Religious Studies

This course covers Ancient Israel from its cradle to the beginning of the common era, ending with Qumran. It covers the theories about the origins of Israel, including the exodus from Egypt, against the socio-political background of Ancient Israel with due attention to historiography. The succession and successes of various royals are covered, as well as the activity of the prophets in a comparative perspective. Cultic practices throughout the period are discussed.

This course surveys the formation and development of Islam and its position and characteristics in the modern world. Divided into five thematic units, the course will cover:  

1) Origins of Islam and the figure of the Prophet Muḥammad;  

2) Islamic authoritative texts – the Qur’ān and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muḥammad;  

3) Various dimensions of classical Islam, including law and ritual practices;  

4) Alternative visions of Islam, in particular the Shī‘ite and the Ṣūfi interpretations of Islam, and  

5) Modern developments in Islam. 

The course provide students with a comprehensive view of the global Christian movement in time and space. Considers the period from its Middle Eastern and European origins in theological and sociological/political terms to the Inquisition (50.CE to 1500). It looks at the origins and growth of Christianity in the Mediterranean world and beyond, from the first generation of Christians to the fall of Constantinople (50CE to 1453CE). The course covers Christianity's role in and interaction with the various cultures of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, the early and medieval Islamic states, and the emergent civilizations of medieval Europe, looking at persecution, education, mission, monasticism, piety, orthodoxy, and heresy and other major themes. 

This course takes its title from a series of letters and papers that Dietrich Bonhoeffer composed while imprisoned in Berlin from 1943-1945. The theological questions posed by Bonhoeffer in these personal letters will set the tone for this course, as well as its overall aims. Specifically, those aims are to identify and to critically assess a variety of challenges that have been posed against religious thought and belief by the rapid development of secular culture and its rising influence in the modern, Western world. In doing so, this course will explore a wide range of political, social, and personal/existential ideas and provocations that theologians, philosophers, and religious thinkers have been made to confront in this “world come of age”.

The course provides an overview of key milestones in the history of philosophy, from classical Greece to contemporary thought, and analyzes its connection with religious thought in its various historical manifestations.

What is Judaism? Since Judaism has a history spanning more than three millennia and all five continents, it inevitably means different things to different people. The academic study of Judaism tries to answer the question by focusing on Jewish practice, tradition, and history with a variety of perspectives: The definition of Judaism: is it a religion, culture, or ethnicity? Is it monolithic, essential, and static, or rather diverse, hybrid, and dynamic? What are the texts and practices that define Judaism? What are the central concepts of rabbinic Judaism? How does rabbinic legal text and reasoning work? What are the places and shapes of Jewish worship? How do tradition and modernization make their mark felt in the history of Judaism, from Antiquity to the present day? How does Judaism interact with other religions? Which are the contemporary ways of connecting with the Jewish tradition?

This course focuses on the relationship between religion and politics. To untangle this relationship, the course examines the role of four core processes – globalization, nation-state formation, colonialism, and gender – in giving shape to contemporary relations between politics and religion. In the first place, it offers a sweeping historical survey, starting with imperialism, the French and Haitian Revolutions, and modern state formation. This leads to contemporary geopolitics, religious nationalism (Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Confucian), and socio-cultural contests (over sexuality, abortion, education, and migration). The central goal is to understand how recurring questions of the political community (who has power, how, and why?) are informed by and inform struggles over the place, role, and nature of religion.  Questions are addressed in an interdisciplinary fashion, where politics, history, and religious studies encounter one another. The course consists of interactive lectures and seminar-style discussions, including ones that are student-organized and student-led.