Biblical Hebrew and either Aramaic or Greek (Koiné or Septuagint)
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): NELC 30063, HIJD 53510, BIBL 53510

RLST 20523. The Ecumenical Church Councils and the Making of Christian Doctrine. 100 Units.

The Church Councils of late antiquity (fourth-seventh centuries) were huge conferences of bishops, priests, monks, secular officials, and emperors, who met to decide on the rules that would govern the Church and the doctrines that all Christians had to believe. They combined philosophical debate, criminal trials, committee meetings, and Senate procedure. Some were rowdy and acrimonious, while others were meticulously organized in advance, usually by the court. Some remain obscure, while others are the most thoroughly documented events in all ancient history and reveal in detail how the later Roman government operated. In this course we will read, in Greek, a number of fascinating narratives and official acts stemming from the most important Councils, including Nicaea I (325), Ephesos I (431), and Chalcedon (451). We will also discuss the Councils from a historical perspective to understand the complex negotiations that gave rise to Christian doctrine and canon law.

Instructor(s): Anthony Kaldellis      Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HCHR 34523, GREK 24523, GREK 34523

RLST 20600. Deuteronomy. 100 Units.

This course is an exegetical study of selected texts from the Deuteronomic source of the Torah (Deut 1:1-32:47). We will focus on the setting of this text within the larger pentateuchal plot, its legal revision, its historical context, and the purpose of its authors in relation to their source texts. This course will serve as the reading course for students coming out of the first year Hebrew sequence, but all students with facility in biblical Hebrew are welcome. All biblical texts will be read in Hebrew.

Instructor(s): Jeffrey Stackert     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): At least one year of biblical Hebrew.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 40600

RLST 20606. Introduction to Qur'an Manuscripts. 100 Units.

The study of the Qur'an in the academy is primarily a literary endeavor. While a rich scripture and standard of world literature the Qur'an also exhibits a long and complex manuscript tradition. Despite beginning as an oral text, from the earliest periods of Islamic history, the Qur'an was revered, studied, and written. This course will chart the historical development of the Qur'an's manuscript traditions, analyze the efficacy of manuscripts as a source for early Islamic history, and consider scripture as objects of religious devotion.

Instructor(s): Flowers, Adam     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30606, NEHC 30606, NEHC 20606

RLST 20808. Biography of the Prophet Muhammad. 100 Units.

This introductory course offers an overview of Prophet Muhammad's life as portrayed in the early and medieval Arabic narrative tradition and through the lens of modern scholarship. We will discuss a diverse range of topics, such as life in pre-Islamic Arabia, the Prophet's early life before prophethood, the first revelations, the Meccan period, his migration to Medina, his religio-political leadership and the military expeditions during the Medinan period, his reported miracles, etc. At the same time, students will gain an overview of the sira/maghaz' literature, i.e., the texts devoted to the life of the Prophet Muhammad in the Muslim tradition. Modern methodological questions which concern the reliability of the narrative traditions in reconstructing the biography of the "historical Muhammad" and a wide range of approaches developed in Western academia to overcome problems related to the source material will also be addressed.

Instructor(s): Mehmetcan Akpinar     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): No background in Islamic studies or Arabic language required.
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 30808, ISLM 30808, NEHC 20808, MDVL 20808

RLST 21101. Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds. 100 Units.

This course comprises an introduction to Greek papyrus texts with a view to their contributions to Biblical and early Christian backgrounds. We will read and discuss examples of different genres of documentary papyri, including private letters, marriage contracts, adoption agreements, leases, receipts, and many others. We will also examine documents which directly illustrate religious practice, such as oracles and formal decrees regulating and prohibiting religious activity. In general we will address topics such as the important contribution of papyrology to the language of the New Testament, the form of papyrus letters compared with the NT "epistle," and the contribution of historical, social, and religious insights gleaned from the papyri to the early Christian context.

Instructor(s): David Martinez     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): 2 years of Greek.
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 51000, HCHR 51001, GREK 45400, CLAS 45200

RLST 21113. Revolution and Piety in Islam. 100 Units.

This course examines religious responses to major political upheavals in Islamic history, from the Abbasid revolution to the age of European expansion. Topics include the Mongol destruction of the caliphate in 1258 and the opening and closing of confessional boundaries; the formation of regional Muslim empires in the 16th century; Ibn Arabi, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Khaldun; the development of alternative spiritualities, mysticism, and messianism in the fifteenth century; trans-confessionalism, antinomianism, and the articulation of sacral sovereignties in the sixteenth century; the pious responses to European colonialism . All work in English.

Instructor(s): Mustafa Kaya     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Some knowledge of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, French, German is helpful.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30113, HIST 25710, NEHC 20113, HIST 35710, NEHC 30113

RLST 21430. Religion and American Capitalism. 100 Units.

This course will introduce students to the intersection of religion and capitalism in the United States. Through a variety of primary and secondary readings, we will explore how religious people and institutions have interacted with, affirmed, and challenged American capitalism. We will pay particularly close attention to the alternative moral economics envisioned by religious communities in the United States.

Instructor(s): William Schultz     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HCHR 40200, HIST 37716, HIST 27716, AMER 21430, RAME 40200, AMER 40200

RLST 21550. Innerbiblical Exegesis. 100 Units.

This course will explore the phenomenon of literary revision in the Hebrew Bible and, to a limited extent, its precursors and successor texts. In addition to analyzing various examples of innerbiblical exegesis, we will consider the theoretical issues related to literary revision, including the question of criteria for determining literary dependence and direction of dependence and the intents of texts that reuse source material. All biblical texts will be read in their original languages.

Instructor(s): Jeffrey Stackert     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Strong Biblical Hebrew
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 45100

RLST 21702. Buddhist Thought in Japan. 100 Units.

In this seminar we will explore the intellectual history and social contexts of fundamental motifs of Buddhist thought in, especially but not exclusively, premodern Japan. Eschewing narrow sectarian boundaries, we will focus on the four traditions of the Lotus sūtra, the Pure Land, the tantric teachings and Zen construed inclusively as trans-sectarian sources of religious meaning and models of cultivation. Building on an initial exploration of the wider East Asian context of Japanese Buddhism, we will deepen our understanding of these four traditions through a careful examination of primary sources in translation. The course will also incorporate field trips to Japanese Buddhist groups in the Chicago area.

Instructor(s): Stephan Licha     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 21702

RLST 22010-22011-22012. Jewish Civilization I-II-III.

Jewish Civilization is a three-quarter sequence that explores the development of Jewish culture and tradition from its ancient beginnings through its rabbinic and medieval transformations to its modern manifestations. Through investigation of primary texts—biblical, Talmudic, philosophical, mystical, historical, documentary, and literary—students will acquire a broad overview of Jews, Judaism, and Jewishness while reflecting in greater depth on major themes, ideas, and events in Jewish history. The Autumn course will deal with antiquity to the medieval period; the Winter course will begin with the early modern period and continue to the present. The Spring course will vary as to special topic; for the Spring course to count towards the general education requirement in civilization studies, the student must also take the Autumn and Winter courses. Note: Jewish Studies revised its civilization studies courses in academic year 2018–19. Students who began the requirement prior to Autumn Quarter 2018 under the previous course options, may complete it with those courses that remain available, or (with prior approval from the JWSC director of undergraduate studies) they may combine them with the new course options, provided that they fulfill the requirement to take one JWSC course in the ancient or medieval period and one in the modern period. Only students who have taken JWSC courses prior to academic year 2018–19 are eligible to complete the program under the prior system.

RLST 22014. Jewish Civilization III - Narratives of Assimilation. 100 Units.

This course offers a survey into the manifold strategies of representing the Jewish community in East Central Europe beginning from the nineteenth century to the Holocaust. Engaging the concept of liminality-of a society at the threshold of radical transformation-it will analyze Jewry facing uncertainties and challenges of the modern era and its radical changes. Students will be acquainted with problems of cultural and linguistic isolation, hybrid identity, assimilation, and cultural transmission through a wide array of genres-novel, short story, epic poem, memoir, painting, illustration, film. The course draws on both Jewish and Polish-Jewish sources; all texts are read in English translation.

Instructor(s): Bozena Shallcross     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): REES 27005, JWSC 12005, NEHC 12005

RLST 22015. Jewish Spaces and Places, Imagined and Real. 100 Units.

What makes a ghetto, a ghetto? What defines a Jewish neighborhood? What determined the architectural form of synagogues? Taught in Special Collections in Regenstein Library and making extensive use of the textual and visual sources there, this course will analyze how Jews (in all their diversity) and non-Jews defined Jewish spaces and places. Sources will include: Jewish law and customary practice, cookbooks, etiquette guides, prints, films, novels, maps, memoirs, architectural drawings and photographs, and tourist guides. We may also take a field trip to the Oak Woods Cemetery. The focus will be on Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, but we will also venture back into the early modern period and across the Mediterranean to Palestine/Israel and North Africa and the Atlantic to the Caribbean and the Americas. We will study both actually existing structures and texts and visual culture in which Jewish places and spaces are imagined or vilified. Parallel to our work with primary sources we will read in the recent, very rich, scholarly literature on this topic. This is not a survey course; we will undertake a series of intensive case-studies through which we will address the larger issues. Assignments include: presentations (individual or collaborative), short papers, Canvas postings, and there will also be the option of making a digital map or an on-line exhibition. This is a limited-enrollment, discussion-based course. No previous knowledge of Jewish history is expected.

Instructor(s): Leora Auslander     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): In order for a Spring course to qualify as a civilization course for the general education requirement, the student must also take Jewish Civilization I and II. A Spring course, however, may also be taken as an independent elective.
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 12006, JWSC 12006, HIST 11703

RLST 22023. Interpreting the Gospel According to Matthew. 100 Units.

An exegesis course on "the church's gospel," which will seek to create a constructive conversation between modern redaction-critical readings of Matthew as a document forged in heated interaction with a specific historical context (particularly defined by inter-/intra-Jewish polemics and the emergence of the "ekklesia" as distinct from the synagogue) and the history of interpretation and effects of this gospel in the ancient church and up to the present, including in film and other media. Each student will select an interpreter or interpretation--ancient, medieval, modern, post-modern--to impersonate in class discussions.

Instructor(s): Margaret M. Mitchell     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): No language prerequisites. Greek skills are not required for this course, but ample opportunity will be provided for those who have Greek skills to exercise them (in reading the gospel itself in its original language), and students are encouraged to exercise their skills in any languages of translation and interpretation of this gospel, ancient, medieval or modern.
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 43100, HCHR 43103

RLST 22035. The Acts of Paul and Thecla and the Pastoral Epistles. 100 Units.

