REL 226: The Religions of China
(EM) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment no limit
Professor(s): Stephen Teiser
1:30pm – 2:20pm MW Lecture/Precept
Traditions Stream Requirement: Religions of Asia
A thematic introduction to Chinese religion, ranging from ancient to contemporary. The first half focuses on classics of Chinese thought (Book of Changes, Analects of Confucius, Daoist classics, etc.). The second half utilizes journalism, ethnography, and history to consider topics such as contemporary China, state control of religion, cosmology, gods and saints, divination, gender, and ritual.
REL 252/CLA 252/HLS 252: Jesus: How Christianity Began
(EC) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment no limit
Professor(s): Elaine Pagels
12:30pm – 1:20pm MW Lecture Precept
Traditions Stream Requirement: Ancient Judaism, Christianity, and Greek and Roman Religions
Who was Jesus of Nazareth, and how do we know about him? Why did some interpretations of truth — and his message — win out over others? How have these particular ways of thinking influenced western culture, shaping our views of politics, race and ethnicity, sexuality and gender, civil and human rights even now? To answer questions like these, we’ll investigate the earliest gospels, letters, Jewish and Roman sources, prison diaries and martyr accounts — as well as how artists, filmmakers, musicians and theologians interpret them. Regardless of religious background, or none, you will learn a lot, and be able to contribute.
REL 260: Eliminating Suffering: Netflix, Drugs, and Spiritual Practice
(EM) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 15
Professor(s): Gabriel Citron
1:30pm – 4:20pm W Seminar
Traditions Stream Requirement: Philosophical and Ethical Approaches to Religion
We suffer. Sometimes more, sometimes less – but we all suffer, and often profoundly. What is it about the human condition that seems to make suffering inevitable? What can we do to deal with it? One approach is to try to change the external conditions causing the trouble. A very different approach sees the most important change as being within ourselves. Can we eliminate – or at least assuage – our suffering by changing the way we direct our attention (Netflix…), by changing the way we experience (drugs…), or by changing our manner of desiring (spiritual practices…)? We will approach these questions practically and theoretically.
REL 271: Cult’ Controversies in America
(HA) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 70
Professor(s): Judith Weisenfeld
11:00am – 11:50am MW Lecture/Precept
Traditions Stream Requirement: Religion in America
In this course we examine a variety of new religious movements that tested the boundaries of acceptable religion at various moments in American history. We pay particular attention to government and media constructions of the religious mainstream and margin, to the politics of labels such as “cult” and “sect,” to race, gender, and sexuality within new religions, and to the role of American law in constructing categories and shaping religious expressions. We also consider what draws people to new religions and examine the distinctive beliefs, practices, and social organizations of groups labeled by outsiders as “cults.”
REL 281: Buddhist Philosophy
(EM) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment no limit
Professor(s): Jonathan Gold
11:00am -11:50am TTH Lecture/Precept
Traditions Stream Requirement: Religions of Asia
An introduction to the Indian Buddhist philosophical tradition from the time of the Buddha until its decline (c. 400 B.C.E – 1200 C.E.). Topics include Buddhism’s view of the world, the person, and the path to nirvana; equanimity, compassion and meditation as core elements in Buddhist ethics; early Buddhist metaphysics; the doctrine of “emptiness” and its various interpretations in the Great Vehicle schools; Buddhist epistemology and philosophy of language; and modern attempts to apply Buddhist philosophy to contemporary philosophical issues.
REL 303/CHV 305: God and Humanity in Catholic Thought
(EM) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 30
Professor(s): Daniel Rubio
11:00am – 12:20pm MW Class
Traditions Stream Requirement: Philosophical and Ethical Approaches to Religion
This course will examine thought about the relationship between God and humanity in Roman Catholic thought from the Spanish world. We will focus on four figures, two from the sixteenth century and two from the 20th: St. Theresa of Avila, an important mystic whose influence on modern thought has only recently been recognized by contemporary historians of philosophy; Francisco Suarez, one of the foremost late scholastic philosophers; Jon Sobrino, one of the foremost South American liberation theologians; and Gustavo Guttiérez, another liberation theologian. All of these thinkers fall within the same intellectual tradition, but offer interesting and diverse ways of thinking about what God is, what humanity is, and what to say about one of the most salient issues in the relationship between God and humanity: the seeming divine indifference to the suffering of the innocent.
REL 307: Kierkegaard: Religion, Philosophy, and Existence
(HA) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 15
Professor(s): Elizabeth Li
1:30pm – 4:20pm TH Seminar
Traditions Stream Requirement: Philosophical and Ethical Approaches to Religion
This course is an in-depth examination of the authorship of Søren Kierkegaard and his call for an existential revision of religious, theological, and philosophical inquiry. With focus on the dynamic, but complex relation between religion and philosophy in his writings, we will consider topics such as the relationship of ethics and religion; paradox and the limits of philosophy; the task of selfhood; faith and reason; subjective vs. objective thought; the concept of existence; the religious individual in society and culture; neighbour love; freedom, sin, and despair, and critique of state religion.
REL 347: Religion and Law
(EM) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 20
Professor(s): Leora Batnitzky
3:00pm – 4:20pm MW Seminar
Traditions Stream Requirement: Philosophical and Ethical Approaches to Religion
Satisfies Critical Approaches (CA) Requirement for Majors
A critical examination of the relation between concepts of “religion” and “law,” as they figure in modern Christian and Jewish thought, modern legal theory and contemporary debates about religious freedom. If religion gives law its spirit, and law gives religion its structure, then what is their practical relation in both religious and secular life? This course explores the relation between Jewish and Christian conceptions of law, both in their ancient and modern contexts, and the relation between traditional religious and modern secular views of law in debates about the modern nation state.
REL 393: Muslim America
(SA) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 30
Professor(s): Rebecca Faulkner
11:00am – 12:20pm TTH Class
Traditions Stream Requirement: Islam
This course is a seminar for undergraduates. The course begins with the intertwined history of Muslims in America and America itself. We will then apply that foundation to topics in contemporary Muslim American life—for example, authority in mosques, fashion and coolness,
and representation in movies. Students will encounter primary as well as secondary sources. For example, students will read an 1831 autobiography of an enslaved Muslim named Omar ibn Said and analyze a Chicago-based Ahmadi newspaper from the 1920s. We will use a range of media, including film and material culture, to emphasize the varieties of Muslim experience in America.
Cross-Listed Courses:
AAS 318/REL 318/GSS 375: Black Women and Spiritual Narrative
(LA) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 15
Professor(s): Wallace Best
Traditions Stream Requirement: Religion in America
1:30pm – 4:20pm F Seminar
This course will analyze the narrative accounts of African American women since the nineteenth century. Working from the hypothesis that religious metaphor and symbolism have figured prominently in Black women’s writing (& writing about Black women) across literary genres, we will explore the various ways Black women have used their narratives not only to disclose the intimacies of their religious faith, but also to understand and to critique their social context. We will discuss the themes, institutions, and structures that have traditionally shaped Black women’s experiences, as well as the theologies Black women have developed in response.
CLA 260/REL 245: Christianity and Classical Culture
(CDEM) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 60
Professor(s): Emmanuel Bourbouhakis
3:00pm – 4:20pm TTH Lecture
Most often seen in opposition, Greco-Roman Classical culture and Christianity have a long history of
reciprocal reliance. Neither would look as it does today without the other. Through readings and
discussion of both Classical and Christian texts, as well as art and architecture, this course will
inquire into the Classical roots of much Christian theology, ethics, cosmology, and values more broadly,
while also considering the effect on Classics as a cultural cornerstone of societies beholden to these
twin traditions.
COM 381/REL 385: Literature and Religion: Christianity in Korean and Korean-American Novels and Films
(CDLA) Graded A-F, P/D/F, Audit Total Course Enrollment 99
Professor(s): John Park
1:30pm – 2:50pm TTH Lecture
This course explores the role of American Christianity in canonical and popular Korean and
Korean-American novels and films. While the references to Christianity in these novels and films serve to
indicate the active presence of American Christian missionaries in 20th century Korea, we will pay
attention to the ways in which the figures of American Christianity function in these narratives.
EGR 219/ENT 219/REL 219: Business Ethics: Succeeding without Selling Your Soul
(EM) Graded No audit Total Course Enrollment 100
Professor(s): David Miller
11:00am – 11:50am TTH Lecture/Precept
The course objective is to equip future leaders to successfully identify and navigate ethical dilemmas in their careers. The course integrates theory and practice. Students will learn basic ethical theories and develop practical tools for personal and applied ethics in business, entrepreneurial, and broader marketplace contexts. The course focuses on and explores the role of religion and spirituality as a resource for ethical formation, frameworks, and decision-making. The class will explore weekly contemporary case studies, wider trends on faith and work, and include guest CEO visitors from different industry sectors and traditions.
JDS 202/REL 202: Great Books of the Jewish Tradition
(HA) Graded No Audit Total Course Enrollment 20
Professor(s): Ra’anan Boustan
Traditions Stream Requirement: Ancient Judaism, Christianity, and Greek and Roman Religions
1:30pm – 2:50pm MW Class
This course is intended to introduce students to the classical Jewish tradition through a close reading of portions of some of its great books, including the Hebrew Bible, the Midrash, the Talmud, the Passover Haggadah, Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed, the Zohar, and Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise. We will pay particular attention to the roles of reading and interpretation in forming the Jewish tradition.
JDS 313/REL 306: Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Ancient World
(CDHA) Graded No Audit Total Course Enrollment 20
Professor(s): Ra’anan Boustan
1:30pm – 4:20pm T Seminar
This course considers the social and cultural encounters between religious/ethnic groups in the ancient Mediterranean world. It aims to challenge the idea that these groups (for example, Greeks, Jews, Romans, Christians) had stable boundaries or that they spoke with a unified and authoritative voice. The dynamic and even fluid relationships among these groups had a deep impact on the nature of religious life during the formative period of Late Antiquity and beyond. The course will thus explore religious contact and conflict, proximity and separation, dialogue and prejudice—both ancient and modern.
NES 339/REL 339: Introduction to Islamic Theology
(HA) Graded No Audit Total Course Enrollment 12
Professor(s) Hossein Modarressi
1:30pm – 4:20pm M Seminar
This course is a general survey of the main principles of Islamic doctrine. It focuses on the Muslim theological discourse on the concepts of God and His attributes, man and nature, the world to come, revelation and prophethood, diversity of religions, and the possibility and actuality of miracles.
For more detailed information on each course, please visit:
http://registrar.princeton.edu/course-offerings