RELS 200/3.0 Religion and Global Development
This course will examine the vital role that different religious ideas and groups play in major development organizations and intiatives. Studies will look at how religious ideas and groups have influenced issues around global poverty, pandemics, child welfare, economics and debt relief, education, etc. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100-level in RELS.
RELS 201/3.0 Themes in Religious Studies
A topic of current interest in Religious Studies not covered in other available courses. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100-level in RELS.
RELS 202/3.0 Traditions in Religious Studies
A topic of current interest in Religious Studies not covered in other available courses. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100-level in RELS.
RELS 205/3.0 Religion Meets Empire: Global Perspectives
Religion and other belief systems played a crucial role in governing empires, ranging from homogenization to accepting diversity - and even to both approaches or strategies in the same empire. This course critically assesses constructions of "religion" as a category and concerning inequality and diversity in global history. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100-level in RELS.
RELS 206/3.0 Drugs and Religion
This course explores the role of mind/body-altering substances in religions; as things claimed to be of spiritual significance; and as the objects of a fervor (today's "psychedelic renaissance") that we religion scholars can analyze as a new religious movement. It attends to western appropriation of plants and fungi sacred to Indigenous peoples.
RELS 207/3.0 Religion, Hate, and Xenophobia
This course will examine the history of islamophobia, the history of antisemitism, and other kinds of xenophobia related to religion and religious communities around the world. Students will become closely acquainted with the origins of these ideas, how they were articulated in the past, and the ways in which they play out in the contemporary world. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 209/3.0 Radical Jews
This course examines the life and work of Jewish radical thinkers: analysts, anarchists, communists, feminists, environmentalists, and anti-nationalist. We will be interested both in the ways they created difficulties for dominant cultural and political institutions and traditional Jewish authorities. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS..
RELS 210/3.0 Hebrew Bible
Introduction in the light of the political, cultural, and religious history of ancient Israel and Judah. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 212/3.0 Mythology of the Ancient Near East
Similarities and differences in the myths of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia will be explored on the basis of material remains (e.g., the pyramids and temple architecture) and texts. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 213/3.0 The Bible
Analysis of the biblical texts (Hebrew Bible; New Testament) and the use and abuse of these texts in various cultural developments globally.
RELS 214/3.0 The New Testament
As religious literature expressing the witness to Jesus; and as source for the history, trends and problems of early Christianity. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 218/3.0 Christianity
Introduction to Christianity as a religious tradition through its texts, its history and its contemporary forms. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 221/3.0 New Religious Movements
All religions were once new, small, and unusual to the cultures around them - often therefore attracting suspicion. This course examines the practices, beliefs, and histories of several NRMs, and why some gain legitimacy while others get derided as "cults." Doing so illuminates broader processes like mythmaking, Othering, and (de)secularization. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 222/3.0 The Hindu World
Developments through 3,000 years of Indian history; the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, Yoga and Vedanta, mythology of Vishnu and Shiva, and recent Hindu thinkers (e.g., Tagore, Aurobindo). PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 223/3.0 Buddhism
Buddhism in India, the life and teaching of Gautama the Buddha, and the growth of the Theravadin and Mahayanist traditions. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 224/3.0 Taoism
The philosophy, worldview, spirituality and ethics of Taoism, China’s organized indigenous religion, in Chinese history and in the contemporary world. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 226/3.0 Islam
Historical and topical survey of Islam, its development through the study of its rise, institutionalization of its beliefs and practices, formation of its theology, law, mysticism; as well as its modern interpretations and practices. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 227/3.0 Indigenous Religious Traditions
Introduction to the study of the Indigenous religious experience in Canada and abroad. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 228/3.0 Sages, Scholars and Rabbis
The religious institutions produced by the Jews from the second to the seventh centuries. This course will explore in critical fashion the principal areas of rabbinic activity including: topics on jurisprudence, philosophy, social and political thinking, the role of tradition and scriptures. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 229/3.0 Confucianism
The philosophy, worldview, spirituality and ethics of Confucianism in its classical, modern and contemporary forms. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 232/3.0 Religion and Social Movements
This course will examine the field of social movement studies, with a particular focus on how religion has played a role in the rise of social movements, how religious communities have been influenced by social movements, and how mobilization and activism around social justice issues is colouored by religion and culture. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 234/3.0 Judaism
An introduction to the self-definition of Judaism through an analysis of the concepts of God, Torah and Israel past and present. Also, a preliminary study of the struggles facing Jews in Europe, the State of Israel and North America. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 235/3.0 Religion and Environment
Examines how religious traditions shape human values and behaviours towards the environment and how environmental problems are shaping the evolution of religious and spiritual traditions. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 236/3.0 Religion and Sex
Views of and attitudes toward sexuality in selected world religions; the place of sexuality in religious traditions; relationship between sex and the sacred; specific topics such as marriage, gay and lesbian issues, contraception will be chosen. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 239/3.0 Sport and Religion
This course will provide an overview of the relatively new and expanding body of research that examines the relationship between sport, spirituality and religion. Topics including play, games, flow, ritual, prayer, sports stars as role models, doping, fandom and miracles in sport will be explored. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 240/3.0 Magic, Witchcraft, and the Supernatural
Studies the differences between the categories of religion, magic, witchcraft, the supernatural, etc., as constructed in scholarship, popular culture, and practice. Focuses on examples such as New Religious Movements, depictions of magic in film and TV, and moral panics over alleged occult practices, and the histories that let us make sense of them. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 242/3.0 Objects and Materiality in Indigenous Worlds
The course addresses the sacred or profane status of objects in Indigenous cosmologies. What they are, mean, and do, and how Indigenous persons position themselves in relation to them. This leads to reflections on the object/subject division, the condition of materiality and immateriality, and the resulting nature of spirits in Indigenous worlds.PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 250/3.0 Mythology of Heroes
Examines how hero stories are formed, transmitted, and function using a variety of source materials from ancient writings through to contemporary cultural expressions. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 252/3.0 Mysticism
The academic study of mysticism; mystical movements; and mystics. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in RELS.
RELS 255/3.0 Research Methods in Religious Studies
An investigation into the techniques of critical reading and writing for research in Religious Studies. EQUIVALENCY RELS 355/3.0. PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above or 6.0 units at the 100 level in