2024-2025 St. George Campus Course Descriptions
For courses with tutorials, please also see the Arts & Science Timetable Builder. Sessional dates are available on the Faculty of Arts & Science calendar.
Note: If the courses listed below are in conflict with the Arts & Science timetable, the information on the timetable takes priority. Additional information on some courses (i.e., Special Topics) are available on this page. All courses are planned for in-person delivery unless otherwise stated.
Please contact the Undergraduate Program Assistant, Phoebe To, at religion.undergrad@utoronto.ca, with any questions you may have.
RLG100H1 World Religions
Term: Winter
Description: An introduction to the history, philosophy, and practice of the major religions of the world, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taosim.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
RLG104H1 Conspiracies, Social Media, and the Rise of New Religious Movements
Geethika Dharmasinghe
Term: Fall
Description: Conspiracy theories are nothing new, but in the past few years we have all witnessed the meteoric rise of conspiracies such as QAnon via social media, which have taken on the elements of New Religious Movements. This course examines recent examples of new religious movements that might be thought of as "conspiritualities", that is, conspiracies with strong cult and religious overtones.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG106H1 Happiness
Kevin O'Neill | Happiness course couldn't be timelier in today's unsettled world (Article)
Term: Fall
Description: Are you happy? Today happiness is a metric by which a growing number of people asess the quality of their lives, with a range of experts offering innumerable life hacks and opportunities to optimize life. But what does it mean to be happy? And how have people tried to achieve this ever-elusive state? Situated squarely within the study of religion, this course considers how different traditions from around the world and for thousands of years have raised similar questions about happiness - not simply for the sake of reflection but also to do something about it. And their answers have varied: fast, meditate, pray, go to the desert, come together, get high, suffer, renounce God, and/or make lots of money. Readings will include selections from social theory and religious texts as well as a few authors who seem to be (against all odds) kind of happy.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG107H1 "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Instructor TBA
Term: Winter
Description: Throughout history, many religious movements have envisioned the end of the world. This course will explore the ways in which different religious movements have prepared for and expected an end time, from fears, symbols, and rituals to failed prophecies and social violence. By examining traditions such as Jewish and Christian apocalyptic texts through to fears of nuclear apocalypse and zombies, the course seeks to understand the ways in which ancient and modern claims of “the end” reflect the aspirations, anxieties, and religious concerns of communities.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG109H1 Heroes and Villains: Religion, Role Models & Cautionary Tales from Marvel and DC
Term: Fall
Description: What differentiates a hero from a villain? How are ethical issues addressed in the stories of such characters? Are Batman and Spiderman understood as role models? This course analyzes exemplary narratives from Pop Culture. We will consider examples from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as other forms of popular media. Students will compare these popular narratives with those produced by religious communities.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
MHB155H1 Elementary Modern Hebrew l
Term: Fall
Description: This course is designed for students with little or no experience in Hebrew. As such, it offers intensive training in the basics of 4 language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Students will be able to recognize the Hebrew verb system's fundamental structures, learn its primary forms, and acquire the necessary basic vocabulary for everyday conversations. We will focus on reading: easy dialogues, passages without vowels, and short texts in simple Hebrew. Writing: short dialogues and paragraphs. Conversation: simple dialogues and stories. Comprehension: listening to short stories and recorded conversations.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
MHB156H1 Elementary Modern Hebrew II
Term: Winter
Description: The second half of a two-semester Modern Hebrew course for beginners is intended to strengthen the students' conversation skills and their reading, writing, and listening comprehension while further developing the cultural context of the language. Materials include simple stories and poems, digital media, film, comics, textbook exercises, and complementary class activities. In addition, students will be expected to deliver presentations in Hebrew and write about a range of topics, demonstrating an ability to acquire new vocabulary using print and digital dictionaries independently.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
JRC199H1 Truths & Reconciliations in Canada
Term: Fall
Description: In this course, we examine the idea of reconciliation among Indigenous and Canadian nations by considering the complicated role of religion and spirituality in "truth and reconciliation". Specifically, residential schools for Indigenous children were a collaboration of church and state that violently broke the spirit and intent of the treaties - or sacred promises - made between the Crown and Indigenous nations. The course will set the 2015 Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada in a longer history of twentieth-century commissions, reports, and petitions in which both Indigenous and Canadian people (and some churches) named the cultural and spiritual genocide of residential schools and called for action. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
RLG199H1 Contagions
Term: Winter
Description: It is obvious that infections spread through social networks; what is less well-known is that forms of human behaviour, including religious affiliation, have network characteristics. This course examines a variety of historical and contemporary contagions to introduce essential concepts in network analysis and the factors that account for the spread of innovation and other forms of human behaviour. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and Its Institutions (3)
RLG200H1 The Study of Religion
Term: Fall
Description: An introduction to the discipline of the study of religion. This course surveys methods in the study of religion and the history of the discipline in order to prepare students to be majors or specialists in the study of religion.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG200H1 The Study of Religion
Term: Winter
Description: An introduction to the discipline of the study of religion. This course surveys methods in the study of religion and the history of the discipline in order to prepare students to be majors or specialists in the study of religion.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
Note: This is offered fully online for the Winter semester.
