Class No.	Course ID	Title	Credits	Type	Instructor(s)	Days:Times	Location	Permission Required	Dist	Qtr
4527	GDST-242-01	Hist Pat Eur Dev I	1.00	LEC	Silk,Mark R.	TR: 9:25AM-10:40AM	TBA		HUM
		Enrollment limited to 100
		Only students in the Guided Studies Program are allowed to enroll in this course.
		A critical introduction to selected themes in the political, social and religious history of Europe during the Middle Ages. Issues to be discussed include: the nature of “feudal” society, the formation of the medieval state, with particular emphasis on the growth of law, the nature of kingship, and warfare. The course will also study conversion to Christianity, the evolution of Christian beliefs and practices, the history of the Papacy, European Christian contacts with the “Other,” including Jews, Muslims, heretics, and Byzantine Christians, the evolution of the medieval economy (rural life, trade, and towns), and the transition from a “medieval” to an “early modern” society. The course will be taught largely from primary source materials with supplementary readings in secondary scholarship.
5483	RELG-212-01	New Testament	1.00	LEC	Sanders,Seth L.	TR: 1:30PM- 2:45PM	TBA		HUM
		Enrollment limited to 100
		A literary and historical examination of the New Testament in the context of the first century C.E. to appreciate the formation and themes of this principal document of Christianity. By focusing primarily upon the Gospels and Paul’s letters, the course will stress the analysis of texts and the discussion of their possible interpretations. Consideration will be given to the Jewish and Greek backgrounds, to the political, social, and religious pressures of the period, and to the development of an independent Christian community and a fixed scripture.
5383	RELG-223-01	Maj Relg Thinkers West	1.00	LEC	Kirkpatrick,Frank	MW: 1:15PM- 2:30PM	TBA		HUM
		Enrollment limited to 100
		Prerequisite: Course is only open to Religion majors or Guided Studies students.
		An historical and theological study of the development of Western religious thought from the point of view of both heretics and orthodoxy within Christianity and Judaism. Among the topics to be covered: Gnosticism, Augustine, Aquinas, Eckhart, millenarianism, the Free Spirit, Luther, Calvin, and the Anabaptists. Religion majors and students in the Guided Studies Program may enroll without permission of the instructor. Other students may enroll with permission of the instructor. Guided Studies students take this course in the second semester of their first year.
5769	RELG-256-01	Buddhist Thought	1.00	LEC	Findly,Ellison Banks	TR: 9:25AM-10:40AM	TBA		GLB2
		Enrollment limited to 50
		An examination of fundamental concepts in Buddhist philosophy as they reflect an ongoing conflict between faith and reason: the non-self, dependent origination, karma, and nirvana. Special emphasis will be placed on the meaning of these concepts for the Buddhist way of life. Readings from classical Theravada and Mahayana texts. (May be counted toward international studies/Asian studies.)
6595	RELG-259-01	Early Chinese Relig&Philosophy	1.00	LEC	Duperon,Matthew L.	M: 1:15PM- 3:55PM	TBA
		Enrollment limited to 30
		An exploration of the roots of Chinese philosophical and religious thought from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BCE) through the beginnings of the Han empire (206 BCE). Special emphasis will be placed on the so-called "hundred schools" of the Warring States period, which include Confucianism and Daoism. Through English translations of primary texts, the course will examine the evolving Chinese worldview and cosmology, as well as ideas about self-cultivation, ethics, divination, politics, religion, and social relations. Texts will include the I Ching, Tao Te Ching, Confucius' Analects, Chuang Tzu, Mencius, Hsun Tzu, and more. No previous knowledge of Chinese philosophy or religion is necessary.
7164	RELG-261-01	American Catholics	1.00	LEC	Walsh,Andrew H.	MWF: 10:00AM-10:50AM	TBA		HUM
		Enrollment limited to 100
		This historically oriented course will explore the struggle of Catholics in the United States to integrate being “Roman” with being “American.” It will survey the experience of an immigrant, authoritarian church in a country founded on belief in the excellence of Protestantism and dedicated to liberal and democratic ideals. Having arrived in the mainstream with the election of John F. Kennedy, that church now faces a new set of challenges, which will be the final consideration of the course. (May be counted toward American Studies.)
5819	RELG-262-01	Religion in Amer History	1.00	LEC	Kirkpatrick,Frank	MW: 8:30AM- 9:45AM	TBA		HUM
		Enrollment limited to 100
		The historical role of religion in shaping American life and thought, with special attention to the influence of religious ideologies on social values and social reform. (May be counted toward American studies.)
6879	RELG-270-01	Religion in Amer Since WWII	1.00	SEM	Cancelled
		Enrollment limited to 20
		This seminar will explore changes in American religion over the past 60 years by focusing on the role of religion in public life and society at large. Special attention will be given to popular culture and politics.
