Religion

Corey Barnes, Associate Professor, Department Chair
Joyce K. Babyak, Associate Professor
Emilia Bachrach, Assistant Professor
Cynthia R. Chapman, Johnston Frank Professor
Cheryl Cottine, Assistant Professor
Andrew Macomber, Assistant Professor
Mohammad Mahallati, Presidential Scholar in Islamic Studies
Shari Rabin, Assistant Professor
Daniel Schultz, Visiting Assitant Professor of Religion


The Religion major serves as a rich focus for a liberal arts curriculum, preparing students for diverse career and educational trajectories. Religion Department courses offer both breadth in the study of religion and opportunities for concentrated study in particular religious traditions and specific ares of religious thought and practice.

Approaches to the academic study of religion have developed in engagement with a host of historical factors. Understanding religious studies as an academic discipline requires an appreciation of the intersections and divergences among a variety of approaches. In our major, we focus on the following three influential general approaches:  

• The tradition-based approach to the study of religion predates the “invention” of the Western academic study of religion in the 19th century, but continues to be vitally important for the academic study of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in our curriculum. Religious tradition-based approaches provide the means for in-depth study of the synchronic and diachronic aspects of religions in global contexts. This approach includes historical, textual, and ethnographic methods of investigation. 

• The modern-culture-based approach to the study of religion emerged with the development of modern religious thought in the West and modern religious social ethics. This approach initially focused on modern Western philosophical questions of metaphysical and moral truth and meaning but has expanded to include issues arising from other forms of critical theory such as gender theory and postcolonial theory.  

• The geographical religion-based approach analyzes religious forms of life in terms of the history and cultures of a region. Oftentimes historical, anthropological, and archeological frameworks and methods are employed by this approach. This approach has been influential in the modern academic study of ancient Near Eastern religions (including biblical studies) and in the study of East Asian, South Asian, and African religions, and religions of the Americas-previously underrepresented in religious studies. 

Some courses in the Religion Department are cross-referenced or cross-listed with, or generally fulfill requirements of, other programs of study in the College-e.g., Africana Studies; Comparative American Studies; East Asian Studies; Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; Jewish Studies; and Law and Society. Courses offered in the department are grouped in the following categories: 

First-Year Seminars and 100-level Courses. 

First-year seminars and 100-level courses are appropriate for all students. First-year seminars are writing intensive and focus on the essential skills of reading, analysis, writing, and discussion. The 100-level courses introduce students to religious studies through analysis of specific religious traditions, practices, or themes and can function as stand-alone explorations or as gateways to further study.

200-Level Courses.

Most 200-level courses serve as “gateways” to our major in that they are designed to introduce students to one or more general approach (described above) and disciplinary subfield in the academic study of religion. In addition, 200-level courses are where the breadth and concentration for the major are acquired. The particular focus of each 200-level course is indicated more fully in the course descriptions below. 

300-Level Seminars.

Advanced 300-level seminars are primarily intended for Religion majors and minors who have completed at least one 200-level course in the applicable subfield.

RELG 400 - Senior Capstone Seminars  

The senior capstone courses are designed to provide a culminating experience to the Religion major. All majors must complete RELG 401: Capstone Research Methods. The overarching learning objective of this course is to train students in the skills necessary for conducting primary research in the academic study of religion. Throughout the semester students research and write a Senior Capstone Project. RELG 402: Capstone Colloquium is an optional one-semester extension that provides additional time for expansion and refinement of the Senior Capstone Project.