RLG201H1 Indigenous Spiritualities and Religions
Term: Fall
Description: This course examines how Indigenous communities saw the world before contact—primarily exploring early creation narratives and ways of engaging with the natural world through ceremonials of reciprocity and acknowledgements. It engages with how early colonial societies and Western-based religions evaluated and understood Indigenous spiritualities and practices. We consider Indigenous critiques of Western religion as it has actually been practiced as opposed to what has been taught as constituting the ideals of civilization. Finally, we analyze how Indigenous communities and culture begin to create “New Religions” that blend Indigenous values and thinking with aspects of Western culture or emerge in direct response to re-imagining spirituality in attempts to prove humanness and civility in contexts where little of Indigenous culture and values has been seen as acceptable.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG202H1 Judaism
Term: Fall
Description: An introduction to the religious tradition of the Jews that explores key themes as they change from ancient times to today. The set of themes will include: the Sabbath, Study, Place, Household, Power. Each year will focus on one theme. We will read holy texts, modern literature, history, ethnography, and philosophy, covering each theme in a range of genres and across the diverse span of Jewish experience.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG203H1 Christianity
Term: Winter
Description: We explore the multiple religious traditions of Christianity and follow key themes as they have changed throughout the last two millennia. The themes might include: the Bible and its translation; missionizing and colonial practices; belief and conversion; authority and power; capitalism and Christianity. The course will equip students to understand how and why Christianity has come to exert such influence around the globe. No familiarity with the Bible, Christianity, or the academic study of religion is assumed.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG204H1 Islam
Term: Fall
Description: An introduction to the Islamic religious tradition that explores its diversity and development, from its inception to the modern period. Themes include Pre-Islamic Arabia, the life of Muhammad and the Qur'an, the development of the notion of Sunna and Hadith, Islamic religious communities (Sunni, Shiite and Ismaili traditions), Sufism, and religious practices. The course will emphasize the complexity of the Islamic tradition both in its classical phase and in modernity including Islam in the diaspora.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG205H1 Hinduism
Term: Fall
Description: This course explores themes relating to the religion of Hindus, called Hinduism since modernity. Topics include the canonical literatures, philosophies, and doctrines of Hinduism, along with the debates surrounding them; lived Hinduism, and the texts that inform its practice and experience; activities considered quintessential to Hinduism, such as temple visits, yoga, and venerating a guru; and the vibrant spectrum of Hindu expression one encounters in the diaspora. The course will equip students with fluency in core concepts and practices of Hinduism, as well as an understanding of Hindu history as one of dynamism and transformation.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG206H1 Buddhism
Sinae Kim
Term: Fall
Description: This course traces the socio-historical development of Buddhist traditions across the diverse regions of South, Southeast, Central, and East Asia from their foundations in early India to their transmission in the contemporary West. Although much of our time will be spent reading, grappling with, and discussing Buddhist literary works (premodern, modern), we will also consider the institutional and practical dimensions of Buddhism as a lived tradition. To that end, weekly readings and lectures will be supplemented with maps, images, and videos to highlight the vast geographical range and significance of Buddhist traditions over time, as well as their rich visual and material cultures. By the end of the course students are expected to have a solid understanding of the basic timeline of Buddhist history in Asia, together with the major figures, key concepts, central texts, and ritual practices comprising Buddhist traditions.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG209H1 Justifying Religious Belief
Term: Winter
Description: Beliefs typically characterized as “religious” concern such things as the existence and nature of the Deity, the afterlife, the soul, miracles, and the universe’s meaningfulness, ultimate purpose, or interest in the distribution of justice according to some plan. Common to these and other religious beliefs is that empirical evidence for them are lacking – at least so say all those who insist that rational beliefs require justification and that justification comes either from observing publically-accessible phenomena or some kind of solid scientific reasoning. Religious beliefs, it further seems, run counter to modern conceptions about who counts not only as an acceptably rational, but also as a fully moral agent. How might people who hold – and want to continue to hold – religious beliefs respond to these accusations and doubts?
The course examines these basic epistemological and moral challenges to religious belief as well as the various strategies available to religious believers who are confronted with such demands for justifications. By doing so, we will aim to understand better whether religious beliefs of various sorts could count as rational, whether reasonable people might disagree with each other about the very nature of reality and morality, and whether anyone who falls short of common intellectual and social ideals of rationality and reasonableness ought to be tolerated.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG211H1 Psychology of Religion
Term: Winter
Description: The psychoanalytic study of religion examines the nature of religious beliefs, experiences and practices as creations of mind and culture. What is the nature of and relationship between belief and knowledge, subjective and objective experience/reality, phantasy, dreams and reality? How do the individual and social unconscious create and shape religious beliefs, experiences and practices? These and other questions are explored in order to understand the ways in which psychoanalysis, as a critical theory of religion, contributes to theorizing the ways in which individual psychology is also social psychology. Included in our focus is a consideration of mystical, visionary, esoteric and paranormal experiences in the psychoanalytic study of religion. Insights from evolutionary and cognitive psychology and neuroscience will be considered as well in our discussions of psychology and religion.
Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG215H1 New Religious Movements
Term: Fall
Description: The saying goes that "Cult + Time = Religion". In this course, we will examine this assertion, looking especially at the development of recent religions, such as Scientology. This course will probe the history of scholarship on new religious movements (once known as "cult studies") and explore the challenges inherent in studying controversial movements.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
Note: This is a fully online course.
RLG222H1 Witchcraft, Religion and the Powers of the Occult
Term: Fall
Description: Picture a witch in your mind's eye. Do you see them as male, female, or somewhere between the two? Young or old? Good or evil? This course goes beyond common Western assumptions about the character and morality of witchcraft to show how its study, its representation and its practice contribute in vital ways to our understandings of religion, the occult, morality, gender, sexuality, and science. We move across Europe, Africa, Melanesia and North America to shed light on a controversial figure in numerous societies and literary traditions, past and present. Depictions of withces, wiccans, sorcerers and magicians are analyzed and compared. At the same time, the course should make you ask yourself: What is rational, what is ethical - and ultimately, what is human?
