Course Descriptions

REL 180 - Introduction to East Asian Religions

An introduction to the religious and philosophical traditions that played fundamental roles in shaping traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese culture: Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and popular religion.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies East Asian Studies major and interdisciplinary minor requirement.

REL 215 - The Art and Practice of Reading

This course examines addiction using theories from the sociology of health and medicine. We examine the use, abuse, and societal context of alcohol and drugs through a sociological perspective. The goal of this course is to learn how society and political structures are related to individual or group alcohol and drug use. We begin with a social construction perspective on psychoactive chemicals. We then move into discussing the psychological and psychology components of addiction. Finally, we examine how social context can relate to how drugs are viewed, used, abused, and criminalized within particular societies.
 

Satisfies a Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Commuity requirement.
 

REL 223 - Wisdom Literature

A study of Israelite, Jewish, and early Christian wisdom writings in conversation with modern and post-modern authors such as Camus, Wendell Berry, and David Foster Wallace.  Topics to be pursued include: what constitutes a meaningful or blessed life, the challenges of absurdity and unjust suffering, the dignity of work and vocation, distraction and boredom, happiness, and learning.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 224 - The Psalms

A study of selected biblical psalms and their exploration of the fabric of human selfhood. Particular attention will be given to the psalms’ poetic construction of what it means to be a self and how they, in turn, offer transformative means for the self’s expression. Study will involve a close analysis of psalms as literary texts and intertexts as well as analysis of their function in given liturgical contexts.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 230 - Jesus and His Interpreters

This course explores Jesus in the midst of his historical, religious, and political context: how did Jesus encounter and resist the political and religious structures of his day? Can we construct an historically adequate picture of Jesus based on the different gospels that narrate his life and teachings?  Is he best understood as an apocalyptic prophet, an ethereal sage, or a political revolutionary? The course also attends to Jesus’ ethical teachings on subjects such as wealth and poverty, non-violence, and love of enemies. 

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 231 - Paul: his Communities and Conflicts

Paul is now enshrined in Christian history and dogma, yet few people realize how controversial his original message was. Many of Jesus’s first followers were suspicious of Paul and there were fierce debates over his preaching.  By a careful inspection of his letters we’ll explore these debates and seek to understand the nature of the groups he founded in cities around the Mediterranean. Some of these groups survived, and some disappeared: what held them together - or broke them apart? Why would someone be drawn to Paul and his preaching? What was appealing about the life of these groups? The goal is to understand Paul and his theological ideas in their first-century context.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

This course may be applied towards a Classics major.

Prerequisites & Notes
 

REL 232 - Parables in the Jewish and Christian Traditions

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 233 - The Other Gospels: Lost Literature of Early Christianity

Examines the gospel literature that did not make it into the New Testament: the Gospel According to Thomas, Gnostic gospels such as the Gospel According to Phillip, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Judas, infancy gospels, and lost Jewish-Christian gospels. It also considers the development of the categories “heresy” and “orthodoxy,” as well as the process of canonization.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 234 - Hell Breaks Loose

The course begins with a close reading (and performance) of the Book of Revelation. We then examine the patterns of thinking encouraged by the Book of Revelation, from the periodization of history in Joachim of Fiore, to the uses of demonization in the Protestant Reformation, fundamentalist Christianity’s prediction of the endtimes and its intersection with American culture and politics, culminating in the wheels within wheels thinking seen in phenomena like the QAnon Conspiracy. The course includes film and literary components.
 

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 236 - The Bible and Modern Moral Issues

This course examines how the Bible is being used in contemporary moral, political, and cultural debates: homosexuality, creationism, environmentalism, race, Middle-Eastern politics, end-of-the-world predictions, among others. The range of topics is flexible, and can adapt to current conditions, e.g., the elections of 2016. Students will be encouraged to investigate issues of particular interest through individual research. 

For purposes of comparison, REL 266 The Bible in America emphasizes the role the Bible “has” played in American life; REL 236 emphasizes the role the Bible “is playing” in American life. The former course is more historical; the latter, more ethical and theological.  

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 244 - Modern Jewish Literature

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Fulfills the Diversity requirement in the English major.
Satisfies a requirement of the Global Literary Theory interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.

REL 245 - Modern Christian Thought

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 250 - Issues in Theological Ethics

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
ENV credit varies year by year, so please check with the ENV Chair if you have a question. 

