Department of Religious Studies

Course Descriptions

102. Science and Religion in the Modern and Post-Modern World. The relationship between science and religion during the last two centuries. Truth, the nature of reality and the possibilities and limits of human knowledge. Compatibility of science and faith, scientific cosmologies (such as the Big Bang Theory) and Creation; twentieth-century physics and God; the place of humanity and human intelligence in the universe. [3] Staff.

103. Catholicism: An Historical Introduction. The development of Catholic piety, prayer and asceticism, of consecrated life, of ritual and liturgical practice in community. Institutions particular to Catholic Christianity (the papacy, the episcopate, territorial parishes, monasticism, and religious orders). Central doctrines (the Triune God, Christ as Savior, the interpretation of the Bible, and the sacraments). [3] Burns

106. The Hebrew Bible and Its Interpretations. An examination of selected Biblical texts and how they have been understood through the centuries and in modern scholarship. Use of archeological, historical, and literary approaches. [3] Cherry.

107. Introduction to African-American Religious Traditions. Historical survey of the leadership, dynamics, and cultural milieu of African American religious traditions. Institutional expressions and theologies from the colonial period for the present. [3] Baldwin.

108. Themes in the Hebrew Bible. A thematic introduction to the Hebrew Scripture/Old Testament. Selected themes -- such as creation, revelation, covenant, law, suffering, messianic expectation -- are traced through the diverse parts of the Bible (Pentateuch, Prophetic Writings, and Wisdom Literature) as well as in early Jewish texts. The comparison of the various expressions of these themes shows both the distinctiveness of each document and the continuity of the Biblical faith through the centuries. [3] Staff.

109. Themes in the New Testament. A comparative study of the New Testament documents following central themes -- such as salvation; evil and sin; the roles of Christ, God, and the Spirit; discipleship; the church; sacred history. The distinctive teaching of each New Testament document as related to a concrete historical setting. Comparison with similar themes in Jewish and Hellenistic texts of that period. [3] Patte.

110. Introduction to Southern Religion and Culture. An exploration of the histories of evangelical and non-evangelical expressions in Southern religious culture from the colonial period to the present. The evangelical thrust of Southern culture, with some attention to Catholicism, Judaism, and other religious modes considered outside the mainstream of that culture. [3] Baldwin.

112. Introduction to Judaism. The Jewish religious tradition as it developed from Biblical times to the present. Emphasis on the rabbi as authoritative interpreter of Scripture. Discussion will include alternate modes of religious authority in Judaism such as mystical experience and messianism. Offered alternately with 222. [3] Staff.

113. Introduction to Islam. An historical overview of the different religious traditions in Islam, their basis in the Qur'an and life of the Prophet, their proliferation in the medieval period, and their response to the challenge of modernity. Topics include sunni and shi'i Islam, evolution of law and theology, sufism and political philosophy. Islam in Africa, India, Spain, and southeast Asia as well as the Middle East. [3] Messier.

114. Introduction to the African American Philosophies of Religion. Contemporary African American scholars. The idea of God, the problem of evil and suffering. The problem of divine revelation and religious knowledge, and the contributions of religion to problems of human identity, and difference. [3] Anderson (Divinity School).

115, 115W. Freshman Seminar. [3]

120. Religion and Human Development. An examination of psychological theories of human development and their relationship to types of religious personality. Works by contemporary psychologists, especially L. Kohlberg, are used to assess the validity of commonly made distinctions between mature and immature religion. Biographical and autobiographical materials about religious personalities are used as test cases for the theories discussed. [3] Gay.

117. Islam in the African American Experience. An introduction to expressions of Islam in the African American community from enslaved African Muslims in antebellum America to the Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, the Hanafis, the Five-Percenters, and other contemporary movements. Focus on doctrinal and institutional developments, and Islamic relationships with other African American religious groups and Islamic world. [3] Baldwin.

