Religion (RELI) Courses
College of the Humanities
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Language courses RELI 1010 [1.0] Elementary Language Tutorial, RELI 2010 [1.0] Intermediate Language Tutorial and RELI 3010 [1.0] Advanced Language Tutorial are intended for students specializing in a particular religious tradition. They are offered according to the availability of members of the Discipline. Courses taken at the 2000-level or above will be mainly independent study under the supervision of a member of the Discipline. Students interested in taking these courses should consult the Co-ordinator.
Elementary Language Tutorial
Elementary study of the language required for studying a religious tradition.
Prerequisite(s): Major/Minor in Religion or permission of the department.
Tutorial two hours a week.
Introductory Hebrew I
First level introduction for students with no knowledge of Hebrew. Presents essentials for biblical and modern Hebrew.
Precludes additional credit for RELI 1904(no longer offered), HEBR 1904.
Three hours per week plus out-of-class requirements.
Biblical Greek I
An introduction to the Greek grammar, vocabulary, and syntax of the New Testament, Septuagint, and early Christian Church Fathers.
Introductory Sanskrit I
Classical Sanskrit grammar and vocabulary.
Judaism, Christianity, Islam
A survey of the history, beliefs and practices of these major religious traditions.
Lecture three hours a week.
South Asian Religions
A survey of the history, beliefs, and practices of South Asian religious traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
Lecture three hours a week.
East Asian Religions
A survey of the history, beliefs, and practices of East Asian religious traditions including Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Shinto.
Lecture three hours a week.
Interpretations of Religion
Introduction to the academic study of religion by considering its fundamental components: myth, symbol, scripture, doctrine, code, and ritual, drawing material from a variety of world religions.
Lecture three hours a week.
Varieties of Religious Experience
The variety of religious experiences and their interpretations: myth, literature, art and religious doctrine. Topics include time, self, the other, journey and wisdom. Examples ranging from shamanistic experience to the abstractions of Buddhist philosophy.
Prerequisite(s): restricted to students registered in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lecture three hours a week.
Intermediate Language Tutorial
Intermediate study of the language required for studying a religious tradition. Restricted to students registered in a Religion program.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 1902 or RELI 1010 or permission of the department.
Tutorial two hours a week.
Introductory Hebrew II
Second level introduction to the Hebrew language. Through reading modern and classical texts as well as conversation, students will learn vocabulary, grammar, and common idioms.
Precludes additional credit for RELI 2904 (no longer offered), HEBR 2904.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 1904 or HEBR 1904 or RELI 1011 permission of the department.
Three hours per week plus out-of-class requirements.
Introductory Sanskrit II
Classical Sanskrit grammar and vocabulary.
Three hours per week plus out of class requirements.
Judaism
The history of Judaism and the Jewish people from the Second Temple until the present day. The organization, basic beliefs, social and ethical practices of the Jews and Judaism.
Lecture three hours a week.
Judaism: the Biblical Era
An introduction to the history of Judaism and the Jews as seen through biblical and non-biblical sources. Emphasis on the evolution of leadership, community, and institutions as the Hebrews move from tribal to national identity.
Lecture three hours a week.
Hebrew Bible
Introduces the Hebrew Bible within historical and religious frameworks. All texts are in English.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 1710 or RELI 1000 or RELI 2110 or RELI 2508 or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Early Judaism
Judaism and the Jewish people from the Maccabees to the Rabbinic Age. Sectarian movements (Pharisees, Sadducees, Qumran Covenanters) Christianity's rise; revolutionaries ( Zealots, Bar Kochba), Jewish responses to Hellenism, reshaping of Judaism after destruction of the Second Temple, Rabbinic Judaism in Palestine and the Diaspora.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing.
Lecture three hours a week.
Second Temple Judaism
The religious changes Judaism underwent in the tumultuous period 515 BCE - 70 CE; the historical course of events that resulted in the final destruction of the temple.
Jewish Ethics
Studies the major text on Jewish Ethics, “Chapters of the Elders” from various vantage points, including the historical and the theological.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 1710 or RELI 1000 or RELI 2110 or RELI 2508 or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Christianity
The range of Christian thought and history from the time of Jesus to the present.
Lecture three hours a week.
Early Christianity
Introduction to the critical study of the writings of the New Testament with discussion of their Hellenistic and Jewish background, the historical Jesus, Paul and his letters, and historical and sociological explanations for the rise of the early church and interpretation of its writings.
