RELS 5000.001 Religion in the Contemporary United States.  This course examines selected topics and themes in contemporary U.S. religion.  The class structure includes introductory lectures, seminar-style discussions, student presentations, frequent writing assignments, and a thesis-driven final paper.  MW 2:00-3:15 (Sean McCloud)

 RELS 5000.090. Witches, Saints, and Heretics.  This course will examine concepts of ‘sanctity’ and ‘deviance’ as formulated in Western cultural traditions.  The focus will be on examining constructions of individual identity and cultural boundaries through a close reading of, for example, martyrdom accounts, saints’ lives, trials for heresy, and witch-hunting manuals alongside recent scholarly interpretations.  M 6:30-9:15 (Joanne Maguire Robinson)

 RELS 5000.091. Approaches to Ritual.  An exploration of three major approaches to the study of ritual through test cases drawn from Asian religious traditions. We shall interpret selected ritual complexes as social dramas, as languages with syntactical meaning, and as cultural performances. This course is designed to provide a forum for students to use theoretical literature to interpret religious practice.  R 3:30-6:15 (David Mozina)

RELS 5000.092  Philosophy of Religion: Modern.  Selected readings in the philosophy of religion from Spinoza, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hegel, Kant, Schelling, Feuerbach, Schleiermacher, and others.  T 6:30-9:15 (Richard Cohen)

RELS 6000.090. Readings in Parascriptural Hebrew.  Readings from the Cairo Damascus Document, the Qumran Community Rule (1QS), the long Psalms scroll (11QPsalms^a), and the Temple Scroll (11QTemple).  TBA  (John C. Reeves, on demand)
Note: students interested in this course should contact Prof. Reeves in order to set up its place and time.

RELS 6000.091.  Readings in Greek/Latin. TBA  (Jeremy Schott, on demand)
Note: students interested in this course should contact Prof. Schott in order to set up its place and time.

 RELS 6603.090  Seminar in Early Judaism.  Current issues in the study of early Judaism as construed chronologically from the beginning of the Second Temple to the Arab conquest of Syria-Palestine.  W 6:30-9:15 (John C. Reeves)

 RELS 6800.  Directed Studies.  (TBA, John C. Reeves)

 RELS 6999.  Thesis.  (TBA, John C. Reeves)

 RELS 7999.  Master’s Degree Residence.  (TBA, John C. Reeves)

 Language courses: The university offers undergraduate language courses relevant to graduate study in religion and religions.  For the spring 2008 offerings, consult the schedule listings under CHNS, FORL, FREN, GERM, GREK, JAPN, and LATN for courses in Chinese, Arabic, biblical Hebrew, French, German, Greek, Japanese, and Latin. Introductory and/or advanced instruction in Arabic, Aramaic, Chinese, Coptic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Sanskrit, and Syriac language sources is often available as a Topics or Directed Studies course, subject to the instructor’s consent and student demand.

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