REL 251 - Moral Reflection in a Perilous World: Ethics, Injustice, and the Vagaries of Fortune

In this class, we will explore both historical and contemporary ethical reflection on what it means to lead good lives as human persons. We will examine deontological, virtue, and utilitarian approaches to ethical reflection. In particular, we will focus on the ways in which forces beyond our complete control-for instance, the unjust structures we live within, fate, or luck-can intersect with our lives in ways that can impact our moral obligations and our capacities to either understand or execute on those moral obligations. As such, the class focuses on questions of: a) the role of character in understanding the ‘good life’, b) the impact of fate or fortune on our responsibilities and our moral lives, c) how to evaluate actions morally, and d) how structural or systemic injustices affect and relate to our individual responsibilities. We will engage both theological and philosophical thinkers, from Plato to Iris Murdoch and from Augustine to Howard Thurman.

Satisfies Religious Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Philosophical and Religous Perspectives requirement.
Satiafies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.

REL 252 - Social Christianity in America

A study of the theological ethics that contributed to the Social Gospel, Christian Realism, and the Civil Rights Movement in America. Resources include works by Walter Rauschenbusch, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as some secondary texts, recordings, and films.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

REL 253 - Religious and Philosophical Environmental Ethics

Environmental degradation at every level of existence is considered a primary existential threat facing people today. But, how to respond ethically to such degradation is less clear. In this class, we will explore the short history of both religious and philosophical environmental ethics to consider how to answer this concern. What is the content and extent of our current environmental moral obligations? To attend to this overarching question, the class will examine first the religious and philosophical arguments regarding the causes of environmental crises. We will ask: how should we understand the sources of such dramatic and escalating environmental destruction? Can we learn from those roots? And, what do those roots tell us about our moral responsibilities today? We will then turn to examine normative environmental ethics, from issues around the treatment of animals and species to agricultural practices, and from climate change responsibility to environmental justice. Lastly, we will consider the challenges that pressure moral action in response to environmental degradation–at individual and collective levels–and we will engage thinkers on how to respond to those challenges.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies Environmental Studies major and minor requirement (Humanities). 
Satisfies Religious Studies major and minor requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 254 - Religion and Economics

The purpose of this course is to explore relationships between religious communities (their commitments, ideas, and practices) and economic life (its institutions, roles, and attitudes). These relationships have been important in many places and times, from ancient cultures to the present day, and raise questions about a good society, justice, and equality. In some contemporary contexts, reflections about these relationships are especially significant for social ethics. Note: REL 254 meets together with ECO 254.

Satisfies Religious Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Repeatable for credit

REL 255 - Woman and the Body in the Christian Tradition

A study of Christian attitudes toward gender and the human body as reflected in scripture, doctrine, and practice.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 257 - Death, Dying and the Afterlife

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 259 - Ethics at the End of the World?: Living in the Anthropocene

This course explores the ethical significance of ‘the end,’ understood both as terminus and as aim or purpose. Are we hurtling toward our extinction as a species-our end? And, what is the end (i.e. aim) of human existence, if that is the case?  Within the US context, as well as more broadly, such apocalyptic images, ideas, and questions proliferate. Given this, it seems important to grapple with some of them and to consider the moral life in light of them. What would it mean to live at ‘the end of the world’? Why do so many people, in so many different ways, imagine that we are? And if we are living ‘the end,’ what does that mean for how we should live and what should we do? The course will investigate the ideas and histories of ‘apocalypse’ and ‘eschaton’, examine the ‘secular apocalypse’ of environmental degradation and drastic climate change, and consider how imagining and living in ‘the end’ affects our moral responsibilities, imaginations, and capacities. Readings will be wide ranging, from ‘cli-fi’ to indigenous studies, from philosophical and theological reflections on the nature of valuing to biblical studies on Revelation. 

Satisfies Religious Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies a depth and breadth course requirement in the Humanities track of the Environmental Studies major and minor.
Satisfies Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

REL 261 - African American Religious Traditions

REL 262 - Imagining American Religion

A study of how people have portrayed the religious dimension of life through works of narrative fiction. Examines the various motives - religious, political, aesthetic, or otherwise - that guide American imaginings about religion.
 