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
RLG230H1 Religion, Law and Society
Term: Winter
Description: This course will look closely at the variety of ways in which religion operates in modern Western society, beyond its more straightforward institutional function, in order to answer questions such as: What exactly is religion? What does it do? What does it look like? Is it still here in this age of "disenchantment"? Is God dead, or is religion making a comeback? We will begin by defining "religion" within a legal context and then explore various roles that religion plays that transcend a limited definition, including: religion as private or collective practice, religion as a comprehensive worldview, religion as an inherited social and political structure, religion as culture, religion as a web of relationships, and religion as an artefact. Finally, we will consider what (if anything) religion could offer us moving forward.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
RLG231H1 Music and Religion: From Bach to Leonard Cohen
Term: Fall
Description: What is music to religion? This course is an exploration of religion and music from a global perspective. 'World' music will be placed in comparative frameworks with various 'world' religions in order to understand how music has been and continues to be at the core of religious narratives, rituals, beliefs, and cultural performances.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG232H1 Religion and Film
Term: Winter
Description: The role of film as a mediator of thought and experience concerning religious worldviews. The ways in which movies relate to humanity's quest to understand itself and its place in the universe are considered in this regard, along with the challenge which modernity presents to this task. Of central concern is the capacity of film to address religious issues through visual symbolic forms.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG233H1 Religion and Popular Culture
Term: Winter
Description: A course on the interactions, both positive and negative, between religion and popular culture. We look at different media (television, advertising, print) as they represent and engage with different religious traditions, identities, and controversies.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG235H1 Religion, Gender, and Sexuality
Term: Fall
Description: This course equips students to understand how norms and practices of gender and sexuality are deeply entangled with religious imaginations and traditions. We will examine how ritual. scriptural and legal traditions enable and constrain embodied and political power. Readings will draw from feminist, womanist, queer, and other perspectives. With a combination of in-class discussions, critical reading exercises, and short essay assignments, students will strengthen their awareness of transnational intersections of religion, gender and "religio-racial" formations. You will develop skills in analyzing the role of popular culture and legal and religious texts in shaping norms and experiences of gender and embodiment.
Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG237H1 Religion, Medicine, and the Human Body
Term: Winter
Description: Throughout much of human history, considerations of the wondrous workings and frightening frailty of the human body occupied a large role in religious thought and practice. This course examines how religion influenced the development of scientific thought about physiology and medicine, as well as how scientific knowledge was integrated into religious beliefs. Possible topics of discussion include attitudes towards the differences among the sexes, public health needs and the coercion of individuals, the significance of stages of life and aging, contraception and abortion, the relation between mental and physical health, and how to face the prospect of death and disease appropriately. We will also explore the role of pilgrimage sites in healthcare. Finally, we discuss the particular internal conflicts and religious experiences of medical care professionals. Regions and time periods under discussion will vary by instructor.
This semester, the course will focus on religion and medicine among Christians, Jews, and Muslims of the medieval Mediterranean world.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breath Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG241H1 The Earliest Christians
Term: Winter
Description: What can the earliest writings of Early Christianity tell us about the movement and its founding figure? We examine these writings critically and historically in order to understand the immense variety of early Christianity as it grew within Judaism and within the Greco-Roman World. No familiarity with Christianity or the New Testament is expected.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG242H1 Bible in America
Term: Winter
Description: This course offers a critical examination of the role of biblical texts (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and New Testament) within the history, literature, and culture of the United States of America. It will employ a range of methodological perspectives to explore the use, influence, and impact of biblical interpretation especially regarding claims of American identity. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew or Greek is required.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG243H1 Naked and Not Ashamed: The Book of Genesis
Term: Fall
Description: This course provides a critical introduction to the book of Genesis. It examines the historical and literary contexts of Genesis and engages diverse methods of contemporary biblical scholarship, such as narrative analysis, gender analysis, and history of interpretation. This course highlights the use of Genesis in various Jewish and Christian communities and in popular culture, including music, film, and visual arts. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew or Greek is required.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
MHB255H1 Intermediate Modern Hebrew I
Instructor TBA
Term: Fall
Description: This course will further enhance students' Hebrew language skills. With the context of contemporary Israeli and Jewish culture in mind, the course focuses on (1) Reading: unadapted texts and simple articles in regular Hebrew. (2) Writing: the beginning of practical writing on topics discussed in class, writing about personal experiences, and writing structured compositions. (3) Conversation: conversational skills developed by regular participation in class presentations and discussions of current events and cultural issues; role play and participation in dialogues and informal expressions. (4) Comprehension: listening to recorded short stories in easy Hebrew. (5) Grammatical Skills: Completing the syntactic study of verb conjugation in different tenses.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
MHB256H1 Intermediate Modern Hebrew II
Instructor TBA
Term: Winter
Description: This course of Intermediate Hebrew is intended for those who completed the requirements of intermediate Hebrew I. Intermediate Hebrew aims to instill more excellent proficiency, enrich vocabulary, and deepen the student's understanding of the cultural context of Israeli Hebrew. Subjects include current affairs, Israeli society, and cultural traditions. Added emphasis will be placed on language registers and grammatical and syntactic nuances, with materials ranging from children's books to television programs. By the end of the semester, students will complete their understanding of the Hebrew verb system and main preposition words.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG260H1 Introduction to Sanskrit I
Term: Fall
Description: The first semester of an introduction to Classical Sanskrit for beginners. Students build grammar and vocabulary, and begin to read texts in Sanskrit. Complete beginners are welcome. The course is held online via live webinar participation. The final exam will require attendance on the St. George campus, or in another authorized exam centre.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
Note: This is a fully online course.
RLG261H1 Introduction to Tibetan I
Term: Fall
Description: An introduction to Classical Tibetan language for beginners. Development of basic grammar and vocabulary, with readings of simple texts. Two sections of the course may be offered: an on-campus class meeting and an online section. The final exam will require attendance on the St. George campus, or in another authorized exam centre.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
Note: This course has an in-person section and a fully online section.
