REL 2710 - Perspectives On Religion

Institution:

University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus

Subject:

Religion

Description:

This seminar is designed to acquaint students with a broad spectrum of theorists of religion from the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics range widely, therefore, from the relationships between society, individuals, and religion to the role of ideology, mythology, ritual, symbols, and experience. An emphasis upon areas of conflict in the study of religion will be emphasized, including the death of metanarratives; categorical assumptions; challenges to the institutional identity of religious studies; the limits of phenomenology; and methodological pluralism. Readings include such scholars as Asad, Berger, Durkheim, Eliade, Freud, Geertz, Marx, McCutcheon, Pals, J.Z. Smith, and Stark. Each student will write a term paper that engages course readings and themes. While the course serves as a core course in the graduate curriculum, it raises questions and develops skills useful for a lifetime of reflection on the nature of religious experience and its theorization.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.pitt.edu

Phone Number:

(412) 624-4141

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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