Satisfies a requirement in the Africana Studies major (Geographic Region: North America).
Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.
Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 265 - US Religions, US Revolutions

This course examines several episodes in the American context during which religious affiliation shaped revolutionary social movements. Topics may include the Revolutionary war, anti-slavery agitation and abolitionism, women’s rights in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and civil rights for African Americans in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Satisfies a major requirement in Religious Studies.
Satisfies a minor requirement in Religious Studies.
Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

REL 266 - The Bible in America

We discuss how the Bible was used in key debates in American history: race, slavery, women’s rights, LGTQ rights, and creation/evolution. 

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
 

REL 270 - Classical Hinduism

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies South Asian Studies requirement.

REL 271 - Buddhism

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies East Asian Studies requirement.
Satisfies South Asian Studies requirement.

REL 272 - Journeying through the World of Islam

This is not an introduction to Islam as a religion - take REL 178 if that’s what interests you! - but to Muslim peoples, cultures, and societies. We will virtually travel through the world of Islam, beginning from where it began, in 7^th-century Arabia. To understand Islamic societies and their inhabitants “the Muslims,” we will approach Islamic civilization geographically and as tourists, exploring the chosen zones: Muslim religious, cultural, social, political, and economic life and heritage, and experience of its Muslim inhabitants. As part of a team, you will discover, digitally map, and guide others through one of the Muslim cultural zones. We will conclude our study by reflecting upon the diversity experienced in these virtual tours and probe what has, may, or can unit Muslims under the umbrella terms “world of Islam” or “Muslim world.” Our study is guided and facilitated by a Technology Library Academic team.

Satisfies Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies Cultural Diversity requirement.

REL 273 - Topics in Christianity & Islam

A comparative study Christianity and Islam and/or Christian Muslim relations in history. A particular theme will be selected for a particular iteration of the course. Past themes include: Catholicism & Sufism; the Bible and the Qur’an; and Jesus and Muhammad. Upcoming themes include Christians of the Muslim World and Christian-Muslim relations.

Satisfies Religious Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies a Middle East Studies requirement in Arab Studies major.
Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Repeatable for credit

REL 276 - Sunni, Shia, & Sufi Islam

Today, Sunni-Shiite conflicts are among the most imminent internal threats to the unity of the Islamic world, especially in the Middle East, but also in South Asia. We will begin with learning about the origins of the Sunni-Shiite split and systematical compare Sunni and Shiite interpretations of Islam. Building upon our knowledge of the two traditions, we will probe the Sunni-Shia relations in history and ask ourselves: Are Sunni and Shia interpretations of Islam mutually exclusive and irreconcilable? Is this conflict purely religious, theological, and denominational? What fuels the fire of Sunni-Shia sectarian violence? How have colonial, political, and social realities affected these relations? How, for example, has the Iranian Revolution and Iran’s rise as an Islamic state affected Sunni-Shia relations? What impact did the U.S. invasion of Iraq have on these relations? Finally, are reconciliation and meaningful dialogue possible? Have there been efforts to bridge the divide, improve understanding, mitigate conflict and violence? What role can Sufism - Islam’s mystical tradition - play in mediating the Sunni-Shia divide? 

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement. 
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement. 
Satisfies a requirement in the South Asian Studies interdisciplinary minor. 
Satisfies a requirement in the Middle Eastern Studies interdisciplinary minor. 

REL 277 - Mysticism & Occult in Islam

An overview of Islamic spirituality and occult in its diverse varieties, doctrinal formulations, practices, historical manifestations, and contemporary significance.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies a requirement in the South Asian Studies interdisciplinary minor. 
Satisfies a requirement in the Arab Studies minor.

REL 278 - Empires & Cities

Walking around on campus, have you ever stopped to wonder how one would study Davidson’s culture and life? What if you were to consider its space, art, and architecture as a window into the community? As one might at Davidson, in this course, to understand Islamic societies and their inhabitants, “the Muslims,” we approach Islamic civilization spatially. That is, we explore the three great Islamic empires of the pre-modern era – the Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals – through their cities. How were those cities spatially arranged? What was the center of town? Where were the markets? Who lived where? Researching and imagining their societies, institutions, and cultural and artistic lives, we digitally recreate major cities of these Muslim empires. This course is joyfully co-taught with a research librarian and a facilitator from Technology & Innovation (T&I).

Satisfies a requirement for Religious Studies major and minor.
Satisfies Arab Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies a South Asian Studies interdisciplinary minor requirement.
Satisfies the Religious and Philosophical Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies a cultural diversity requirement.

