Religious Studies (RELST)Arts and Sciences

Showing 24 results.

Course descriptions provided by the Courses of Study 2017-2018.

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - February 16, 2018 10:59AM EST
  • Course Catalog - February 12, 2018 11:18AM EST

RELST 1998
The Middle East in the News: Politics, Society, Religion and Culture

The peoples, cultures, religions, and politics of the Middle East are never far removed from the front pages of the most influential journals and newspapers. This course will engage students in discussing ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: JWST 1998, NES 1998

  • 2 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17551 RELST 1998   SEM 101

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RELST 2273
Introduction to Religious Studies

This course introduces the academic study of religion. The topics vary from year to year. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASIAN 2273, NES 2273

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • Topic: Sensational Religion

  • 16389 RELST 2273   LEC 001

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  • Please contact Ayla Cline, akc52@cornell.edu, for a full course description.

RELST 2297
Muslims on the Silk Road

The Crossroads of the World. The Pivot of History. The heart of the Silk Road. For all its grand nicknames and associations, Inner Asia remains a region little-studied in the West. This course endeavors ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASIAN 2297, HIST 2797

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 17492 RELST 2297   LEC 001

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RELST 2299
Buddhism

This course will explore the Buddhist tradition from its origins in ancient India to its migrations throughout Asia and eventually to the West. The first part of the course will deal with Indian Buddhism: ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: ASIAN 2299

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16036 RELST 2299   LEC 001

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  • 16273 RELST 2299   DIS 201

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  • 16274 RELST 2299   DIS 202

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RELST 2577
American Jewish Women and the Body of Tradition

Since the 1970s, Jewish women have remade American Judaism by putting their bodies front and center. In the face of a largely male rabbinic elite, they have created new models of ritual, communal leadership, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 17322 RELST 2577   SEM 101

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RELST 2617
Islam and Politics: Between an Islamic State and Daily Life

In the early twentieth century, a series of movements arose in the Middle East and South Asia, calling Muslims to return to Islam. Today, leaders and members of such groups –now known as Islamists –insist ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: GOVT 2807, HIST 2607, NES 2607

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16778 RELST 2617   LEC 001

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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: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: PHIL 2530

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16808 RELST 2630   LEC 001

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RELST 2640
Histories of the Apocalypse: From Nostradamus to Nuclear Winter

Brexit, immigration, and the election of Donald Trump have all been recently heralded as signs of an imminent apocalypse. Films and fiction are saturated with images of zombies, environmental catastrophe, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: HIST 2630

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 17079 RELST 2640   LEC 001

  • Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 17080 RELST 2640   DIS 201

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  • 17081 RELST 2640   DIS 202

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  • 17082 RELST 2640   DIS 203

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RELST 2644
Introduction to Judaism

Jewish communities have been established, flourished and often struggled for millennia, throughout much of the world, and in vital contact with a vast range of other peoples and cultures. This course examines ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

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

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17128 RELST 2644   LEC 001

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RELST 2655
Introduction to Islamic Civilization

At the beginning of the 7th century, a new religion, Islam, appeared in Arabia and by the end of the century, Muslims had defeated the Byzantines and Persians and created an empire that stretched from ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: HIST 2530, MEDVL 2655, NES 2655

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  9049 RELST 2655   LEC 001

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  •  9050 RELST 2655   DIS 201

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RELST 2662
Daily Life in the Biblical World

This course will survey the common and not-so-common daily activities of the world of ancient Israel, with supplementary material from its neighbors in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Canaan. Many courses cover ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ARKEO 2662, JWST 2662, NES 2662

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16536 RELST 2662   LEC 001

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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

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16388 RELST 3281   SEM 101

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RELST 3310
Heavens, Hells, and Purgatories: Buddhist and Christian Notions of the Afterlife

This course will explore a variety of ways people have envisioned and prepared for the afterlife. We will concentrate on how Buddhists and Christians have described supreme states of bliss, have warned ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ASIAN 3310

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 16038 RELST 3310   LEC 001

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RELST 3331
Gender and Sexuality in Southeast Asian Cinema

Examines the new cinemas of Southeast Asia and their engagement with contemporary discourses of gender and sexuality. It pays special attention to the ways in which sexuality and gendered embodiment are ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 16047 RELST 3331   LEC 001

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RELST 3540
On Paying Attention

In the age of smartphones and Facebook, the competing claims made on our attention only seem to be multiplying. This course is an opportunity to think about and to enact certain practices of attentiveness ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: FREN 3540

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  9612 RELST 3540   SEM 101

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  • Conducted in English.

RELST 3677
The Search for the Historical Muhammad

As the founder of Islam Muhammad is one of the most influential figures in world history. An important source for his life is the Sira of Ibn Ishaq (d. ca. 761), a biography that opens with Muhammad's ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 16217 RELST 3677   SEM 101

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RELST 3747
Staging Faith: Contemporary Theatre and Lived Religions

Religious beliefs, practices, and conflicts shape our world and influence global politics.  Yet mediatized depictions of religion can be reductive and polarizing.  Moreover, these depictions may be different ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 16239 RELST 3747   SEM 101

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RELST 3795
Sin:Theory and Practice

What place does sin have in contemporary culture, from ethics to aesthetics?  How do we consider sin, as a condition, an act, a choice?  How does a particular community-religious, literary, ethnic-consider ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: SPAN 3795

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17374 RELST 3795   SEM 101

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RELST 4100
Latin Philosophical Texts

Reading and translation of Latin philosophical texts. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •  7927 RELST 4100   SEM 101

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RELST 4557
Desert Monasticism

How and why do landscapes come to inspire the religious imagination? And how do sensory landscapes, more specifically-territories of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell-inform, inflect, and engage the ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 16198 RELST 4557   SEM 101

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RELST 4990
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

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 1-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  6184 RELST 4990   IND 601

    • TBA

    • Haines-Eitzen, K

  • To apply for independent study, please complete the on-line form at https://data.arts.cornell.edu/as-stus/indep_study_intro.cfm.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 1-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 10275 RELST 4990   IND 602

    • TBA

    • Law, J

  • To apply for independent study, please complete the on-line form at https://data.arts.cornell.edu/as-stus/indep_study_intro.cfm.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

RELST 4995
Senior Honors Essay

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

  •  6383 RELST 4995   IND 601

    • TBA

    • Staff

  • RELST 4995 is the FIRST course in the Honors two-part sequence. To enroll in Honors, please email akc52@cornell.edu to request a permission number.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

RELST 4996
Senior Honors Essay

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

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 15934 RELST 4996   IND 601

    • TBA

    • Staff

  • RELST 4996 is the SECOND course in the Honors two-part sequence. To enroll in Honors, please email akc52@cornell.edu to request a permission number.

    Instructor Consent Required (Add)

RELST 6020
Latin Philosophical Texts

Reading and translation of Latin philosophical texts. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •  7930 RELST 6020   SEM 101

  •