Courses

(A Selection of Relevant Courses)

Hunter College

Elementary Probability and Statistics (Summer 2013)

Harvard Divinity School

Religion and Politics in Current “Fundamentalist” Movements (no longer offered), Harvey Cox, Professor emeritus

“Why have so-called fundamentalist movements emerged in Judaisim, Christianity and Islam in recent years? Why have they attracted so many people? How are they changing, and what future do they have? Is the term fundamentalist useful or misleading? We’ll examine many of today’s movements and their interface with current politics.”

Religion, Democracy, and Education, Diane Moore

“The focus of this course is to develop an understanding of the evolving relationship among religion, secularism, democracy and public education in the United States. Our exploration will include 1) a historical review of the relationship between religion and public education in the U.S. with special attention to pivotal Supreme Court decisions that have shaped public policy discourses in these areas over the past half century; 2) a consideration of the social and moral consequences that stem from privileging secularism and democracy as the normative ideologies of the public sphere; and 3) a historical and contemporary analysis of differing views regarding the nature and purpose of public education and the role of religion in those debates.”

Homosexuality and American Churches, Mark D. Jordan

Religion in Multicultural America: Case Studies in Religious Pluralism, Diana Eck

“An exploration of the dynamic religious landscape of the US with special focus on Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh traditions in the most recent period of post-1965 immigration. How are faith and freedom negotiated in a more complex society? In what contexts do minority religious communities encounter long-dominant Christian and Jewish communities? How is America changing as religious communities struggle with civic, constitutional, ethical, and theological issues, especially in the post-9/11 period? Readings, films, discussion, and class projects will focus on particular cases and controversies. Note: Course has a weekly section to be arranged.”

Woman and Religion in Contemporary America, Anne Braude

“Surveys contemporary developments in Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. Topics include religion and women’s political mobilization, including evangelical and Mormon movements; the modernization of orthodoxies, including Judaism and Catholicism; and the body as a site of conflict, exploration, and expression of the intersecting categories of religion, gender, and American identity. The course approaches persistent issues of modesty, dress, sexuality, food, menstruation, healing, and ordination.”

Religion and American Public Life, Ronald Thiemann

An overview of the issues that arise within American democracy concerning the public role of religion. This course will cover issues in public theology, religion and democratic political theory, and constitutional law, including church/state relations. It will conclude with a case study in public policy, considering such issues as religion and gay/lesbian marriage, religion and warfare, and/or religion and welfare community organizing.

Religion and Government: Choices of Morality, Law, and Policy, Father J. Bryan Hehir (Harvard Kennedy School of Government)

The seminar is designed to examine the relationship (collaborative and conflictual) of two fundamental institutions in American society. The course examines three broad questions: the relationship of religion and government in the American constitutional systemand a comparative analysis with other democratic states; the role of nonprofit institutions in the arena of social service and publicadvocacy; and the specific range of opportunities and problems faced by religiously based nonprofits in social policy.

Men and Women in Public and Private: the US in the 20th Century, Nancy F. Cott

This course offers historical perspective on the social relations and relative power of the sexes, tracing changes and continuities over the past century. We will look at sexuality, masculinity, and femininity, centering these in US social, cultural and political history. Demographic patterns, economic demands, public policy, war, and gender-based social movements will provide the context for examining expectations for manhood and womanhood as they play out in family lives, work, popular culture and politics.

Religion and Society in America Today: Change and Continuity, Harvey Cox

We will study relations between the Protestant mainline and evangelicals; developments in black churches; Buddhists and Muslims in America; tensions in American Catholicism; the role of immigrants; the growth of mega-churches; trends in Judaism; Pentecostalism; religion in film, TV and Internet; and the rise of spirituality, examining the theological bases of todays rapid changes, and tracing past roots and projecting future probabilities.

Scripps College

Morality and Religion, staff (Claremont McKenna College)

Bioethics, N. Ann Davis (Pomona College)

“Focuses on issues and themes in the conduct of scientific
research and the application of its results and about the nature and practice of medicine. One year we may explore the conceptual underpinnings that help us understand and assess the efficacy and morality of medical treatment. Another year, the orientation of the course may be a more policy-centered one.”

American Religious History, Gaston Espinosa (Claremont McKenna College)

“Examines the role that religion has played in the history of the United States and asks students to explore critically how peoples and communities in various places and times have drawn upon religion to give meaning to self, group and nation. Covers a wide range of religious traditions, as well as regional, denominational and racial-ethnic dimensions within these groups.”

Religion & American Politics, Gaston Espinosa (Claremont McKenna College)

Women in Islamic Traditions, Zayn Kassam (Pomona College)

Explores the normative bases of the roles and status of women and examines Muslim women’s experience in various parts of the Muslim world in order to appreciate the situation of and the challenges facing Muslim women.

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