In the early second century there were bitter battles over the legacy of Paul and his preserved letters in terms of gender, sexuality, family life, asceticism, church administration, and theological vision. We can see these well by reading the narrative text The Acts of Paul and Thecla alongside the "Pastoral Epistles" (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus), the former championing a female, cross-dressing ascetic Christ-missionary and the latter, in pseudepigraphical epistolary texts written in the dead Paul's name, insisting on patriarchal family life and women's adherence to traditional roles. In this course we shall read both sets of texts carefully in Greek, noting points of similarity and contestation, and test various models of how these sources-each of which seeks to "fix" the Pauline legacy in its own way-are related to one another. Time allowing, we shall also look at the later reception of the cult of Saint Thecla and late antique interpretations of "the apostle," Paul, on these issues of sexuality and gender roles, and their perduring influence in contemporary debates.

Instructor(s): Margaret Mitchell     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): At least one year of Greek, or equivalent.
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 22035, BIBL 42035, GREK 37423, GNSE 42035, GNSE 22035, HCHR 42035, GREK 27423

RLST 22036. The Johannine Epistles. 100 Units.

The Johannine Epistles raise fascinating theological and interpretative questions. In this course students will read the Greek text closely, examining the composition, genre, structure, theology, and purpose of these letters. Readings will also include New Testament and early Christian texts that help illuminate the hermeneutical questions and place of the Johannine epistles. Special attention will be paid to the questions surrounding the texts' authorship and reception within later Christian traditions.

Instructor(s): Erin Walsh     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Students must have completed two quarters of Koiné Greek or equivalent to enroll.
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 36000

RLST 22110. Religion in the Enlightenment: England and America. 100 Units.

Study in the historiographies of the Enlightenment in England and in America, with special attention to the "trans-Atlantic" communication of ideas regarding the nature of the person, religion, and the role of the political order.

Instructor(s): Richard Rosengarten     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RAME 42100, RLVC 42100, HIST 27510, AMER 42100, AMER 22110, HCHR 42200, HIST 47510

RLST 22215. Athanasius on the Incarnation. 100 Units.

Athanasius was born and reared in Alexandria where he received a thorough classical education. He eventually became secretary to the bishop Alexander, with whom he attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 and whom he succeeded as bishop of Alexandria in 328. For the rest of his life, both in his theological writings and in his turbulent ecclesiastical career, he was a fervent advocate for the Nicene formulations, resisting Arianism at every turn. His most famous work, the De Incarnatione, expounds how Jesus the Word, by becoming flesh, restores to fallen humans the image of God in which they were created. We will read a good part (about 60 pages) of this celebrated treatise with attention to Athanasius' straightforward Greek style, his portrait of the logos, and his enduring contribution to Trinitarian theology.

Instructor(s): David Martinez     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): 2 years of Greek
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): GREK 34124, BIBL 42215, GREK 24124

RLST 22303. Second Isaiah. 100 Units.

This course is a reading course on Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-66). It is meant both for students who have completed the first year Hebrew sequence in the Divinity School and others who would like to read Second Isaiah in Hebrew. We will focus on interpreting texts by attending to their grammatical, literary, and historical features.

Instructor(s): Jeffrey Stackert     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): One year of Biblical Hebrew
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 45400

RLST 22320. Colloquium on Ancient Christianity. 100 Units.

A critical reading of influential narratives--both ancient and modern--of "the 'rise' of 'Christianity'" in the first four centuries, and the sources from which they are composed, asking the question: can such a narrative be told (if it can be told) in a way other than as a romance or a tragedy? Each week we shall analyze select primary sources (textual, artistic, architectural, on which students will give presentations) that illuminate crucial issues (e.g. demographics, conversion, race, persecution, martyrdom, asceticism, gender, ecclesiological and ritual structures, intellectual lineages, orthodoxy and heresy), personalities (e.g., Ignatius, Perpetua and Felicitas, Irenaeus, Antony, Melania the Elder and Melania the Younger, Eusebius, desert Fathers and Mothers, Constantine, Macrina, Augustine) and events. On-going reflection on the nature of historiography as a science and an art, involving both discovery and invention.

Instructor(s): Margaret M. Mitchell     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Knowledge of ancient languages is not required for the course, but those who have such facility are strongly encouraged to use it in their study and assignments.
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): BIBL 43200, HCHR 43200

RLST 22401. Zen Before Zen: Chan Buddhism in China. 100 Units.

This course is part of a two-sequence series, to be followed by a course on Japanese Zen Buddhism taught by Professor Stephan Licha in Winter 2025. "Chan" is a partial Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word "Dhyana," meaning meditation practice; the same Chinese character is pronounced "Zen" in Japanese. This course will consist of the close reading (in English translation) and discussion of both the Indian Buddhist scriptures and indigenous Chinese sources that form the core of the tradition spanning Chan and Zen, with a few secondary descriptions of Chan institutions and cultural influences. Our focus will be on the development of ideas concerning the nature of sentience and the implications this has for understanding the existential predicament of sentient beings, touching on central themes of dependent co-arising, non-self, Emptiness, consciousness-only, Buddha-nature and original enlightenment, and the methods of realization (doctrinal, non-doctrinal, and indeed anti-doctrinal) proposed to redress this existential predicament at each stage of Chan history. This will be done both with an eye to the historical continuity of these sometimes seemingly contradictory forms thought and practice, and also to extract from them whatever transhistorical philosophical and spiritual valences we care to derive from the texts.

Instructor(s): Brook Ziporyn     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS or CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): DVPR 32402, HREL 32400

RLST 22402. Japanese Zen Buddhism. 100 Units.

What is Zen? Impossibly, seemingly, everything to everybody. In this course, we will explore Zen's protean transformations through a close reading of primary sources in translation. Rather than asking what Zen is, we will focus on how in these materials the Zen traditions are continually de/re-constructed as contingent religious identities from medieval Japan to the contemporary United States and Europe. The focus of the course will be the premodern Japanese Zen tradition, its background in Chinese Chan, and its reception in the West. The course will include field trips to Zen communities in the Chicago area. Students wishing to take this course are strongly encouraged to also take Prof. Ziporyn's course on Chan during the fall quarter.

Instructor(s): Stephan Licha     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HREL 32402

RLST 22501. Foundations of East Asian Buddhism. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to Buddhism in East Asia, examined through lenses of texts, art, and thought. We will examine important sources of the major currents of East Asian Buddhist thought and practice stretching from the earliest days of the religion in China to the East Asian Buddhist world of today, giving special consideration to major textual and artistic monuments, such as translated scriptures, Chan/Zen literature, paintings and sculptures, and pilgrimage sites.

Instructor(s): P. Copp     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 25811, EALC 35811, HREL 35811

RLST 22604. The Reformation in Britain, 1450-1660. 100 Units.

The Reformation in Britain is one of the most contested areas in early modern history. Was it mostly a political event, triggered by Henry VIII's desire for a divorce? Was it an organic movement from the ground up, inspired by the enthusiasm of ordinary believers in the same way as many reform movements in continental Europe? Did it have a distinctive theology of its own: can we call this 'Anglicanism'? Should we be studying the 'British Reformation' on its own terms at all, or should it be viewed simply as an offshoot of the continental European Reformations? And did the puritans really want to cancel Christmas? This course will give students a thorough grounding in the Reformation in Britain c.1450-1660, paying especial attention to the complex historiographical issues that still plague the topic to this day. Students will have the opportunity to study a range of key primary texts from the era, from John Foxe's Book of Martyrs to the letters of Queen Elizabeth I, as well as to examine the modern-day legacies of English reform.

Instructor(s): Kirsten Macfarlane     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HCHR 32604

RLST 22655. Themes in the European Reformation(s) 100 Units.

This course provides an introduction to the study of the Reformation(s) in early modern Europe. As well as covering the key theological ideas of famous Protestant reformers (Luther; Zwingli; Calvin), it will give ample space to the impact that these religious revolutions had on contemporary society, including attitudes to gender, politics, economics, and visual/material culture. It will cover the reformations and renewals undergone by Catholicism in the same period, and discuss the key arguments, questions, and concerns which have preoccupied historians of the Reformation since the nineteenth century. Students will have the opportunity to read and engage with famous texts from the period (for instance Erasmus's On Free Will; Luther's 95 Theses; Calvin's Institutes) as well as lesser-known but still influential works (e.g. the poetry of the female Italian humanist Olympia Fulvia Morata and the writings of early Jesuit missionaries to China and Japan), in addition to historically significant documents (such as contemporary witchcraft confessions and extracts from Reformation demonologies). Finally, there will be time devoted to unpacking the complex legacies of the Reformation and the 'unintended consequences' attributed to it, focusing especially on the afterlives of Max Weber's analyses.

Instructor(s): Kirsten Macfarlane     Terms Offered: Winter

RLST 22667. The Christian Right. 100 Units.

From the Gilded Age to the age of Donald Trump, conservatives Christians have played a major role in shaping American politics and culture. This course will use primary and secondary sources to explore the development of the Christian Right in the United States. We will answer essential questions about the movement: Who joins it? Who leads it? And who funds it? We will examine how conservative Christians approach not only "moral" issues like abortion but also issues like economic regulation and foreign policy. Finally, we will seek to answer the question: What is the future of the Christian Right in an increasingly diverse America?

Instructor(s): William Schultz     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RAME 35700, HIST 37719, AMER 35700, AMER 22667, HCHR 35700, HIST 27719

RLST 22812. Introduction to Hinduism. 100 Units.

What is Hinduism? Variously described as a world religion, a way of life, the basis of a national culture, and more, this course will consider how a multiplicity of traditions has become a singular "Hinduism" and, critically, what is left out. Beginning with the Vedic period in the first-millennium B.C.E and moving to our present day, we will track how complex historical interactions between Buddhists, Jains, Muslims-and eventually the British-produced the modern category of Hinduism. Students will become familiar with central religious tenets (including dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa), sectarian traditions such as Vaiṣṇavism, Śavism, and Śaktism, and religious literature ranging from epic to devotional poetry. As we will see, Hinduism is a flexible and elastic term that names a shifting religious identity and community.

Instructor(s): Sarah Pierce Taylor     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as a Gateway course for RLST majors/minors.
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 22812

RLST 23002. Technê and Technique. 100 Units.

In European thought, the relationship between technê (craft or art) and epistêmê (knowledge) has long been a fraught one. Crucially, the practical knowledge associated with skill or art in making is often subordinated to more abstract forms of knowledge production such as mathematics or philosophy itself; and in the sphere of art, poets and critics often make a distinction between 'mere' technique and higher or unmediated forms of artistic expression. In this course, we will examine philosophical and artistic assumptions and arguments about technê, technics, and technique by staging a broad conversation between poets and philosophers; and we will consider recent discussions of technê and the impact that modern scientific technology has on the nature of thinking and artistic making. Readings will be drawn from philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Heidegger, and from poetic works ranging from ancient epics to Wallace Stevens and beyond. Final projects may include critical essays, creative projects, or creative/critical works.