REL 279 - Nature & Ecology in Islam

Our study is an overview and survey of the place of nature and its study in the premodern Muslim heritage. We will observe Muslim views, imagination and study of nature in Islamic worldview, scriptural, mystical, philosophical, scientific, theological, and legal traditions and texts, but also in literary and cultural expressions such as poetry, storytelling, art, architecture, gardens, and daily life.

Satisfies Environmental Studies major requirement.
Satisfies Arab Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies a requirement in the South Asian Studies interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies a requirement in the Middle Eastern Studies interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.

REL 280 - Chinese Religions

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies a requirement in the East Asian Studies major and interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies a requirement in the Chinese Studies minor.

REL 282 - Tibetan Religions

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.
Satisfies a requirement in the East Asian Studies major and interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies a requirement in the South Asian Studies interdisciplinary minor.

REL 283 - Buddhism in America

The history and development of Buddhism in America. Topics include the American Transcendentalists and “Eastern” thought, Buddhism and the
Theosophists, the World Parliament of Religions of 1893, the “Zen boom” of the Beat generation, the varieties of Buddhism imported by Asian immigrants beginning in the 1960s, and modern “American Buddhist” communities and practices.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.

REL 288 - The Religious Question in Modern China

Pang

This course explores religion in Chinese societies during the tumultuous period between the late nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries. We will analyze the historical and cultural foundations of Chinese religion; the role of the state, intellectual, and political groups in shaping official religiosity; and the bewildering variety of religious traditions in contemporary Chinese societies.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Satisfies East Asian Studies major and interdisciplinary minor requirement.

Satisfies Chinese Studies Minor.

REL 301 - Perspectives in the Study of Religion

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Satisfies the Methods requirement for the Gender and Sexuality Studies major in the Histories and Genealogies track.

Prerequisites & Notes
Pre/Corequisites:  Any two Religion courses or permission of the instructor.

Students intending to go abroad in their junior year should take this course in their sophomore year, if possible. 

REL 320 - The Genesis Narrative

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 321 - The Exodus Tradition

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 340 - Martrys, Messiahs, and Virgins

This course explores the variety of ways that early and medieval Christians understood saintliness. Beginning with a close look at how Jesus is portrayed in one of the four Gospels, the course will proceed to examine later types of Christian sanctity and their biblical precedents. These will include some or all of the following: the apostle, the prophet, the martyr, the hermit, the monk, the consecrated virgin, and the mystic.

Satisfies Religious Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

REL 346 - Modern Jewish Thought

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies the Middle East Studies interdisciplinary minor.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 352 - Protestant and Roman Catholic Ethics

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 353 - Theological Perspectives on Christian Faith

Christian beliefs and moral norms as they are expressed by the Apostles’ Creed, The Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer. In addition to critical studies of the history and composition of these texts, this course also includes classical and contemporary interpretations of what they mean from Augustine, Martin Luther, and Thomas Aquinas to Rosemary Radford Ruether and Leonardo Boff.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 354 - Major Figures in Theology and Ethics: Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards is arguably the most important theologian that America has produced.  This course focuses on a close reading of his most important texts for ethics: The End for which God Created the World, and The Nature of True Virtue.”

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 360 - Myths America Lives By

Satisfies Religious Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 365 - Women in American Religion

Satisfies a major or interdisciplinary minor requirement in Communication Studies.
Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

REL 366 - Mormonism

Examines an indigenous American religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, exploring its historical origins, beliefs, related theological and political controversies, and cultural heritage.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 369 - Religion and Politics

In this discussion-based course, we will examine sites in contemporary culture where politics and religion interact. How do political and religious convictions inform each other? How shall we understand the complex synergy between political and religious impulses? The end-time theology of many American evangelicals drives much American foreign policy towards Israel-Palestine. Attitudes (and policies) towards the environment are likewise influenced by religious beliefs and convictions. Some readers of the Bible argue that Donald Trump is a latter-day Cyrus, the Persian king who helped rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (Make Jerusalem Great Again!). Each week, we’ll examine a different case. While the course is offered at the seminar level, there are no expectations that students come with a background in the theory and method of Religious Studies or of Political Science. We will acquire these tools along the way.

REL 370 - Asian Meditation Texts

REL 371 - Hindu Mysticism

Interpretive and comparative study of Hindu sacerdotal, philosophical, contemplative, and devotional mystical sensibilities as presented in various textual genres.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.
Satisfies South Asian Studies requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 377 - The World of the Sufis

A study of lives, traditions, practices, and texts of seminal past and present Sufis.

