Browse through the courses below to explore courses that will fulfill certain degree requirements in the Religious Studies program.
When registering for classes on the Course Timetable website, be sure to carefully read through the "Notes/Additional Fees" section of each course you select.
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Not all of the courses below will necessarily be offered in any given year.
AP/RLST 1400 9.00 Culture & Society in East Asia
No single course can adequately address the richness and complexity of the cultures and societies of East Asia. However, this course will introduce students to important practices and concepts from a broadly humanistic perspective and ...
AP/RLST 1845 6.00 Islamic Traditions
This course examines the beliefs, doctrines and institutions that have constituted the Islamic tradition from its inception until the present. While examining some of the most important primary sources that have emerged within Islamic tradition, ...
AP/RLST 1850 6.00 The Bible & Modern Contexts
This course offers a survey of much of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the Christian Bible (New Testament). We begin with a discussion of pre-Israelite religion (i.e., a reconstruction of religion in Palestine before ...
AP/RLST 1860 6.00 The Nature of Religion
Explores the nature of religious faith, religious language (myth and symbol) and clusters of religious beliefs through an examination of the primary texts of several major world religions. Methodologies for the study of religion will ...
AP/RLST 1865 6.00 Introduction to World Religions
This course introduces students to a variety of human religious experiences and traditions. This year we will explore the history, literature, practices and contemporary issues of the following religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Chinese and Japanese ...
AP/RLST 2035 3.00 Asian Philosophical Traditions
An introduction to the major philosophical traditions of India and China. RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: Multiple Cross-listed as AP/PHIL 2035 3.00.
AP/RLST 2040 3.00 Introduction to Islamic Philosophy
An introduction to some of the key figures, seminal texts, and main themes of Islamic philosophy in the classical period. Authors may include: al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Ghazali, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: ...
AP/RLST 2090 3.00 Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion
Does God exist? Can religious belief be explained away? What is the relationship between faith and reason? Through a selection of classic readings, this course provides a survey of some central topics in the philosophy ...
AP/RLST 2790 6.00 Islamic Civilization (622–1400)
This course explores the development and nature of Islamic civilization from the seventh century to 1400 AD. RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: Islam Cross-listed as AP/HIST 2790 6.00.
AP/RLST 3095 3.00 Philosophy of Religion
How do theistic philosophies deal with the fact of evil? Are religious language and forms of knowing distinct from other forms? What are the moral and ethical issues inherent in religious propagation? RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: ...
AP/RLST 3105 6.00 Greek and Roman Religion
This course examines Greek and Roman religious beliefs and practices from an interdisciplinary perspective. Special attention is given to four major approaches to the divine (ritual, myth, art and philosophy) and their integration with other ...
AP/RLST 3110 6.00 Ancient Israel: From its Origins in the Settlement to the Babylonian Exile
A survey of the history of ancient Israel within its ancient Near Eastern context from its putative origins in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1200 BCE) through its flowering in the Iron Age (or First ...
AP/RLST 3115 6.00 Myth in Ancient Greece: Texts and Theories
This course examines Greek myths of gods and heroes in their social, religious and historical contexts through close reading of primary texts and visual representations and through analysis of modern comparative, psychoanalytical and structuralist theories. ...
AP/RLST 3320 6.00 Anthropology of Ritual and Religion
How major anthropological thinkers seek to explain the variety and complexity of human ritual and symbolic behaviour informs this course. Ethnographic examples and materials on ritual events, religious symbolism, and belief systems will enrich this ...
AP/RLST 3439 3.00 How Irish Saved Civilization
Examines the remarkable cultural achievements of the Irish, how they kept the lamps of learning, literature and material culture (manuscript, painting, ornamental metalwork) burning following the barbarian invasions of the fifth century and the decline ...
An introduction to Gnosticism, a second century religious movement that intersected and overlapped with Christianity and Judaism. Emphasis will be on readings of primary sources. The course objective are to acquaint students with the theories ...
AP/RLST 3481 6.00 World Religions
Examines selected religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism with special reference to selected texts, traditions and thought. RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: Multiple
AP/RLST 3650 3.00 Sociology of Religion
Introduces sociological approaches to religion in a contemporary social and global cultural context. Traces the changes from the sociological classics to contemporary theories of religion and secularism that reflect the intertwined nature of these categories ...