Instructor(s): Ryan Coyne and Srikanth Reddy     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): DVPR 43002

RLST 23104. Immanuel Kant's Critique of Practical Reason. 100 Units.

Contemporary ideas about Human Rights, the relation of moral norms and the good life, the character of human freedom, conceptions of human evil, and the very definition of morality and ethics have been decisively shaped by the work of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). This course is the examination of one of Immanuel Kant's magisterial works in moral philosophy, The Critique of Practical Reason. The course is a careful reading of Kant's text in order to grasp the argument and to assess its significance for current work in Ethics. The course ends with one of Kant's famous political essays, "On Perpetual Peace." Engaging Kant's work will enable student to engage a wide range of thinkers from the 19th to the 21st centuries who accept, modify, and reject his work. In this way, the course is crucial for further work in philosophical and religious ethics. This class will be conducted through conversation over assigned reading. Those who can read German may use those texts and bring them to class. There will be two papers for the class on topics assigned by the instructor. The papers are to be 5-7 pages in length, double spaced.

Instructor(s): William Schweiker     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Graduate students must petition to enroll.
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 23104, GRMN 23104

RLST 23150. Capitalism and Doing Good? 100 Units.

This class asks the question: is it possible to believe in capitalism (i.e., the private ownership of wealth) and do good for society? Restated, are there values that can accompany capital accumulation for positive social impact on people and the environment?

Instructor(s): Dwight Hopkins     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 23150

RLST 23200. Faith: A Conceptual History. 100 Units.

A close examination of the concept of faith in Christian theological sources and in modern European philosophy: what is faith? How does its meaning change over time? What are the major models of faith among recent and contemporary Christian theologians? To what extent is theology the "self-understanding of faith"? In this course we will ask these and other questions while reading closely thinkers including Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Bultmann, Barth, and Gutierrez, among others.

Instructor(s): Ryan Coyne     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): THEO 33200, DVPR 33200

RLST 23304. Abolitionist Theologies. 100 Units.

How might religions activate the abolitionist imagination? The contemporary abolition movement is not just about dismantling prisons or the police. It is about imagining alternatives to the conditions that make prisons and the police possible-and experimenting with new modes of living together that replace punishment with care. Many abolitionist thinkers thus see abolition as a sacred force interrupting the normalized brutalities of everyday life. This course focuses on Jewish, Christian, and Islamic theologies that interrogate incarceration, capitalism, and the settler colonial state. We will analyze the possibilities and limits of these theologies as revolutionary resources. Our readings will include a variety of genres: scriptural interpretation, spiritual autobiography, and speculative fiction. There will be no presumption of previous acquaintance with academic theology or with any of the readings or topics discussed.

Instructor(s): Olivia Bustion     Terms Offered: Autumn

RLST 23507. Power and Responsibility in the Anthropocene. 100 Units.

Humanity's immense impact on Earth's systems has led some scientists to claim that we have entered a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. Humans' influence on Earth's landscape, climate system, and biodiversity inspires many to ask, in turn, What should be done about humankind's planetary powers? Some scholars and religious leaders claim that people should take responsibility and influence Earth's systems for good ends, while others argue that we should radically scale down such power. Still others suggest that the Anthropocene requires us to entirely revise our ideas of power and responsibility and even develop new religious sensibilities. Through discussions and focused writing assignments, students in this class will explore and evaluate these and additional responses to the Anthropocene, paying specific attention to how Anthropocene ethical thought wrestles with the place of religion on a changing planet. The course culminates in an extended examination of how Anthropocene discourse conceals racial antagonisms and contemporary decolonial struggles.

Instructor(s): Colin Weaver     Terms Offered: Spring

RLST 23590. Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. 100 Units.

A close reading, in translation, of Nietzsche's famous 1886 work, Beyond Good and Evil. We will consider its major themes and arguments, paying close attention to the transition which this book marks in Nietzsche's corpus as a whole. Themes to be discussed: the doctrine of the Will to Power, the Revaluation of Values, the doctrine of the Eternal Return, the critique of religion.

Instructor(s): Ryan Coyne     Terms Offered: Winter

RLST 23599. Christian and Anti-Christian: Kierkegaard and Nietzsche on Religion and Morality. 100 Units.

This course explores two radically different assessments of religion and morality, one by the Protestant thinker Søren Kierkegaard, and the other by an arch-critic of religion and "morality," Friedrich Nietzsche. The course will focus on their assessments of religious faith and its relation to morality and the human good. We will explore Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling and also Nietzsche's works, On the Genealogy of Morals. The course moves in interlocking moments: an inquiry into Kierkegaard's and Nietzsche's account of religion and its moral outlook, and their outlooks on how best to live given their assessments of religion and morality. Additionally, the course will explore their styles of writing and the relation between style and the purpose and content of their thought. The general aim of the course, then, is to explore two seminal minds in the development of Western thought with the question in mind of their possible contribution to current religious and ethical thinking.

Instructor(s): William Schweiker     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 23599, RETH 33599, THEO 33599

RLST 23600. Evil: Myth, Symbol and Reality. 100 Units.

From the horrors of the Shoah to violence suffered by individuals, the question of the origin, meaning, and reality of evil done by humans has vexed thinkers throughout the ages. This seminar is an inquiry into the problem of evil on three registers of reflection: myth, symbol, and reality. We will be exploring important philosophical, Jewish, and Christian texts. These include Martin Buber, Good and Evil, Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Immanuel Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, Paul Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil, Edward Farley, Good and Evil, Hans Jonas, Mortality and Morality and Claudia Card, The Atrocity Paradigm. There will also be a viewing of the movie Seven (1995) directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. Accordingly, the seminar probes the reality of evil and the symbolic and mythic resources of religious traditions to articulate the meaning and origin of human evil. The question of "theodicy" is then not the primary focus given the seminar's inquiry into the fact and reality of human evil. Each student will submit a 5-7 page critical review of either Jonathan Glover's Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th Century or Susan Neiman's, Evil in Modern Thought. Each Student also will write a 15 page (double spaced;12pt font) paper on one or more of the texts read in the course with respect to her or his own research interests.

Instructor(s): William Schweiker     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS or CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RETH 33600, GRMN 33623, GRMN 23623, FNDL 23600, THEO 33600, JWSC 23600

RLST 23608. Worshipping the God that Dances: Embodied Forms of Knowledge, Self, and Divinity. 100 Units.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "I would only believe in a god that knows how to dance." This course will use Nietzsche's comment as a springboard for critical philosophical exploration of embodied theories of knowledge, reality, and the divine. Along the way, we will leverage the image of a 'dancing god' to interrogate philosophical and religious dichotomies in both Western and Eastern traditions (e.g., between sacred/profane, theory/praxis, transcendence/immanence, masculine/feminine). Some traditions have used the metaphor of dance to theorize about a god of dynamic becoming vs. a "wallflower" god of static being. Contemporary cognitive scientists, inspired by Buddhist philosophy, speculate that selfhood might resemble something like an embodied form of "dance," rather than a substantial mode of existence. How, then, can the notion of a "dancing god" challenge orthodox, atemporal, or disembodied conceptions of God, reality, and human experience? In what ways does a practical 'knowing how' differ from a purely theoretical 'knowing that'-and how does this impact the meaning and purpose of religious life? Readings will include Nietzsche, Durkheim, William James, Charles Hartshorne, Michael Polanyi, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and others; no prior experience with the philosophy of religion is required.

Instructor(s): Jesse Berger     Terms Offered: Spring

RLST 23630. Introduction to Islamic Philosophy. 100 Units.

This course offers an introduction to the terms and concepts current in Arabic philosophical writings in the classical period of Islamic thought (roughly 9th to 17th century). It begins with the movement to translate Greek texts into Arabic and the debate among Muslims about the validity of philosophy versus revelation. From a close reading of key works (in English) by important philosophers such as al-Kindī, al-Rāzī, al-Sijistānī, al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), al-Ghazzālī, Ibn Bājja, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Suhrawardī, and Mullā Ṣadrā, a series of lectures will follow the career of philosophy in the Islamic world, first as a 'foreign' science and then, later, as selectively rejected but also substantially accepted as a natural component of sophisticated discourse.

Instructor(s): Paul Walker     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30630, NEHC 20630, NEHC 30630

RLST 23816. Hope in Theological, Philosophical, and Political Perspective. 100 Units.

What is hope? What role does it play in our lives? What role can it play in our politics? Is it a virtue-theological or otherwise? When is hope problematic? What happens when people lose hope? To address questions like these, this course will consider a wide range of recent work on the topic, from authors including Gabriel Marcel, Josef Pieper, Adrienne Martin, Cheshire Calhoun, Katie Stockdale, Kelly Brown Douglas, and Michael Lamb.

Instructor(s): Kevin Hector     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): THEO 43816, KNOW 23816, DVPR 43816

RLST 23830. Simone Weil: Spirituality, Metaphysics, and Politics. 100 Units.

Simone Weil, one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, developed her thought as an extension of her spirituality and her political commitments. In this course, then, we will read her principal works together in order to see how these three themes hang together: spirituality, metaphysics, and politics.

Instructor(s): Kevin Hector     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): DVPR 43830

RLST 23880. Villains: Evil in Philosophy, Religion, and Film. 100 Units.

You don't really understand an antagonist," screenwriter John Rogers writes, "until you understand why he's a protagonist in his own version of the world." This principle holds true of movie villains, but also raises important questions about disagreement, dehumanization, and the diabolical in the real world. Are our enemies truly malicious, or just misunderstood? How does a person become a monster, and how does a person avoid it? Why are some villains so compelling, and what does this say about the good life? Do Hollywood movies enrich or distort how we imagine and respond to real-world evil? Did Thanos do anything wrong? This course combines readings from philosophical classics and religious traditions with comparative analyses of villains in films from 101 Dalmatians (1956) and Jaws (1975) to The Dark Knight (2008) and Black Panther (2018). Students will discuss antagonists' motivations, evaluate the visions of morality filmmakers are presupposing, and develop more nuanced understandings of ethics and moral psychology. No prior experience in religious studies or film criticism is required.

Instructor(s): Russell Johnson     Terms Offered: Winter

RLST 23908. Bergson and China: Buddhist and Confucian Reboots. 100 Units.