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies the South Asian Studies requirement.
Satisfies the Arab Studies requirement.
Satisfies the Middle Eastern Studies requirement.

REL 378 - Islam in the Modern Age: Tradition, Fundamentalism and Reform

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.

Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies Middle Eastern Studies requirement.
Satisfies South Asian Studies requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 379 - From Taj Mahal to Taliban

This is an overview of Islam in South Asia with a particular emphasis on Islam in pre-partitioned India. Besides introductory and concluding sections, our study will be divided into three historical phases: 1) Muslim India during the Mughal era; 2) Muslim India during the British colonial era leading up to political independence in 1947; 3) the post-independence era till early 1990s when Taliban emerged to power in Afghanistan. In this third phase our attention will shift more toward contemporary states of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In addition to scholarly studies we will read primary texts, watch movies and documentaries and will also benefit from occasional guest speakers on diverse themes.

Satisfies Religious Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies South Asian Studies minor requirement.
Satisfies Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies Curltural Diversity requirement.

REL 382 - Zen Buddhism

Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.
Satisfies a requirement in the East Asian Studies major and interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies a requirement in the Chinese Studies minor.

Prerequisites & Notes
Students at all levels welcome.

REL 395 - Independent Study

REL 401 - Senior Colloquium

REL 406 - Seminar: Religioni and Reproduction

This course will explore key moments in the twentieth-century engagement of U.S. Catholic and Protestant churches with reproductive ethics and justice. 

 

Prerequisites & Notes
Instructor permission required.

REL 432 - In God’s Country

Our seminar will probe the relationship between authority of God and human beings in Islamic sociopolitical life. What does it mean to dwell in God’s Islamic country? What does polity, law and economy look like in God’s country? Who must rule, 1) God, 2) human beings individually or collectively, OR 3) both, and how? Who prescribes the Law by which a human society has to live: God, human beings or both, and how? And what about economy? Does God have an economic system in mind? What are the burdens of God’s economy? We will seek answers to these questions in the mirror of Islamic political and economic thought, Shariah law, and past and present civilizational experience.

Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.
Satisfies a Middle Eastern Studies requirement.
Satisfies a South Asian Studies requirement.

REL 438 - Nonviolence: can it work?

This seminar will examine the religious roots of non-violence, both in the Christian tradition (Jesus and “turn the other cheek”; the Quakers) and in the religion of Gandhi, whose beliefs and practices directly influenced the use of nonviolence in the Civil Rights Movement by Martin Luther King Jr. and groups like SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and CORE (Congress on Racial Equality). We will examine the successes and failures of the practice along with the criticisms and affirmations of writers like Ta Nehisi Coates (“Non-violence as Compliance”) and Erica Chenowith, Why Civil Resistance Works.

REL 458 - Calvin’s “Institutes”

REL 498 - Honors Project

RUS 101 - Elementary Russian I

Elementary Russian serves as an introduction to speaking, understanding, reading, and writing in Russian. If you are considering a major or minor in Russian Studies, this is your first step towards that goal! No prior experience is expected or required. Students who have previous knowledge of Russian should contact Prof. Irina Kogel to arrange a placement test.

In this course, students will learn to read and write using the Cyrillic alphabet, become acquainted with the principles of Russian phonetics, begin to acquire a systematic knowledge of foundational grammar topics, and acquire a working vocabulary that will allow them to communicate about their daily lives in Russian. Students will also be introduced to Russophone culture, history, and traditions through authentic target-language texts, songs, and other media. Students’ acquisition of Russian will be reinforced through twice weekly AT discussion sessions with a native speaker of Russian.  

Prerequisites & Notes
(Fall)

RUS 102 - Elementary Russian II

Description coming soon!

Prerequisites & Notes
RUS 101 or placement. (Spring)

RUS 201 - Intermediate Russian I

In Intermediate Russian, students learn to create with the language and continue to develop their speaking, understanding, reading, and writing proficiency. The course is intended for students who have completed RUS 102 or passed a placement exam.

In this course, students will review and expand their knowledge of Russian grammar and vocabulary. Students will also gain a deeper understanding of Russophone culture, history, and traditions through increasingly complex authentic target-language texts, songs, and other media. Highlights of the course include a pen pal exchange with Intermediate Russian students at other universities in the US and twice weekly AT sessions with a native Russian speaker.  

