RELIGION

Professors: Stephen D. Crites (Philosophy), Janice D. Willis

Visiting Professor: Clinton Bailey

Associate Professors: Ron Cameron (Chair), Eugene M. Klaaren, Jerome H. Long, Bruce Masters (History), Jeremy Zwelling

Visiting Associate Professors: Akintunde Akinade, Hannah Kliger

Assistant Professor: Karen A. Smyers

Visiting Assistant Professor: Joseph Mangina

Visiting Instructors: Ian Straker, Esther Tammuz

The department offers a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, and critical program that explores the variety of religious experiences and expressions. In addition to courses that demonstrate the power and limits of various critical disciplines in the study of religion, the department provides opportunities to analyze: systems of belief and patterns of religious behavior; the history of religious traditions; the functions of religion in society; and various forms of religious expression such as myth, ritual, sacred story, scripture, liturgy, theological, and philosophical reflection.

A range of courses is available to students interested in taking one or two courses. Clusters of courses can be devised in consultation with members of the staff for those who wish to develop a modest program in religion in support of another major. For those planning to major in the department a number of alternative programs of study are available. A student who chooses a double major must fulfill all requirements except when representatives of the two departments approve alterations in the student's program.

The department offers four categories of courses through which students can organize a curriculum of studies appropriate to their needs:

1. Access courses. The department encourages the beginning student to take these courses, for they assume no background in religious studies and serve as a useful foundation for those who wish to take more advanced courses in the department. In addition to those courses on the 100-level, the department recommends courses designated as "General Education," as well as survey courses in the major religious traditions of the world and in archaic religions. In particular, the department recommends Introduction to Religion (RELI 101) as the most effective way of acquiring broad knowledge about religion and the methods employed by scholars in the field of Religious Studies.

2. Historical Traditions courses. Many offerings in the department deal with the historical content of the major religious traditions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, as well as Confucianism, Shinto, Taoism, and the religions of archaic and primitive peoples. These courses examine the texts, histories, institutions, and rituals of these religions. In this category there are both survey courses (generally numbered at the 200 level) and seminars (generally numbered at the 300 level). In the main, these courses have no prerequisites, though in most seminars some background knowledge is assumed. In order to gain entry to these seminars, students are advised to check with the instructor with regard to what is expected.

3. Religion in Society courses. (Numbered 280-290 & 380-390) These courses are designed to focus on the encounter of religious groups and their contemporaneous cultural settings within a defined social space--past or present. They will concentrate on the relationships between a particular religious formation and its larger social context, aiming to understand that formation's reflective, critical, and decisive interaction within, for, and/or against its context. Included in this category are:

Death and the Afterlife in World Cultures (RELI 280)

Religion and Resistance (RELI 281*)

Religion and South African Society (RELI 282)

Three Generals in the Lord's Army (RELI 283)

New African Religious Movements (RELI 284)

Civil Judaism in Israel and America (RELI 285)

Politics & Piety in Early Christianity (RELI 286)

Buddhism in America (RELI 288)

Christianity in World History (RELI 289*)

Gospel of Mark and Christian Origins (RELI 380)

Visions of the Future:Utopian & Apocalyptic Thesis in Science Fiction(RELI 381)

Imagining the Other (RELI 388)

Anthropology and Judaism (RELI 388)

Magic, Science, and Religion (RELI 390)

The Arab/Israeli Conflict: 1882-Present (RELI 480)

The Meaning of Memory: Identity after the Holo- caust (RELI 481)

4. Critical Disciplines courses. (Numbered 291-300 & 391-400) These courses review and critically analyze methods, theories, and strategies employed by scholars of religion.

The department's Majors' Colloquium (RELI 398) is required of all majors; it is strongly recommended that majors take it in their junior year. The task of this course is to reflect upon the methodological pluralism in the field of religious studies with the opportunity to apply these methods to specific texts, concrete issues, or other cultural formations. Included in this category are:

Philosophy of Religion (RELI 291*)

Psychology and Religion (RELI 293)

From Hegel to Marx (RELI 295*)

War and Religion (RELI 297)

Religions of Oppressed Peoples (RELI 298)

The Gospels and Jesus (RELI 299)

Models of God (RELI 393)

Ecstatic Traditions in Jewish Mysticism (RELI 394)

Anthropology of Religion (RELI 395)

Majors' Colloquium (RELI 398)

Imagining God: The Problem of Representing Deity in the Bible and Theological Tradition (RELI 471)

Program for majors.

1. All majors are required to take Introduction to Religion (RELI 101), in which they must earn a grade of B- or better, preferably before the end of the sophomore year.

2. In order to complete a major in religion, students are required to take a minimum of nine courses (with a maximum of 14, including thesis credits) numbered 200 or above.

3. The minimum of nine courses will be distributed as follows:

a. Four courses in Historical Traditions

b. Two courses in Religion in Society

c. Two courses in Critical Disciplines, one of which must be the Majors' Colloquium (RELI 398)

d. The additional course may be taken in any of these areas at the student's option.

Each major is to select or be assigned an adviser from the staff and in consultation with the adviser shall construct a program of study that is coherent yet diverse and meets the above requirements.

Religion majors are strongly encouraged to develop a reading knowledge in an ancient and/or modern foreign language.

Department policy on tutorials. Students wishing to arrange individual or group tutorials with departmental faculty must submit a proposal to the prospective tutor no later than the last day of classes during the preceding term. Priority will be given to senior thesis projects, projects growing out of courses with the tutor, and specialized projects of department majors.

Honors program. Religion majors with a B+ average may choose to write a senior honors thesis or do an equivalent (two-semester) project. A candidate for honors must secure the agreement of a member of the Religion Department faculty to be his/her tutor or director, and it is advisable that this be done in the second semester of the junior year. Honors work is evaluated by the tutor

and two readers, one of whom is from outside the department. High honors may be awarded after the student's work has been submitted for a departmental colloquium.

HEBREW

Wesleyan offers students a number of opportunities to pursue studies in Hebrew language and literature, Israeli culture, Judaica, and Jewish civilization. Most Judaica and Jewish Studies courses are taught or cross-listed in the Religion Department, but students are encouraged to consult the course listings of the departments of classical studies, history, German, music, and government for additional offerings.

Hebrew courses include Elementary Hebrew (HEBR 101 & 102), which instruct students with little or no background in Hebrew in basic language skills; Intermediate Hebrew (HEBR 201 & 202), which continues the instruction in language skills, also provides students with an opportunity to study Israeli social, cultural, and political issues; and seminars in modern Hebrew literature.

Hebrew courses beginning with 202 can count toward a religion major. Those students who take a number of courses in Hebrew are exempted from the 14-credit limit on courses taken in one department.

WESLEYAN PROGRAM IN ISRAEL

The Wesleyan Program in Israel is a spring-semester program that begins early in the second week of January and concludes on June 30 .

The Wesleyan Program is available to all qualified undergraduate students on a first come-first served basis. The program invites students from all religious, cultural, ethnic, and academic backgrounds to consider this unique learning experience in an unusually stimulating setting.

Courses in Jerusalem are taught in English, and no prior training in Hebrew language is required.

Over the past two decades, the Wesleyan Program has attracted and trained undergraduates with varied interests. The program serves well Jewish and non-Jewish students interested in the Middle East, in Israel studies, and those interested in the study of Hebrew language. In addition to religion majors, the program has also proved most valuable to students majoring in anthropology, political science, history, and the other social and human sciences, providing them with a field-studies approach that complements rigorous classroom learning.

Other than the academic ideology of critical study and reflective understanding, the program is not committed to any religious or political ideology. The program does, however, systematically provide participants with opportunities to engage persons in the region who are passionately committed to various and competing ideologies and religious beliefs.

The program focuses on the political, social, and religious cultures of contemporary Israel. The goal of the program is to provide students with tools for understanding how the diverse agenda of the many different ethnic and religious communities in the region produce multiple levels of conflict, social experimentation, religious innovation, and cultural variety.

In particular, the curriculum examines Israel as a case study of the clashes and accommodations between processes of secular modernization and religious traditionalism. An integrated set of seminars, supplemented by additional evening cultural and social programming and supervised field studies, systematically presents the cleavages that emerge out of the class, ethnic, and national divisions in this complex society. Competing visions of nationhood among religious and secular Israelis and between Israelis and Palestinians is assessed through a variety of academic instruments. Special attention is given to the role of religion in shaping the social, cultural, and national identities of a number of the communities under investigation.

The Wesleyan Program is affiliated with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel's most renowned university. Faculty for the program come from various units of the University including the Truman Institute for Peace, the University's political science and religion departments, as well as the Rothberg School for Overseas Students. Wesleyan Program students are enrolled in the Rothberg School (along with nearly 800 other overseas students) and have full use of all the facilities of the Hebrew University. Additional faculty from nearby Arab universities provide instruction on Palestinian issues, and students have opportunities to meet with their counterparts at Bir Zeit University and Bethlehem University.

The Wesleyan Program in Israel is sponsored and supervised by the Religion Department of Wesleyan University, and in addition to Hebrew University staff affiliated with the program, Wesleyan has its own administrative and faculty personnel in Jerusalem.

The program consists of a minimum of four and one-half credits of course work. Three courses are especially developed for students on the program. In addition, electives and Hebrew language courses offered in the Rothberg School are available to students on the Wesleyan program. The program also arranges supervised tutorials for students who need a course in their major that might not be available in the curriculum.