This course will explore Henri Bergson's philosophy as set forth in Time and Free Will, Matter and Memory, and Creative Evolution, and its reception in late Imperial and early Republican China (late 19th and early 20th centuries). Of special interest will be the role played by Bergsonian ideas in the Yogacara revival and the formation of New Confucianism during this period, with particular focus on figures like Zhang Taiyan, Xiong Shili and Liang Shumin. This will require us to deeply engage Bergson's idea of "duration" (durée) and its interpretation, particularly in relation to a reconsideration of the Yogacara Buddhist notion of ālaya-consciousness (storehouse consciousness) and the Confucian idea of ceaseless generation and regeneration (shengsheng bu xi) as derived from interpretive traditions centered on the Book of Changes (Yijing).

Instructor(s): Brook Ziporyn     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): All readings will be available in English. Chinese reading proficiency is recommended but not required. This course meets the HS or CS Committee distribution for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): DVPR 33908, HREL 33908

RLST 24001. Modern European Philosophy of Religion: 17th Century to the Present. 100 Units.

This course will examine the historical emergence of the philosophy of religion, in the European context, as a discrete area of inquiry. Thinkers to be considered include Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Feuerbach, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Arendt. No prerequisites.

Instructor(s): Ryan Coyne     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): THEO 34001, DVPR 34001

RLST 24002. Is Religion Bad for Women? 100 Units.

Some scholars working in the study of gender and sexuality view religion as the conservative enemy of progress, irreconcilably antagonistic to the flourishing of any non-normative gender or sexuality. At the same time, some religious practitioners view feminism as a Western or liberal invention, an imposition that attempts to manage the lives of religious subjects. Still others find feminism and religious commitment mutually reinforcing, and have developed feminist, womanist, and queer rituals and theologies. This course examines contemporary texts, ethnographies, memoirs, and films that grapple with these tensions. In so doing, the course also helps students develop familiarity with foundational categories both in religious studies and in the study of gender and sexuality. Further questions to be explored include: Does religion facilitate or oppose the flourishing of women, queers, and people of color? Is religion a guardian of tradition that resists politically progressive aims, or do religions offer resources for interrogating secular liberalism? The course primarily considers Islamic, Christian, and Jewish traditions. Prior coursework in religious studies or gender and sexuality studies is helpful but not necessary.

Instructor(s): Hannah Jones     Terms Offered: Spring

RLST 24102. Justice in an Unjust World: Theories of Justice. 100 Units.

Justice as a possibility, an ideal, and as a telos is fundamental to theological and philosophical systems of ethics. Yet, each theory was formulated within and against a deeply unjust world. Every theory of justice implies an anthropology and an ontology, and each asks the question: Why isn't life fair? How can we can we create a just society against a world that is so obviously unjust? Each theory then proposes a just solution and every theory implies a set of practices that can be interrogated. As our contemporary society becomes more sharply divided, the issues of distribution, obligation, entitlement, fair exchanges of social goods and labor, and the fair sharing of social burdens becomes more important and demanding of more inquiry. This seminar will interrogate several theories of justice, beginning in classic Hellenistic texts and moving forward to the animating theories of the classic liberal tradition: libertarianism, utilitarianism, social contract theory, and Marxism. We will then turn to other sources of justice theory such as Catholic liberation theology, capacity theory, and Jewish justice theory. We will also use our seminar to explore contemporary cases in law, medicine, science and policy that raise issues of justice and injustice. While the seminar will focus on distributive practices, we will also explore how these practices structure our systems of retributive and restorative justice.

Instructor(s): Laurie Zoloth     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as an elective course for the "Inequality, Social Problems, and Change" minor.
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 24202, PBPL 23305

RLST 24116. Buddhism and the Good Life. 100 Units.

Forbes Magazine has styled the Tibetan Buddhist monk Mingyur Rinpoche, "the happiest man alive." Like no other religion, Buddhism in the public imagination is associated with providing us with an accessible way towards leading a good and happy life. But what is the "good life" according to the Buddhist tradition, and what is "happiness" supposed to lead us towards? In this course, we will explore these questions through a close reading of Buddhist sources in translation. Through these readings the course will introduce the doctrinal and practical foundations of the Buddhist traditions and serve as a gateway to more specialized studies.

Instructor(s): Stephan Licha     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course counts as a Gateway course for RLST majors/minors.

RLST 24200. Philosophy and Literature in India. 100 Units.

Is philosophy literature? Is literature philosophy? What constitutes either of these seemingly disparate enterprises, formally and thematically, and what kinds of conjunctions can we imagine between them (philosophy in/of/as literature)? Can one translate these terms across cultures? Are they the sole prerogative of leisured elites, or can they harbor and cultivate voices of dissent? Above all, what does it mean to reflect on these categories outside the parochial context of the Western world? This course explores these questions by introducing some of the literary cultures, philosophical traditions, religious poetry, and aesthetic theories of the South Asian subcontinent. Students will encounter a variety of genres including scriptural commentary, drama and courtly poetry, and the autobiography. Readings, all in translation, will range from Sanskrit literature to Sufi romances and more.

Instructor(s): Anand Venkatkrishnan     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SIGN 26073, CMLT 24202, SALC 20903

RLST 24550. Major Trends in Islamic Mysticism. 100 Units.

An examination of Islamic mysticism, commonly known as Sufism, through secondary English literature and translations of premodern Arabic Sufi texts. The goal is to gain firsthand insight into the diverse literary expressions of Islamic spirituality in their historical context, and to understand exactly what, how, and why Sufis say what they say.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): MDVL 24550, GLST 24550, ISLM 32419, SIGN 26068

RLST 24567. Islamic Psychology. 100 Units.

An exploration of the growing body of secondary literature on Islamic psychology. Relevant premodern approaches to mental well-being, rooted in scriptural, theological, philosophical, and mystical sources will be examined alongside contemporary literature that synthesizes modern psychology with Islamic teachings. No Arabic required.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 34567

RLST 24600. Buddhist Meditation: Tradition, Transformation, Modernization. 100 Units.

From the Satipaṭṭhāna sutta of the Pāli canon to the "mindfulness" boom of recent years, Buddhism and meditation often appear inseparable. The aim of this seminar is to historicize and critically question this seemingly natural intimacy, for while it certainly cannot be denied that the various Buddhist traditions have always had on offer a plethora of techniques for mental (and physical) cultivation, it is far from clear how or even if all these could be subsumed under the in its current usage relatively recent category of "meditation". Drawing on Buddhist meditation literature from various traditions, historical periods, and literary genre, in this seminar we will take up a twofold question: First, how has the encounter with Buddhist techniques of cultivation shaped the modern understanding of "meditation", and second, up to which extend, and at what cost, has this very modern understanding conversely conditioned us to see Buddhism as a "meditative religion" par excellence?

Instructor(s): Stephan Licha     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 24600, EALC 34600, HREL 34600, HIST 34122, SALC 34600, HIST 24122, EALC 24609

RLST 24806. Creation and Human Creatures: Theological Explorations. 100 Units.

This course will explore the intersection between theological symbols (doctrines) of creation and human creatures. How are macrocosm and microcosm drawn into theological reflection and construction? How have human and other living creatures and nature served as reference points, exemplars, even counter examples for interpreting divine creation and the enhancement (or diminishment) of life? Explorations will include traditional theological themes of human creatures as the imago Dei and of nature as a mirror of God's providence and majesty, as well as philosophical and literary texts on human and animal nature, the moral sense of nature, and cultivation and devastation.

Instructor(s): Kristine Culp     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): THEO 44806, CHSS 44806

RLST 24901. Religion and Human Rights. 100 Units.

Religion played a crucial, but often overlooked, role in the development of post-World War II conceptions of human rights, providing principles and ideas that continue to influence contemporary human rights debates in the fields of law, public policy, and international relations. This no-prior-knowledge-necessary course explores the complex, sometimes fraught, relationship between religion and human rights from World War II to the present. We will begin by juxtaposing the role religious ideas played in the drafting of core post-war human rights documents (e.g. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, etc.) with the decision by drafters to omit direct references to the divine or the beliefs of specific religious communities. Using case study analysis and close reading of primary religious texts, scholarly commentary, and historical accounts, we will examine the ways in which individuals and groups from multiple religious (and non-religious) traditions both apply and push back against existing human rights norms. Throughout the course we will discuss the role religion might play in debates surrounding emerging, but still contentious, conceptions of human rights. This includes: universal healthcare, LGBTQIA+ rights, ever more complex manifestations of religious freedom, as well as whether human rights as conceived of in the mid-20th Century can be reconciled with decolonial and post-colonial perspectives.

Equivalent Course(s): DEMS 24901, GLST 24902, GNSE 24903, HMRT 24901

RLST 24920. Platonic Theologies. 100 Units.

This course will examine the platonic theologies of Simone Weil, Iris Murdoch, and Robert Adams, with an eye to answering questions such as the following: what qualifies a theology as 'platonic'? What is the role of contemplation in such theologies? How do they approach metaphysics, ethics, and politics?

Instructor(s): Kevin Hector     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): DVPR 44920, THEO 44920

RLST 25122. Modern Philosophy of Religion: A Historical Perspective. 100 Units.

The course will start by looking at the intellectual connections of several major figures in 18th and 19th century philosophy of religion. We will examine David Hume's "Essay on Miracles" and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Søren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, John Stuart Mill's "The Utility of Religion," Friedrich Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality, and selections from William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience. In the last third of the course we will examine more recent writers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Emmanuel Levinas. The goal of the course is to present and to assess different ways in which philosophers have conceived of and argued for or against religious belief. (IV)

Instructor(s): Dan Brudney     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 25122, DVPR 35122, PHIL 35122

RLST 25301. History, Religion, and Politics in Augustine's City of God. 100 Units.

Augustine's City of God is a major work of history, politics, and religion. Written after Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410, the work begins an apology (justification) of the Empire's turn to Christianity and expands to offer a sweeping and deeply theological account of human history and society in terms of earth-bound versus heaven-centered community. Augustine's citizenship and politics entails living out membership in either fellowship while commingled on earth with the other. Augustine analyzes Roman history and politics as well as the new religion first encouraged and eventually imposed in the wake of Constantine's conversion. We shall read the entire work in translation, attending to historical observations, political stances, and religious views. Augustine made arguments of his own but saved huge swaths of Varro and other otherwise lost sources to fashion his historical critique of Rome, social analysis, and many ultimately fresh views on matters like human sexuality in paradise and in heaven. The class will meet once a week. A supplementary Latin reading group will also convene once a week for close reading of important and demanding selections in the original. There will be some invited international guest speakers.