Lecture three hours a week.
Women in Christian Tradition
The status of women in Christianity, including such themes as images of women and gender roles in churches, recent feminist theologies, practical questions such as inclusive language and the ordination of women, and alternative approaches to Christian spirituality.
Lecture three hours a week.
Islam
The study of Muslim religious tradition and investigation of its organization, basic beliefs, social and ethical principles and practices.
Lecture three hours a week.
Islam in the Modern World
An examination of Islam in the last two hundred years, including the nature of the Islamic resurgence and the new forms of Islamic vitality.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing.
Lecture three hours a week.
Ethical Theories in Islam
A survey of medieval and modern Muslim discourses on human nature, agency, and responsibility.
The Qur'an
An examination of the Qur'an's content, form, style, central themes, canonization, and classical and contemporary interpretive traditions.
Lecture three hours a week.
Classical Islamic Thought
A survey of the development of the central ideas and schools of Islamic theology and philosophy from the eighth century to the end of the seventeenth century CE.
Lecture three hours a week.
Buddhism
Basic beliefs and practices of the Buddhist tradition and a brief survey of its development and transformations in India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, Tibet, China and Japan.
Lecture three hours a week.
Hinduism
Basic beliefs, practices, and social structures of the Hindu tradition as reflected in Hindu scriptures, myths and symbols, and philosophical schools.
Lecture three hours a week.
Religion and Aesthetics in India
Myths and symbols of the Indian tradition expressed in Hindu and Buddhist art. Hindu theories of beauty and the interface of the arts with the spiritual traditions of India.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing.
Lecture three hours a week.
Women and Religion
This course explores the topic of women and religion in historical and contemporary contexts.
Maccabees to Muhammad
The early history, literature and ideas of Judaism, Christianity and Islam from 200 BCE to 750 CE.
Prerequisite(s): restricted to students in the Bachelor of Humanities program.
Lecture three hours per week.
Love and Its Myths
Major devotional movements in Hinduism and Christianity, focusing on the love of the divine and philosophical accounts of these ideas over time.
Religious Diversity of Canada
An historical survey emphasizing the interactions of various religious traditions in Canada, including indigenous religions, Christian missionary and colonial traditions, immigrant and global diaspora religions.
Lectures three hours a week.
Mysticism
An historical and functional study of mystical experience in its religious context, relying on examples from selected traditions such as the Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim.
Lecture three hours a week.
Religion and Ethics
The nature of religious ethics, both the explicit moral principles and rules of various religious traditions, and the general moral perspectives. A selection of contemporary moral issues examined in depth.
Prerequisite(s): 0.5 credit in RELI or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Dimensions of Modern Atheism
A historical survey of Western atheism as a major world religious tradition.
Lecture three hours a week.
Death and Afterlife
The meaning of death and afterlife in some religious traditions and secular philosophies with emphasis on the Hindu teaching of the immortal soul; the Hebraic idea of collective survival; the Christian doctrine of resurrection of the body; the Buddhist conception of no-soul and nirvana.
Lecture three hours a week.
Greek Religion
A study of religion in ancient Greece.
Precludes additional credit for CLCV 2102, RELI 2734, RELI 2102.
Lecture three hours a week.
Religion and Society
Cross-cultural survey of religious institutions, focussing on theories and methodologies in the study of religion. Topics may include myth, totemism, cults, ritual, belief systems, altered states of consciousness, new religious and/or new age movements and the relationship of religion with other social institutions and processes.
Precludes additional credit for RELI 2403 (no longer offered) and SOAN 2403 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 1001 or ANTH 1002, or ANTH 1003 [1.0], or 1.0 credit at the 1000-level in SOCI, ENGL, GEOG, HIST, HUMR, INDG, PSCI, RELI or WGST.
Lectures and workshop three hours a week.
Roman Religion
A study of religion in ancient Rome.
Precludes additional credit for CLCV 2102 and RELI 2734 and RELI 2102.
Lecture three hours a week.
Philosophy of Religion
A philosophical examination of some characteristic concepts of religion, such as faith, hope, worship, revelation, miracle, God.
Precludes additional credit for RELI 2601 or PHIL 2601.
Prerequisite(s): a course in philosophy or second-year standing.
Lecture three hours a week.