RLG263H1 Introduction to Sanskrit II
Term: Winter
Description: The second semester of an introduction to Classical Sanskrit for beginners. Students continue to build grammar and vocabulary, and use that knowledge to read texts in Sanskrit. The course is held online via live webinar participation.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
Note: This is a fully online course.
RLG264H1 Introductory Pali I
Term: Fall
Description: This introductory course offers an opportunity to students interested in Buddhism to read, analyze, and discuss select simple passages from the scriptures of the Theravada canon in their original language. It will cover philosophical, psychological, and narrative texts and their interpretation, as well as provide a first exposure to the Pali Language. Complete beginners are welcome.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
Note: This course has an in-person section and a fully online section.
RLG265H1 Introductory Pali II
Term: Winter
Description: This course offers an opportunity to students interested in Buddhism and with basic knowledge of Pali to read, analyze, and discuss select simple passages from the scriptures of the Theravada canon in their original language. It will cover philosophical, psychological, and narrative texts and their interpretation.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
Note: This course has an in-person section and a fully online section.
All 300-series courses normally presuppose that a student has already completed, by the first day of the course, at least 4.0 FCEs (or their equivalent). Students who do not meet the specific Prerequisites listed in the Calendar, but believe they have adequate academic preparation, should contact Phoebe, the Undergraduate Assistant, at religion.undergrad@utoronto.ca regarding entry to the course.
JRN301H1 Disability in the Hebrew Bible and Related Texts
Term: Fall
Description: The Hebrew Bible (sometimes called the Old Testament) has influenced ideas about disability in societies across the globe for thousands of years. Yet, notions of disability in the Hebrew Bible may be strikingly different from what we might imagine. This course explores how some biblical texts and related ancient literature conceptualize disability in relation to issues of ethnicity, sexuality, beauty, age, social class, religious expression, and so on. We will examine a number of these issues both in ancient context and in some more recent interpretations of the Hebrew Bible. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representation (1)
RLG303H1 Evil and Suffering
Term: Fall
Description: The existence of evil poses a problem to theistic beliefs and raises the question as to whether a belief in a deity is incompatible with the existence of evil and human (or other) suffering. This course examines the variety of ways in which religions have dealt with the existence of evil.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG304H1 Language, Symbols, Self
Term: Fall
Description: Theories of the self that involve the constitutive role of language in its various forms. Problems of socially-conditioned worldviews and sense of self as related to discourse. Myth, symbol, metaphor, and literary arts as vehicles for personality development and self-transformation along religious lines.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG307H1 Museums and Material Religion
Term: Winter
Description: Museums have long collected and curated religious objects for public audiences, with missionaries as a primary collections source. Multiple visits to the Royal Ontario Museum and other museums will enable students to think critically about how museums received and presented these objects, while engaging with the challenges of museum curation.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representation (1)
RLG309H1 Religion and Human Rights
Term: Fall
Description: We will explore the dynamic inter-relations of women, ethnicities and minorities, among others, within the context of religion in this age of human rights, focusing on the contemporary global context. Our aim will be to include both theory and praxis. The approach will be intersectional, cross-cultural, inter-religious and inter-disciplinary. We will do this by drawing on both academic and non-academic resources, grassroots movements as well as global initiatives to approach these issues.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
Note: This is a fully online course.
RLG311H1 Gender, Body and Sexuality in Asian Traditions
Geethika Dharmasinghe
Term: Winter
Description: A study of women in the religious traditions of South and East Asia, including historical developments, topical issues, and contemporary women's movements.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
JSR312H1 Queer Religion and Religiosities
Term: Winter
Description: This course will introduce students to key terms, theories, and debates in Queer and Religious Studies and to the history of queer identities as they are expressed within various religious traditions, textx, and communities. It asks how dominant heteronormative discourses on gender and sexuality are adhered to, legitimized, negotiated, and contested within various religious traditions. The course will also allow students to interrogate how power and power relationships are shaped by sex, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, age, and ability in the world of religion.
