DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Dystopian fiction like *The Hunger Games* and *A Handmaid's Tale* describes human survival and subversion in horrible-worlds-gone-wrong. In some ways it's the opposite of utopian fiction that--often on religious premises, like Thomas More's 16th-century novel *Utopia*--spins out a picture of a perfect society. As we explore examples of utopias and dystopias, we'll explore the line between them. Is one person's utopia another person's dystopia? Is religion the saving grace or arch-nemesis of human happiness? Why do people write and read this work and even try their own hands at creating religious utopian communities? Our quarter will involve reading novels, viewing films, and learning about some actual utopian communities that have left their imprint on American society in everything from our music to our kitchen appliances. The focus of the course is writing and discussion. (Fall 2019, Professor Cristina Traina)

Having begun in India some 2500 years ago, Buddhism now exists in almost all parts of the world. The Buddhist religion has shaped the thought and culture of Asia and has also influenced Western thought and culture in significant ways. To comprehend this diverse religion, this course approaches it from several perspectives: the historical, cultural, philosophical and religious. In the short time that we have in this quarter, our primary emphasis will be on investigating the philosophical and religious systems in the teachings of the Buddha in India as well as the thought of the later Buddhists in other parts of Asia. In looking at both the history and the philosophy, we see Buddhism as a religion that established a system of values, an interpretation of existence and a pattern of cultural practices and rituals that the Buddhists have interpreted in various ways to find meaning in life. (Fall 2019, Professor George Bond)

This course explores concepts of magic and religion in the New Testament and early Christianity by analyzing them within the context of the ancient Greco-Roman world. We will consider questions such as: What acts count as magical and what acts count as religious? How do we distinguish between them? Although scholars have often classified magic and religion as mutually exclusive categories, does analysis of ancient texts from the Greco-Roman world sustain this distinction? Sources that we will examine include spells, charms, amulets, incantations, prayers, and even liturgical texts. As the course progresses, we will analyze each of these magical and religious phenomena both on their own and as a part of their wider ancient context. By the end of this course, students should have a firmer appreciation of the complex religious mentality of people in the ancient Greco-Roman world. (Fall 2019, Professor Richard Zaleski)

Religion intersects with medicine at many levels: patients, practitioners, institutional providers, law, and even international relations. We will look at religion and the ethics of medicine in two ways.

First, we will discuss some of the central questions of bioethics: suffering and death; transplant; assisted reproduction; vaccination; the opioid crisis; global health issues; ecology; gene editing; children’s freedom to make decisions; and others.

At the same time, we will discuss religions’ intersection with the practice and ethics of medicine: how religions have influenced the goals of medicine, including end of life care and relief of suffering; how they have shaped the fundamental principles of bioethics; the ethical and religious impact of religiously affiliated hospitals’ ethical and religious directives; the challenges of accommodating patients’ and practitioners’ diverse religious beliefs in a medical system that is not religiously neutral; the impact of religious convictions on global health initiatives; religions’ role in converting social crises to medical crises. *Counts towards Religion, Health and Medicine (RHM) major concentration. (Fall 2019, Professor Cristina Traina) 

This course will examine major utopian and dystopian texts and films in relation to social justice issues in the twentieth century and beyond, while following the stories of artists, organizers, and communities that have used speculative world-building to imagine livable, sustainable futures. We will focus on how feminist, anarchist, LGBTQ, and Afrofuturist art and activism have contributed to a substantial critical discourse on the intersections of science, technology, ecology, war, race, gender, sexuality, health, and ability.

This course will further examine how artists and activists have understood religion as both impediment and partner to social justice work, while alternatively embracing, subverting, and defying religious authority. We will attend to how religious myths and imagery are sampled and remixed by science fiction authors to plot an alternative course for history. *Counts towards Religion, Health and Medicine (RHM) and Religion, Sexuality and Gender (RSG) major concentrations. (Fall 2019, Ashley King) 

An examination of the major social and religious transformations in American Catholicism during and after the Second Vatican Council. Topics include: changing roles of priests and nuns; innovations in Catholic ritual and devotion; radical Catholicism; and the making of a new ways of being Catholic. Readings to include primary and secondary sources, documentary film, visual art, and selections from the relevant documents of the Second Vatican Council Joseph P. Chinnici and Angelyn Dries, eds. (Fall 2019, Professor Robert Orsi)

This course aims to put feminist theory and religious studies into conversation with each other in order to examine the resulting intersections, points of mutual illumination, and aporias. The course will investigate the history of feminist approaches to religious studies as well as new directions in current scholarship including feminist and womanist theologies, goddess feminism, secular and post-secular feminisms, as well as postcolonial and transnational feminisms. We will consider the following questions, among others: What does it mean to apply a gender studies lens to the study of religion? How do feminist conceptions of “liberation” reinforce or reject religious conceptions of “liberation”? What are the implications of the “return of religion” currently invoked in some feminist discourses? This course seeks to move beyond prevalent assumptions of Judeo-Christian normativity in its analysis of feminist contributions to the study of religion. It pays particular attention to feminist approaches to the study of Asian religions, but with flexibility to highlight other geographic/thematic areas of interest to graduate students enrolled in the course. *RSG Concentration for undergraduate students only. ( Fall 2019, Professor Sarah Jacoby)