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Your search for courses · during 2025-26 · tagged with RELG Pertinent Course · returned 16 results
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HIST 131 Saints and Society in Late Antiquity 6 credits
In Late Antiquity (200-800 CE), certain men and women around the Mediterranean and beyond came to occupy a special place in the minds and lives of their contemporaries: they were known as holy men and women or saints. What led people to perceive someone as holy? What were the consequences of holiness for the persons themselves and the surrounding societies? When they intervene in their worlds, what are their sources of authority and power? How did these holy figures relate to the established institutions–secular and religious–that surrounded them? Working with a rich array of evidence, we will explore themes such as asceticism, embodied and verbal pedagogy, wealth and poverty, work, marginality, cultural difference, and protest/resistance. We will journey from the lands of Gaul, Italy, and Spain to North Africa and Egypt and the Holy Land, to Armenia and the Fertile Crescent.
Extra time
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HIST 131.01 Winter 2027
- Faculty: William North 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- M, WLeighton 304 8:30am-9:40am
- FLeighton 304 8:30am-9:30am
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HIST 201 History, Religion, and Urban Change in Medieval and Renaissance Rome Program: Building Power and Piety in Medieval Italy, C.E. 300-1150 6 credits
Through site visits, on-site projects, and readings, this course explores the ways in which individuals and communities attempted to give physical and visual form to their religious beliefs and political ambitions through their use of materials, iconography, topography, and architecture. We will also examine how the material legacies of imperial Rome, Byzantium, and early Christianity served as both resources for and constraints on the political, cultural, and religious evolution of the Italian peninsula and especially Rome and its environs from late antiquity through the twelfth century. Among the principal themes will be the development of the cult of saints, the development of the papal power and authority, Christianization, reform, pilgrimage, and monasticism.
Acceptance in the Carleton OCS History, Religion, and Urban Change in Medieval and Renaissance Rome program.
- Spring 2027
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS History, Religion, and Urban Change in Medieval and Renaissance Rome program.
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HIST 237 Religion and Identity in the Medieval Middle East 6 credits
This course explores the emergence and formation of Islam as a faith in a medieval Middle East (sixth-eleventh centuries) that was and continued to be populated by the diverse Christianities of Late Antiquity. We explore the interaction between monotheisms, and Islam's impact on social relations and identities in the complex and evolving cultural and religious communities that populated this multifaceted region. Through close reading and discussion of primary sources (Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, Persian, Greek, and Latin) and scholarship, we will situate the development of Islam in the context of political, religious, and social change in order to better understand Islam’s role in the transformation of this region.
RELG 235 is cross listed with HIST 237.
In Translation
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HIST 237.01 Fall 2026
- Faculty: William North 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- M, WLeighton 305 9:50am-11:00am
- FLeighton 305 9:40am-10:40am
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RELG 110 Understanding Religion 6 credits
How can we best understand the role of religion in the world today, and how should we interpret the meaning of religious traditions–their texts and practices–in history and culture? This class takes an exciting tour through selected themes and puzzles related to the fascinating and diverse expressions of religion throughout the world. From politics and pop culture, to religious philosophies and spiritual practices, to rituals, scriptures, gender, religious authority, and more, students will explore how these issues emerge in a variety of religions, places, and historical moments in the U.S. and across the globe.
- Fall 2026, Winter 2027, Spring 2027
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies WR2, Writing Rich 2
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RELG 110.01 Fall 2026
- Faculty: Lori Pearson 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- M, WLeighton 236 11:10am-12:20pm
- FLeighton 236 12:00pm-1:00pm
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RELG 110.01 Winter 2027
- Faculty: Kristin Bloomer 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- T, THLeighton 304 1:15pm-3:00pm
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RELG 110.01 Spring 2027
- Faculty: Jeremy Steinberg 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- M, WLeighton 330 11:10am-12:20pm
- FLeighton 330 12:00pm-1:00pm
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RELG 130 Native American Religions 6 credits
This course explores the history and contemporary practice of Native American religious traditions, especially as they have developed amid colonization and resistance. While surveying a broad variety of ways that Native American traditions imagine land, community, and the sacred, the course focuses on the local traditions of the Ojibwe and Dakota communities. Materials include traditional beliefs and practices, the history of colonization, intertribal new religious movements, and contemporary issues of treaty rights, sacred place protections, and language revitalization.
