Religious Studies Course Descriptions

RELIG1101 Introduction to Religious Studies (R)

This course offers an introduction to the academic study of religion. In addition to some of the theories of religion, students will explore some of the most common phenomena found in religious traditions, such as symbols, rituals, human identity, ethics, ideas of the afterlife, and so forth.
Fall and spring semester. 4 credits

RELIG1103 Introduction to Catholic Theology (R)

This course explores the role and significance of religion in the human search for meaning through a consideration of major themes in Roman Catholic theology. It examines theologies of God, Jesus, church and sacraments with attention both to history and contemporary perspectives. Students are encouraged to bring their own search for meaning into dialogue with the readings which will include reflection on the lives and writings of significant figures whose spiritual quests have led them to Catholicism.
Fall and spring semester. 4 credits

RELIG1111 Introduction to the Bible (R)

The Christian Bible consists of two parts: the first Testament contains those sacred texts that comprise the Jewish Bible, and the second Testament adds the early Christian writings held sacred by the Church. This course explores the meaning of these texts to believing communities today by examining the cultural, theological and historical influences that shaped them. Students become acquainted with the basic plot, characters, literary forms, religious institutions, theology and ethical teachings of the Bible.
Fall and spring semesters. 4 credits.

RELIG2105 Introduction to Judaism (R)

This course offers an introduction to Judaism and surveys its history. It examines scripture, beliefs, ritual, ethics, intellectual life and the roles of women.
Offered as needed. 4 credits

RELIG2107 Protestant Traditions in the United States (R)

In this course, students study Protestant traditions as they have developed within the United States. The major theological ideas that emerge after the Protestant Reformation are examined; particularly, as they have influenced and been influenced by cultures and society within the United States. In addition to the mainstream denominations, special consideration is given to the Black churches, to traditions that have developed in the United States (such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Christian Science), and to the divide between fundamentalist and liberal Protestantism.
Fall semester, alternate years, expected fall 2008. 4 credits

RELIG2108 Religion and the Environment: Ethical Explorations (R)

In this course, students will engage the debate about the relationship between humans and their environment from a comparative religious ethical perspective. Discussion will address such questions as the roots of current environmental concerns, various religious ethical perspectives on these concerns and personal responsibility to the other-than-human world.
Fall semester, alternate years, expected fall 2007. 4 credits

RELIG2111 Love & Justice: Christian Ethics (R)

In this approach to Christian Ethics, students explore personal and social justice as the test of Christian love of God and neighbor. Discussions include the impact on contemporary Christian ethics of biblical scholarship, church tradition, philosophy, and the social and physical sciences. The course also examines, from a Christian perspective, some of the ethical issues relating to such areas as sexuality, health care, politics, economics and the environment.  This course contains a servic learning component.
Fall and spring semester. 4 credits

RELIG2114 The Prophets and Prophetic Literature (R)

The teaching of the biblical prophets enshrines core social and religious value: the centrality of social justice, the ethical life as expressive of religious commitment, the role of God and religion in humanizing society. This course will examine in depth the central teachings of the biblical prophets. It will consider the prophets in their historical and cross-cultural contexts, explore the distinctive prophetic literature, and address the relevance of prophetic teachings today.
Fall semester, alternate years, expected fall, 2007. 4 credits

RELIG2130 Catholic Social Teaching (R)

This course will provide an introduction to over 100 years of Catholic social teaching, using papal encyclicals and pastoral letters from the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops primarily. Analysis of the documents and critiques of the teachings will also be used. Each of the documents will be grounded in its sociological, political, economic and religious context. A service-learning component will be included in the course introducing students to service to people in poverty in the Boston area. The mission of national and international Catholic social justice organizations will also be highlighted.
Spring semester. 4 credits

RELIG2135 World Religions (R)

Students will encounter some of the world's many religious traditions by studying their origins, writings, rituals and beliefs as well as contemporary expressions of these religions.
Fall and spring semesters. 4 credits

RELIG2143 History of Christianity I: Creeds, Councils and Controversy (R)

(Cross-referenced with SOC2131)
This survey course will address the major historical, theological and doctrinal developments in the Christian church from its Judaic roots and the life of Jesus to the Reformation. Special attention will be paid to the relationship between the church and larger culture throughout the period.
Fall semester. 4 credits