RLG313H1 Love, Sex, Family
Term: Winter
Description: This course equips students to understand the religious roots of modern formations of gender, sexuality, and kinship, focusing in particular on Judaism, Christianity, and New Religious Movements. Topics we will cover include: the transformation of traditional religious structures into the modern "religion of romantic love", the reshaping of religious practices within the modern nuclear family and its gendered division of labour, the persistent religious entanglements within not only normative but also queer and transgressive gender performances and kinship structures, the political asymmetries within which different religious modernities emerge, and the role of literature in preserving religious enchantment in modernity.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
RLG314H1 Pilgrimage as Idea and Practice
Term: Fall
Description: The study of pilgrimage has become increasingly prominent in anthropology and religious studies in recent decades. Why should this be? This course provides some answers while engaging in a cross cultural survey and analysis of pilgrimage practices. We also explore whether research into pilgrimage has wider theoretical significance.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG317H1 Religion, Violence, and Non-Violence
Term: Winter
Description: People acting in the name of religion(s) have incited violence and worked for peace. How can we understand this tension both today and in the past? Through examination of the power of authoritative tradition, collective solidarity, charisma, and acts of resistance, this course addresses religious justifications of violence and non-violence across varied historical and geographical contexts.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG319H1 Death, Dying and Afterlife
Term: Winter
Description: This course introduces students to various religious approaches to death, the dead, and afterlife. Through considering different ways in which death has been thought about and dealt with, we will also explore different understandings of life and answers to what it means to be human.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour
RLG321H1 Women and the Hebrew Bible
Term: Fall
Description: This course provides a critical examination of the Hebrew Bible (sometimes called the Old Testament) with an emphasis on women characters. It examines the historical and literary contexts of Hebrew Bible texts and engages diverse methods of contemporary biblical scholarship with particular attention to issues of gender. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG325H1 The Uses and Abuses of the Bible
Term: Fall
Description: From politics to popular culture, the Bible has shaped people and nations for good dand for ill. This course introduces the Jewish and Christian Bibles and considers case studies of how biblical texts have been interpreted. The Bible has been used to bolster slavery and white supremacy and to inspire political liberation movements. It has been used to justify annihilation of Indigenous people by Christian colonists yet given hope to Jews that next year in Jerusalem might be better. How can the same "book" be used for such different purposes? This course focuses on the cultural and political consequences of biblical interpretation. An underlying premise is that the Bible is not static but is rather a nomadic text as it is continuously interpreted in ways that sometimes contribute to human flourishing, but also can resut in violence, human diminishment, or death.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG326H1 Roots of Christianity and Judaism
Term: Winter
Description: Judaism and Christianity are both considered "religions of the book" but how are they related to each other? This course considers the origins of that relationship by reading a range of Jewish texts from the 6th century BCE to the 1st century CE. including the Dead Sea Scrolls, in order to illuminate the diverse cultural matrix from which early Christianity and Judaism took shape. A major theme of the course is the formation of scriptures and scriptural interpretation as a factor in shaping distinctive Jewish cultures. Attention is also given to "lived religion" and practices that form individuals and communities.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Societies and Its Institutions (3)
RLG328H1 Religion, Race, and the Legacy of Cain and Abel
Term: Winter
Description: Cain's killing of his brother Abel is one of the best known but least understood stories in the Bible. For thousands of years, interpreters have puzzled over the gaps and ambiguities of the story in order to piece together the how, what, where and why of this violent incident. This course explores the legacies of Cain and Abel across various religious traditions and in art, literature, and popular culture. It considers the surprising roles that this biblical story has played in modern ideas about religion, politics, and race. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG332H1 Reasonable and Radical Hope
Term: Winter
Description: Human beings have a natural and necessary interest in the prospects of their happiness, their moral improvement, and a progressively more just world. When, to what extent, and on what basis our hope for these things coculd be reasonable have been central questions in philosophy of religion since the Enlightenment. But genocides and cultural devastation (e.g., the Holocaust or the fates of some Indigenous communities) have compelled more recent philosophers to ask not only about rational hope, but radical hope. This course explores reasonable and radical hope, first by unpacking the well-established philosophical question of what we may reasonably expect from ourselves and our world, and then turning to the issue of humans' capacity to persist when their community and its culture face extinction, i.e., when they may no longer expect anything.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG333H1 Religion, Irreligion, and the Meaning of Life
Term: Winter
Description: Humans ask no more important question than: "What is the meaning of life?" Given its significance, the question should be asked as thoughtfully as possible. This requires us to understand no only the various religious and philosophical answers (to choose wisely you must know your options), but also the question's terms ("what do 'meaning' and 'life' mean?") and historical conditions (is the question pressing perennially or only in secular societies where life has lost its meaning?). In this course students learn how to ask the question of life's meaning well in the hopes that thereby they live better, more meaningful lives.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG335H1 How Religions Spread: Networks and Religion
Term: Fall
Description: Social networks are critical in the maintenance and spread of religions. This course offers an introduction to network concepts and, focusing on ancient Mediterranean religions, examines how religious ideas diffuse; networks and the creation of social capital; intersections of religious and trade or business networks; and the collapse of networks.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and Its Institutions (3)
RLG338H1 Religion and Religiosity in Israel/Palestine
Term: Fall
Description: Focusing on present-day Israel/Palestine, this interdisciplinary course is intended for students interested in exploring a wide range of theoretical questions and examining their applicability to the study of sites, texts, rituals, and politics in the region. We will address the history of the land's consecration from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives. Students will analyze specific sites associated with religious congregations and ritual practices, and study them within their local and regional contexts. Looking at the complex relationships between religious-political movements and institutions within Jewish and Muslim societies, we will delve into various attempts to secularize (and theologize) Jewish and Palestinian communities and their discontents. Rather than providing the typical emphasis on conflict, the course is a journey into the history and present of the land and its diverse communities.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
RLG339H1 Religious Ethics: The Jewish Tradition
Ynon Wygoda
Term: Winter
Description: Forgiveness occupies a central role in the Jewish theological, political, and moral discourse, but seems to be understood somewhat differently in each of these realms. By centering on texts from the Bible and the Talmud to Post-WW2 writers within the Jewish tradition, and comparing them to other religious, political, and philosophical traditions, students in this course are invited to analyze and debate the various meanings attributed to the notion of forgiveness. We will examine together such questions as is forgivesss in the Bible a uniquely divine power? In what way is the political right to pardon informed by divine forgiveness? Do not the political and Biblical senses of forgiveness undermine an inter-personal form of forgiveness? What defines such an inter-peresonal approach? Are there limits to forgiveness? Must forgiveness be awarded only to those who have shown proper remorse or can it be an independent means of self-healing? What makes forgiveness such a defining question for some and a trite and jaded question for others? We will discuss such questions through a close reading of a wide range of texts, films, and even musical productions that centre on the notion of forgiveness.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and Its Institutions (3)
RLG342H1 Judaism in the Early Modern Era
Edward Breuer
Term: Fall
Description: The development and range of modern Jewish religious thought from Spinoza, Mendelssohn and Krochmal, to Cohen, Rosenzweig, and Buber. Responses to the challenges of modernity and fundamental alternatives in modern Judaism.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG343H1 Kabbala: A History of Mystical Thought in Judaism
Term: Fall
Description: A historical study of the Kabbala and the mystical tradition in Judaism, with emphasis on the ideas of Jewish mystical thinkers and movements.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG350H1 The Life of Muhammad
Term: Winter
Description: This course examines Muhammad's life as reflected in the biographies and historical writings of the Muslims. Students will be introduced to the critical methods used by scholars to investigate Muhammad's life. Issues include: relationship between Muhammad's life and Quran teachings and the veneration of Muhammad.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG351H1 The Quran: An Introduction
Term: Fall
Description: The revelatory process and the textual formation of the Quran, its pre-eminent orality and its principal themes and linguistic forms; the classical exegetical tradition and some contemporary approaches to its interpretation.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG353H1 The Politics of Charity
Term: Fall
Description: The course examines religious charitable giving, philanthropic foundations, and humanitarian aid and asks: Is charitable giving altruistic or is it always partly self-interested? Could aid perpetuate poverty? What kinds of "strings" come with receiving aid and is there such thing like a free gift?
