Course Description
REL 580 This required course for majors surveys influential theories of religion from the Enlightenment to the present and includes their relationship to public affairs. Students will write a major research paper involving theoretical perspectives learned in the course.
REL 685 This required course for graduate students surveys influential theories of religion from the Enlightenment to the present. Students will write a major research paper involving theoretical perspectives learned in the course.
Welcome to Theories of Religion (REL 580) and Seminar in Religious Studies (REL 685). REL 580 is the required senior seminar for religious studies undergraduate majors and it also functions as a pro-seminar for new Masters of Arts students who have not had a similar course. (A pro-seminar is a foundational graduate course that can also be taken by advanced undergraduates.) Click here for Requirements and here for Calendar.
But what is a "seminar"? The following definitions, gleaned from the web, will give you a good idea:
Most commonly offered as upper-level and graduate courses, these are small classes of approximately 15 students each, designed to facilitate intensive study of specific subject areas.
[A seminar] has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is requested to actively participate.
A seminar consists of a small group of students and usually runs for 1–3 hours. A seminar may include a presentation by the lecturer or tutor, or by a group of students. Students are expected to prepare for and participate actively in seminars by giving a paper, answering questions [and] discussing subject matter.
Seminar is the second album by Sir Mix-a-Lot (click here).
As will be clear from these definitions—aside from the last one—this seminar will be unlike most other courses you've taken. It is impossible to sit passively in class and depend on the professor or the other students to carry the load. You must be diligent in doing the reading assignments and preparing to take part in the discussions.
In other courses you have learned about specific religious traditions,
histories, cultures, texts, and so on. In this course we broaden the scope
to discuss “religion” itself and the ways scholars have understood and thought about it in far more depth than your basic
introduction in REL 100. How have they defined or
described it? Where does it come from? How does it function?
Why does it exist in human life? Does "it" exist? The answers have
been wide-ranging. By surveying various theories of religion, we will develop a
broad picture of the field of religious studies and its development from the
Enlightenment to the present. You should leave the course with a deeper
understanding of the intellectual field in which you have chosen to specialize
and greater clarity regarding its history and current status.