Satisfies the foreign language requirement. 
Satisfies the prerequisite for the Russian minor, the major in Russian Studies, and the major in Russian Language and Literature.

Prerequisites & Notes
RUS 102 or placement. (Fall)

RUS 202 - Intermediate Russian II

Description coming soon!

Prerequisites & Notes
RUS 201 or placement. (Spring)

RUS 260 - 19th Century Russian Literature (in transl.)

Fall 2022 Topic: 19th Century Russian Literature

This course explores the great 19th-century Russian literary tradition, including works by Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. We will consider the “ritualized violence” of dueling, rapidly shifting attitudes toward sexuality and love, questions of social justice around serfdom, Russia’s complicated relationship with the West, religion vs. scientific progress, and the Russian writer’s role as prophet of truth in a land of autocracy.

Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement
Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing and Rhetoric requirement
Counts as an elective in the English major and minor.
Satisfies a requirement in the Global Literary Theory interdisciplinary minor.

Prerequisites & Notes
No knowledge of Russian required or expected.
Course is repeatable for credit given different topic/title.

RUS 270 - 20th-Century Russian Literature: Modernism to Postmodernism (in translation)

The twentieth century was tumultuous globally, and nowhere more dramatically so than in Russia, which witnessed revolutions, wars, and multiple changes of political regime. Alongside these socio-political shifts came aesthetic changes; from 1900 to the new millennium, Russian culture saw, broadly speaking, shifts from realism, to symbolism, to socialist realism, to post-modernism. This course samples major Russian, émigré, Soviet and post-Soviet writers, paying attention to the way they responded to, and even contributed to, historical events. Importantly, given Russia’s current war against Ukraine, we will also engage questions of Russian empire and colonization, reading works not just by Russian authors, but by writers who write in Russian but come from Belarus, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Texts and discussion in English, with the option for those with advanced Russian to read in the original.

Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement
Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement
Counts as an elective in the English major and minor
Satisfies a requirement in the Global Literary Theory interdisciplinary minor.
Satisfies a requirement toward the Russian minor
Satisfies a requirement toward the major in Russian Studies
Satisfies a requirement toward the major in Russian Language & Literature

Prerequisites & Notes
No knowledge of Russian required or expected.
Course is repeatable for credit given different topic/title.

RUS 280 - Russia and the West (in English)

With Russia’s war against Ukraine, the need to understand Russia’s conflicted relationship with the West takes on new urgency. This course will equip you to approach contemporary relations with Russia from nuanced and historically informed perspectives. As many scholars have noted, history has essentially replaced politics as the national conversation in Putin’s Russia. Whether erecting monuments to past tyrants, rewriting the history textbooks for secondary schools, waging war against Ukraine with calls to an ancient, shared past, or leveraging WWII memory and nostalgia for the USSR, the Putin regime deftly exploits historical narratives for its present aims. One constant amidst these efforts to reshape Russian history is the place of “the West” as either an idealized model or a hostile other against which Russians define their national identity. In “Russia and the West” we will examine the vast sweep of Russian history and culture through the lens of the country’s efforts to define itself vis-à-vis the West, starting by interrogating the very notion of “the West” and the identity of “the Russians.” We will then learn about Peter the Great’s Westernizing reforms, 19th-century Slavophilism vs. Westernism, Cold War tensions, émigré culture, and today’s persistent sense of humiliation at the hands of the West still resonating almost thirty years after the fall of the USSR.


Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.
Satisfies the Historical Thought requirement.
Satisfies a requirement for the Russian minor.
Satisfies a requirement for the major in Russian Studies.
Satisfies a requirement for the major in Russian Language and Literature.
Satisfies a requirement in the History major.

Prerequisites & Notes
No knowledge of Russian required or expected.

