Religion Courses

REL312 Religious Literature

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course studies the various methods of interpreting religious texts, literary forms, and symbols in world religions. Attention is given to the principles and exegetical methods of interpreting the Bible and the Qur’an in classical and modern times.

REL318 Religious Thought and its Cultural Expressions

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course investigates some of the different cultural expressions of religion and religious thought in Art, such as music, painting, calligraphy, theater and film; Humanities, such as history, philosophy and literature; Media such as television, radio, audiovisual media and social media; and Politics, such as civic institutions, political parties, government and state.

REL411 Myth, Ritual, and Faith

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course studies the historical, philosophical, theological, and aesthetic aspects of myths and rituals. Special attention is given to their intimate connections with the various faith creeds and doctrines advanced by different world religious traditions over the past six thousand years. Both the comparative approach and the exclusive focus are used as methodological tools for this course.

REL412 Development of Religious Thought

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course traces the rise and development of key religious concepts and ideas. It analyzes themes and expressions within the religious realm from a scholarly point of view. The course also explores the trends of religious thought within their cultural environments and in relation to each other within the general human experience, and studies the process with which they influence and get influenced by historical events.

REL413 Representatives of Christian Thought

[3–0, 3 cr.]

The course critically studies works by prominent thinkers and writers throughout the Christian tradition.  These might include Patristic authors from the early Christian centuries; Scholastic philosopher-theologians from the medieval period; prominent reformers and dissidents; official papal or patriarchal pronouncements; ecclesiastical documents; writings of canonized saints and their hagiographies; and the corpus of leading Christian intellectuals.

REL414 Representatives of Islamic Thought

[3–0, 3 cr.]

This course critically studies the works of classical and modern representatives of Islamic thought who contributed to the formation of various trends and schools of thought in Muslim societies. It surveys the works of Muslim scholars of various denominations in the Abbasid Age, leading up to the 19^th and 20^th centuries in the Middle East and North Africa.