RELIG2145 History of Christianity II: Reformation to the Present (R)

This survey course will address the major historical, theological and doctrinal developments in the Christian church from the Reformation to the present. Special attention will be paid to the relationship between the church and larger culture throughout the period.
Spring semester. 4 credits

RELIG2151 Religious Traditions of Rome (R)

This course will explore the various religious traditions that have shaped life in Rome from ancient times to today. We will explore the intersection of religious beliefs and practices with art, architecture, politics and cultural practices such as family life, leisure, economics and learning. Offered during spring break with pre-trip and post-trip meetings required.
Expected spring 2008. 4 credits.

RELIG2201 War, Peace and Religions (R)

Does Religion primarily pacify or foment violence? Adherents of many of the world's religions understand their religions to be religions of peace. Yet there is no denying the many instances of religiously inspired violence in today's world. This course will explore the ways in which world religions promote war and peace, with an eye towrds understanding when and how our own religious communities can be more effective at peacemaking and the promotion of human rights.
Spring Semester, alternate years. 4 credits.

RELIG2202 Hinduism (R)

Hinduism: This course will provide the student with an introductory knowledge of the Hindu tradition. Over the semester we will study the historical development, diverse beliefs, exemplary practices, ethical teachings, and primary texts of Hinduism. We will also participate in field trips to Hindu communities in Boston, thereby gaining anthropological knowlede of the Hindu-American community. By the end of the course, the student will have acquired rigorous scientific knowlede of Hinduism. Just a importantly, the student will have obtained a sympathetic yet critical undertanding of the diverse strains of this ancient tradition.
Spring Semester, alternate years. 4 credits.

RELIG2203 Ethics in the N.T.: Discipleship and Community (R)

Christian morality can only be "Christian" in reference to Jesus Christ, who, according to Christian faith, continues to call people to follow him and to become his disciples. Today's Christian can only encounter Jesus Christ and get to know him through the community of his disciples and through the traditions preserved by that community, the core of which is present in the New Testament. This course will engage a wide array of texts from the New Testament in order to characterize both the kind of ethics that it proposed to Christians at the time when the diverse documents contained in it were originally written, and the kind of ethics that it proposes to Christians today. The course will also include an introduction to diverse ethical models and systems espoused by Christian authors today, with special emphasis on virtue ethics.
Spring semester, alternate years. 4 credits.

RELIG2205 Gospels: Portraits of Jesus (R)

This course will further students' knowledge of the Gospels as the foundational documents of Christianity and as an indispensable source for the development of a sound ethical life. The gospels are the shared tradition of the entire Christian tradition (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox) and are, as such, essential documents both of religious culture and western civilization.
Fall semester, alternate years. 4 credits

RELIG2207 Church: Sacramental Community for Justice (R)

While Americans continue to believe in God and value spirituality, participation in religious institutions is declining. At the same time, Christianity insists on the necessity of the church as community with other believers. Why does the Christian tradition consider this dimension of faith to be so crucial? And what is the relationship of the church to such important current issues as peace, justice, the environment, and women's rights? The course will also examine contemporary understandings and experience of the sacraments and what it means to say that the church is a sacramental community. Although primarily focused on the Catholic church, there will be considerable comparative attention to other Christian communities and the ecumenical movement toward dialogue among them.
Fall semester, alternate years. 4 credits

RELIG2209 History of Chrstianity: Between Prophecy and Compromise (R)

In order for the students to better understand Christian thought and doctrines, it is very important that they understand how Christian thought always develops in a historical context and necessarily evolves according to historical changes and new challenges facing each individual believer and the Christian Church as a whole. A historical survey course like this not only offers the students the possibility to engage a wide array of theological, practical, and doctrinal issues within Christianity, but also encourages them to establish bridges between what they are leaning about Christianity in this course and what they are learning about Western civilization and world history in other courses such as history, art history, philosophy, political science, etc.
Fall semester, alternate years. 4 credits

RELIG2211 Islam (R)

This course will introduce students to Islam from its classical period to the present day, including its interaction with the west. Particular attention will be paid to ethical teachings and practices, the lived experiences of Muslims, and the theological, cultural and geographical diversity within the tradition. The course will include a field trip to a local mosque.
Fall semester, alternate years. 4 credits

