Religious Studies

This course explores a variety of roles religion has played in American culture(s) and some of the ways that American culture has influenced Americans’ religious practices. We will focus on three areas: identity (Americanism), politics (Ballots), and economics (Consumption). In particular, we will consider how religion is involved in the construction of American identity and the exclusion of some people from American polity; how religion is (and is not) intertwined with our political system; and how religion affects – and is affected by – Americans’ economic practices

The world of antiquity was populated with spirits and invisible forces, and with attempts to breach the divide between this world and others. What did people hope to accomplish when they wore an amulet, threw sheep knuckles as dice in consulting an oracle, wrote on a curse tablet, or offered votives to a god? This course examines miracles and magic as modes of intervention, focusing on the first through fifth centuries CE. We will discuss the technologies of facilitating such encounter and multiple categories of magical activity through attention to archaeological artifacts and ancient texts.

Taking a broad, inter-disciplinary approach, students become familiar with issues facing contemporary American Indian communities. Confronted with unprecedented political, environmental, and cultural challenges, Indians continue to mobilize ancient values to effectively reimagine and reshape them for the contemporary context. Drawing from historiography, literary analysis, and knowledge of current Indigenous leaders, we examine how relationality, resilience, adaptability, and revitalization are informing Native-led social movements while also reconnecting American Indians to their spiritual foundations in times of turmoil and difficulty. Students will have opportunities to engage in discussions with Native spiritual and cultural leaders and will also present their own research projects.

The word "martyrdom" is a site of live debate about ethics, from religious extremist martyrs to the label "martyr complex." Who is willing to suffer, and for what? Is that willingness justifiable, pathological, or terrorism? Must one die, or is it enough to suffer?. Christians in antiquity also asked these questions in response to persecution under the Roman Empire, as well as in the centuries after. Others in antiquity too considered the difference between suicide and noble, voluntary death. We will analyze the phenomenon of martyrdom in antiquity through a variety of textual attestation.