THE CRUSADES: CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

AFRICAN/JEWISH/MEDIEVAL/RELIGST 462

Explores the historical relationship between Muslims and Jews in a variety of contexts from the seventh century to the present. Surveys literary and cultural exchanges against the background of shifting political and social conditions across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Considers also the parallel legacies of anti-Semitism, Orientalism, and Islamophobia. Major themes include comparative religion, secularization, migration, and colonialism, as well as the politics of history and cultural memory. Introduces readings in English translation of medieval and modern texts originally written across languages, and especially in Hebrew and Arabic.

HISTORY/RELIGST 209

A survey of major trends in Western intellectual history and religious thought in the modern era, a period that saw a new range of competing ideas about the divine, the human condition, justice and the social order, and the quest for meaning. Explores shifts in Christian and Jewish thought as well as secular alternatives to religious outlooks. Topics include the impact of the Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and Enlightenment; radical critiques of religion; existentialism; theological responses to World Wars and the Holocaust; and civil rights and social justice. Sources include films, novels, autobiographies, essays, theological works, and political manifestos.

RELIGST 302

A comparative, thematic exploration of major Christian theological ideas and their relationships to practices across varieties of Christianity and contexts.

HISTORY/RELIGST 208

Survey of key themes in Western intellectual history and religious thought from ancient Greece through the Renaissance, focusing on relationships among classical, Jewish, and Christian traditions.

RELIGST 101

Foundational and thematic approaches in the academic study of religion applied across global religious systems.