RUS 293 - Performing Russia: The Ballets Russes

Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes was a dynamic enterprise that defined multiple artistic trends and movements in the early twentieth century. The troupe and those associated with it changed over the course of its twenty-year existence (1909 -1929), but during that period they always remained under the scrutiny of its founding impresario, Diaghilev. A master curator, Diaghilev brought together some of the most interesting artists, composers, dancers, choreographers, fashion designers, and personalities of the era, which resulted in a maelstrom of creative and collaborative output, the impact of which still resonates in the present day across artistic mediums. From the scandals to the massive successes, this course examines some highlights of the Ballets Russes, looking at visionary choreographers, such as Fokine, Nijinsky, Nijinska, and Balanchine, world-renowned visual artists, like Picasso, Matisse, and Braque, genre-breaking composers, such as Debussy, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky, and even a few guest appearances by Jean Cocteau and Coco Chanel. We also will consider the role of “Russianness” in Diaghilev’s project and how it changed over the course of the group’s history as Russia itself changed in tandem with the ever-changing political landscape of Europe in the early twentieth century. Finally, what is the Ballets Russes’ legacy? How has this group of artists creating and performing in the first decades of the twentieth century influenced the arts and culture into the present day? Our discussions will focus on topics such as theoretical approaches to media; the ways in which the Ballets Russes engaged with movements such as constructivism, cubism, futurism, impressionism, expressionism, neoclassicism, primitivism, surrealism, and symbolism; the role of nationality and nationhood in the self-exoticizing trends of the early Ballets Russes works versus later ones; othering and the role of gender and race in the Ballets Russes’ mythos. These topics will be considered through readings from varied disciplines, such as dance and performance studies, musicology, art history, cultural studies, and literary studies.

Satisfies Dance minor requirement.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.
 

RUS 294 - Topics in Russian

Topics course, where content changes each semester.

RUS 295 - Independent Study

A topic chosen by the student and researched under the direction of the faculty member, who reviews and approves the topic and determines the means of evaluation of the student’s work.

295 (Fall)/296 (Spring)

Prerequisites & Notes
Permission of the instructor.

RUS 301 - Advanced Russian

In Advanced Russian, students will further develop their speaking, understanding, reading, and writing proficiency on an increasing range of topics. The course is intended for students who have completed RUS 202 or passed a placement exam.

In this course, students will systematize and automatize previous knowledge, while learning to understand and convey information about increasingly more complex topics.. Highlights of the course include regular conversations with Russophone experts in several different spheres and a once weekly AT session with a native Russian speaker.

Prerequisites & Notes
RUS 202 or placement. 

RUS 319 - Advanced Russian: Contemporary Russian Culture

This course supports students’ development from intermediate to advanced proficiency in Russian, with a focus on contemporary Russian literature, culture, and politics. Guided by the textbook, Russian and Use, and supplemented by authentic readings and other media from contemporary Russia, students will strengthen their proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  All assignments and discussions in Russian.

Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
RUS 202 or equivalent.
Weekly AT session.
 

RUS 320 - Masterpieces of Russian Literature

Advanced reading and discussion of canonical works by Russian writers, such as Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Mayakovsky, Bulgakov, Pasternak, Akhmatova, and Tolstaya. This course is conducted in Russian.

Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement.
 

Prerequisites & Notes
RUS 202 or equivalent. 

RUS 370 - Twentieth-Century Russian Literature

This class is conducted entirely in Russian. It combines the study of Russian literature with the development of vocabulary and grammar skills for advanced speaking and writing. We will read, discuss, and analyze short works by masters of 20th century Russian literature in the original. In the course of our readings, we will also learn about major events in 20th-century Russian history that form the important context for these works.

Prerequisites & Notes
RUS 202 or equivalent. 

RUS 372 - Nabokov (in English)=LIT 372

All readings and discussion in English, with the option for Russian language readings for those with Russian.

Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.
Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement.
Satisfies an interdisciplinary minor requirement in Global Literary Theory
Satisfies a minor requirement in Russian Studies
Satisfies major requirements for CIS majors in Russian Studies, Russian Language & Literature, and Global Literary Theory

Prerequisites & Notes
(Fall)

RUS 373 - Nabokov & Global Literature (= LIT 372)

Vladimir Nabokov–brilliant writer, outrageous literary gamesman, and cosmopolitan exile–is a towering figure of twentieth-century literature. His most famous novel, Lolita, propelled him to international stardom and changed the transnational literary landscape. Child of a turbulent century, Nabokov wrote exquisite and at times disturbing prose in Russian and English, balancing between imaginary worlds and harsh realities. This seminar offers a sustained exploration of Nabokov’s major Russian and American writings as well as film adaptations of his Despair (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) and Lolita (Stanley Kubrick). In the second half of the seminar we turn to novels Nabokov haunts: Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran, J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace, Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence, and W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants. We will consider memory, exile, trauma, nostalgia, and identity as we read Nabokov, who saw existence as a “series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece.” All readings and discussion in English.

