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Religion

2024-2025 Academic Catalog

  • Undergraduate Catalog
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Overview

In light of the pivotal role religion has played in shaping selves, societies, and cultures from ancient times to the present, the Religion program provides students with an understanding of the complexity of religious phenomena and offers the advanced student a variety of methods appropriate to such study.

The mission of the Religion program is to encourage critical thinking about religious traditions, ideals, rituals, and practices; to develop empathetic insight into the fundamental ideas and values of peoples from different times and places; and to foster critical self-consciousness about the values and commitments of one’s own age and society. Through these studies, students reflect upon the historically developed content of their own culture as well as that of others.

Faculty in Religion

Manuel Lopez, Associate Professor of Religion and Buddhist Studies
Nassima Neggaz, Associate Professor of History and Religion
Douglas Estes, Associate Professor of American Religion
Daniel Herskowitz, Assitant Professor of Judaic Studies 
Susan Marks, Professor Emeritus of Religion

Requirements for the AOC in Religion

A minimum of ten (10) academic units.

Course List
Code Title
Introductory Courses in the Study of Religion
Two courses are required:
RELI 2100
Introduction to the Study of Religion *
RELI 2110
Introduction to World Religions
Conceptual Approach to the Study of Religion
Select one from the following examples:
RELI 2120
Religion and Popular Culture*
RELI 2400
Ritual Theory*
RELI 3300
God(s)
Scriptures Course
Select one from the following examples:
RELI 2290
Introduction to the Qur'an*
RELI 3440
Jewish Scriptures*
RELI 3200
Christian Scriptures
Religion and Society Course
Select two from the following examples:
RELI 2115
Religion and Politics in America
RELI 2125
Growing Up Amish in Sarasota
RELI 2135
Cults, Sects, Communes: Religion on the Margins
RELI 2276
Islam and Medicine*
RELI 2355
American Christianities*
RELI 3110
Righteous Discontent: Authority, Inclusion, and Exclusion in American Religion
RELI 3125
Race/Gender in Amer Religion*
RELI 3140
Resisting, Recreating, Reclaiming: LGBTQ+ People and Religion*
RELI 3280
Islamic History (570-1500): Politics, Society, and Culture*
RELI 3290
Islamic Movements, Past and Present*
RELI 3450
Judaism and Ecology*
RELI 3815
Religion and Activism: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X
Religious Traditions Courses
Select three courses focusing on a primary religious tradition and one course from a different tradition:
RELI 2700
Buddhism for Beginners: The Buddha, his Quest for Enlightenment, and the Rise of a Global Religion*
RELI 3700
Buddhist Meditation
RELI 3720
Monks, Oracles, and Lamas: Buddhism in the Himalayas*
RELI 4700
Topics in Buddhist Studies
RELI 2270
Introduction to Islam*
RELI 2274
Islam 101: Beyond Western Media*
RELI 2280
Islamic Movements: From Early to Modern Religious Militancy*
RELI 2800
Introduction to Black Religions*
RELI 3350
The Black Church*
RELI 3800
Black Liberation Theologies*
RELI 3825
African American Religions
RELI 3250
Chinese Religions: From Confucius To Mao
RELI 2320
Varieties of Judaism in the Modern World*
RELI 2370
The Many Gods of Hinduism: Ritual, Faith, and Representation in India*
RELI 2500
Contemporary Catholicism*
Strongly Recommended
RELI 3996
Religion Capstone: Getting Ready for Your Senior Thesis
Additional Requirements
One Independent Study Project (ISP) in Religion
Senior Thesis in Religion and Baccalaureate Exam

Requirements for the Joint AOC in Religion

A minimum of seven (7) academic units.

Course List
Code Title
Introductory Courses in the Study of Religion
Two courses are required:
RELI 2100
Introduction to the Study of Religion *
RELI 2110
Introduction to World Religions
Conceptual Approach to the Study of Religion
Select one from the following examples:
RELI 2120
Religion and Popular Culture*
RELI 2400
Ritual Theory*
RELI 3300
God(s)
Scriptures Course
Select one from the following examples:
RELI 2290
Introduction to the Qur'an*
RELI 3440
Jewish Scriptures*
RELI 3200
Christian Scriptures
Religion and Society Course
Select one from the following examples:
RELI 2115
Religion and Politics in America
RELI 2125
Growing Up Amish in Sarasota
RELI 2135
Cults, Sects, Communes: Religion on the Margins
RELI 2276
Islam and Medicine*
RELI 2355
American Christianities*
RELI 3110
Righteous Discontent: Authority, Inclusion, and Exclusion in American Religion
RELI 3125
Race/Gender in Amer Religion*
RELI 3140
Resisting, Recreating, Reclaiming: LGBTQ+ People and Religion*
RELI 3280
Islamic History (570-1500): Politics, Society, and Culture*
RELI 3290
Islamic Movements, Past and Present*
RELI 3450
Judaism and Ecology*
RELI 3815
Religion and Activism: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X
Religious Traditions Courses
Select two courses focusing on one religious tradition and one course focusing on another tradition:
RELI 2700
Buddhism for Beginners: The Buddha, his Quest for Enlightenment, and the Rise of a Global Religion*
RELI 3700
Buddhist Meditation
RELI 3720
Monks, Oracles, and Lamas: Buddhism in the Himalayas*
RELI 4700
Topics in Buddhist Studies
RELI 2270
Introduction to Islam*
RELI 2274
Islam 101: Beyond Western Media*
RELI 2280
Islamic Movements: From Early to Modern Religious Militancy*
RELI 2800
Introduction to Black Religions*
RELI 3350
The Black Church*
RELI 3800
Black Liberation Theologies*
RELI 3825
African American Religions
RELI 3250
Chinese Religions: From Confucius To Mao
RELI 2320
Varieties of Judaism in the Modern World*
RELI 2370
The Many Gods of Hinduism: Ritual, Faith, and Representation in India*
RELI 2500
Contemporary Catholicism*

Representative Senior Theses in Religion

  • Memory: Abstracted Manifestations of the Void of Jewish Life within the Jewish Museum of Berlin
  • Dancing Out of Bounds: The Disruptive Image of the Tavern Dancer in the Babylonian Talmud
  • Catholic Empire: Austria-Hungary and the Nationalities Question
  • A Tillichian Analysis of Hip Hop as an Instrument for Communal Courage and Religious Expression
  • Collective Action: The Social Dimension of Buddhist Karma Doctrine
  • Pursuing Harmony with Life's Flux: The Pragmatic Value of Experience for Modern Life in William James    
  • Feminist Methodologies and Qumran Ideologies: Rhetorical Criticism of 1QS, The Community Rule Scroll
  • Ascending the Heavens on Conjured Dragons: Differentiating Between Magic and Religion in Chinese Daoist Practice
  • What about the Agape?: Understanding the Communal Love-Feast of Early Christianity
  • Learning to Live and to Lead: How Post-Secondary Religious Education Helps Women to Shape Modern Orthodox Judaism in Israel
  • Religious Responses to the Problem of Evil
  • Dissent in Modern Catholicism
  • Acting Womanish: Black Slave Women's Religion
  • Creativity in Crisis: The Theology and Fiction of Flannery O'Connor and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  • Lilith: Mother of Demons or Feminist Ideal?
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