Sikhism
An examination of the basic beliefs, practices, and social structures of the Sikh tradition as reflected in Sikh scriptures, history and philosophical schools.
Topics in Religion
Content of this course may vary from year to year. Please check departmental website for information on the topic.
Lecture three hours a week.
Topics in Religion
Contents of this course may vary from year to year. Please check departmental website for information on the topic.
Lecture three hours a week.
Topics in Judaism
Content of this course may vary from year to year. Please check departmental website for information on the topic.
Lecture three hours a week.
Topics in Islam
Content of the course may vary from year to year. Please check departmental website for information on the topic.
Advanced Language Tutorial
Advanced study of the language required for studying a religious tradition.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 2902 (no longer offered) or RELI 2010 or permission of the department.
Tutorial two hours a week.
Advanced Hebrew
Advanced study of the Hebrew language through reading modern and biblical texts as well as through listening to dialogues and short stories to learn the use of all language components including morphology, syntax, and expressions.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 2011, RELI 2904, HEBR 2904 or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week plus out-of-class requirements.
Rabbinic Texts
Explores classical rabbinic texts in historical perspective. All texts are in English.
Lecture three hours a week.
Love, Sex and Marriage in Judaism
The Jewish tradition's teachings, laws and customs surrounding love, sex and marriage in historical perspective with emphasis on contemporary Jewish life.
Lecture three hours a week.
Judaism and Gender
An interdisciplinary survey of Judaism and gender highlighting the status and role of gender within Jewish thought, law, practice and experience.
Lecture three hours a week.
Holocaust Encounters
An examination of the experiences of different Jewish communities before, during, and after the Holocaust. Issues to be discussed include anti-Semitism, relations with non-Jewish neighbours, perpetrator motivation, local collaboration, resistance, postwar trials and memory.
Prerequisite(s): a 2000-level RELI course or third-year standing and 1.0 credit in RELI. Lecture three hours a week.
Lecture three hours a week.
Jewish Life in Modern Germany
An examination of Jewish society, culture and religious practice in modern Germany. Issues to be explored include emancipation, acculturation, secularization, religious adjustment, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, emigration, and post-war communities.
Lecture three hours a week.
Reformation Europe
A history of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations of the sixteenth century, with emphasis on the theological disputes of the protagonists and the impact of these disputes on the social, political and cultural developments of the era.
Precludes additional credit for RELI 3708 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): 0.5 credit at the 2000-level in HIST or third-year standing.
Lecture three hours a week.
Women in Early Christianity
The role and presence of women in early Christianity up to the 3rd century, including women among Jesus' followers, women with authority in Paul's churches, and the changing role of women as Christianity became a Roman religion.
Lecture three hours a week.
Jesus of Nazareth
A study of the historical records of the life of Jesus, the methods used to interpret them, and the resulting images of Jesus.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 2207 or RELI 2220 or permission of the department.
Lectures three hours a week.
Paul of Tarsus
The social, religious, and historical context of Paul, the communities he founded, and the letters he wrote to them.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 2207 or RELI 2220 or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Christian Discipline
An historical survey of key Christian thought and practices at the individual and collective level. Topics may include self-discipline, body discipline, monastic discipline, church discipline and social discipline.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing or permission of the department.
Shi‘i Islam
An introduction to the historical, doctrinal, and socio-political development of Shi‘i Islam from the middle of the seventh century to the end of the twentieth century CE.
Lecture three hours a week.
Contemporary Islamic Thought
An investigation into the views of some leading contemporary Muslim intellectuals vis-a-vis problems pertaining to metaphysics, cosmology, religious pluralism, epistemology, law, hermeneutics, education, gender, bioethics, and democracy.
Lecture three hours a week.
Sufism
An introduction to the main practical and theoretical dimensions of Islam's mystical tradition as seen through the life and work of its key representatives.
Lecture three hours a week.
Islam and Gender
Introduction to ideas about gender in Muslim societies past and present. Topics include: gender in the Qur'an, the Hadith and Islamic law, sexualities, social change, and current debates on gender and sexuality in Muslim communities.
Lecture three hours a week.
The Life and Image of Muhammad
Overview of the life and teaching of the Prophet Muhammad, and the most salient motifs and features of Muslim devotion to him.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 1710 or RELI 2310 or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Qur’anic Exegetical Traditions
A study of the classical tafsir tradition, a vast body of literature devoted to interpreting the Qur’an. Emphasis will be placed on the work of key Qur’anic exegetes and their variegated hermeneutical strategies.