6491	RELG-280-01	Approaching the Qur'an	1.00	LEC	Ziad,Homayra	TR: 10:50AM-12:05PM	TBA		GLB2
		Enrollment limited to 30
		The Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be the perfect Word of God, has played a central role in the life of the Muslim community since its appearance in the seventh century. This course will explore the sacred text of Islam through its foundational concepts and terminologies, history of the text and thematic development, literary style, connection to Jewish and Christian sacred texts, history and methods of interpretation, and role in Muslim ritual life. We will also explore manifestations of the Qur'an in the literature, visual arts, and music of the Muslim world.
7125	RELG-308-01	Jewish Mysticism	1.00	LEC	Kiener,Ronald	TR: 1:30PM- 2:45PM	TBA		HUM
		Enrollment limited to 30
		Prerequisite: C- or better in Religion 109.
		An examination of the secret speculative theologies of Judaism from late antiquity to the present. The course will touch upon the full range of Jewish mystical experience: visionaries, ascetics, ecstatics, theosophists, rationalists, messianists, populists, and pietists. Readings will include classical texts (such as the Zohar) and modern secondary studies.
6487	RELG-310-01	Religious Language	1.00	LEC	Sanders,Seth L.	W: 6:30PM- 9:15PM	TBA
		Enrollment limited to 30
		This course is an introduction to the poetics and ethnography of sacred words and, through them, the social dimension of language. It is a fundamental role of religion to break normal rules of language: prayers talk to gods who do not seem to be present, possessed people ventriloquize spirits, and rituals thrive on repetitive or incomprehensible speech. Sacred words raise questions fundamental to the study of language: how do we evaluate words: according to their source? their form? their speaker? God has traditionally spoken through people, but how have people known it is actually God speaking, and what has this meant to them? We will focus on the language of religious experience in Biblical and Jewish traditions, with detours through reggae music, horror movies, and The Passion of the Christ.
5975	RELG-339-01	Modern American Theology	1.00	SEM	Dorrien,Gary	M: 1:15PM- 3:55PM	TBA
		Enrollment limited to 20
		This course will study the major theological movements, topics, and thinkers of American mainline Protestantism from the early 20th century to the present day, and American Catholicism from the 1950s to the present day. Major theological movements and topics will include evangelical liberalism, the Social Gospel movement, the modernist-fundamentalist controversy, Boston School personalism, Chicago School naturalistic empiricism, neo-orthodoxy and Christian realism, the ecumenical movement, the Civil Rights movement, secularism, process metaphysics, Vatican II, the death-of-God controversy, liberation theology, feminist theology, environmentalism, and postmodernism. Major theologians and philosophers will include Walter Rauschenbusch, Shailer Mathews, Edgar S. Brightman, Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Martin Luther King Jr., Gregory Baum, Rosemary Radford Ruether, John B. Cobb Jr., J. Deotis Roberts, and Elizabeth Johnson.
6921	RELG-353-01	Buddhism in America	1.00	LEC	Findly,Ellison Banks	M: 1:15PM- 3:55PM	TBA		HUM
		Enrollment limited to 25
		This seminar will focus on Buddhism in America, a phenomenon known as “the fourth turning of the wheel of the law.” We will look at the religions of Asian immigrants, the writings of the 19th-century Transcendentalists, and the influence of Zen, Vipassana, and Tibetan teachers on American culture. Special attention will be given to assessing categories such as elite, ethnic, and evangelical Buddhism, to the variety of Buddhist practices and communities available, and to the broad range of Buddhist arts and literatures of contemporary America. Enrollment limited. (May be counted toward international studies/Asian studies.)
6977	RELG-386-01	Islam in America	1.00	LEC	Ziad,Homayra	R: 6:30PM- 9:10PM	TBA		SOC
		Enrollment limited to 15
		This course explores Muslim social and spiritual expression in the United States. We'll look at the teachings of representative groups and their founders, asking how each group presents Islam and why, how they discourse on Muslims in America, how they discourse on America, and how they position themselves as Americans. Topics include religious movements among African-American and immigrant groups, educational, cultural and youth initiatives, Sufism and new-age movements, civil rights groups, progressive Muslims, women's and feminist movements, and Islam in the media. The course requires that students participate in a community learning project to gain first-hand experience with the diverse Muslim community in Hartford.
6221	RELG-399-01	Independent Study	0.50 - 2.00	IND	TBA	TBA	TBA	Y
		Enrollment limited to 100
		Advanced work on an approved project under the guidance of a faculty member. Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for enrollment.
6223	RELG-466-01	Teaching Assistant	0.50 - 1.00	IND	TBA	TBA	TBA	Y
		Enrollment limited to 100
		A teaching assistant works with a faculty member in the preparation and teaching of a course and receives academic credit for his or her work. See the Student Handbook for the specific guidelines. Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for enrollment.
6225	RELG-497-01	Senior Thesis	1.00 - 2.00	IND	TBA	TBA	TBA	Y
		Enrollment limited to 100
		Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for enrollment in this single-semester thesis.
6227	RELG-499-01	Senior Thesis Part 2	2.00	IND	TBA	TBA	TBA	Y
		Enrollment limited to 100
		Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and chairperson are required for each semester of this yearlong thesis. (two course credits are considered pending in the first semester;two course credits will be awarded for completion in the second semester.)