120. Religion, Sexuality, and Power. What it means to be a person or to be recognized as a full-fledged member of a group. Ways in which each culture defines personhood. The role of religious beliefs in providing criteria for defining, and of religious practices in providing ways to achieve, the status of personhood. Uses anthropological and psychological materials as well as religious autobiographies. [3] Gay.

121. Religion and the Concept of Person. What it means to be a person to be recognized as a full-fledged member of a group. Ways in which each culture defines personhood. The role of religious beliefs in providing criteria for defining, and of religious practices in providing ways to achieve, the status of personhood. Uses anthropological and psychological materials as well as religious autobiographies. [3] Gay.

131. Themes in Western Religions. Introduction to the three monotheistic religions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- that trace their roots to Biblical Israel. Comparison in terms of evolution of selected rituals and beliefs and the relation of religion to social, political, and cultural institutions. [3] Staff.

132. Religion and Culture in Japan. Short stories, poetry, tea ceremony as windows upon Japanese experience. Transformation of Buddhism through the centuries according to Japanese assumptions of human nature, reality, and concept of ultimate. The Christian experience in Japan studied in terms of the influence of Japanese cultural ideals. [3] Staff.

133. Asia on Film. (Also listed as East Asian Studies 133) Cinematic perspectives on Asian religion and culture, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, and Confucian traditions in India, Tibet, Vietnam, China, Japan, and U.S. Politics and significance of representation and interpretation. [3] Arai.

140. Introduction to Western Religious Ethics. How major religions in the West have dealt with questions of personal morality and social justice. The main theological and philosophical traditions out of which Western religious moral thinking has taken shape. Varying approaches to specific problems such as abortion, war, euthanasia, and economic justice. [3] Staff.

145. Interfaith Dialogue and African American Culture. An examination of the lives, thought, and activities of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., with special attention to their significance as sources of dialogue for Christians and Muslims. Of particular importance are the constructive insights that these leaders provide for those who wish to understand the two great faith communities and culture in the African American context. [3] Baldwin.

150. Medicine, Healing and Spirituality. Cross-cultural inquiry into the perspectives of modern Western scientific medicine and Asian healing and spiritual practices. Analysis of cultural and religious influences on the concepts of illness and health and the relationship of body and mind. Directed field research project. [3] Arai.

180. History of Christian Traditions. (Also listed as History 213) Christian traditions from the origins to the present. Such themes as christology, church and state, and the social and cultural contexts of changing Christian beliefs, and views of the Church. [3] Harrington (History).

201. The Problem of Biblical Authority. Past and present controversies over the authority of scripture. Comparisons of doctrinal statements about scripture with actual uses of it by believers, both in history and today's churches and synagogues. [3] Patte.

202. Natural Science and the Religious Life. How scientific discoveries and religious teachings are related. Descriptions of the physical universe from Aristotle through Albert Einstein are compared to contemporaneous definitions of the moral life by religious thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Immanuel Kant, and Martin Buber. [3] Staff.

204. The Evangelical Movement in America. A study of the evangelical movement from its roots in eighteenth-century Western Europe to its present manifestations in twentieth- century America. Special attention to the development of this movement in black and white churches during the nineteenth-century in America, and to the religious and cultural context in which its major characteristics -- literal interpretation of the Bible, individual conversion, soul-winning mission, revival -- were established. [3] Baldwin.

205. The Black Church in American. The development of the black church from the late eighteenth century to the present. Black denominationalism, church leadership, and the involvement of the church in the social, cultural, intellectual, political, and economic areas of African American life. [3] Baldwin.

207. Jesus and the Jew. The Jewishness of Jesus. Religious and political thought of Jesus's day. Origins of the Jewish sect that became Christianity. Jesus in early Judaism; rabbinic Judaism; Phariasm. Political Rome in the shaping of Judaism and Christianity. [3} Davis.

208. The Hebrew Bible. Selective study of each of the three major divisions of the Hebrew Bible. The early Hebrew beginnings and development of the Law; the Prophets and their leading ideas in relation to social, political, economic, and religious tensions of their age; and the Wisdom books and later historical writing. [3] Weems (Divinity School).

