Spring 2013 Courses

RLST 4900/3900 Jr./Senior Seminar: Sex, Death and Religions, Dr. James Bowley, MW 1-2:40

Heaven, Orgasm, Hell, Nirvana, Funeral, ‘Do you know where you’ll go when you die? Neither do I’, Moksha, Pleasure, Alive, Dead. We’ll explore what religions have said and done about the two horizontal mysteries, sex and death.

RLST 2750: Muhammad Comes to America: The History of Islam in America, MWF 11-11:50

Did you know that many of the first slaves were Muslims?  That there was an African Muslim prince who lived in Natchez?  That many Muslims immigrated to the US in 1960’s as a result of civil rights legislation?  This course will survey the history of Muslims in the United States of America from Colonial times to the present day.  Attention will be given to different segments of the Muslim community from African Americans, immigrants, to converts.  Throughout the course, we will see how the study of Muslim Americans can be a prism to better understand both Islam and America.

RLST 2010: Martin Luther King Jr., Radical Christian, Social Critic; Dr. Scott Prather, TTh 11-11:50

The legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. pervades our southern culture and national discourse on race, but the MLK presented to us is often both less religious and less radical than the actual man and the movement he represented. This class will explore the relationship between King's theology and ethics, focusing on the intertwining of religious hope and social critique, as well as the ongoing struggle to realize King's Dream.

RLST 3750: The Dead Sea Scrolls, Dr. Bennie Reynolds M 6:30-9

Come on a journey to the Middle East in which we will rediscover the Dead Sea Scrolls together! This course focuses on what is arguably the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century. We'll use the scrolls as a lens through which to understand crucial developments in the religion, politics, and literature of a cultural crossroads within the Hellenistic World: Judea. We'll get a front-row seat to see the processes by which many books of the bible were written and edited, we'll analyze the oldest copies of the books of the bible on planet earth, we'll learn about the religious seedbed of earliest Christianity, and we'll ask the age-old question:  just what do Athens (& Rome) have to do with Jerusalem?

RLST 3150: Religion, Science and Nature, Dr. Steve Smith, MWF 8-8:50

How does the universe really work? Is there a whole truth about “nature” that we can know? Religious and scientific interpretations of nature often seem to follow different ground rules. Are they compatible? For example, can science accommodate a concept of Creation or karma? Can religion accommodate the concept of Evolution or contemporary neuroscience?

RLST 2350: Contemplative Practices, Dr. Lola Williamson, MW 2:45-4 or TTh 2:45-4

Do you get incredibly stressed out by about mid-semester? This class may just help! Meditation, yoga, and other contemplative practices are being used today in many contexts – from sports training to medical clinics.  But how many people know about the history of these practices that come from India and span several religious traditions? This class is for you if you want to develop a daily routine of meditation and yoga and also want to learn how these practices first developed and later adapted as they traveled to the West.