RELIG3128 Women in the World Religions (R)*

This course addresses issues of concern to women in comparative perspective. Drawing on women’s voices from multiple religious and cultural traditions, the course explores such issues as women’s leadership roles, languages and imagery, family life and sexuality, relationship to sacred texts, and so forth.
Spring semester. 4 credits
Prerequisite: Junior or senior status or permission of instructor

RELIG3129 Women in Christian Traditions (R)*

The religious and social experiences of women in the various Christian traditions form the basis for this course. Topics include the changing roles women have played in multiple cultural, historical and denominational expressions of Christianity; language and imagery; leadership and women’s ordination; topics of particular interest to class participants.
Fall semester. 4 credits
Prerequisite: Junior or senior status or permission of instructor

RELIG3131 Human Relationships: Christian Perspectives (R)

This course explores diverse Christian views on human sexuality and relationships with particular attention to issues of social justice and peace, gender and sexual orientation.
Spring semester. 4 credits
Prerequisite: Junior or senior status or permission of instructor

RELIG3133 Social Justice and Religious Traditions (R)

The relationship of social issues with religious belief and commitment is the subject of investigation in this course. Students will study past and present social teachings of some of the major religious traditions; exploring how religious beliefs can translate into social visions of justice, developing some tools and techniques of social and religious analysis, and discussing and analyzing social issues of particular concern to class participants in light of how some of today’s religious communities struggle to resolve these concerns.
Fall semester, alternate years, expected fall 2007. 4 credits
Prerequisite: Junior or senior status or permission of instructor

RELIG3135 Contemporary Issues in Roman Catholicism (R)

This course deals with selected issues of concern in the Roman Catholic Church that arise out of the church’s encounter with contemporary cultures. These issues will be examined in their historical context especially in the light of Vatican Council II’s teaching. Students have the opportunity to choose a research project in an area of their own particular interest.
Spring semester, alternate years, expected spring 2008. 4 credits
Prerequisite: Junior or senior status, or permission of instructor

RELIG3137 Spirituality and Mysticism (R)

In this course, students will investigate some of the many ways the human search for the spiritual depth of experience has manifested itself through the centuries, and today. Through such examples as Christian mysticism, Jewish Kabbalah and Muslim Sufism, we will examine the relationship between spirituality and religious traditions. Some attention will be given to Eastern mystical traditions. Students will be encouraged to reflect on and articulate their own spirituality in the context of these explorations.
Fall semester, expected fall 2007. 4 credits
Prerequisite: Junior or senior status, or permission of instructor

RELIG3139 Contemporary Christian Thought (R)

This course will explore the lives and thought of significant Christian thinkers of the twentieth century. The class will examine thinkers who represent or embody the theological appropriation of, or response to, the major philosophical or cultural movements in the twentieth century--existentialism, Marxism, Nazism, technological development, the nuclear threat, facism, movements toward liberation, feminism, science, pluralism and post-modernism. Because thinkers will be examined from the standpoint of their relationship with elements of secular culture, the course will necessarily involve treatment of twentieth century philosophical and cultural movements and the persons or schools of thought that represent them.
Spring semester, alternate years, expected spring 2008. 4 credits.
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing or permission of instructor

RELIG3141 Interpretations of the Bible: Genesis to Deuteronomy (R)

This course will enable students to acquire a detailed familiarity with the characters, plot, and theological concerns of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). Moreover, it will introduce students to the main approaches in modern historical biblical interpretation, as well as ancient Christian and Jewish methods of biblical interpretation.
Fall semester, alternate years, expected fall 2008. 4 credits
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing or permission of instructor

RELIG3143 Interpreting Vatican Council II: Tradition and Transition (R)

This course is an exploration of the impact of Vatican Council II on the life and ministry of the church today. It will examine the continuing relevance of Vatican II for the life of the church today and the conflict of interpretations over its meaning. Topics will include the mission of the church, roles of laity and women, leadership and authority, ecumenism and the relationship of Mary and the church.
Spring semester, alternate years, expected spring 2009. 4 credits
Prerequisites: Junior or senior status or permission of instructor

RELIG4178 Directed Study

4 credits
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor

RELIG4182 Directed Research

4 credits
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor