Religious Studies (RELST)Arts and Sciences

Showing 37 results.

Course descriptions provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025.

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - January 14, 2025 7:54PM EST
  • Course Catalog - January 14, 2025 7:07PM EST

RELST 2204
Introduction to Quranic Arabic

This course is designed for students who are interested in reading the language of the Qur'an with accuracy and understanding. The first week (4 classes) will be devoted to an introduction of the history ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ARAB 2204, ASRC 2204, NES 2204

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5429 RELST 2204   SEM 101

  •  
    • MTWR
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Younes, M

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 2248
Buddhists in Indian Ocean World: Past and Present

For millennia, Buddhist monks, merchants, pilgrims, diplomats, and adventurers have moved around the Indian Ocean arena circulating Buddhist teachings and powerful objects. In doing so they helped create ... view course details

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Syllabi:

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASIAN 2248, HIST 2548

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17969 RELST 2248   LEC 001

  •  
    • TR
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Blackburn, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 2250
Introduction to Asian Religions

This course will explore religious traditions in South Asia (Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka) and East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) including Hinduism, Buddhism (South Asian and East Asian), Sikhism, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: ASIAN 2250

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5255 RELST 2250   LEC 001

  •  
    • MW
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Boucher, D

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  •  5256 RELST 2250   DIS 201

  •  
    • F
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Boucher, D

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  •  5257 RELST 2250   DIS 202

  •  
    • F
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Staff

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  •  5258 RELST 2250   DIS 203

  •  
    • F
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Staff

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 2322
Black Religion and Pop Culture

This course uses art and popular culture to provide a dynamic view of Black religion in the United States and the Diaspora throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Discussion topics include: ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 2322

  • 3 Credits Opt NoAud

  • 19396 RELST 2322   LEC 001

  •  
    • T
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Dromgoole, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 2546
South Asian Religions in Practice: The Healing Traditions

This course offers an anthropological approach to the study of religious traditions and practices in South Asia: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The course begins with a short survey of the major ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ANTHR 2546, ASIAN 2254

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 10230 RELST 2546   LEC 001

  •  
    • TR
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Willford, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 2555
Sex and Sexuality in Islam

This course will introduce students to the study of sex and sexuality in the medieval and early modern Islamic World, ending at the dawn of the twentieth century; we will begin with the study of desire ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: FGSS 2555, MEDVL 2555, NES 2555

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 18501 RELST 2555   LEC 001

  •  
    • MW
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Lawrence, J

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 2630
Religion and Reason

What must (or could) God be like, and what reasons do we have for thinking that a being of that sort actually exists? What difference would (or could) the existence of God make to our lives? Religion & ... view course details

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Syllabi:

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: PHIL 2530

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  8967 RELST 2630   LEC 001

  •  
    • MW
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Alimi, O

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 2644
Introduction to Judaism

This course is an introduction to Jewish identities, values, and practices from the ancient to modern era. Organized thematically, it examines Judaism as a religious phenomenon, with a particular emphasis ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: JWST 2644, NES 2644

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5242 RELST 2644   LEC 001

  •  
    • TR
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Mokhtarian, J

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 2656
Anti-Judaism and Anti-Semitism in Historical Perspective

Why is it that the age of emancipation which saw most of the world's Jews gain citizenship status and achieve unprecedented levels of socio-economic modernization, also witnessed a catastrophic assault ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: HIST 2656, JWST 2156

  • 3 Credits GradeNoAud

  • 18512 RELST 2656   LEC 001

  •  
    • MW
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Litvak, O

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3281
The Bible as Literature

A knowledge of the Bible's images, stories and themes is crucial to understanding not only the art and literature of many cultures, but also ancient and contemporary world politics. It is the world's most ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ENGL 3280

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 18859 RELST 3281   SEM 101

  •  
    • TR
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Zacher, S

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3341
Mahayana Buddhism

This course will explore the origins and early developments of a movement in Indian Buddhism known as the Great Vehicle. We will intensively examine a small slice of this movement's voluminous literature ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASIAN 3341

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17966 RELST 3341   SEM 101

  •  
    • MW
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Boucher, D

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3422
Gospel and The Blues: A Black Women’s History II, 1973-2023

In her pathbreaking text Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval Saidiya Hartman writes that "young Black women were radical thinkers who tirelessly imagined other ways ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 3422, ASRC 6422, RELST 6422

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 19398 RELST 3422   SEM 101

  •  
    • T
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Dromgoole, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3448
Islamic Mysticism: Life, Love, and History

Sufism, popularly understood as Islamic mysticism, is a loose name given to a broad and diverse collection of beliefs, practices and groups that range and vary across time and space. Going from a small ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi:

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: HIST 3448, MEDVL 3448, NES 3448

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 18676 RELST 3448   SEM 101

  •  
    • MW
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Lawrence, J

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3523
Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Racism

Islamophobia and Judeophobia are ideas and like all ideas they have a history of their own. Although today many might think of Islamophobia or Judeophobia as unchangeable—fear of and hatred for Islam and ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: JWST 3523, NES 3523, PUBPOL 3523

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 18506 RELST 3523   SEM 101

  •  
    • TR
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Brann, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3530
A Mediterranean Society and Its Culture

This course examines the cultural and historical interaction of Muslims and Jews from the emergence of Islam in the seventh century through the classical age of Islam down to the turn of the thirteenth ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  • 18159 RELST 3530   SEM 101

  •  
    • W
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Brann, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3540
On Paying Attention

In the age of smartphones and social media, it's a cliché to say that the competing claims made on our attention only seem to be multiplying. But a cliché can be true. This course is an opportunity to ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: FREN 3540

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17760 RELST 3540   SEM 101

  •  
    • MW
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Howie, C

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3550
Origins of Monotheism

The Purpose of this course is to trace the development of Monotheism from its origins in Israelite/Canaanite polytheism. We will examine worship of the God, Yahweh and other deities in ancient Israel, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 18174 RELST 3550   SEM 101

  •  
    • TR
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Monroe, L

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3588
Archaeology and the Bible

The purpose of the course is to place the Bible within the context of a larger ancient world that can be explored by systematic excavation of physical remains. Students will become familiar with archaeological ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  • 18168 RELST 3588   SEM 101

  •  
    • TR
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Monroe, L

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 3739
Archaeology of Ancient Greek Religion

What is "religion," and how can we use material culture to investigate ancient beliefs and rituals? This course (1) explores major themes and problems in the archaeology of ancient Greek religion, and ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 20318 RELST 3739   SEM 101

  •  
    • M
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Barrett, C

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 4020
Buddhist Moderns: Visions of Human Flourishing

Do modern times (which are experienced and conceptualized in varied ways) pose distinctive problems and opportunities for Buddhists? How are Buddhist teachings drawn into forms of social and political ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi:

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASIAN 4020, ASIAN 6020, RELST 6022

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17976 RELST 4020   SEM 101

    • W
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Blackburn, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

RELST 4110
Religion and Social Life

Global conflicts, raising children, electing presidents, praying for a loved one: from the mundane to the extraordinary, religion plays a significant role in social life, regardless of whether or not one ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: SOC 4110

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 18121 RELST 4110   SEM 101

  •  
    • W
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Schnabel, L

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 4240
The Sexual Politics of Religion

Drawing on feminist and queer theory and ethnographic studies of ritual and devotional practices around the world this course will consider the relationships among the social organization of sexuality, ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ANTHR 4490, FGSS 4290, LGBT 4290

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 20459 RELST 4240   SEM 101

  •  
    • T
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Ramberg, L

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 4414
Topics in South Asian Culture and Literature

Topics will address South Asian culture and literature and change in relation to curricular needs within the Department of Asian Studies. view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  • Topic: Performing Arts, Music and Dance in South and SEA

  • 20078 RELST 4414   SEM 101

  •  
    • W
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Chang, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 4991
Directed Study

For undergraduates who wish to obtain research experience or do extensive reading on a special topic. Students select a topic in consultation with the faculty member who has agreed to supervise ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Project Session Full. 

  • 2-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  3743 RELST 4991   IND 601

    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Formichi, C

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies
    To apply: first discuss the Independent Study with the course supervisor, and then complete the online Independent Study form at https://data.arts.cornell.edu/as-stus/indep_study_intro.cfm.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

Syllabi: none

  •   Project Session Full. 

  • 2-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  4483 RELST 4991   IND 602

    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Boucher, D

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies
    To apply: first discuss the Independent Study with the course supervisor, and then complete the online Independent Study form at https://data.arts.cornell.edu/as-stus/indep_study_intro.cfm.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

Syllabi: none

  •   Project Session Full. 

  • 2-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  4484 RELST 4991   IND 603

    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Brann, R

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies
    To apply: first discuss the Independent Study with the course supervisor, and then complete the online Independent Study form at https://data.arts.cornell.edu/as-stus/indep_study_intro.cfm.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

Syllabi: none

  •   Project Session Full. 

  • 2-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  4839 RELST 4991   IND 604

    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Law, J

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies
    To apply: first discuss the Independent Study with the course supervisor, and then complete the online Independent Study form at https://data.arts.cornell.edu/as-stus/indep_study_intro.cfm.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

Syllabi: none

  •   Project Session Full. 

  • 2-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  9738 RELST 4991   IND 605

    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Haines-Eitzen, K

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies
    To apply: first discuss the Independent Study with the course supervisor, and then complete the online Independent Study form at https://data.arts.cornell.edu/as-stus/indep_study_intro.cfm.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

Syllabi: none

  •   Project Session Full. 

  • 2-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  6047 RELST 4991   IND 606

    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Monroe, L

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies
    To apply: first discuss the Independent Study with the course supervisor, and then complete the online Independent Study form at https://data.arts.cornell.edu/as-stus/indep_study_intro.cfm.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

RELST 4995
Senior Honors Essay I

RELST 4995 is the first course in the Honors two-part sequence. The Honors Program is open to Religious Studies majors who have done superior work and who wish to devote a substantial part of their senior ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Multi-Term

  •  4874 RELST 4995   IND 601

    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Staff

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies
    To request a permission number, contact Ayla Hodges (akc52).

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

RELST 4996
Senior Honors Essay II

RELST 4996 is the second course in the Honors two-part sequence. The Honors Program is open to Religious Studies majors who have done superior work and who wish to devote a substantial part of their senior ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 18266 RELST 4996   IND 601

    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Staff

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies
    To request a permission number, contact Ayla Hodges (akc52).

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

RELST 6020
Latin Philosophical Texts

Reading and translation of Latin philosophical texts. view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: LATIN 7262, MEDVL 6020, PHIL 6020

  • 1-2 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  4233 RELST 6020   SEM 101

    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Brittain, C

      MacDonald, S

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

RELST 6022
Buddhist Moderns: Visions of Human Flourishing

Do modern times (which are experienced and conceptualized in varied ways) pose distinctive problems and opportunities for Buddhists? How are Buddhist teachings drawn into forms of social and political ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi:

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: ASIAN 4020, ASIAN 6020, RELST 4020

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17978 RELST 6022   SEM 101

  •  
    • W
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Blackburn, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 17979 RELST 6022   IND 601

  •  
    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Blackburn, A

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies

RELST 6210
Topics in Medieval Philosophy

Graduate seminar covering a topic in medieval philosophy. Spring 2025 Topics include: Augustine; Philosophy in the Islamic World (800-1400). view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi:

  • Topic: Philosophy in the Islamic World (800-1400)

  •  5615 RELST 6210   SEM 101

    • MW
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • MacDonald, S

  • Instruction Mode: In Person
    Enrollment limited to: graduate students.

    Department Consent Required (Add)

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: MEDVL 6210, PHIL 6210

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • Topic: Augustine

  • 18249 RELST 6210   SEM 102

    • T
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Alimi, O

      Hubner, K

      MacDonald, S

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

RELST 6290
The Sexual Politics of Religion

Drawing on feminist and queer theory and ethnographic studies of ritual and devotional practices around the world this course will consider the relationships among the social organization of sexuality, ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ANTHR 7490, FGSS 6290, LGBT 6290

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 20913 RELST 6290   SEM 101

  •  
    • T
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Staff

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 6310
Methods in Medieval

Topic: Writing Through the Forest in Search of Trees. Hello, Humanities Student! Are you a plotter or a pantser? Not sure? Come and join us to find out, and to gain valuable insight into what kind of a ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  • 18915 RELST 6310   SEM 101

  •  
    • R
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Robinson, C

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 6330
A Mediterranean Society and Its Culture

This course examines the cultural and historical interaction of Muslims and Jews from the emergence of Islam in the seventh century through the classical age of Islam down to the turn of the thirteenth ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  • 18163 RELST 6330   SEM 101

  •  
    • W
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Brann, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 6422
Gospel and The Blues: A Black Women’s History II, 1973-2023

In her pathbreaking text Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval Saidiya Hartman writes that "young Black women were radical thinkers who tirelessly imagined other ways ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASRC 3422, ASRC 6422, RELST 3422

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 19402 RELST 6422   SEM 101

  •  
    • T
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Dromgoole, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 6448
Islamic Mysticism: Life, Love, and History

Sufism, popularly understood as Islamic mysticism, is a loose name given to a broad and diverse collection of beliefs, practices and groups that range and vary across time and space. Going from a small ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi:

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: HIST 6448, MEDVL 6448, NES 6448

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 18680 RELST 6448   SEM 101

  •  
    • MW
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Lawrence, J

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 6588
Archaeology and the Bible

The purpose of the course is to place the Bible within the context of a larger ancient world that can be explored by systematic excavation of physical remains. Students will become familiar with archaeological ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  • 18171 RELST 6588   SEM 101

  •  
    • TR
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Monroe, L

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 6602
Topics in South Asian Culture and Literature

Topics will address South Asian culture and literature and change in relation to curricular needs within the Department of Asian Studies. view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  • Topic: Performing Arts, Music and Dance in South and SEA

  • 20079 RELST 6602   SEM 101

  •  
    • W
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Chang, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

RELST 6865
Martin Luther King, Jr.

This seminar is an intensive study of the political thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. Approaching texts in contexts, we will seek to recover King the political thinker from his mythologization in American ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: AMST 6865, ASRC 6865, GOVT 4000, GOVT 6865

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 18308 RELST 6865   SEM 101

  •  
    • F
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Livingston, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

  • 18309 RELST 6865   IND 601

  •  
    • TBA
    • Jan 21 - May 6, 2025

    • Staff

  • Instruction Mode: Independent Studies