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
MHB355H1 Advanced Modern Hebrew I
Term: Fall
Description: This advanced-level course is designed to deepen the student's knowledge of Hebrew in various fields and to increase vocabulary through extensive reading and writing. Areas of focus include (1) Reading: Scientific articles, newspaper editorials, prose, and poetry passages, with emphases on Israeli culture. (2) Writing: practical writing according to communicative functions and models of persuasion, explanation, etc. In addition, students will be asked to write short essays about a literary text. (3) Conversation: increasing vocabulary in conversations and discussions while emphasizing different language styles. (4) Comprehension: listening to radio programs on an advanced level and viewing regular television programs and YouTube music clips. (5) Grammatical Skills: complementing the student's linguistic knowledge and handling of irregular forms.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG355H1 Living Islam
Term: Winter
Description: This course introduces students to studies of contemporary Islam that are based on extensive periods of research with Muslim communities in their own languages using anthropological methods. What do such studies teach us about the varied ways Muslims engage their religious traditioin in the modern world? And how can such studies make us think differently about gender, economy, medicine, and secularism?
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
MHB356H1 Advanced Modern Hebrew II
Term: Winter
Description: Continued advanced intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representation (1)
RLG363H1 Bhakti Hinduism
Term: Fall
Description: A study of Hindu bhakti traditions through classical and vernacular texts, in conversation with colonial and post-colonial theoretical perspectives on the notion of "bhakti" in Hinduism.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and Its Institutions (3)
JPR364H1 Religion and Politics in the Nation State
Term: Fall
Description: This course will engage with contemporary debates on religion and politics in the context of the nation-state in our post-9/11 world, and will do so comparatively across a wide range of contexts. The emphasis will be on understanding the evolving relationship between religion and politics in liberal democracies, and examining challenges facing democratic politics from the religious sphere, both in the West, where secular liberalism is the dominant framework for discussing these questions, and in Africa, India, and the Middle East, where such a framework is more likely to be contested. The themes explored will include secularization, religious pluralism and tolerance, human rights regims, the idea of "civil religion", the impact of religion on party politics, the formation of identity and political community, the legal regulation of sometimes-competing claims based on religious faith, gender, and sexuality, and the rise of extremist forms of religious politics, conspiracy thinking, new online communities that lead to dangerous political outcomes, such as 'QAnon' and 'Plandemic'. Case studies will include the USA, Canada, France, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria.
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
JPR365H1 Global Religion and Politics
Term: Winter
Description: This course will engage with contemporary debates on religion and politics in the international context in our post-9/11 world, and will do so comparatively across a wide range of contexts. The emphasis will be on understanding the evolving role transnational religion has played in the past three decades, where new global networks have emerged as central global actors. We will focus empirically on the rise of radical reformist Islam and evangelical Christianity, the two most dramatically successful forms of religiosity around the world today. We will study the implications for the foreign policies of key nation-states, as well as the forces that have contributed to the prevalence of contestatory religious politics and networks as new and poorly understood global actors. International religious freedom, human rights, the role of media and mediation, the place of religious or theological doctrines or imaginaries in constructing and motivating a range of political goals, many involving the use of violence. We will focus as well on the global spread of extremist forms of religious politics, conspiracy thinking, new online communities that lead to dangerous political outcomes, such as 'QAnon' and 'Plandemic'. Many of the cases will focus on the non-Western world, especially the Middle East and Africa.
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG366H1 Hindu Philosophy
Term: Winter
Description: Two centuries back, Hegel famously claimed that philosophy was born and flourished in ancient Greece and Europe, while in India it existed only in an immature, pre-historical form. A reason behind his uncharitable assessment of Hindu philosophy was his ignorance of the sources. In this course we will explore this neglected rational soul of Hindu thought. Unbeknownst to Hegel and later Orientalists, in fact, Hindu philosophy is the dialectic product of a dialogue among the traditional Sanskrit sciences of (1) Linguistics, (2) Hermeneutics, (3) Epistemology, and (4) Poetics. During the course we will evaluate the evidence in favour and against four central claims made by these four disciplines in defense of the Vega, the sacred scripture of the Hindus: (1a) 'The relation between words and meanings is eternal', (2a) 'Words denote universals', (3a) 'The meaning of a sentence is its truth value, (4a) 'All sentence-meanings are figurative meanings'. We will also evaluate some crucial Buddhist tenets that challenged these claims, thus forcing their proponents to gradually refine the traditional views.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG369H1 The Mahabharata
Term: Fall
Description: A study of the great Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Society and Its Institutions (3)
RLG372H1 Tibetan Buddhism
Term: Winter
Description: This course examines the history of global engagement with Tibetan religions, including contemporary adoptions of Tibetan religious identities outside the Tibetan plateau. The course begins in the Buddhist past by examining some of the earliest recorded Tibetan debates on religious identity and authority. It then moves to the modern period to compare non-Tibetan depictions of Tibetan religious traditions with indigenous Tibetan forms of self-representation. The course thus addresses questions regarding the plurality of Tibetan religious identities from Buddhist to Bön to Islamic and the ways that these identities interact with historical romanticizations of Tibet.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG373H1 Buddhist Ritual
Sinae Kim
Term: Winter
Description: Daily worship, the alms round, life-crisis celebrations, healing rituals, meditation, festivals, pilgrimage, the consecration of artefacts and taking care of the ancestors are among the forms of Buddhist ritual introduced and analyzed in this course. Liturgical manuals, ethnographic descriptions and audiovisual records form the basis for a discussion of the role of ritual as text and event.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
JPR374H1 Religion and Power in the Postcolony
Term: Fall
Description: This course examines the role of a variety of religious forms and spiritual practices in the politics of postcolonial societies, tracing their genealogies from the colonial period to the present. Cases taken principally from Africa and Asia.