Sophomore Priority
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RELG 130.01 Fall 2026
- Faculty: Michael McNally 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- T, THLeighton 402 1:15pm-3:00pm
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RELG 140 Religion and American Culture 6 credits
This course explores the colorful, contested history of religion in American culture. While surveying the main contours of religion in the United States from the colonial era to the present, the course concentrates on a series of historical moments that reveal tensions between a quest for a (Protestant) American consensus and an abiding religious and cultural pluralism.
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RELG 140.01 Spring 2027
- Faculty: Michael McNally 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- T, THLeighton 402 10:10am-11:55am
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RELG 152 Religions in Japanese Culture 6 credits
An introduction to the major religious traditions of Japan, from earliest times to the present. Combining thematic and historical approaches, this course will scrutinize both defining characteristics of, and interactions among, various religious traditions, including worship of the kami (local deities), Buddhism, shamanistic practices, Christianity, and new religious movements. We also will discuss issues crucial in the study of religion, such as the relation between religion and violence, gender, modernity, nationalism and war.
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RELG 152.01 Winter 2027
- Faculty: Asuka Sango 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- M, WLeighton 236 12:30pm-1:40pm
- FLeighton 236 1:10pm-2:10pm
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RELG 155 Hinduism: An Introduction 6 credits
Hinduism is the world’s third-largest religion (or, as some prefer, “way of life”), with about 1.2 billion followers. It is also one of its oldest, with roots dating back at least 3500 years. “Hinduism,” however, is a loosely defined, even contested term, designating the wide variety of beliefs and practices of the majority of the people of South Asia. This survey course introduces students to this great variety, including social structures (such as the caste system), rituals and scriptures, mythologies and epics, philosophies, life practices, politics, poetry, sex, gender, Bollywood, and—lest we forget—some 330 million gods and goddesses.
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RELG 155.01 Spring 2027
- Faculty: Kristin Bloomer 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- T, THLeighton 426 1:15pm-3:00pm
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RELG 233 Gender and Power in the Catholic Church 6 credits
How does power flow and concentrate in the Catholic Church? What are the gendered aspects of the Church’s structure, history, and theology? Through readings, discussions, and analysis of current media, students will develop the ability to critically and empathetically interpret issues of gender, sexuality, and power in the Catholic Church, especially as these issues appear in official Vatican texts. Topics include: God, suffering, sacraments, salvation, damnation, celibacy, homosexuality, the family, saints, the ordination of women as priests, feminist theologies, canon law, the censuring of “heretical” theologians, Catholic hospital policy, and the clerical sex abuse crisis.
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RELG 233.01 Spring 2027
- Faculty: Sonja Anderson 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- M, WLeighton 330 1:50pm-3:00pm
- FLeighton 330 2:20pm-3:20pm
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RELG 235 Religion and Identity in the Medieval Middle East 6 credits
This course explores the emergence and formation of Islam as a faith in a medieval Middle East (sixth-eleventh centuries) that was and continued to be populated by the diverse Christianities of Late Antiquity. We explore the interaction between monotheisms, and Islam's impact on social relations and identities in the complex and evolving cultural and religious communities that populated this multifaceted region. Through close reading and discussion of primary sources (Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, Persian, Greek, and Latin) and scholarship, we will situate the development of Islam in the context of political, religious, and social change in order to better understand Islam’s role in the transformation of this region.
RELG 235 is cross listed with HIST 237.
In Translation
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RELG 235.01 Fall 2026
- Faculty: William North 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- M, WLeighton 305 9:50am-11:00am
- FLeighton 305 9:40am-10:40am
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RELG 282 Samurai: Ethics of Death and Loyalty 6 credits
This course explores the history of samurai since the emergence of warrior class in medieval times, to the modern developments of samurai ethics as the icon of Japanese national identity. Focusing on its connection with Japanese religion and culture, we will investigate the origins of the purported samurai ideals of loyalty, honor, self-sacrifice, and death. In addition to regular class sessions, there will be a weekly kyudo (Japanese archery) practice on Wednesday evening (7-9 pm), which will enable students to study samurai history in context through gaining first-hand experience in the ritualized practice of kyudo.
