Approaches to Religion

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course introduces students to critical issues in the study of religion, particularly the assumptions and purposes for which the academic study of religion is conducted and the methods of study that go along with them. This will entail becoming familiar with the history of the formation of religious studies as a discipline, and with the dominant theories and methods of study that have been employed. Most prominently, the purpose of this course is to teach students how to interpret the data of religions in order to engage in scholarly analysis beyond plain reportage and description. To foster this, the principle aim of the course will be to produce an individual research paper on a topic of one’s choice, under the careful guidance of the instructor.