Courses and Syllabi
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Religious Studies Fall 2025
Undergraduate
RELI 100: The Human Religious Experience (3 Credits)
Examines main forms of religious expression as embodied in several important religious traditions in contemporary world. Investigates religious experience; myth and ritual; teachings and scripture; ethical, social, and artistic aspects of religion; and nature and function of religion in human society. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
RELI 211: Introduction to Religions of the "West" (3 Credits)
Focuses on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other global and local religions of Europe, Asia Minor, north Africa, and the Americas from historical, comparative, and cross-cultural perspectives. May include modern developments of religions like Mormonism, Baha'ism, and Scientology as well as other religions of ancient Asia Minor like Zoroastrianism. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Specialized Designation: Non-Western Culture
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
2 Sections Currently Scheduled
- RELI 211 - 001: Religions of the West — Jim Dooley — 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM MW - Horizon Hall 2017
- RELI 211 - DL1: Religions of the West — Mohammad Mahdi M Shahkolahi - Online
RELI 212: Introduction to Religions of Asia (3 Credits)
Focuses on the traditional religions from Asia, particularly Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confusianism from historical, comparative, and cross-cultural perspectives. May also include Jainism, Sihk, Shinto, native shamanism, and others as well as modern developments after European colonialism and these traditions' growth as global religions. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Specialized Designation: Non-Western Culture
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
2 Sections Currently Scheduled
- RELI 212 - 001: Religions of Asia — Andy Thrasher — 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM TR - Horizon Hall 3012
- RELI 212 - DL1: Religions of Asia — Andy Thrasher - Online
RELI 235: Religion and Literature (3 Credits)
Explores the relationship between religion and literature in different times and cultures, the influence of religion on literary works, and how literature expresses major religious themes such as death and immortality, divine will and justice, suffering and human destiny, and religion and state. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Literature
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
RELI 237: Religion and Art (3 Credits)
The course examines both the way that religious stories, images, ideas, and values have influenced the production and experience of art, and how art has historically been a primary means to express religious thought, feeling, and meaning. Thus, this course will examine the arts across different religions. The course will also examine the extent to which the artistic experience may be thought of as a kind of "religious" experience, and how even civil art projects convey a kind of civic or national "religion." Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Arts
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
3 Sections Currently Scheduled
- RELI 237 - 001: Religion and Art — Ann S. Birkelbach — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM MW - Horizon Hall 3010
- RELI 237 - 002: Religion and Art — Ann S. Birkelbach — 04:30 PM to 07:10 PM R - Horizon Hall 1010
- RELI 237 - DL1: Religion and Art — Andrew W White - Online
RELI 240: Death and the Afterlife in Religion (3 Credits)
Explores how selected world religions address the universal experience of death and express their beliefs in an afterlife. Focuses on the scriptures, beliefs, rituals and customs of selected world religions as they reflect each tradition's response to the most basic question about human destiny - how human beings face death and attempt to transcend it. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 240 - 001: Death/Afterlife in Religion — Michael Gutzler — 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM TR - Buchanan Hall D023
RELI 300: Theories and Methods in Religious Studies (3 Credits)
Basic introduction to interdisciplinary methods, theories, definitions, and thinkers in the academic study of religion. Provides foundation for further comparative studies of religions, concentrated studies of a particular religion, and the understanding of engagement between religion and wider culture. Prerequisite for upper-level courses on religious studies theory and method, such as the writing intensive and synthesis courses in Religious Studies. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Writing Intensive in Major
Recommended Corequisite: RELI 100, 211, and/or 212
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 300 - 001: Religious Studies Methods — John Turner — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM TR - Peterson Hall 2411
RELI 312: Islam (3 Credits)
Introduces basic religious beliefs and practices of Islam, with view to diverse manifestations of Islamic culture in different ethnic and social contexts. Provides overview of essential rituals of Islamic life, mystical practices of Sufis, certain popular forms of religious practice, sources and application of Islamic law, and distinctive Islamic artistic and literary forms. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Specialized Designation: Non-Western Culture
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 312 - 001: Islam — David Dakake — 01:30 PM to 02:45 PM MW - Horizon Hall 3010
RELI 313: Hinduism (3 Credits)
Introduces Hindu religion and thought, beliefs, rituals, ethics and religious practices. Emphasis on classical Hinduism, but also covers Hinduism and modernity, modern Hindu movements, and Hinduism as a global religion. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Specialized Designation: Non-Western Culture
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 313 - 001: Hinduism — Prabhavati C. Reddy — 04:30 PM to 07:10 PM W - East Building 201
RELI 339: The Bible as Literature (3 Credits)
Analyzes the Bible as a collection of literary texts. Course readings will include selections from the Jewish Tanakh and from the Christian New Testament. Students will become familiar with contemporary scholarship on the Bible and sample the Bible's impact on the art and literature of the last millennia. Students will become conversant with concepts such as scripture, canon, source criticism, historical criticism, genre, and reception history. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Literature
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
2 Sections Currently Scheduled
- RELI 339 - 001: The Bible as Literature — Bruce Aft — 01:30 PM to 02:45 PM TR - Horizon Hall 3008
- RELI 339 - 002: The Bible as Literature — Ryan Austin Fitzgerald — 03:00 PM to 04:15 PM MW - Horizon Hall 3008
RELI 357: Gender and the Body in Judaism (3 Credits)
Explores distinctively Jewish approaches to questions of gender, sexuality, and the body as described in the legal, religious, ethical, and literary material in the Jewish tradition. Topics include the "body of God," circumcision, laws of purity, rites of passage, the synagogue, feminist theology, and masculine and feminine stereotypes. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 357 - 001: Gender and the Body in Judaism — Alexandria Frisch — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM MW - East Building 134
RELI 358: Islamic Thought (3 Credits)
Examines Islamic views on fundamental issues in religious thought, such as nature of God, nature of man, and relationship between God and man as reflected in both divine revelation and human religious vocation. Investigates intellectual approaches to these problems within Islamic tradition, including those of theological, philosophical, and mystical thinkers. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Global Understanding
Specialized Designation: Non-Western Culture
Recommended Prerequisite: RELI 211, 3 credits in religious studies, or permission of instructor.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 358 - 001: Islamic Thought — Maria M Dakake — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM TR - Horizon Hall 1010
RELI 360: Religion and Politics: Foundations (3 Credits)
Examines the role of religion in the political community from antiquity until 1900. It encompasses questions of church and state, and religion in society. Students analyze texts by Plato, Augustine, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Tocqueville, and Marx. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 360 - 001: Religion and Politics: Found — John Farina — 03:00 PM to 04:15 PM MW - Buchanan Hall D023
RELI 368: Islam, Democracy, and Human Rights (3 Credits)
Evaluates the political and religious goals of Muslim societies and governments, and whether these goals are conducive to the development of democratic institutions to promote democratic cultures and explicit support for human rights, as well as to these societies' full integration in an international order founded upon secularism and modernism. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Specialized Designation: Non-Western Culture
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 368 - 001: Islam Democracy/Human Rights — Sarwar Alam — 04:30 PM to 07:10 PM M - Horizon Hall 3008
RELI 383: Holocaust: History and Meaning (3 Credits)
Students examine the Holocaust – the term commonly used to denote the destruction of European Jewry during World War II – within the contexts of twentieth-century
European, Jewish, and global history. The first part of the course, “History,” analyzes the
steps leading to the genocide of the Jews in Europe as well as the factors that enabled its
implementation, focusing on the on the interaction of victims, perpetrators, and
witnesses/bystanders. The second half of the course, “Meaning,” deals thematically
with contemporary interpretations and literary and visual representations of the Holocaust
and its meaning, looking at issues of testimony and how the tension between history and
memory affects how we can learn about the violence and mass murder. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Global Contexts
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 383 - 002: Holocaust: History and Meaning — Bruce Aft — 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM TR - Angel Cabrera Global Center 1302A
RELI 384: Global History of Christianity (3 Credits)
Explores the history of Christianity around the world in the context of political and social structures as well as religious beliefs and practices. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Specialized Designation: Non-Western Culture
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 384 - 001: Global History of Christianity — Paul S. Cha — 03:00 PM to 04:15 PM TR - West Building 1001
RELI 399: Special Topics in Religious Studies (3 Credits)
Selected topics on either the comparative study of religion, study of a particular kind of religion or aspect of religion, or engagement of religion and other topic (e.g., art, history, culture, politics, etc.). Offered by Religious Studies. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 12 credits.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies
Recommended Prerequisite: 3 hours of Religious Studies or permission of instructor.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
2 Sections Currently Scheduled
- RELI 399 - 001: Hist & Reli of Modern Israel — Tal Vaizman — 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM TR - Horizon Hall 1010
- RELI 399 - 003: Christianity/Islam in Mdl Age — Andrew W White — 03:00 PM to 04:15 PM MW - Krug Hall 19
RELI 490: Comparative Study of Religions (3 Credits)
Cross-cultural examination of comparative aspects of religious phenomena. Examines significance of religious phenomena from diverse religious and cultural perspectives, and investigates patterns of religious phenomena that have appeared in world cultures and civilizations. Offered by Religious Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Mason Apex
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies, Non-Western Culture
Recommended Prerequisite: 9 credits in religious studies including RELI 211 and RELI 212, or permission of instructor.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.
1 Section Currently Scheduled
- RELI 490 - 001: Women in/and Contemp Reli — Maria M Dakake — 04:30 PM to 07:10 PM T - Innovation Hall 328
Graduate
RELI 591: Special Topics in Religious Studies (3 Credits)
Topics in religious studies selected by importance in the field and pertinent to the role of religion in society and culture. Emphasis on historical, interdisciplinary, and cross-cultural issues. Notes: May be repeated when topic is different with permission of department. Offered by Religious Studies. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 12 credits.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies
Registration Restrictions:
Enrollment limited to students with a class of Advanced to Candidacy, Graduate, Junior Plus, Non-Degree or Senior Plus.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate, Non-Degree or Undergraduate level students.
Students in a Non-Degree Undergraduate degree may not enroll.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.
2 Sections Currently Scheduled
- RELI 591 - 003: Islamic Thought — Maria M Dakake — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM TR - Horizon Hall 1010
- RELI 591 - 004: Women and Religion — Maria M Dakake — 04:30 PM to 07:10 PM T - Innovation Hall 328
RELI 591: Special Topics in Religious Studies (3 Credits)
Topics in religious studies selected by importance in the field and pertinent to the role of religion in society and culture. Emphasis on historical, interdisciplinary, and cross-cultural issues. Notes: May be repeated when topic is different with permission of department. Offered by Religious Studies. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 12 credits.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies
Registration Restrictions:
Enrollment limited to students with a class of Advanced to Candidacy, Graduate, Junior Plus, Non-Degree or Senior Plus.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate, Non-Degree or Undergraduate level students.
Students in a Non-Degree Undergraduate degree may not enroll.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.
2 Sections Currently Scheduled
- RELI 591 - 003: Islamic Thought — Maria M Dakake — 12:00 PM to 01:15 PM TR - Horizon Hall 1010
- RELI 591 - 004: Women and Religion — Maria M Dakake — 04:30 PM to 07:10 PM T - Innovation Hall 328