Instructor(s): Willemien Otten and Michael I. Allen     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Latin is helpful but not necessary. There will be a weekly Latin reading group for Classics and other students who want to tackle Augustine’s Latin. This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): CLCV 26421, RETH 35301, BIBL 35301, LATN 36421, HIST 22116, HCHR 35301, LATN 26421, FNDL 25304, HIST 32116, THEO 35301, CLAS 36421

RLST 25400. The Bible in U.S. Politics: The Use and Abuse of Sacred Texts in the Public. 100 Units.

People across the political spectrum continue to cite the Bible to justify their viewpoints. Black Lives Matter protestors carried signs citing scriptural support for the rights of African Americans to life and justice, while some of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th first marched around their state capitols in recreation of biblical Israel's circling of the doomed city Jericho. How can the same book serve the political ends of such ideologically distinct movements? In this course, we will explore the variety of ways in which the Bible, especially the Christian New Testament, informs contemporary political discourse. We will discuss what the Bible is and where it comes from, and how an interpreter's social location and culturally and historical-bound assumptions shape their interpretation. We will build upon this foundation by examining several contentious political issues in which the Bible is commonly invoked, including abortion, sexuality, immigration, and gun rights. We will analyze the key passages used by supporters of various policy positions to support their claims, situating these texts in their original contexts and highlighting the historical distance that problematizes their use today. Prior familiarity with biblical literature is not required.

Instructor(s): Douglas Hoffer     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 25400, AMER 25400, FNDL 25405, GNSE 25403

RLST 25510. Christianity, Nonviolence, and Realism. 100 Units.

This course investigates the connections between personal spiritual development and social engagement with justice movements. What, if any, effect does personal belief and faith have in directing political will? How does nonviolent resistance encounter the institutional realities of social advocacy? And lastly, in what ways are religious orientations challenged by globalized financial systems and power structures? The nonviolent religious philosophies of Howard Thurman and Daniel Berrigan will be contextualized within their respective Christian traditions and interreligious commitments. We will then encounter the challenge of Political Realism through the works of Reinhold Niebuhr and Samantha Power to interrogate the place of personal faith commitments within a pluralized society and the concrete realities of war, peace, and international conflict.

Instructor(s): Foster Pinkney     Terms Offered: Spring

RLST 25591. Never Forget? Memorialization and the Ethics of Memory. 100 Units.

Philosopher George Santayana famously stated that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." This widely shared sentiment presupposes an uncomplicated responsibility to remember the past. Is memory, however, an unalloyed good? Can there ever be too much memory or even harmful memory? How do we commemorate past injustices? Do we ever have an obligation to forgive and forget? In this course, we will examine different conceptions of memory offered by religious thinkers, philosophers, and historians. We will then compare theories that articulate the basis for memorial norms, duties, and responsibilities. To conclude the course, we will use the theories canvassed in the first two parts to evaluate two contemporary memory issues: the debate over "working-off-the-past" (Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung) in relation to crimes perpetrated by Nazi Germany, and the legacy of the Civil War in the United States. By the end of this course, students will be able to address a wide array of moral problems related to memory, such as whether and how we should remember the dead, past atrocities, revolutionary triumphs, and terrorist attacks. There are no prerequisites for this course.

Instructor(s): Zachary Taylor     Terms Offered: Autumn

RLST 25704. Environmental Justice in Chicago. 100 Units.

This course will examine the development of environmental justice theory and practice through social scientific and ethical literature about the subject as well as primary source accounts of environmental injustices. We will focus on environmental justice issues in Chicago including, but not limited to waste disposal, toxic air and water, the Chicago heat wave, and climate change. Particular attention will be paid to environmental racism and the often understudied role of religion in environmental justice theory and practice. Throughout the course we will explore how normative commitments are expressed in different types of literature as well as the basis for normative judgments and the types of authorities authors utilize and claim as they consider environmental justice.

Instructor(s): Sarah Fredericks     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Graduate students can enroll with permission of instructor and will have additional requirements.
Equivalent Course(s): CHST 25704, AMER 25704, HMRT 25704, ENST 25704, CRES 25704, PBPL 25704, KNOW 25704, CEGU 25704

RLST 25706. Climate Justice. 100 Units.

Climate injustice includes the disproportionate effects of climate change on people who benefit little from the activities that cause it, generally the poor, people of color, and people marginalized in other ways. Given the complex economic, physical, social, and political realities of climate change, what might climate justice entail? This course explores this complex question through an examination of classical and contemporary theories of justice; the gendered, colonial, and racial dimensions of climate change; and climate justice movements.

Instructor(s): Sarah Fredericks     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Graduates may enroll only with permission of the instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 25706, PBPL 25706, GNSE 25702, KNOW 25706, RDIN 25706, HMRT 25706, CEGU 25706, GLST 25766

RLST 26001. Religion and Visual Culture in the Late Antique Mediterranean. 100 Units.

In this seminar, we examine sacred sites and artifacts of early Christians and their neighbors in the regions around the Mediterranean from the third century to about 750 CE. Case studies will illustrate the wealth of religious art and architecture associated with different religions that existed side by side-Christianity, Judaism, polytheism, and emerging Islam. This course has five main objectives: (1) to examine how the designs of religious spaces, buildings, and objects respond to specific spiritual or ritualistic needs; (2) to gain familiarity with typical features characterizing the arts of each religion or sect; (3) to identify elements of a common visual language that result from shared traditions or artistic cross-pollination; (4) to examine different ways in which material artifacts were employed as means of ideological propaganda; and (5) to study art and architecture as evidence of doctrinal competition and conflict. While this course foregrounds the study of material culture, written sources (in translation) complement the analysis of the visual evidence.

Instructor(s): Karin Krause     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HCHR 36001, RLVC 36001

RLST 26006. Embodiment and the Senses. 100 Units.

This course approaches bodies as points of insight into governance, the varied experiences of being governed, and efforts to evade and reconfigure institutional expressions of authority. First, we will examine bodies as targets of governance, objects to be reformed, regulated, contained, disciplined, educated, incarcerated, treated, trained, and "cared" for. Next, we will consider how bodies accrue power as sites of resistance, refusal, and critique. Certain bodies in certain places elicit discomfort, unsettling familiar divisions such as of private and public space, of developed and backward, of religious and secular, of reason and madness, of citizenship and (often racialized) non-citizenship. Finally, we will ask how bodies and sensory practices figure in ethical projects of crafting exemplary kinds of subjectivity or collectivity. In this way, the course will introduce students to anthropological approaches to embodiment as well as related questions of bio-politics, gender and race, political subjectivity, care and self-making, post/colonialism, sensory politics and the aesthetic. Along the way, students will gain a new appreciation of the political potency of bodies and bodily practices near and far-from Lenin's preserved body to Trump's "small" hands, reproductive labor to sex work, dirty protest to women's marches, indigenous eco-rituals to queer intimacies.

Instructor(s): Mareike Winchell
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 20006, GNSE 24006

RLST 26501. Renaissance Demonology. 100 Units.

In this course we analyze the complex concept of demonology according to early modern European culture from a theological, historical, philosophical, and literary point of view. The term 'demon' in the Renaissance encompasses a vast variety of meanings. Demons are hybrids. They are both the Christian devils, but also synonyms for classical deities, and Neo-platonic spiritual beings. As far as Christian theology is concerned, we read selections from Augustine's and Thomas Aquinas's treatises, some complex exorcisms written in Italy, and a recent translation of the infamous "Malleus maleficarum," the most important treatise on witch-hunt. We pay close attention to the historical evolution of the so-called witch-craze in Europe through a selection of the best secondary literature on this subject, with special emphasis on Michel de Certeau's "The Possession at Loudun." We also study how major Italian and Spanish women mystics, such as Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi and Teresa of Avila, approach the issue of demonic temptation and possession. As far as Renaissance Neoplatonic philosophy is concerned, we read selections from Marsilio Ficino's "Platonic Theology" and Girolamo Cardano's mesmerizing autobiography. We also investigate the connection between demonology and melancholy through a close reading of the initial section of Robert Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy" and Cervantes's short story "The Glass Graduate" ("El licenciado Vidriera").

Instructor(s): A. Maggi
Note(s): Course taught in English. Course not offered in 24-25.
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 27602, ITAL 26500, HIST 22110, GNSE 26504

RLST 26635. Liberatory Violence. 100 Units.

From 18th century slave rebellions in the Americas to 20th and 21st century anticolonial revolutions, oppressed peoples' struggles for liberation have often incorporated violent tactics, even against non-combatants. This course examines anticolonial violence in light of the work of the Martiniquan revolutionary Frantz Fanon and some of his interlocutors. We study specific freedom movements: Nat Turner's slave rebellion, the Haitian and Algerian revolutions against French colonialism, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers' mobilization against white supremacy and police violence, and the ongoing Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid. Throughout, we will pay attention to how revolutionaries evaluated the place of violence in their own movements, including religious criteria for justifiable and unjustifiable use of force.

Instructor(s): Alireza Doostdar     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Graduate student enrollment by permission only. Please send one or two paragraphs explaining your interest and prior preparation.
Note(s): This course meets the SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): AASR 46635

RLST 26660. Global Studies and Religion. 100 Units.

Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity have all flourished in the contexts of neoliberal capitalism, mass migration, and online communities. While many predicted that globalization would bring a wave of secularization, it has actually given rise to a global revival of religious life and religious institutions. This undergraduate seminar seeks to understand this phenomenon through a series of case studies of globalized religions in China, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Italy, and the US. These case studies will highlight historical through-lines from colonization to globalization, ethnographic data of religious motivations and belonging, and social scientific theory of diaspora and nationalism. This course is tailored for Global Studies and Religious Studies majors or double majors, but all undergraduates are welcome.

Instructor(s): Andrew Kunze     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 26660

RLST 26674. The Global Black Panther Party. 100 Units.

In America, the Black Panther Party and its leaders, like Fred Hampton in Chicago, are famous for their revolutionary fight against white supremacy and their violent suppression by US government forces. But what does a Global Studies approach teach us about the Black Panthers? This seminar explores how the Black Panther Party's worldwide networks impacted global understandings of politics, race, and religion. Our readings examine a series of comparative case studies, including the Dalit Panther Party in India, the Mizrahi Black Panther Party in Israel, and the Polynesian Panthers in New Zealand. We analyze primary sources, such as the various Panther Parties' publications, their mainstream press coverage, and their pop cultural representations, like Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther graphic novel and the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In this course, students learn the global Black Panther Parties' roles in reshaping worldwide conceptions of race, caste, and religion through their encounters with the Nation of Islam, Hindu Nationalism, Zionism, and Indigenous rights. No prior knowledge or coursework is required.

Instructor(s): Andrew Kunze     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 26674, ANTH 20537, RDIN 26674

RLST 26676. Law and Culture in Rabbinic Literature. 100 Units.