AP/RLST 3651 3.00 God/USA: Religion in American since 1491
Explores the key themes, critical questions, and entrenched conflicts about the place of religion during the long and varied history of American civic and cultural life. It analyzes Native-Newcomer religious tensions, disestablishment, uniquely American religions, ...
AP/RLST 3780 6.00 History of the Christian Church: Beginnings to Reformation
Explores the stages of the developing Christian church from its origins in apostolic times to the late Middle Ages. Topics include personalities, institutional structure, leadership and rules, thought, education, liturgical and spiritual life, pastoral care, ...
AP/RLST 3795 3.00 A Cultural History of Satan
This course investigates the origins, development, significance, and social functions of personified evil--Satan and his demons--in early Judaism and in the history of Christianity. We will consider some of the most important literary and visual ...
AP/RLST 3801 6.00 Thinking Religion in South Asia
This course explores the teachings of selected religious traditions of South Asian and examines the category of religion as it is applied to South Asia in the context of oriental discourses. RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: Hinduism
AP/RLST 3802 3.00 Sikh History and Thought
An overview of Sikhism, major texts of Sikh tradition, and the rich array of poetics, musical thought and languages involved. It exposes students to the Sikh geographical imagination which emerges in sacred texts, place and ...
AP/RLST 3815 6.00 Aspects of Islamic Thought
This course introduces students to some of the major aspects of classical Islamic thought focusing on their development, diversity, and influences. The course explores the writings of leading figures in Islamic theology, jurisprudence, mysticism and ...
AP/RLST 3818 3.00 Sacred Space and Ritual Practices In Islam
The course examines the plurality of rituals and devotional practices in Islam and the variety of spaces and places engendered by Muslim worship and devotion from early Islam to the contemporary period. It examines the ...
AP/RLST 3831 3.00 Torah & Tradition: Jewish Religious Expressions from Antiquity to the Present
This course offers an exploration of Jewish beliefs, institutions, and bodies of literature, emphasizing continuities and changes in religious expression within and across different places, circumstances, and times. Themes covered include God, the Jewish people, ...
AP/RLST 3840 6.00 Rabbinic Judaism: Thought and Institutions
This course will present a broad exposure to the history, thought, literature, and main institutions of Rabbinic Judaism from its inception, during the Second Temple period, through contemporary times. We will explore a variety of ...
AP/RLST 3975 3.00 Science and Religion
Examination of the relationship between science and religion through a study of the implications of the following intellectual developments for religious thought: the rise and triumph of Newtonian science, the Darwinian revolution, relativity theory, quantum ...
AP/RLST 4100 6.00 Selected Problems in Israelite History
Problems in the determination of the international relations of the Israelite states in the Iron Age. Sources, written and unwritten, from Israel, Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt and Israel's smaller neighbours will be examined in the course ...
AP/RLST 4430 6.00 Living Confucianism
No one has had a greater impact on Chinese culture than Confucius. His ideas about self-cultivation, the proper ordering of society, the role of the individual in the social order, the relationship between humanity and ...
AP/RLST 4653 6.00 Advanced Studies in Religion
Allows students to pursue a supervised program of research in the advanced study of religion. Topics can include focused projects in specific ancient religious texts; contemporary religious issues; or religion and literature, philosophy or psychology. ...
AP/RLST 4814 3.00 The Qur’An and Its Interpreters
This course focuses on the Qur'an and its different interpretations. Historical, linguistic, literary, sectarian, Sufi, feminist, modernist and traditionalist approaches are considered in the discussion of selected readings from the Qur'an in English translation. COURSE ...
AP/RLST 4815 3.00 Studies in Islamic Mysticism
The course examines the development of Islamic mystical tradition (Sufism) in reference to two issues: one, the development of Sufism as a form of social organization institutionalized in the tarîqa orders, and two, the employment ...
AP/RLST 4820 3.00 Transformation of Jewish Thought & Culture
Jewish thought and culture are explored over a millennium (800-1800), focusing on transformations of the classical (biblical-rabbinic) legacy and interplay with the Islamic and Christian religio-cultural spheres in which they developed. RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: Judaism
AP/RLST 4825 6.00 Diversity in Early Christianity
This course explores diversity in early Christian thought and practice by investigating groups traditionally viewed as “heretical.” This will include analysis of the New Testament Apocrypha, Nag Hammadi writings, and the opponents attacked in canonical ...