Religious Studies

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director or Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. The internship may be taken during one or more terms but the units cannot exceed a total of 12.0 for the year.

This course surveys the religious traditions of Japan aimed at identifying and defining the most characteristic aspects of Japanese thought and belief.  It covers religion in pre-historic Japan; Shinto mythology, deities, and worship; the introduction of Buddhism; Esoteric Buddhism and Shugendo; Pure Land, Nichiren and Zen Buddhism; introduction of Christianity and Kakure Kirishitan; folk shamanism, and modern New Religions

The course introduces the Old Testament: the History of formation, the Canon, the basic literary problems associated with the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible (Tanak), the ancient Translations (LXX; Vulgata), and the relevance of the Old Testament in contemporary Africa Context. It also looks at basic literary features associated with the three divisions of the TANAK (Torah, Neviim, Kethuviim). The course discusses questions of Jewish, Christian (Catholic and Protestant) positions about the Old Testament Canon and how they affect the interpretation of the Old Testament Scripture (e.g. the Septuagint, Apocrypha, Deutero-canon, etc).

This course provides a map of contemporary approaches to the so-called separation of church and state, or political secularism, and enables them to use the relevant concepts and insights in analyses of societal issues concerning religious diversity. This course provides the theoretical and empirical knowledge to make sense of these academic debates and contemporary issues regarding the relation between states and religions. The course explores the concept of political secularism through multidisciplinary readings, especially anthropology, sociology, law, and political philosophy. Theory and concepts concerning political secularism are always be discussed by in depth readings of case studies, for example about native-Americans and religious freedom, Muslim sartorial practices and gender equality in France and Iran, or political secularism in postcolonial nations such as India and South Africa.

This is an independent research course with research arranged between the student and faculty member. The specific research topics vary each term and are described on a special project form for each student. A substantial paper is required. The number of units varies with the student’s project, contact hours, and method of assessment, as defined on the student’s special study project form.

This course helps students to understand theories of comparative religion, placing religious expression and the formation of religious community and social choices in dialog with myth, ritual, politics, and science. The course examines concepts of God, purity, and the structuring of religious worlds.

This course examines the impact of religion, culture, and identity on global politics. International Relations (IR) conventionally refers to relations between sovereign states in an anarchic world. The sovereign state is assumed to be the natural political community of humankind and to command the allegiance of those subject to its rule. The culture, identity and religion of states are not conventionally considered relevant to how states interact with other states.  

However, since the events of September 11, 2001 (9/11), there has been renewed interest in culture, religion, and identity in global politics. The resultant US-led ‘War on Terror’ have reinforced the importance of religion to collective identities and rekindled the specter of a ‘clash of civilizations’ (Huntington 1996) pitting a Judeo-Christian West against a resurgent Islamic civilization. Echoes of the clash of civilizations but can be found in the policies of the Israeli state under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu towards Gaza after the attacks of October 7, 2023, by Hamas and in the policies towards migrants from Muslim majority states in the US under (ex) President Donald Trump and in many European Union (EU) states. In India, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi views Islam as a threat to India's national identity based on "Hindutva" (Hindu values). Religion has moved from the margins of global politics to its center-stage.  

But did it really go away? The modern international order instituted in Westphalia in 1648 was itself an attempt to contain religious and cultural conflict in Europe. How will the increasing resurgence of the non-western world and China and India in particular transform global politics? Will the eclipse of the West lead to a 'post-western' (Shani 2008) or 'global' (Acharya 2014, Acharya and Buzan 2020) IR? And will it be 'post-secular'? (Habermas 2008, Mavelli and Petito 2012, Shani 2014)? 

The course discusses these questions with reference to a series of historical and contemporary case studies in global politics. These will include Human Rights in the EU, the global "War on Terror," and Religious Nationalism in South Asia. 

This course introduces the subjects of religion, ritual, and their secular critiques from an anthropological perspective. It studies the history of theory and concepts along a range of ethnographic topics (magic, science, religion and witchcraft; religion and politics, etc). Japan-related subjects will figure occasionally as discussion topics and in possible field trips to sites of religious significance in the Tokyo area. 

This course will be offered as a companion course to JAPANESE BUDDHISM AND SOCIAL SUFFERING by the same instructor in the second half of the semester. You do not have to take both courses, but it is recommended to do so for a fuller understanding. Buddhism is the largest indigenous religion of Asia and has ancient roots in every country in the region, including majority Muslim ones like Bangladesh and Indonesia. However, in the contemporary age, it is in crisis, principally from the way economic and scientific modernity challenges its worldview and values. Buddhist institutions throughout the region have been responding to this crisis in variety of ways from nationalistic chauvinism, to market and technologically savvy new Buddhist organizations, and also progressive social action movements known as Socially Engaged Buddhism. This course will look at these different responses and attempts by Buddhism to remain relevant in the dynamic social landscape of contemporary Asia, while offering numerous case studies familiar to the instructor’s 25 years of experience throughout the region.