An introduction to the legal genres of classical rabbinic Judaism by applying the standard tools of source-, form-, redaction-, and literary criticism. Having established a working vocabulary, a map of the sources, and some facility with the tools, we will proceed to complicate the boundaries between law and aggadah (non-legal tradition) in its various forms (aphorism, parable, narrative cycle, case-law, ethical instruction, and more.) Having appreciated how law and aggadah interact in rabbinic literature to produce meaning, we will work on contextualizing their dialectic in light of multiple branches of a specific theory of meaning, culture, with a special focus on interpretive/symbolic anthropology.

Instructor(s): James Adam Redfield     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLVC 39400, JWSC 29300, HIJD 39300

RLST 26702. Arabic into Hebrew: Translation and Cultural Change during the Middle Ages. 100 Units.

TBD

Instructor(s): James T. Robinson     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS or CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HREL 36702, ISLM 36702, HIJD 36702

RLST 27005. The Spirit of Reality TV in East Asia. 100 Units.

Over the last several decades, reality television has become a central ingredient in media diets all across the world. One can practically trace a line from early hits like Survivor and Big Brother, which were quickly formatted for global circulation, to the recent viral success of Squid Game, a fictionalized account of a death-game tournament that spawned its own reality show. Why do audiences everywhere find reality TV so entertaining? What moral lessons do viewers take away from these shows? And what might scholars learn by taking this popular aesthetic form, in all its cultural variation, seriously? This course brings together media studies, aesthetic criticism, area studies, and the sociology of religion to try to answer some of these questions. The course will help students to think about the moral and spiritual beliefs embedded in popular cultural forms, but also to understand how these forms are now circulated and consumed in our contemporary media environment and what they tell us about late-stage global capitalism. Course readings will introduce students to scholarship in television studies, aesthetic criticism, religious studies, and cultural studies, providing them with the necessary foundations to analyze reality TV from multiple disciplinary perspectives. We will also screen examples of reality TV and its offshoots, with a specific focus on East Asian shows and the competition or elimination format.

Instructor(s): H. Long     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Students will develop skills in visual analysis, interpretation of secular religion and belief structures, social theory, and basic research and writing methods.
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 33005, AASR 33005, EALC 23005

RLST 27107. Frankenstein: Making Monsters in Science and Religion. 100 Units.

And now, once again, I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper," writes Mary Shelley of Frankenstein. In framing her 1818 novel as itself a monster with agency, she raises questions about why and how we continue to create and regard our creations as monstrous. Why has the creation of artificial life fascinated us from ancient times to modern A.I.? How do we recognize and identify monsters, and what role do we have in their creation? Are creators responsible for their creations, or alienated from them? This class combines close reading of Frankenstein with religious and scientific texts on monsters, the creation of artificial life, and our moral responsibilities to our creations. We will discuss what narratives about the monstrous tell us about our values, how the "human" is contrasted with its opposites, and why the story of Frankenstein-as well as its predecessors and imitators-remains so hauntingly compelling.

Instructor(s): Alex Matthews     Terms Offered: Spring

RLST 27140. Truth, Half-Truth, and Post-Truth. 100 Units.

This course examines the philosophical and ethical issues surrounding lying, truth-telling, and everything in between. Students will put classics of the Indian and Western philosophical traditions into conversation with contemporary analyses of "alternative facts" and postmodern criticisms of absolute truth. Questions to be considered include: Are half-truths just another kind of lie, or stepping-stones to a more complex understanding? Is it even possible to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"? Is it morally permissible to mislead someone for their own good, or for a leader to deceive their citizens? How can we act responsibly when there are two sides to every story?

Instructor(s): Russell Johnson     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 27140

RLST 27555. Staging Islam: Traps and Trappings of Representation. 100 Units.

From terrorists to "good Muslims," standards in the racial, cultural, and religious representations surrounding Islam have fluctuated across U.S. media. How do we conceptualize the nature of visual perception and reception? The history of colonialism, secular modernity, gender, patriarchy, and the blurred distinctions between religion and racialization have all contributed to a milieu of visual cultures that stage visions of and arguments about Islam. Hostility towards Muslims has not abated as we venture well into the 21st century, and many remain quick to blame an amorphous media for fomenting animosity towards the "real" Islam. We take these essentialist terms of engagement as the start of our inquiry: what is the promise of a meaningful image? What processes of secular translation are at work in its creation and consumption? Is there room for resistance, legibility, and representation in U.S. popular culture, and what does representation buy you in this age? We will pair theoretical methods for thinking about imagery, optics, perception, and perspective alongside case studies from film, stage, comedy, streaming content, and television shows, among others. Students will critically engage and analyze these theories in the contexts from which these works emerge and meld into a mobile and diasporic U.S.context. Together, we will reflect on the moral, political, and categorical commitments vested in different forms of media against historical trends of the 20th & 21st century.

Instructor(s): Samah Choudhury     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 32500, CRES 22500, ENGL 32505, RDIN 22500, ENGL 22505

RLST 27601. Women and Islam. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to the field of women, gender and Islam. We will examine the literature on Islamic legal, historical, Quranic and sacred textual constructs of women as well as critically explore the lived realities and experiences of Muslim women living in Muslim-majority societies and in the west. In centering the work of Muslim feminist scholars, students will gain an understanding of the contemporary debates around women's rights, sexuality, roles, responsibilities and gender relations in the context of Islamic law and the hadith literature. The discursive constructions and social realities of Muslim women are critically examined through historic and literary representations, ethnographic accounts, human rights discourses, sexual politics and secular and Islamic feminism(s). Moreover, this course situates Muslim women as complex, multidimensional actors engaged in knowledge production and political and feminist struggles, as opposed to the oppressed, victim-centered images that have regained currency in the representation of Muslim women in the post 9/11 era.

Instructor(s): Maliha Chishti     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the LMCS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 37601, GNSE 27608, GLST 27601, HMRT 27601, GNSE 37608

RLST 27616. Religion and Politics in America. 100 Units.

Whether it's white Christian nationalism, prayer in schools, debates over gay marriage, the Movement for Black Lives, Evangelical support for Donald Trump, activism by the Religious Left, or the role of Islam in post-9/11 America, the intersection between religion and politics in the United States is complex, puzzling, and important. What is the relationship between religion and politics and what should the relationship between them be? How does religion help us make sense of politics? How does politics help us make sense of religion? In this course, we will draw on history, social science, philosophy, theology, and ethics in order to explore these questions. First, we'll consider the history of religion and politics in the United States, with readings including Locke and Jefferson on the separation of church and state, Danielle Allen and Tracy Smith on the Declaration of Independence, and Robert Bellah and Frederick Douglass on American civil religion. Then, we'll consider the ways Americans use religious ideas to inform their politics, from Jerry Falwell's arguments about the Moral Majority to Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin, and Robert P. Jones on religion and race. Finally, we'll examine how politics shapes Americans' religious identities, from the Civil War as a theological crisis to current debates around political Islam in the United States.

Instructor(s): Derek Buyan     Terms Offered: Spring

RLST 27657. Rethinking Pilgrimage: Pop-culture Tourism and Religious Travel. 100 Units.

The term pilgrimage is usually associated with journeys to ancient religious sites such as the Vatican or Mecca. But why do superfans who travel to Disney World often describe this in terms of a pilgrimage? Why is it that when anime fans visit real-life sites from their favorite shows, this is frequently called a "journey to sacred sites" (seiichi junrei)? In this course we will discuss these and other questions about pilgrimage in its religious and secular forms. We will consider examples such as the Islamic Hajj, the Crusades, and a 750-mile Buddhist pilgrimage in Japan, alongside journeys to Platform 9¾ at King's Cross, Elvis's Graceland, and the sets of Hobbiton. After first exploring theories of travel, tourism, and pilgrimage through a global array of examples, the second half of the course consists of a deep dive into connections between anime tourism, religious travel in Japan, and the worldwide boom of Japanese pop culture. At the end of the course students will present a small research project on a pilgrimage/tourist destination of their own choosing. No prior coursework on religion required.

Instructor(s): Bruce Winkelman     Terms Offered: Winter

RLST 27702. Music and Love in South Asia. 100 Units.

This course explores the relationship between the musical arts and forms of love in South Asian history. We will trace the complex and ambivalent contours of love in several genres including premodern poetry, stage performance, and Bollywood movies. We will examine issues such as poetics and theology, opposition to orthodox social conventions, the intensity of emotion expressed through multiple senses, the social sites of forbidden love, women and gender as poets and performers, and the intersection of sexuality and spirituality.

Instructor(s): Anand Venkatkrishnan; Anna Schultz     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HREL 37702, RLVC 37702

RLST 27719. Jewish Thought in the Postcolonial World. 100 Units.

Jewish thought has often been a powerful source for critiquing the Christian West and the exclusionary paradigms of nation, citizen, religion, race, and belonging. Yet how have Jewish thinkers-and thinking about Jews-intersected with other minority and racialized communities? And how have these discourses evolved in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the rise of Zionism and the State of Israel? Together we will examine central categories of Jewish thought and history such as exile, diaspora, race, nation, and alterity and place them in conversation with similar reflections emerging out of the histories of colonialism and postcolonialism. We will also explore the contemporary politics of Jewish thought, anti-Semitism, and anti-Zionism and the ways that perception of "the Jew" has changed in the postwar period from being a figure of difference to included within a purported "Judeo-Christian civilization." Finally, we will explore the emerging links between Postcolonial and Jewish Studies and the possibilities enabled by thinking about these discourses in relation to one another. No prior knowledge is required, and this course will serve as an excellent introduction to a variety of sources in Jewish and Postcolonial Studies.

Terms Offered: not offered 23-24

RLST 27724. Diasporism in Modern Judaism. 100 Units.

This course will consider the fate of arguments for Diasporic Jewish Identity and thought in the 20th and 21st centuries in philosophical and literary sources and will consider the relationship between debates within Jewish thought and correlates in Black Studies and Post-colonial Studies. Thinkers to be read include Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Emmanuel Levinas, Jacob Gordon, Jacques Derrida, Sarah Kofman, Susan Taubes, Philip Roth, Fred Moten, Christina Sharpe and others.

Instructor(s): Sarah Hammerschlag     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the CS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): DVPR 47724, RLVC 47724, HIJD 47724

RLST 28025. Religion and politics in a post-secular age. 100 Units.

