DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES

(Winter 2026, Professor Barry Wimpfheimer)
There is no understating the significance of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in Western Culture. The Bible is a text that has been repeatedly turned to for spiritual guidance, for explanations of mankind's origins and as the basis of both classical art and contemporary cinema. English idiom is peppered with phrases that originate in the Hebrew Bible and many a modern political clash can be understood as a conflict over what the Bible's messages and their implications. This course introduces students to the Hebrew Bible by reading sections of most of the Bible's books. But reading is itself a complicated enterprise. The Bible has been put to many different uses; even within the world of academic scholarship, the Bible is sometimes a source of history, sometimes a religious manual, sometimes a primitive legal code and sometimes a work of classical literature. This course will introduce students to the various challenges that present themselves within the study of the Hebrew Bible and the varied approaches scholars take when reading the Hebrew Bible. This course is a critical introduction to the Hebrew Bible.

(Winter, Professor Robert Orsi)
This course examines major developments, movements, controversies, and figures in American religious history from the end of the Civil War, as the nation struggled to make sense of the carnage of war and to apportion responsibility, to the 1930s, when economic crisis strained social bonds and intimate relations and challenged Americans to rethink the nature of public responsibility. Topics include urban religion; religion and changing technologies; African American religion; religion and politics; and the religious practices of immigrants and migrants. The course counts towards Religion, Law, and Politics (RLP) major concentration.

(Winter 2026, Professor Brannon Ingram)
At the turn of the twentieth century, the vast majority of the world’s Muslims lived under the British Empire. British colonialism and imperialism had an incalculable impact on the modern history of Islam. This course explores that impact in the domains of religion, culture, law, literature, and politics from the founding of the East India Company in 1600 to the Partition of India in 1947. While centered on South Asia, the course will also consider ways that governance of Muslims in India became the model for governance of Muslims in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, and the Caribbean. Topics will include (but are not limited to) changes in the status and nature of Islamic law; impacts of new forms of travel and mobility on Muslim ritual life, especially the Hajj pilgrimage; new debates about the status and position of women in Muslim societies; reimagining the biography of the Prophet Muhammad in light of Orientalist critiques of his prophetic career; the development of a quintessentially “Victorian” Islam in nineteenth century England; and reassessments of Muslim political thought in the context of nascent anticolonial movements in the early twentieth century.

(Winter 2026, Professor James Bielo) 

In this course students will explore diverse representations of religion in museum settings and other contexts of public display. Student research will include engagement with Chicago area museums, and the opportunity to design their own exhibit.