Health, Illness and Religion

Undergraduate

An examination of the different ways health and illness are related to religion. Ideas of sickness and techniques of healing will be studied in a variety of traditional and modern contexts. We will explore how differing religious and medical systems sustain a variety of understandings of the human person, culture/society relationships, and cosmological views. Prerequisite(s): One-year university. CREL 2533 “Cults” New Religious Movements An examination of practices and self-understandings of New Religious Movements (NRMs, i.e., Scientology, Neo-paganism (Wicca), Satanism, Falun Gong, Branch Davidians) in North America. Topics include the social scientific study of NRMs; historical roots and teachings; issues of popularity and interpretation; and special consideration of gender in the emergence and form of NRMs.