Religious Studies Minor

Subjects covered include religious pluralism in the United States, religion and civil rights, evolution and creationism, religion and gender, and religious response to cultural change.

Explores the sociological approach to studying religion in society. Provides an overview of historical and current sociological research on religion. Topics may include the social and structural influences on individuals’ and societies’ religiosity; secularization theory; denominationalism and congregationalism; church-sect theory; religion and race, class and gender; and separation of church and state.

An investigation of the fundamental principles of Jewish law, a system involving the interplay of biblical sources with evolving Rabbinic interpretations and traditions. Focuses on the major figures in the formation of Jewish Law, the core texts, and how it translates its theological insights into a practical working system that is relevant to the worlds of modernity and post-modernity.

An examination of the major issues, figures, and texts of Islamic philosophy and theology, such as al-Kindi, al-Razi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Ghazali, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes), as well as questions concerning the ultimate nature of the world, proofs of God’s existence, reason and faith, ethics and the afterlife, science and politics, Islam and the modern world.

An examination of non-Western religious traditions for an environmental philosophy geared toward assessing global environmental issues with a focus on South Asian and East Asian philosophical and religious traditions.

Philosophical and social dimensions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Humanism. Emphasizes the diversity of religious experience and traditions.