Breadth Requirement: Society and Its Institutions (3)
RLG374H1 Buddhist Life Stories
Term: Fall
Description: This course explores the genres of autobiographyh and biography in Buddhist literature. The course will begin with theoretical studies on narrative and religious life-writing. We will then consider the development and distinctive features of auto/biographies and hagiographies in the literature of one or more Buddhist cultures, analyzing representative examples of these genres from a range of traditions and historical periods, and considering how these sources have been understood and used in secondary scholarship.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG375H1 Biohacking Breath
Term: Fall
Description: This course explores Buddhist practices of manipulating - or "biohacking" the breath or "winds" (prāna) of the human body, covering relevant theories of human anatomy and physiology and the religious, philosophical, and medical teachings alongside which these practices are developed. Intentional breathing practices in the history of European thought and the role of breathwork in contemporary global biohacking movements will also be studied for comparison and contrast. During experiential lab sessions, basic prānāyāma and other breathing practices will be learned and practiced with the guidance of qualified teacher-practitioners.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG376H1 Touching the Earth
Term: Winter
Description: A study of Buddhist relationships with the earth, including "earth touching" contemplative practices, ritual ceremonies for land spirits or sacred sites, geomantic and cosmographic traditions, the use of landscape imagery to depict enlightenment, contrasts between wilderness and urban spaces, and contemporary ecological movements in Buddhist communities and their responses to climate disruption. The course combines experiential learning approaches and outdoor excursions with reading and written work.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG377H1 Intermediate Tibetan I
Term: Fall
Description: This course provides a review of classical Tibetan grammar through the study and translation of texts from a variety of genres. These include selections from Tibetan philosophical works, canonical Buddhist discourses, Tibetan historical writings, autobiographies, and dream narratives.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
Note: This course has an in-person section and a fully online section.
RLG380H1 Trauma, Healing & Transformation
Term: Fall
Description: This course focuses upon the psychology of religion from the perspectives of psychoanalysis, affective neuroscience, attachment theory and evolutionary psychology. We explore the role of entheogens, psycholytics and dreams in facilitating and shaping mystical experiences of unseen realms. We will explore relationships and boundaries between belief and knowledge, subjective and objective experiences, as well as phantasy, dreams and visions. How are the insights of the founders of the field being updated by contemporary neuroscientific and evolutionary theories? We consider visionary, esoteric and paranormal experiences along with the distinctions between mental health and pathology.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG388H1 Special Topics: Antisemitism and Islamophobia: Genealogies of Othering
Term: Fall
Description: This course traces entangled histories of religious Othering. Specifically, we look at antisemitism and Islamophobia, and what can be gained by examining them in conjunction. Antisemitism - a term that first came into existence in Germany in the late nineteenth century - refers to prejudice against, or hatred of, Jews. Islamophobia - a term that came into prominence in England at the end of the 1990s - refers to the fear or hatred of Islam/Muslims. What work is done by the labels of "antisemitism" and "Islamophobia" today? How are they being put to work? What are differences and similarities between present-day manifestations? And how can the field of religious studies help us think about the religion-race nexus?
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
RLG389H1 Special Topics: Ashes to Ashes: Death in the Jewish Imagination
Mala Balakirsky-Katz
Term: Winter
Description: Death is definitive. In practical terms, death defines life. But however natural, death is also mythical, inspiring an entire culture around it. However inevitable, death is, by definition, an imaginary experience for the living. Representations of immortality shape mortality. While death is constant, it is reimagined anew in every generation. Andl, while death is universal, different cultures and sub-strata within a given culture generate unique customs and images surrounding the passage of life. Jewish attitudes towards death provide an understudied lens for studying the constitution of identity, selfhood, and collective memory across various periods of Jewish history. Artistic themes and visual practices surrounding the spectacle of death, necro-politics, celebrity funerals, and different modes of death (e.g., execution, suicide, martyrdom) reflect and indelibly mark Jewish history.
This course is thematic and does not attempt to present an uninterrupted timeline of Jewish history, but it is organized chronologically around the key moments in history when Jews created, transformed, and invested in new forms of mourning. Each class explores the meanings of an astounding range of artistic and functional objects, rituals, and customs related to dying and death. We will explore such topics as the burial of the Judean kings, second temple funerary rites, burial in Ashkenaz, conceptions of the Afterlife after the Spanish expulsion, the preparation of the body and the grave, the warding off of the Angel of Death, celebrity funerals, artistic representations of the return of the dead through gilgul, dybbuk, the Undead, the Afterlife, and the anticipation of the Messianic Rising of the Dead, and necro-tourism.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Note: This is a fully online course.
