SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND RELIGION

RELIGST 102

An introduction to the study of religion through the lens of health and health through the lens of religion employing approaches from the humanities and social sciences in conversation with health-related disciplines. It asks questions such as, How do religious peoples understand and live in sickness and health? How do people connect physical well-being to spiritual well-being? Medicine to meaning-making? How does looking at religion in sickness and health provide insight into its roles in a variety of cultures and contexts, globally and locally? How do health and religion connect particularly in situations of social marginalization and immigration? How does religion impact understandings of health and sickness beyond the borders of specific religious communities?

HISTSCI/MEDHIST 212

A survey of different conceptions of how the body as a site of sickness has been understood from Antiquity to contemporary medicine. Includes consideration of the origins and evolution of public health, the changing social role of healers, and the emergence of the modern "standardized" body in health and illness.

HISTSCI 909

Readings and/or research on the history of biology and medicine. Topics vary.

MEDHIST 708

Advanced readings in primary and secondary literature concerning medicine in Europe from the 18th century to mid-20th century, investigating changes in disease and demography, state interest in health care, and medical professions, and both scientific and alternative medical ideas.

PHILOS/RELIGST 501

Analysis of religious experience and activity, and examination of principal religious ideas in light of modern psychology, philosophy, science, and anthropology.