Lecture three hours a week.
The Hadith Literature: An Introduction
Transmission and cultural importance of the Hadith for medieval Muslims, along with contemporary debates about its origins. (Course readings in English; students may also elect to read the primary source texts in their Arabic original.).
Lecture three hours a week.
Early Buddhism
The development of early Buddhist philosophy, psychology and practice with emphasis on the Pali Canon and its commentators.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 2106 or RELI 2410 or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Buddhism Beyond India
The rise of the Mahayana and the dissemination and development of Buddhist thought and practice outside of India.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 2106 or RELI 2410 or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Early Hinduism
A historical survey of Hinduism from the Vedic era to the development of devotional Hinduism. Vedic religion and developments in early Hindu Philosophy and sectarian Hinduism.
Lecture three hours a week.
Modern Hinduism
A survey of major developments in Hinduism since the period of colonial British rule. The development of “reform” Hinduism in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the emergence of Hindu nationalist movements in the 20th century.
Lecture three hours a week.
Religions and the Environment
Attitudes in the major world religions to nature and the environment and recent responses by religious traditions to ecological degradation and crisis. Includes examination of religious sensibilities expressed in environmentalism.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing and RELI 1000 or RELI 1710 or RELI 1001 or RELI 1711; or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Modern Thought on Religion
Modern religious theorists, modern theorists of religion, as well as critics of each. Attention will be given, in the mode of a social history of ideas, to the relation of such thought to the conditions of modernity.
Lecture three hours a week.
Religion and Violence
A thematic course that examines putative cases of “religion and violence” from a range of world traditions, but also interrogates aspects of the “religion and violence” rubric itself.
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing or permission of the department.
Lecture three hours a week.
Studies in Greek Art
A study of period or theme in the art and archaeology of Ancient Greece. Topics may vary from year to year.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing or permission of the unit. Permission of the unit required to repeat.
Lecture three hours a week.
Studies in Roman Art
A study of a period or theme in the art and archaeology of the ancient Romans. Topics may vary from year to year.
Prerequisite(s): second-year standing or permission of the unit. Permission of the unit required to repeat.
Lecture three hours a week.
Topics in Religion
Content of this course may vary from year to year. Please check departmental website for information on the topic.
Lecture three hours a week.
Topics in Religion
Content of this course may vary from year to year. Please check departmental website for information on the topic.
Lecture three hours a week.
Topics in Judaism
Content of this course may vary from year to year. Please check departmental website for information on the topic.
Lecture three hours a week.
Topics in Islam
Content of this course may vary from year to year. Please check departmental website for information on topic.
Lecture three hours a week.
Topics in the Study of Religion Abroad
This travel course explores religion in its historical and/or contemporary contexts in a particular geographic locale. Travel destinations, religious traditions studied, course content, and themes vary from year to year.
Hours to be arranged. Costs associated with the course are borne by the student.
Theory and Method
Examination of selected theoretical and methodological models used in the interpretation of religious data.
Prerequisite(s): fourth-year standing in the Honours B.A. Religion program, or permission of the department.
Seminar three hours a week.
Tutorial
A tutorial on a topic in religious studies. Contents of the tutorial to be arranged with the supervising faculty member.
Seminar in the Study of Religion
Content of this course may vary from year to year. Please consult the departmental website for information on the topic.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as RELI 5850, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Seminar in Western Religions
Content of this course may vary from year to year. Please consult the departmental website for information on the topic.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as RELI 5851, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Seminar in Asian Religions
Content of this course may vary from year to year. Please consult the departmental website for information on the topic.
Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as RELI 5852, for which additional credit is precluded.
Seminar three hours a week.
Honours Research Essay
Honours research paper (approx. 40 pages) is due on the last day of winter term classes. Written proposal due to the Proposal Board on the first day of fall term classes. Please consult department document for full requirements and information.
Prerequisite(s): 10.0 CGPA and fourth-year standing in the Honours B.A. Religion program, or permission of the department.
Summer session: some of the courses listed in this Calendar are offered during the summer. Hours and scheduling for summer session courses will differ significantly from those reported in the fall/winter Calendar. To determine the scheduling and hours for summer session classes, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca
Not all courses listed are offered in a given year. For an up-to-date statement of course offerings for the current session and to determine the term of offering, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca