This course provides a cursory overview of the trajectory of modernity from the seventeenth-century Enlightenment forward. With this foundation in place, it will emphasize significant individuals, movements, events and theological developments from the nineteenth century to the present. Students will read selected primary and secondary sources and engage in thoughtful dialogue in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the underpinnings and nuanced range of theological perspectives represented in the global church today.

Though it can be claimed that religion, however diverse in its forms of expression, is a human universal found in every culture, in many societies the distinction between what is religious and what is nonreligious is meaningless. In an attempt to demonstrate that religion often permeates all aspects of life rather than constituting a distinct domain, this course surveys religion, ritual, and supernatural belief systems in various cultures around the world. It centers first on some of the conceptual and theoretical issues that lay at the foundation of the cross-cultural study of religion. Through readings, films, lectures, classroom discussion, and independent research, students explore the enormous variety of religious behavior and religious belief around the world. It examines such phenomena as spirit possession, shamanism, syncretism, witchcraft, spiritual healing, and pilgrimage. It also explores how religion intersects with art, economics, social organization, gender relations, and politics. It considers the impact of colonialism and culture contact on religious behavior and institutions. The ultimate goal of the course is to understand the meaning of religion, magic, myth, and ritual in our own society by understanding these meanings within a cross-cultural context and thereby to further our understanding of the nature of the human experience in general. 

This course centers upon the cultivation of respect for different religious expressions as living and vibrant aspects of human cultures that should be explored, appreciated, and celebrated. By drawing many different religions into comparative perspective, this course will demonstrate similarities and differences in the ways various cultures address questions regarding ultimate reality, the human condition, and distinct approaches to social and ecological ethics. Identifying the many resonances between religious views will deconstruct notions of “strange” or “exotic” practices, uncovering distinct ways of addressing a shared humanity across boundaries of difference. The course includes examination of anthropological approaches to religions and gives special attention to indigenous practices in order to convey the importance of all religious expressions, even those that may not be considered “major” or “world” religions. Students will gain familiarity with historical background, key concepts, doctrines and practices across a broad range of religious expressions.