Extra Time Required: For weekly kyudo (Japanese archery) practice on Wednesday evening (7-9 pm)
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RELG 282.01 Fall 2026
- Faculty: Asuka Sango 🏫 👤
- Size:15
- M, WLeighton 236 9:50am-11:00am
- FLeighton 236 9:40am-10:40am
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Extra Time for weekly kyudo (Japanese archery) practice on Wednesday evening (7-9 pm)
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RELG 300 Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion 6 credits
What, exactly, is religion and what conditions of modernity have made it urgent to articulate such a question in the first place? Why does religion exert such force in human society and history? Is it an opiate of the masses or an illusion laden with human wish-fulfillment? Is it a social glue? A subjective experience of the sacred? Is it simply a universalized Protestant Christianity in disguise, useful in understanding, and colonizing, the non-Christian world? This seminar, for junior majors and advanced majors from related fields, explores generative theories from anthropology, sociology, psychology, literary studies, and the history of religions.
- Winter 2027
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry
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RELG 300.01 Winter 2027
- Faculty: Kristin Bloomer 🏫 👤
- Size:15
- T, THLeighton 303 10:10am-11:55am
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RELG 329 Modernity and Tradition 6 credits
This seminar explores the nature of religious traditions and their role in the modern world. If traditions change over time and are marked by diversity and debate, what holds them together, and who decides? If modernity is associated with a process of secularization, what status do religious actors have in the public sphere? As we engage contested definitions and assessments of modernity and secularism, we explore how traditions and societies wrestle with difference, pluralism, and truth. Case studies examine the role of ritual and practice in negotiating identity, as well as questions of ethics, law, gender, and politics.
12 seats held for Religion majors and minors until the day after junior priority registration
- Fall 2026
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2, Writing Rich 2
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RELG 329.01 Fall 2026
- Faculty: Lori Pearson 🏫 👤
- Size:15
- M, WLeighton 303 1:50pm-3:00pm
- FLeighton 303 2:20pm-3:20pm
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12 seats held for Religion majors and minors until the day after rising junior priority registration.
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RELG 359 Buddhist Studies in India and Thailand Program: Buddhist Meditation Traditions
Students will complement their understanding of Buddhist thought and culture through the study and practice of traditional meditation disciplines. This course emphasizes the history, characteristics, and approach of three distinct meditation traditions within Buddhism: Vipassana, Zazen, and Dzogchen. Meditation practice and instruction is led in the morning and evening six days a week by representatives of these traditions who possess a theoretical as well as practical understanding of their discipline. Lectures and discussions led by the program director complement and contextualize the three meditation traditions being studied.
Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Buddhist Studies in India and Thailand program.
- Fall 2026
- IS, International Studies No Exploration
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Buddhist Studies in India and Thailand program.
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RELG 359.07 Fall 2026
- Faculty: Local Instructor
- Size:35
- Credits:7 – 8
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RELG 399 Senior Research Seminar 6 credits
This seminar will acquaint students with research tools in various fields of religious studies, provide an opportunity to present and discuss research work in progress, hone writing skills, and improve oral presentation techniques.
- Winter 2027
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry
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RELG 399.01 Winter 2027
- Faculty: Lori Pearson 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- T, THLeighton 301 10:10am-11:55am
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25 seats held for Religion majors with Senior Priority until the day after senior priority registration.
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RELG 400 Integrative Exercise 1 – 2 credits
Religion 400 covers two required elements of the comprehensive exercise for the Religion major. All seniors must enroll in Religion 400 for one credit in fall term of senior year, when students will write and revise their comps research proposals. All seniors must then enroll in Religion 400 for two credits in spring term of senior year, when each student will finalize the research paper, create and deliver an oral presentation on it, and attend the oral presentations of all religion majors in the senior class. (The paper is drafted during winter term in Religion 399.)
- Fall 2026, First Five Weeks, Winter 2027, Spring 2027
- No Exploration
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Student is a Religion major AND has Senior Priority.