Course Offerings

Summer 2024, Fall 2024 & Spring 2025

*Course offerings are subject to change.
**Updated February 28, 2024

Summer 2024 | Fall 2024 | Spring 2025

Summer 2024

RLGN 1100 - Introduction to Religions
Multiple Sections (Online available)

Introduction to the world's major spiritual traditions from ancient times to the present. Topics include but are not limited to Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Native American religious traditions and African religious traditions.

JDST 2850-M50 - Religions of Abraham
CRN 50378
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: Shaul Bar

JDST 3661-M50 - Perspectives of Old Testament
CRN 52844
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: Shaul Bar

CLAS 2481 -Mythology
Multiple Sections (Online available)

HIST 3881 - African American History
Multiple Sections (Online available)

PADM 3501-301 - Civic Engagement, Voluntarism
CRN 57927
Instructor: Candace McRae Walsh

PADM 4226 - Intro Nonprofit Organizations
CRN 52606
Instructor: TBA

UNIV 3581-M50 - Faith/Reason/Imagination
CRN 55680
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: TBA

Fall 2024

RLGN 1100 - Introduction to Religions
Multiple Sections (Online available)

RLGN 3103-M50 - Religion and Ecology
CRN 97099
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: J. Scott Lencke

Course Description
What does the study of religion reveal about our views on the natural world? Are we meant to be stewards of nature? Are we meant to live in harmony and simplicity with our environment or are we meant to utilize natural resources for our own ends? What role do animals play in religious beliefs and practices?

Before the concept of “ecology” was introduced, religions had proto-ecological views of nature that have informed our understanding of how humans are meant to be oriented towards our environment. After the study of ecology as a science, the “greening of religion” movement has revisited many of these views.

This course will provide a cross-cultural approach to how religion has been articulated by different religious traditions around the globe. This course will therefore explore religious texts and secondary literature from scholars and religious leaders as they engage with religious concepts of nature, ecology, environmental ethics, animals, and more. Abrahamic and Asian traditions will be analyzed as well as indigenous traditions, cults, and new religious movements.

RLGN 3515-M50 - Women, Gender, and Religion
CRN 96396
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: Natalie Watson

RLGN 3592-M50 - Religious Perspectives of Death and the Afterlife
CRN 96393
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: Dr. Ron Serino

JDST 2850 - Religions of Abraham
CRN 86812
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: Dr. Shaul Bar

PHIL 3720-001 - Asian Philosophy
CRN 96976
Instructor: Dr. Kevin Taylor

Course Description
This course covers the development of Asian philosophy and religious philosophical thought. Concentration will be on those traditions with continuing significant sociological, political, and literary influence. The course will include a survey of the foundations of Chinese thought in Confucianism, Legalism and Daoism: Indian thought in the Vedas, the Upanisads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga-sutras, followed by an introduction to Buddhism (the four noble truths, no-self, the eightfold path) and major philosophical developments of Buddhist philosophy in China and Japan. Contemporary approaches to Asian Philosophy will be explored at the end of the course (including but not limited to Comparative Philosophical approaches to Asian traditions).

ANTH 3253-M50 - Magic Witchcraft Religion
CRN 96272
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: John Marshall Gilmore

CLAS 2481 -Mythology
Multiple Sections (Online available)

HIST 3881 - African American History
Multiple Sections (Online available)

HIST 3881-M50 - The Arab-Israeli Conflict
CRN 96904
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: Beverly Ann Tsacoyianis

PADM 3501-001 - Civic Engagement, Voluntarism
CRN 91931
Instructor: Candace McRae Walsh

PADM 4226 - Intro Nonprofit Organizations
Multiple Sections (Online available)

POLS 3102 - Religion and Politics
CRN 93896
Meeting Time: MWF 11:30 am-12:25 pm
Meeting Location: CL 415
Instructor: Emily Kate Fulmer

UNIV 3565-M50 - Comparative Christianity
CRN 91666
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: TBA

UNIV 3580-M50 - Hebrew and Greek Legacy
CRN 91667
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: Terrie Jackson

UNIV 3581-M50 - Faith/Reason/Imagination
CRN 91107
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: Jonathan Howe Bennett

UNIV 3592 - Religious Perspectives Death/Afterlife
CRN 94601
Online, Asynchronous
Instructor: Dr. Ron Serino

Spring 2025

RLGN 1100 - Introduction to Religions
Multiple Sections (Online available)

RLGN 3100 - Perspectives on Religion
CRN
Meeting Time:
Meeting Location:
Instructor: TBA

Why do human beings believe in divinities? Why do some seek eternal life, while others seek escape from recurring lives? Why do the beliefs and behaviors we typically call "religious" so deeply affect the human personality and so subtly weave their way through human society?

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to select major theorists and their methodologies. Many of these theorists begin with the question "What is religion?" and offer their answer. Along the way, they introduce concepts old and new as they tease out the origins of religion, the functions that religions play in society and psychology, as well as the material conditions that give rise to religion. Along the way, we will learn methodologies and theoretical concepts that persist not just in Religious Studies but also Anthropology, Ethnography, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, and Women & Gender Studies.