209. The New Testament. Selective study of the New Testament writings, showing the main characteristics of early Christianity as compared and contrasted with early Judaism and Hellenistic religions. Themes include religious authority in early Christian communities and the types of faith and ethics found within the New Testament traditions. [3] Staff.

210. Interpreting the Gospels. The Gospels through history and cultures. A Survey of their interpretations from their original historical contexts, through the history of the church, and more recently in Catholic and Protestant churches after the Holocuast, in African-American churches, and in feminist circles. [3] Patte.

211. Jesus and the Early Christian Communities. A study of the ways in which the Gospel writers presented the traditions about Jesus in response to contemporary events, cultural situations, and religious questions that were current in first-century communities. The relation of the Jesus of history to the Gospel portrayals. Prerequisite: 109 or 209 or its equivalent. [3] Levine (Divinity School).

212. The Pauline Interpretation of Christianity. An introduction to Pauline Christianity and its place in the early church, using the letters of Paul, the deutero-Pauline letters, and the portrait of Paul in Acts. Alternate prerequisite: 109 or 209. [3] Patte.

213. Ethics of the New Testament. A study of the ethical teaching found in selected documents of the New Testament (such as the Sermon on the Mount, Luke-Acts, Paul's letters). A comparison of these documents in terms of the types of behavior expected of the believers and of the basis upon which their specific ethical teachings are established. [3] Patte.

214. Modern European Christianity. European Christianity since the mid-seventeenth century. Attention to influential political, social, cultural, and philosophical developments. Prerequisite: 107. [3] Johnson (Divinity School).

215. Formation of the Catholic Tradition. The expansion of Christianity, the development of doctrine, relationships with the Empire, and changing modes of Christian life from the second century into the middle ages, with emphasis on the periods and themes that are formative of the classical doctrines and institutional patterns. Focus on positions and attitudes still important today (not only in Catholicism but in Protestantism), on differences between contemporary assumptions and the realities of Christian life and thought in the past. Prerequisite: 107. [3] TeSelle (Divinity School).

216. Christianity in the Reformation Era. The setting of the Reformation (c. 1500-1648) and its developments together with consideration of some of the significant ecclesiastical, theological, and historical issues of the period. Attention to backgrounds and causes and examination of major individuals and ecclesiastical patterns. The aim of the course is to help students understand and interpret the events, become familiar with some of the major theological documents, and reflect upon questions of continuing historical interest that have come out of the Reformation. [3] Johnson (Divinity School).

217. The History of Religion in the United States. History of organized religion in the United States from the adoption of the Constitution to the present time, with emphasis on the period from the Civil War to the present. Prerequisite: 107. [3] Fitzmier (Divinity School).

218. The Mission of the Church in the New Testament and Today. Nature, focus and goal of mission in Matthew, Luke-Acts, John and selected Pauline letters against the background of contemporary mission issues. Emphasis on differences in perspectives among New Testament books. [3] Ukpong.

219. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Social Roles of Religion. King as religious leader and agent of social change. His views of the social roles of religion seen against the background of late nineteenth-century dissenting traditions and the early twentieth-century social gospel movement in America. Critical evaluations in terms of classical Christian views (e.g., Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Wesley). [3] Baldwin.

220. Ethical and Social Problems. Ethical and philosophical analysis of a range of contemporary social problems, such as poverty, violence, and homelessness. Implications for the construction of social poverty. [3]

221. Law in the Hebrew Bible. Legal materials in the Pentateuch, their relation to the prophetic movement, and the role of law in ancient Israel's thought and society against the ancient Near Eastern background. [3] Knight (Divinity School).

222. Jewish Ethics. A study of the logic and basic values which, in the Jewish tradition, guide thinking about moral problems. Examination of family and social ethical issues found in Talmud and other Jewish classical texts. Basic religious views of modern Jewish thinkers and their relation to contemporary Jewish life. Offered alternately with 112. [3] Staff.

