RLGN 449 - Biocultural Approaches to Religion

Institution:

Case Western Reserve University

Subject:

Description:

This course studies religious beliefs and rituals from a biocultural perspective. A biocultural approach to religion is based on the idea that human religiosity is informed by both our evolutionary biological makeup and by our ability to construct culture to adapt to variable social worlds and environments. According to a biocultural view, humans are biologically constrained but have the cultural capacity to adapt to the world in a variety of ways. Thus, a biocultural approach to religion asserts that biology and culture operate in tandem and that both biological and cultural insights are required in order to understand and explain religious beliefs and practices. This course explores these assumptions and examines them against specific religious data. This course introduces students to major ideas, concepts, and questions that motivate biocultural approaches to religion. The course requires students to apply course material to a final research project that explores particular religious beliefs and/or practices in terms of the intersection of cultural choices and biological constraints. Students will present their research findings to the class. Students who take this course under the COGS designation are expected to engage substantively with the contemporary scientific study of the human mind in their research project and other course work. Offered as RLGN 349, RLGN 449 and COGS 349.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.case.edu

Phone Number:

(216) 368-2000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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