This course offers an opportunity to explore a topic in the study of religion. Topics vary depending on the instructor. When offered, a detailed course description of the topic will be available on the Department for the Study of Religion website.

What can the earliest writings of Early Christianity tell us about the movement and its founding figure? We examine these writings critically and historically in order to understand the immense variety of early Christianity as it grew within Judaism and within the Greco-Roman World. No familiarity with Christianity or the New Testament is expected

This course offers a critical examination of the role of biblical texts (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and New Testament) within the history, literature, and culture of the United States of America. It will employ a range of methodological perspectives to explore the use, influence, and impact of biblical interpretation especially regarding claims of American identity. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew or Greek is required.

This course provides a critical introduction to the book of Genesis. It examines the historical and literary contexts of Genesis and engages diverse methods of contemporary biblical scholarship, such as narrative analysis, gender analysis, and history of interpretation. This course highlights the use of Genesis in various Jewish and Christian communities and in popular culture, including music, film, and visual arts. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew or Greek is required.

The first semester of an introduction to Classical Sanskrit for beginners. Students build grammar and vocabulary, and begin to read texts in Sanskrit. Complete beginners are welcome. Two sections of the course will be offered: an on-campus class meeting and an online section via live webinar participation. The final exam will require attendance on the St. George campus, or in another authorized exam centre.

An introduction to Classical Tibetan language for beginners. Development of basic grammar and vocabulary, with readings of simple texts. Two sections of the course may be offered: an on-campus class meeting and an online section. The final exam will require attendance on the St. George campus, or in another authorized exam centre.

The second semester of an introduction to Classical Tibetan language course for beginners. Continued work on grammar and vocabulary, advancing to reading texts. Two sections of the course may be offered: an on-campus class meeting and an online section. The final exam will require attendance on the St. George campus, or in another authorized exam centre.

The second semester of an introduction to Classical Sanskrit for beginners. Students continue to build grammar and vocabulary, and use that knowledge to read texts in Sanskrit. The course will be offered online via live webinar participation.

This course offers an opportunity to students interested in Buddhism to read, analyze, and discuss select simple passages from the scriptures of the Theravada canon in their original language. It will cover philosophical, psychological, and narrative texts and their interpretation, as well as provide a first exposure to the Pali Language.

This course offers an opportunity to students interested in Buddhism and with basic knowledge of Pali to read, analyze, and discuss select simple passages from the scriptures of the Theravada canon in their original language. It will cover philosophical, psychological, and narrative texts and their interpretation.

The existence of evil poses a problem to theistic beliefs and raises the question as to whether a belief in a deity is incompatible with the existence of evil and human (or other) suffering. This course examines the variety of ways in which religions have dealt with the existence of evil.

Theories of the self that involve the constitutive role of language in its various forms. Problems of socially-conditioned worldviews and sense of self as related to discourse. Myth, symbol, metaphor, and literary arts as vehicles for personality development and self-transformation along religious lines.

Museums have long collected and curated religious objects for public audiences, with missionaries as a primary collections source. Multiple visits to the Royal Ontario Museum and other museums will enable students to think critically about how museums received and presented these objects, while engaging with the challenges of museum curation.

Immigrants have transformed cities through religious practices. Explore how transnational migration has affected religious diversity and vitality in metropolitan areas. Through discussion, site visits and analysis, students will examine the ways that immigrants use religion to make home, challenges around the establishment of new religious structures, and policy designed to accommodate new religious practices and communities.

We will explore the dynamic inter-relations of women, ethnicities and minorities, among others, within the context of religion in this age of human rights, focusing on the contemporary global context. Our aim will be to include both theory and praxis. The approach will be intersectional, cross-cultural, inter-religious and inter-disciplinary. We will do this by drawing on both academic and non-academic resources, grassroots movements as well as global initiatives to approach these issues.

This course examines select modern thinkers and their critical approaches to the nature and significance of religious beliefs and practices. Hobbes, Spinoza, Hume, and Kant are among the major thinkers studied.

A study of women in the religious traditions of South and East Asia, including historical developments, topical issues, and contemporary women's movements.