The confluence and discord between religious freedom, religious institutions, and the state drives many contemporary human rights challenges. This course examines the impact of religion and secularism on global topics from constitutionalism to nationalism to development. It will also consider the impact of religion and religiosity on multiple policy domains, including social issues, the welfare state, and foreign policy. Course discussions will include multiple traditions, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and atheism. Our overall goal is to improve students' ability to recognize the historic and cultural contexts at work in debates about religion, secularism, and political issues. Students will analyze and discuss academic work studying the impact of religious belief on policy preferences and of state policies on religious behavior. They will also apply the course material to contemporary issues in (religious and secularism) politics.

Instructor(s): Hannah Ridge, Pozen Center for Human Rights Social Science Teaching Fellow     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 24325, HMRT 34325, MAPH 34325

RLST 28101. Iblis: Muslim Perspectives on the Devil. 100 Units.

This course examines a range of Muslim perspectives on the Devil. Is Iblis a personification of evil, an archetype of arrogant rebellion against divine command, a perfect monotheist and tragic lover of God, or an ally of humankind and teacher of freedom and creativity? Our readings will include selections from the Qur'an and hadith, Sufi poetry, modern political and theological writing, and others.

Instructor(s): Alireza Doostdar     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 38101, AASR 38101

RLST 28132. Science/Fiction/Theory. 100 Units.

Science fiction has enjoyed an extraordinary and still growing resurgence in popularity over the last two decades - through literature, film, video games, and even universities, where it is the subject of ever more courses being taught. Why has science fiction become so popular? Does it express the anxieties of a way of life that can't be sustained, is in decline, and might soon end, in the face of intractable war, lurching financial crises, recurrent pandemics and unchecked climate change? Does it speak to the senses of radical hope and irreparable despair about the future that seem to characterize our time? If so, then science fiction today is grappling with traditionally theological themes: fate and finitude, immortality and the nature of divinity, the place of the human within a cosmic scale, and the possibilities for redemption and messianic rupture. This course will explore these themes by pairing sci-fi literature and film with readings in philosophy and social theory. Throughout, we will ask how science fiction's propensity toward the theological allows it to grapple with the unique forms of hope and despair in our time, and in times past.

Instructor(s): Alireza Doostdar and Hussein Ali Agrama
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 22132

RLST 28222. Talking All That Jazz. 100 Units.

This course explores the various roles jazz music has been assigned in the construction, maintenance, and representation of American and African American religion. We will read and listen to musicians' religious manifestos and seek to locate them within the broader context of the history of religions in the Americas. At the same time, we will also consider the ways "jazz" has been figured as a threat to religious integrity, the quintessential sound of people's spiritual struggle, and the promise of America as a nation, among other themes. Listening to good music will be required.

Instructor(s): Matt Harris     Terms Offered: Winter

RLST 28280. The Good Place and the Bad Place: Judgement, Punishment, and Living a Good Life. 100 Units.

Do you believe that you are a good person and, if so, why are you good? This course will investigate the connections between personal intentions to be a "good person" and the fear of punishment. What do we owe each other as ethical actors? Do the intentions of our actions matter or only the results of our actions? How can one be good in an increasingly complicated web of intersecting needs, social developments, and understandings of morality? This course will examine conceptions of hell, eternal punishment, and justice in a variety of religious traditions. In addition to reading authors such as Dante and John Milton, students will critically engage The Good Place, a sitcom which tackles deep questions of faith, morality, and the complexity of the human person. We will think through competing understandings of justice (retributive, distributive, and restorative) alongside our individual beliefs surrounding fairness and deservingness. No prior knowledge of religious studies or ethics is expected.

Instructor(s): Foster Pinkney     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 28280, FNDL 28280

RLST 28311. Image, Iconoclasm, Animation. 100 Units.

This course will explore the fantasies of the animation of images both ancient and early Christian, both secular and sacred, as the backdrop to examining the phenomenon of iconoclasm as an assault on the image from pre-Christian antiquity via Byzantium to the Protestant Reformation. It will tackle both texts and images, the archaeological context of image-assault and the conceptual (indeed theological) contexts within which such assault was both justified and condemned. These historical issues cannot be separated, in our scholarly approaches and responses, from a vibrant contemporary culture around question of virtuality, animation, image-worship and image-destruction in the current world. The course will provide space to reflect on the problems raised by this. The course will be taught over the first four and a half weeks in the Spring Quarter on an intensive schedule. It will be examined on the basis of a paper, due on a subject to be agreed and on a date to be agreed at the end of the Spring quarter.

Instructor(s): Jaś Elsner     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): The course will be taught over the first 4 and a half weeks in the Spring Quarter on an intensive schedule.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLVC 38311, KNOW 38311, ARTH 38311, ARTH 28311, CLAS 35923, CLCV 25923, MDVL 28311

RLST 28325. Art and Description in Antiquity and Byzantium. 100 Units.

This course explores the rich tradition of ekphrasis in Greco-Roman antiquity and Byzantium - as it ranges from vivid description in general to a specific engagement with works of art. While the prime focus will remain on texts from Greece, Rome and Byzantium - in order to establish what might be called the ancestry of a genre in the European tradition and especially its fascinating place between pagan polytheistic and Christian writing -- there will be opportunity in the final paper to range beyond this into questions of comparative literature, art (history) writing and ekphrasis in other periods or contexts, depending on students' interests and needs. A reading knowledge of Greek in particular could not be described as a disadvantage, but the course can be taken without knowing the ancient languages. The course will be taught over the first 4 and a half weeks in the Spring Quarter on an intensive schedule. It will be examined on the basis of a paper, due on a subject to be agreed and on a date to be agreed at the end of the Spring quarter.

Instructor(s): Jaś Elsner and Karin Krause     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): The course will be taught over the first 4 and a half weeks in the Spring Quarter on an intensive schedule.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): MDVL 28325, KNOW 38325, ARTH 38325, RLVC 38325, CLAS 38323, ARTH 28325, CLCV 28323

RLST 28402. Race and Religion in the U.S. 100 Units.

This course examines how religion has been shaped, constructed, and formed in response to and in the context of changing racial realities in America in the 20th century. The structure of the course is designed to approach and understand the intersection and melding of race and religion through literary, social scientific, historical and biographical angles. It is hoped that such variant approaches will deepen our understanding of a complex and changing reality, keeping in mind that "race" as a category and political and social reality has experienced profoundly different meanings in the course of the 20th century. Most of our emphasis will be attuned to the central black/white divide and Christian communities, though you are encouraged to write your final paper on a topic of your choosing that does not fit into any of these categories.

Instructor(s): Curtis Evans     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 37116, HCHR 39402, RAME 39402, AMER 39402

RLST 28405. Religion in Anime and Japanese Pop Culture. 100 Units.

How does Spirited Away reflect teachings of Japanese Buddhism and Shinto? Or what about Neon Genesis Evangelion? What can pop culture tell us about religion? In this course, we will consider what Japanese religions are (and are not) by looking at their representations in popular cultural forms of past and present. Sources are drawn from a range of popular cultural forms including anime and manga, but also literature, artistic performances, visual arts, and live-action movies. The course covers foundational aspects of Japanese religious life through non-traditional sources like Bleach, The Tale of Genji, and Your Name. At the end of the course, students will be able to speak to the great diversity of religious practices and viewpoints in Japan, not only its centers but also its peripheries and minorities. Meanwhile, we will consider broader questions about the complex connections between religion and popular culture. No prior knowledge of Buddhism, Shinto, or Japanese history is expected.

Instructor(s): Bruce Winkelman     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 28405, CMLT 28405, MAAD 14805

RLST 28498. Myth and Its Critics. 100 Units.

Myth is essential to how humans make sense of the world: our foundational stories explain the nature of the world; they justify and explore social and sexual difference; they teach and test the limits of human agency. The course will survey contexts and uses of myth-making in the ancient Mediterranean world. We will also explore the many traditions of critique and anxiety about myth-making, among philosophers, literary critics and religious authorities.

Instructor(s): Carolina López-Ruiz     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SIGN 26037, CLCV 15000, HIST 17000

RLST 28511. Star Wars and Religion. 100 Units.

This course puts religious texts in conversation with George Lucas's popular Star Wars film franchise with an eye toward understanding the power of myth in human life. In interviews, Lucas confessed he took bits and pieces from a variety of religious traditions to create the mythology of Star Wars. Through close readings of the films and primary texts from different religions, students will analyze these influences and evaluate how well the films hold these religious elements together. This course is not an in-depth study of any one religious tradition, but draws elements from different traditions to shed light on the portrayal of religion within Star Wars (i.e., the Force) and the metaphysical and moral themes found in the Star Wars films. [This course features additional Monday discussion sections, scheduled in accordance with students' availability.]

Instructor(s): Russell Johnson     Terms Offered: Spring

RLST 28590. Sandworms, Spice, and Spirituality: Religion in Frank Herbert's Dune. 100 Units.

Dune is widely considered a masterpiece of science fiction, and the success of its recent film adaptation attests to its continuing appeal. Yet in addition to its characters and worldbuilding, Dune also offers insightful portrayals of religion and explores religion's roles in society and culture. How do a community's ecological, economic, and political contexts shape their religious beliefs? In what ways do beliefs change or develop over time? Why are rituals such important parts of religious systems? How do stories about "salvation" and the "end times" shape communal identity, purpose, and behavior? In this course, we will ponder these and other questions by placing Dune in conversation with the Qur'an, the Bible, and other religious texts to see how the same dynamics are at play. No prior reading or knowledge of the novel required.

Instructor(s): Doug Hoffer     Terms Offered: Winter

RLST 28717. The Veil and the Vision: Image and Cover in the Western Artistic Tradition. 100 Units.

This course will explore the fascinating culture of covering and veiling sacred icons, portraits and images that were thought to cause trauma or outrage in the European tradition. It will begin in the ancient world and explore mediaeval, Renaissance and modern art - both paintings and sculptures, as well as images that represent the covering of images… It will attempt to restore the sensual, the tactile and the performative to the experience of viewing art and engaging with its powers, by contrast to the prevailing regime of disinterested contemplation encouraged by the modernist art gallery. The course will be taught with much encouragement to students to experiment and think against the grain.

Instructor(s): Jaś Elsner     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): The course will be taught over 4.5 weeks in the Spring Quarter on an intensive schedule. This course meets the LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLVC 38717

RLST 28802. Art and Pilgrimage from Antiquity to Christianity. 100 Units.

This course will present an interdisciplinary interrogation into the nature of pilgrimage in pre-Christian antiquity and the rise of Christian pilgrimage in the years after Constantine. It will simultaneously be a reflection on the disciplinary problems of examining the phenomena of pilgrimage from various standpoints including art history, archaeology, anthropology, the history of religions, the literary study of travel writing, as well as on the difficulties of reading broad and general theories against the bitty minutiae of ancient evidence and source material. The core material, beyond the theoretical overview, will be largely limited to antiquity and early Christianity; but if students wish to write their papers on areas beyond this relatively narrow remit (in other religions, in the middle ages, modern or early modern periods), this will be positively encouraged! The course will be examined by a paper due at the end of the quarter.

