This course seeks to introduce students to leading themes and concepts in the study of religions from the ancient world to the present. The course is divided into several parts: 1) Religion and Society examines how religion has been defined and what its place in human societies has been; 2) Religion and Revelation considers several different ways in which religious knowledge or experience happens and how human beings understand it and put it to use; 3) Religion as Material Culture explores how bodies, images, spaces, and artifacts shape religions; 4) Religion and Its Interpreters focuses on an anthropologist’s account of a religion that she eventually becomes involved in; and 5) Religion as Relationship looks at the importance of relationships in the experience of a contemporary religion in the United States as the basis for understanding the response of deity to human invocation. The course ends with several reflections on authority and authenticity in religion.
REL 101: Introduction to Religious Studies