223. Ethics and Feminism. (Also listed as Women's Studies 223) Implications of gender theory for understanding the Judeo-Christian moral traditions. Topics include: the nature of the moral subject, the social construction of gender, patriarchal consciousness, the abuse of women, black feminism, motherhood, and feminist ecology. [3] Welch.

225. Major Prophets of the Hebrew Bible. Study of Isaiah (1st and 2nd Isaiah), Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Emphasis on historical context in which the Prophets lived and wrote, basic themes developed in their books, and on their relevance for our times. [3]

226. Jewish and Christian Self-Definition in Antiquity. Topics explored through investigation of primary sources of formative Judaism, early Christianity, and Roman paganism include; messianism, sectarianism, and the "historical Jesus," anti-Judaism, persecutions, debates over Law, Temple, Land, the "people Israel," and salvation, the role of pagan society, canonization, symbol systems, and archaeology. Prerequisite: at least one of the following, 109, 112, 209, or equivalent. [3] Levine (Divinity School)

227. Religion and Politics in the Middle East: Land, Covenant, People. The interrelationship among religion, society, and politics in the contemporary claims to the Holy land made by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. An introduction to the historical, social, and theological foundations of these claims will take place on the Vanderbilt campus. Students then will spend time in Israel in supervised research in the communities and with the organizations involved in the debate. A final paper or project offering an interpretation and analysis of the field data will be required. [3] Staff.

228. Judaism and Modernity. A historical and cultural analysis of the dilemmas that Jewish emancipation presented to both Jews and non-Jews in Europe, examined through the study of a variety of popular and elite cultural representations of Jews. How antisemitism became entangled with modern understandings of identity in terms of gender, sexuality, race, and class. [3] Geller.

229. The Holocaust: Its Meaning and Implications. An interdisciplinary study of the systematic destruction of the European Jewish communities during World War II. Historical, social, political, cultural developments which led to it. Psychological and sociological dimensions of its aftermath. Philosophical and theological problems it raises for both Jews and Christians. [3] Geller.

230. Women and Religion. (Also listed as Women's Studies 230) Themes and issues in the traditions and texts of selected western religions from a feminist perspective. Biblical and theological images of women, sources of religious authority, psychological and ethical implications of feminist approaches to religion. FALL. [3] Welch.

231. Women in Buddhist Traditions. (Also listed as Women's Studies 231) Buddhist traditions through the contributions and concerns of women in various cultural contexts (India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, Japan, and North America) and time periods (ancient and modern). Critical analysis of practices, texts, and hermeneutical schemes that foster divergent images of women. [3] Arai.

232. Feminist Interpretations of Scripture. (Also listed as Women's Studies 232) Issues, methods, and interpretations in

contemporary feminist research on the Bible and on the history of early Christianity. Prerequisite: 108, 109, 208 or 209. [3] Levine (Divinity School).

234. Post-Freudian Theories and Religion. An examination of contemporary European and American schools of

psychoanalysis. Focus on both the clinical and explanatory theories as they relate to the examination of religious experience.

Recommended: 120 or 121. [3] Gay.

235. Freudian Theories and Religion. A critical assessment of psychoanalytic theories as an explanation of religious

behavior. Study of the basic structure of these theories followed by a systematic critique of texts by Sigmund Freud and Erik

Erikson. Examination of religious narrative forms. Recommended: 120 or 121. [3] Gay.

236. The Religious Self according to Jung. The religious core of human existence as related to the concepts of the archaic

unconscious and the birth of the self in C. G. Jung's analytical psychology. Study of the life and thought of Jung as illustrated by

his autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Critical assessment of his theory as a means for understanding religious

phenomena. [3] Gay.

237. Psychology of Religious Myth and Ritual. Examination of religious rituals and myths from both Christian and other

traditions. Critical review of major psychological theories of ritual and myth. Their relevance to an understanding of myth and

ritual as religious phenomena. [3] Gay.