Instructor(s): Jaś Elsner     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): The course will be taught over 4.5 weeks in the Spring Quarter on an intensive schedule. This course meets the LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 35300, MDVL 25300, RLVC 38802, ARTH 25300

RLST 28901. Religion, Science, Naturalism: Is There a Problem? 100 Units.

The idea that "religion" and "science" are basically at odds with one another - that they involve, indeed, essentially different kinds of rationality - is surely foremost among the ideas that arguably distinguish modernity. This class will consider some of the various ways in which that conclusion has been resisted by some twentieth- and twenty-first-century thinkers, drawing on a range of philosophical and religious perspectives - those, for example, of the Anglo-Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (who would complicate our understanding of what it means to "believe" anything); the German theologian Rudolf Bultmann (whose method precisely distinguished existential questions from scientific ones); and the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet (who thinks it imperative that the limits of scientific understanding be acknowledged in light of a Buddhist critique). Particular attention will be given to early writings from American pragmatist philosopher-scientists (William James, C. S. Peirce, and John Dewey), who argued that it is a mistake in the first place to think religion necessarily concerns anything "supernatural"; religion, for these thinkers, can therefore be understood as wholly consistent with naturalism.

Instructor(s): Daniel A. Arnold     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 28901, HIPS 27901, SIGN 26072

RLST 28904. Sacred Sites and Objects in Chicago. 100 Units.

This course will combine classroom sessions, collaborative projects, and field trips to examine select sacred sites and objects associated with various religious communities in the Chicagoland area. In several introductory sessions, we will familiarize ourselves with theoretical concepts around sacred sites and objects both in general terms and with regard to examples in our city. When and how did these sites and artifacts come into being? Why do they matter? How are they being used? In what ways do the designs of religious spaces, buildings, and mobile artifacts respond to a community's specific spiritual needs or rituals? In terms of sacrality and ritualistic use, do architectural landmarks differ from less prominent sites? What measures are being taken to preserve and protect sacred sites and objects? What happens when a community becomes alienated from them, when they are destroyed or appropriated by others? - Students will then organize themselves into small teams that each examine the sacred space(s) and/or objects of a specific religious community in Chicago or its suburbs. These teams will explore the history, physical aspects, and use of the sites and objects. In consultation with the instructor, each group will collect relevant information to prepare a guided field trip for the entire class. - The course will end with a half-day conference, in which each student will present for discussion a short talk on a theme or a problem that has emerged.

Instructor(s): Karin Krause     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Students should be open to uncommon approaches to learning, including experiential ones. The class will be meeting on a partly flexible schedule involving several field trips (4-5). Students must be willing to communicate respectfully with practitioners of different faiths whose convictions and values they may or may not share. As observers, students will engage with the religious rituals of others, and they are expected to do so in a considerate manner.

RLST 28929. Cabal, Cult, and Crisis: Religion and Contemporary Conspiracy Theory. 100 Units.

We live in an age of crisis for liberal democracy, and conspiracy theories are often said to be at the heart of this crisis. While Alex Jones, Infowars, and QAnon have become household names, there is still no consensus on what makes a "conspiracy theory" or how scholars should approach these topics. Are "New World Order"-style conspiracy beliefs irrational or false on their face? Can liberal-democratic regimes which pride themselves on their ability to accommodate diverse religious viewpoints successfully integrate conspiracy believers? In this course, we will approach the subject of conspiracy theory by engaging with theorists in their own words, videos, and images, while sampling a range of academic and public-facing literature on new religious movements, religion and politics-related issues, and epistemology. In so doing, we will apply critical lenses of diverse sorts to mixed media, as we collectively develop methodologies for carrying out original research on "low-status" subjects using un-curated archives. No prior acquaintance with conspiracy-oriented materials required.

Instructor(s): Justin Smolin     Terms Offered: Spring

RLST 29000. The American Culture Wars. 100 Units.

Should we tear down statues of Confederate soldiers? Should religious institutions be exempt from public health regulations? How (if at all) should we regulate abortion? These questions are only the latest battlefields in the "culture wars," the long-running conversation-or, more often, shouting match-about how Americans ought to live. This seminar will explore how Americans have wrestled with questions of morality and national identity since the country's founding. Two questions will drive our discussion. First, why do certain issues become the subject of fierce cultural conflict? Second, do these conflicts enrich or undermine American democracy?

Instructor(s): William Schultz     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 27715, GNSE 29000, CRES 27000, DEMS 29000, AMER 29000

RLST 29024. The Election Race of 2024: Ethics, Religion, and the American Polity. 100 Units.

This course will follow the ongoing Presidential election of 2024 as it unfolds in real time during this quarter. We will read, as primary texts, newspapers from across the political spectrum and consider the claims therein. In parallel, we will explore theoretical and historical writing about democracy and its challenges. We will consider how religion and culture affect the American political process and critically examine social the competing truth claims and values that structure these processes.

Instructor(s): Laurie Zoloth     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Graduates can petition to enroll.

RLST 29030. Islam, Race and Decoloniality. 100 Units.

This course explores western perspectives, attitudes and representations of Muslims and Islam from medieval European thought, through liberal colonial encounters to contemporary media and political discourses. Students will examine the intersection of race and religion as it applies to the construction of Muslim identity and alterity in the Western imagination. We will explore the remarkable consistency across centuries of the threatening, menacing, barbaric and uncivilized Muslim "Other". The course centers around these Orientalist constructions and will explore the power structures, colonial modalities, epistemological frameworks, and ideological assumptions that perpetuate the racialization of Islam and Muslims within the United States and abroad. This course ultimately aims to uncover potentials for resistance, recovery and renewal through the politics and praxis of decoloniality. Students will gain familiarity with decolonial theory and practices, as well as the important project of 'epistemic delinking' as it is framed by contemporary scholars intent on challenging, possibly undoing and remapping the Muslim experience within global liberal political modernity.

Instructor(s): Maliha Chishti     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 39030, NEHC 39030, NEHC 29030, KNOW 39030

RLST 29031. Sufism and Coloniality. 100 Units.

A close reading of 19th-20th century Sufi figures who engaged in peaceful and armed resistance against British and French colonial powers in North and West Africa. This course centers Sufi figures often overlooked in decolonial and anti-colonial literature, such as Amadou Bamba, Haj Umar Tal, Usman Dan Fodio, Emir Abdelkader al-Jaza'iri, Abdul Karim al-Khattabi, and Ahmad al-'Alawi. The mystical teachings and political activities of these leading figures will be examined within the broader context of decolonial theory and anti-colonial resistance. No Arabic required.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit; Maliha Chishti     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): None, but a general knowledge of Islam is preferred.
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 39031

RLST 29068. Christianity and Consumer Culture in the United States. 100 Units.

In the United States, everything is for sale-including religion. Religious books, objects, and films are produced and marketed to recruit converts and to entertain and edify adherents. Churches can be seen as commodities as people "shop" for a new congregation or sect. Some scholars have suggested that consumption itself has become a religious act, with its own rites, rituals, and promises of salvation. In this course we will explore the intersecting histories of Christianity and consumer culture in the US from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Reading classic texts in history and sociology, as well as more contemporary scholarship on American consumer culture, we will attend to the questions that consumer culture poses for American Christians and for scholars of religion. Has consumer culture contributed to the secularization of American society? Has Christianity been corrupted by consumer culture? Can Christians redeem the marketplace? How can the study of religion help us understand our culture of consumption, and how can consumerism help us understand religion?

Instructor(s): Hannah Ozmun     Terms Offered: Autumn

RLST 29300. Asceticism: Forming the Self. 100 Units.

In recent decades scholars of the pre-modern period have turned to the body as a site of renewed historical inquiry. Within the study of religion, this shift has reanimated discussions around asceticism as a particularly potent technē for self-fashioning. Nevertheless, scholars have struggled to theorize asceticism across religious traditions. This signature course, taught by two scholars working in disparate historical periods and religious traditions (early Christianity and medieval Indian religious literature), explores how gender theory has engaged ascetic practices for understanding the body and human potential. Students will engage asceticism as a series of techniques or forms of life that envision the sexed and gendered human body as the horizon of corporeal expression and personal imagination. Asceticism serves as a neat conceptual device, allowing us to toggle between the mind and body while tackling questions that fall within the liminal space between them, including debates around gender, sexuality, sovereignty, and biopower. Students along with the instructors will contend with the challenges and opportunities of transnational and transhistorical feminist and queer inquiry as we traverse across the boundaries of tradition, language, and culture. While drawing on rich historical and religious archives, we will anchor our discussions around the interplay of two principal authors: Giorgio Agamben and Michel Foucault.

Instructor(s): Erin Walsh; Sarah Pierce Taylor     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): No prior knowledge of the religious traditions or critical theory discussed is expected.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): SIGN 26074, RLVC 39300, GNSE 29303, HCHR 39300, GNSE 39303, BIBL 39300, HREL 39300

RLST 29700. Reading and Research Course. 100 Units.

This is the Reading and Research independent study that RLST majors/minors can petition to take, in conjunction with a faculty supervisor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Divinity School.

Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of faculty supervisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

RLST 29800. BA Research Seminar I. 100 Units.

This class meets weekly to provide guidance for planning, researching, and writing the BA research paper. The two-quarter senior sequence will assist students in the Research Track with the preparation of the required BA paper. During May of their third year, students will work with the preceptor to choose a faculty adviser and a topic for research, and to plan a course of study for the following year. These must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students will take part in the BA Research Seminar convened by a preceptor during Autumn and Winter Quarters of their senior year. This seminar will allow students to prepare their bibliographies, hone their writing, and present their research.

Instructor(s): Mendel Kranz     Terms Offered: Autumn. Mendel Kranz will be both instructor of this course and BA Preceptor.
Prerequisite(s): Consent of faculty supervisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

RLST 29900. BA Research Seminar II. 100 Units.

This class meets weekly to assist students in the preparation of drafts of their BA paper, which are formally presented and critiqued. The two-quarter senior sequence will assist students in the Research Track with the preparation of the required BA paper. During May of their third year, students will work with the preceptor to choose a faculty adviser and a topic for research, and to plan a course of study for the following year. These must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students will take part in the BA Paper Seminar convened by a preceptor during Autumn and Winter Quarters of their senior year. This seminar will allow students to prepare their bibliographies, hone their writing, and present their research.

Instructor(s): Mendel Kranz     Terms Offered: Winter. Mendel Kranz will be both instructor of this course and BA Preceptor.
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.