RLG393H1 Graphic Religion: Myth and the Spiritual in Graphic Novels
Term: Winter
Description: Survey of themes connecting religious ideas, symbols, and representations with graphic novels and sequential art. The course will explore techniques of story-telling in mythic and visual representations in religious traditions and explore how these techniques and images are mirrored within popular comic-style (sequential) art.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
(Looking for an independent study course instead?)
RLG404H1 Departmental Capstone - Research
Term: Fall
Description: This seminar gives you the chance to explore the role of research in undergraduate education, and to construct a retrospective view of your and others' experience of studying religion in the university. Each student will also develop a research project and will examine a range of audiences for their research, from specialists in their field, to wider academic scholars, to an audience beyond the university. Interaction between students will be a central feature of the work of the seminar. Open to students in the Majors and Specialists of the Department for the Study of Religion.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
RLG406H1 Constructing Religion
Term: Winter
Description: How have different researchers constructed 'religion' as their object of study, and are some frameworks simply incompatible with each other? We discuss - but also provide critical assessments of - different theoretical and methodological frameworks. Open to students in the Majors and Specialists of the Department for the Study of Religion.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG407H1 The World of "World Religion"
Term: Fall
Description: A seminar examining the development of western discourses of world religions. We shall explore the roots of these discourses and examine their implications in the academic study of religion in North America and in other parts of the world. Open to students in the Majors and Specialists of the Department for the Study of Religion.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG412H1 Advanced Topics in Religion
Term: Winter
Description:
RLG414H1 Comparing Religions
Term: Winter
Description: Few methods have been more foundational to the scholarly study of religion, or more subject to searching criticism, than the practice of comparison. This seminar offers an advanced introduction to comparative method through close study of 4-6 recent works, from ritual studies, philosophy of religion, comparative theology and/or ethnography.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG416H1 Topics in Religion and Gender: Imagined Bodies and Embodiment
Term: Fall
Description: What do religious communities assume about human bodies? What is the role of the body in religious practice? Do different kinds of bodies lead to different religious experiences? This course is an advanced study on the intersection of religion and gender, focused specifically on the topics of bodies and embodiment. It explores the different ways that human bodies have been imagined and presented within religious traditions. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, students will examine religious expressions concerning bodies and bodily experiences from a variety of religious traditions.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
RLG423H1 Great Critics of Religion: Hume on Religion
Term: Fall
Description: An advanced study of the work of David Hume on the topic of religion. We explore Hume's empiricist and skeptical methodologies as applied to religious concepts and doctrines, and we unravel the many literary devices he used to protect himself from persecution. Works studied include the Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Natural History of Religion, and Dialogues concerning Natural Religion. Critics will vary by term and instructor.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG426H1 Religion in the Public Sphere: Community-Engaged Learning
Term: Winter
Description: In a placement with a community partner, students are given an opportunity to learn about and reflect upon the ways that religion and religious diversity shape public life. How do individuals and organizations recognize and negotiate the intersections of religious diversity, culture, and public space in the context of engaging with public policy? Through critical classroom discussions, readings, reflections, and meaningful work for and with front-line community partners, community-engaged learning offers students the opportunity to integrate academic knowledge with experiences outside the classroom, to challenge themselves, and to explore their values and future directions.
Application Process: By the end of November, interested students must complete the online application form to indicate their interest in and expectations of community engaged learning, as well as any previous volunteer/co-op-internship experience they may have had. Following submission of student applications, the course instructor(s) will contat student applicants individually to conduct a brief informational interview. Interviews will be completed by December, at which time students will be directly enrolled by the department.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
RLG428H1 Religion and Economy
Term: Winter
Description: This course introduces students to classical and contemporary social scientific work on the relation between religion and economy. It draws on classics such as Marx, Weber, and Mauss, as well as recent anthropological work. Topics may include sacrifice, the gift, commodity fetishism, prosperity gospel, neoliberalism, charity, and development.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG433H1 Maimonides and His Modern Interpreters
Term: Fall
Description: An introduction to The Guide of the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides, and to some of the basis themes in Jewish philosophical theology and religion. Among topics to be considered through close textual study of the Guide: divine attributes; biblical interpretation; creation versus eternity; prophecy; providence; theodicy and evil; wisdom and human perfection. Also to be examined are leading modern interpreters of Maimonides.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
JPR458H1 Postsecular Political Thought: Religion, Radicalism and the Limits of Liberalism
Term: Winter
Description: The course will examine debates on postsecularism and religion's public, political role as articulated by political thinkers such as Jurgen Habermas, by focusing on politically radical or revolutionary challenges to liberalism in the 20th and 21st century, especially from the postcolonial world, whose theoretical arguments are grounded upon or draw their inspiration from religious traditions, doctrines and practices.
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG471H1 Special Topics in Hinduism
Term: Winter
Description:
Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Independent Studies Courses
RLG490Y1 | RLG491H1 | RLG492H1 | RLG493H1 | RLG494Y1
Description: Student-initiated intensive research courses supervised by faculty mmebers of the Department. The student must obtain both a Supervisor's agreement and the Associate Chair's approval and fill out the Independent Studies Course form in consultation with the Supervisor with information on the proposed course in order to register. The form is available on our website. The maximum number of Independent Studies courses one make take is 2.0 credits. Deadline for submitting applications to the Department, including Supervisor's approval, is the end of the first week of classes of the session. A 1.0 credit course may be compressed into a single session or spread through two sessions; a 0.5 credit course may similarly be done in either one session or across two sessions. These courses are open to RLG majors and specialists only. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. Please send completed forms and direct any questions to religion.undergrad@utoronto.ca.
Distribution Requirement: Humanities