Satisfies a major requirement in CIS Russian Studies

Satisfies a major requirement in CIS Russian Language and Literature

Satisfies a major requirement in CIS Global Literary Theory

Satisfies a minor requirement in Russian Studies

Satisfies an interdisciplinary minor requirement in Global Literary Theory

Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing & Rhetoric requirement

Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement

RUS 395 - Independent Study for Advanced Students

Advanced study under the direction of the faculty member, who reviews and approves the topic and determines the means of evaluation of the student’s work.

395 (Fall)/396 (Spring)

Prerequisites & Notes
(Permission of the instructor.)

RUS 401 - Russian Folklore

Folkloric traditions and texts are a vitally important element of Russian culture. In this course we will read a range of Russian-language folktales, including medieval byliny, popular fairy tales as well as contemporary responses to folklore. We will also explore the folkloric traditions of some of the non-Slavic indigenous peoples whose ancestral lands are now part of the Russian Federation. Primary texts in Russian with secondary texts available in Russian and English.  Students will have one weekly AT session with a native speaker.
Satisfies the 400-level Russian language requirement for the major in Russian Studies and the major in Russian Language & Literature.

Prerequisites & Notes
RUS 202 or equivalent. 

Appropriate for any student who has completed RUS 202. Taught in Russian.
 

RUS 420 - Tolstoy’s War and Peace (in English)

In this course we devote the entire semester to Tolstoy’s masterpiece, War and Peace, alongside selected critical and theoretical readings. We consider everything from genre and historiography to the text’s surprising relevance in our current era of global upheaval and populism. War and Peace is frequently deemed the greatest novel ever written, yet its sheer size can be intimidating. Students find that tackling the novel for a class, alongside their peers, is the best way to keep up with the reading, while also getting the most from this incredibly rich text. After immersing yourself in War and Peace this semester, you will find that it stays with you throughout your life. No small promises, to be sure, but War and Peace delivers.

Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.
Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement.
Satisfies a requirement for the Russian minor.
Satisfies a requirement for the major in Russian Studies.
Satisfies a requirement for the major in Russian Language and Literature.
Satisfies an ENG seminar requirement.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
No knowledge of Russian required or expected.
Course is repeatable for credit given different topic/title.

RUS 430 - Dostoevsky Brothers (in translation)

This course is devoted to reading Dostoevsky’s final novel, The Brothers Karamazov, which includes the inserted narrative of “The Grand Inquisitor,” which is too often read in isolation from the novel as a whole. We will engage the text from theological, historical, philosophical, and narratological perspectives. Along the way, we will engage in the fascinating socio-historical context of the novel - a period of great reforms, active quests for social justice, and revolutionary movements that would lead to the assassination of the tsar the year after the novel was published, and to the Bolshevik Revolution less than forty years later.

Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement
Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement
Satisfies an ENG seminar requirement.
Satisfies a requirement in the Global Literary Theory interdisciplinary minor
Satisfies a requirement toward the Russian minor
Satisfies a requirement toward the major in Russian Studies
Satisfies a requirement toward the major in Russian Language & Literature

RUS 497 - Independent Study in English

A topic chosen by the student and researched under the direction of the faculty member, who reviews and approves the topic and determines the means of evaluation of the student’s work.

Prerequisites & Notes
Permission of the instructor.

RUS 498 - Independent Study in Russian

A topic chosen by the student and researched under the direction of the faculty member, who reviews and approves the topic and determines the means of evaluation of the student’s work.

Prerequisites & Notes
Permission of Instructor

SIL 111 - Beginning Dutch

SIL 115 - Beginning Italian

SIL 116 - Continuing Italian

SIL 117 - Intermediate Italian

SIL 120 - Beginning American Sign Language

SIL 121 - Intermediate American Sign Language

SIL 122 - Continuing American Sign Language

SIL 125 - Beginning Korean

SIL 126 - Continuing Korean

SIL 131 - Beginning Modern Greek

SIL 132 - Continuing Modern Greek

SIL 138 - Beginning Swedish

SIL 139 - Continuing Swedish

SIL 140 - Intermediate Swedish

SIL 141 - Beginning Brazilian Portuguese

SIL 142 - Continuing Brazilian Portuguese

SIL 143 - Intermediate Brazilian Portuguese