2010-11

These undergrad courses are offered at the UTM Campus.

UTM Campus Course Descriptions 2011-2012

For timetable information, please go to https://registrar.utm.utoronto.ca/student/timetable

RLG101H5 F/S Introduction to the Study of Religion

Theories about the variety and nature of religious experience, personal and collective. How religious life is expressed in such forms as myth, narrative and ritual, systems of belief and value, morality and social institutions. Exclusion: RLG101Y1, RLG100Y5, 280Y5

RLG202H5S Introduction to Judaism

This course studies Jewish religious thought and activity in both ancient and modern times through selected biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish writings. It explores the roots of Jewish religion, the variety of Jewish traditions, and how these traditions worldwide have been transformed throughout history in response to major political and religious crises. Exclusion: RLG202Y1. Recommended Preparation: HIS101H5.

RLG203H5 F/S Introduction to Christianity

This course introduces the diverse history of the Christian religious tradition, from Jewish sect to global movement. How has the essence of Christianity been defined through the centuries? Why have various people from very different times and places, and from very different social strata, become, or remained, Christians? How have Christian beliefs and practices adapted to changing historical circumstances? How have various churches related to ruling powers? These are the main questions we will be focussing on throughout the year. In pursuing answers to these questions, the emphasis will be on how and why Christianity has been shaped by various social and cultural environments throughout its long history, as well as how it has helped to shape society and culture. Exclusion: RLG 203Y1. Recommended Preparation: HIS101H5.

RLG204H5 F/S Introduction to Islam

The faith and practice of Islam: historical emergence, doctrinal development, and interaction with various world cultures. Exclusion: RLG204Y1. Recommended Preparation: HIS101H5.

RLG205H5 F/S Introduction to South Asian Religions

An historical and thematic introduction to the Hindu religious tradition as embedded in the socio-cultural structures of India. Exclusion: RLG205Y1

RLG206H5 F/S Introduction to Buddhism

The teachings of the Buddha and the development, spread, and diversification of the Buddhist tradition from southern to northeastern Asia. Exclusion: RLG206Y1, RLG206Y5. Recommended Preparation: RLG101H5.

RLG208H5F Introduction to Zoroastrianism

A survey of the historical development of Zoroastrianism and its canonical texts, doctrines, rituals, and observances from the time of Zoroaster to the present. It also explores the emergence of Zoroastrian diasporic communities in India, Europe, and North America. Recommended Preparation: HIS101H5.

RLG304H5F Islamic Spiritual Traditions

An investigation of the spiritual traditions in Islam, covering the development of Sufism and other esoteric schools of Islamic thought. The historical evolution of devotional traditions, philosophical schools and scriptural hermeneutics are explored. Recommended Preparation RLG204H5 or permission of the instructor.

RLG312H5S Method and Theory in the History of Religions

A team-taught course which examines the historical emergence of the discipline of religious studies, representative works of the nineteenth- and twentieth- centuries, and the application of theoretical and methodological approaches to one or more religious tradition. (Required of specialists and majors). . Recommended Preparation: At least one 200-level course in the History of Religions.

RLG313H5F The Literature of Ancient Israel

The Hebrew Bible (i.e. the Old Testament) is not a single book, but an anthology selected from a larger body of ancient Jewish literature reflecting different authors, historical circumstances, literary genres, and religious agendas. This course familiarizes the student with critical study of the Hebrew Bible and related literature of ancient Jewish communities (Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls). Among the topics to be examined are the basic forms of ancient Hebrew literature, the issues of textual development, the process of canonization, and the ancient Near Eastern cultural environment from which this literature emerged.

RLG314H5F  Religion and Gender

This course focuses on the interaction of gender and religion from a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective; topics include creation myths, authority and leadership, sainthood, expressions of the divine, and gendered ritual. Prerequisite: RLG101H5

RLG325H5S Visions and Revelations

Apocalyptic literature, concerned with the expectation of imminent, radical and transforming intervention of the divine into human history, flourished between 200 BCE and 200 CE. This course provides an introduction to the study of the origin, form and function of ancient Jewish and related apocalyptic literature understood in its cultural and literary contexts. [24L]
Prerequisite: RLG202H5/ 203H5

RLG326H5S Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism

The course will focus on the following concepts and their historical developments in the ancient world of religion: heavenly ascent, messiah, revelation, martyrdom, redemptive suffering and divine-human being. Students will read a wide variety of texts from the following collections: Gnostic literature, Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudipigrapha, Apocrypha, Old Testament, New Testament, Desert Fathers, and Rabbinic literature.

RLG333H5F Biblical Themes in Modern Literature

This course examines of the role and representation of Christian traditions, teachings, and themes in various (non-Biblical) literary works. Topics may include: sin and salvation; myth and parable; selfhood and identity; missionizing and conversion; evil and “othering”; love and forgiveness; guilt and sacrifice; and suffering and transcendence.

RLG340H5F Topics in Christianity: Byzantium and the Orthodox Christian Cultures of Eastern Europe

A detailed study of selected aspects of Christianity. Prerequisite: RLG101H5/100Y5/100Y1/203H5/203Y1
Recommended Preparation HIS101H5

RLG348H5F Zoroastrian Customs and Ceremonies

The course analyzes the religious practices and the daily practices having a religious background, performed by the Zoroastrians in modern times. Their historical development is analyzed, considering, for the medieval and modern times, the influence of the environment of the countries where Zoroastrians lived, and where they represented a minority. Also highlighted is the significance of these practices in relationship to the Zoroastrian doctrinal system.
Recommended Preparation RLG208H5

RLG350H5S – Topics in Islam: Islam and Human Rights

A detailed study of selected aspects of Islam. [24L]

RLG351H5S Major Themes in the Study of the Quran

An introduction to the Quran, the scripture of Islam. Surveys of the history of the text and the development of traditions of Quranic interpretation and commentary, including tafsir and ta’wil, from early to modern times.

RLG360H5F Topics in South Asian Religions: Hindu Myth

A detailed study of selected aspects of South Asian Religions. [24L] Prerequisite: RLG101H5/100Y5/100Y1/205H5/205Y1
Recommended Preparation HIS101H5

RLG371H5S Buddhist Thought

The course deals with the historical development of doctrines and controversies pertaining to the most important schools of Buddhist thought up to the end of the first millennium CE. It discusses the relationship of reason, belief and practice while giving a closer look at Buddhist positions on specific philosophical questions. [24L] Exclusion: RLG371H1. Prerequisite:  One RLG course. Recommended Preparation RLG206H5/206Y5

RLG374H5F Buddhist Literatures

The course looks at popular Buddhist educational storytelling, courtly dramas, Buddhist poetry or the life-histories of the buddhas, bodhisattvas and Buddhist holy men and women. It reflects on how popular motifs, aesthetic styles and literary media have helped transport Buddhist doctrines across various times, regions and languages. Prerequisite: One RLG course. Recommended Preparation: RLG206H5/206Y5.

RLG380H5S Topics in Comparative Religions: Encounters Between Indo-Islamic and Hindu Cultures

An in-depth study of the main teachings, practices and institutions of the major, and several of the minor, religious traditions: namely, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism. Exclusion: RLG280H5/280Y5. Prerequisite: Two of RLG202H5/203H5/204H5/205H5/206H5/208H5.

RLG440H5S Advanced Topics in Christianity – Christianity and the Natural World

A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Christianity.  Prerequisite: RLG203H5/340H5.

RLG450H5F Advanced Topics in Islam: Ethical Dimensions of Islam

A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Islam. Prerequisite: HIS204H5/350H5.

RLG450H5S Advanced Topics in Islam: Islam and Terrorism

A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Islam. Prerequisite: HIS204H5/350H5.

RLG460H5F Advanced Topics in South Asian Religions: Religion and Aesthetics in South Asia

A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of South Asian religions. Prerequisite: RLG205H5/360H5.

RLG470H5S Advanced Topics in Buddhism: Indian Buddhist Narrative Literature

A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Buddhism. Prerequisite:  RLG206H5/370H5