238. Death, Religion, and Human Meaning. Views of death as fundamental ideas conditioning human attitudes toward

existence. Theoretical responses of religion, philosophy, and modern thought. Readings and lectures from literature, medicine,

and philosophy, as well as religion. [3]

239. Religious Autobiography. (Also listed as Humanities 239, Comparative Literature 239) The construction of identity in

religious autobiography: motivations (personal salvation, witness, proselytism); relationships among self, God, and religious

tradition; role of memory; cultural, gender, and religious differences. Readings may include Augustine, Gandhi, Malcolm X,

Angelou, Wiesel. [3] Geller.

240. What Is Religion? A consideration of the ways of studying religion and of the understandings of religion which lie behind

these approaches. Resources for this investigation will be drawn from contemporary scholars and from the world's religions as

interpreted by members of the department. Prerequisite: any course in religious studies, or Anthropology 226, or Philosophy

244. Buddhist Traditions. The thought, practice, and history of Buddhism from its beginnings in India through the

development of its Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions to its present status in East and Southeast Asia. [3] Arai.

248. Themes in World Literature. (Also listed as Comparative Literature 202 and Humanities 202) Analysis and discussion

of major themes in a selected number of the great works of literature, philosophy, and the arts which have been important to

civilizations both Western and Eastern from antiquity to 1600. [3] Drew; Wiltshire (History)

249. Zen Buddhism. A study of the development of Zen Buddhism in China and Japan with special attention to its basic

philosophy, its position within Mahayana Buddhism, its meditational techniques, and its contemporary significance. [3] Arai.

250. Black Islam in America. Varied expressions of African American Islam beginning with the bringing of Muslims as slaves

from West Africa. Developments extending from the Moorish Science Temple to the Nation of Islam, other communities, and

their leaders, including Malcolm X. [3] Baldwin.

251. Mysticism in Islam. Survey of the origins and development of the mystical traditions in Islam; the rise of asceticism; the

early Sufis; the development and systematization of Sufi orders and teachings; the evolution of theosophical dimensions of

mysticism; present day Sufism and its spread in North America; comparison of Islamic mysticism with other forms of

mysticism. [3]

252. Islam in America. Islam in America from the bringing of Muslims as slaves from West Africa to contemporary American

Muslim movements. The social, religious, political, and economic challenges that confront Muslims as a community with a

double minority status. Muslim responses to racism. [3]

253. Introduction to Islamic Law and Theology. The development of Islamic law and the emergence of different schools of

law in their respective sociopolitical contexts, and the gradual canonization of hadith literature. Islamic creed and distinct

theological schools in early Islamic history; Hellenistic influences on Islamic theology; the theology of the Qur'an. Comparative

study of Sunni and Shi'i theology. [3]

254. Native American Religious Traditions. A study of religious and value meanings embedded in selective Native

American religious traditions such as Sioux, Blackfeet, and Navaho traditions. Differences between the Judeo-Christian

worldview and Native American worldviews and sensibilities will be stressed. Comparative study of the aesthetic, symbolic,

and existential dimensions of these traditions with those of other religious traditions. [3] Harrod.

256. Comparative Studies in Religion. Comparison of various religions focused on themes such as God, the human

condition, history, salvation, ethics, scriptures, and religious communities; using materials from world's religions, East and West,

past and present. Prerequisite: 130 or 131. [3]

280. Senior Seminar. Methods for studying religion and religious traditions. Open only to seniors with a major or minor in

Religious Studies. [3] Geller.

289a-289b. Independent Study. [Variable credit: 1-3 each semester, not to exceed a total of 6]

294. Special Topics in Religious Studies. [3] Staff.

295. Special Topics in Religious Studies. [3] Staff.

299a-299b. Senior Honors Thesis. Reading of primary research sources and writing an honors thesis under the supervision

of the thesis adviser. Open only to senior honors students. [3-3] Staff.