This course explores attitudes towards sexuality, gender, and women’s bodies in Islamic thought and history. We will read foundational religious texts, classic works of law and ethics, poetry, and historical documents, as well as contemporary reflections by Muslim feminist thinkers. Topics to be discussed include sexual ethics within and outside of marriage, consent to marriage and divorce, contraception and abortion, menstruation, modest dress, gender-based segregation, same-sex sexual attraction, and gender non-conformity.

This course equips students to understand the religious roots of modern formations of gender, sexuality, and kinship, focusing in particular on Judaism, Christianity, and New Religious Movements. Topics we will cover include: the transformation of traditional religious structures into the modern “religion of romantic love,” the reshaping of religious practices within the modern nuclear family and its gendered division of labour, the persistent religious entanglements within not only normative but also queer and transgressive gender performances and kinship structures, the political asymmetries within which different religious modernities emerge, and the role of literature in preserving religious enchantment in modernity.

The study of pilgrimage has become increasingly prominent in anthropology and religious studies in recent decades. Why should this be? This course provides some answers while engaging in a cross cultural survey and analysis of pilgrimage practices. We also explore whether research into pilgrimage has wider theoretical significance.

We examine rituals of transition from one social status to another (such as childbirth, coming of age, marriage) from theoretical, historical and ethnographic perspectives. We pay particular attention to the importance of rites of passage in the construction of gendered identities.

People acting in the name of religion(s) have incited violence and worked for peace. How can we understand this tension both today and in the past? Through examination of the power of authoritative tradition, collective solidarity, charisma, and acts of resistance, this course addresses religious justifications of violence and non-violence across varied historical and geographical contexts.

How did we get to where we are now? How did humans come to be so alienated from nature? This course will examine how religion, particularly that of the Latin West, has shaped the understanding of, and interaction with, nature on a global level. It examines the complex shift from understanding nature as sacred and revelatory, to its conceptualisation as a commodity and resource. Students will explore the ethical and cultural consequences of this shift for the human-nature relationship, and contemporary attempts to recover sacred notions of nature in the context of the environmental crisis.

This course introduces students to various religious approaches to death, the dead, and afterlife. Through considering different ways in which death has been thought about and dealt with, we will also explore different understandings of life and answers to what it means to be human.

Judaism and Christianity in the period from 70 C.E. to 200 C.E. The course focuses on the relationship between the two religious groups, stressing the importance of the setting within the Roman Empire.

This course provides a critical examination of the Hebrew Bible (sometimes called the Old Testament) with an emphasis on women characters. It examines the historical and literary contexts of Hebrew Bible texts and engages diverse methods of contemporary biblical scholarship with particular attention to issues of gender. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.

Careful examination of the earliest “lives of Jesus” (‘gospels’) shows that they offer very different portraits of Jesus of Nazareth. The course will compare ancient biographical accounts of famous ancient figures such as Alexander the Great, the Caesars, and wandering philosophers with early depictions of Jesus, both the gospels that eventually were included in the New Testament, and extra-canonical or “apocryphal” gospels such as the Gospels of Thomas, Peter, or Mary.

To what extent does Jesus who lived and taught in first-century Galilee and Judea align with the picture of Jesus in early Christian writings? We examine the methods for discerning the historical Jesus and the portraits that result from rigorous application of those methods

An examination of Paul’s life and thought as seen in the early Christian literature written by him (the seven undisputed letters), about him (the Acts of the Apostles, the Acts of Paul) and in his name (falsely authored compositions in early Christianity).

From politics to popular culture, the Bible has shaped people and nations for good and for ill. This course introduces the Jewish and Christian Bibles and considers case studies of how biblical texts have been interpreted. The Bible has been used to bolster slavery and white supremacy and to inspire political liberation movements. It has been used to justify annihilation of Indigenous people by Christian colonists yet given hope to Jews that next year in Jerusalem might be better. How can the same “book” be used for such different purposes? This course focuses on the cultural and political consequences of biblical interpretation. An underlying premise is that the Bible is not static but is rather a nomadic text as it is continuously interpreted in ways that sometimes contribute to human flourishing, but also can result in violence, human diminishment, or death.