A 2020 course by Steven Weitzman at the University of Pennsylvania asks “What is the value of studying religion in a higher education setting? How does one bridge between a critical approach to religion and the beliefs of one’s students? The course will broach these and other questions through readings and discussions meant to help you think through the challenges of teaching about religion to college students, and will give you opportunities to develop your own approach to them.”
A 2019 course by Madison Tarleton at the University of Denver/Illiff School of Theology introduces “students to the academic study of religion” through a survey of “early theorists and anthropologists as well as examine how these theories evolved over time.”
A 2018 course by Peter Gottschalk at Wesleyan University for religious studies majors on “how the discipline of the study of religion creates knowledge.”
A 2018 course by Jill DeTemple at Southern Methodist University introduces “several social scientific approaches to the academic study of religion. We will investigate the history and use of anthropological, sociological, and psychological theory and method in relation to the study of religion, especially as these fields relate religion to broader cultural, societal, and physiological fields of knowledge.”
A 2017 course by Jill DeTemple at Southern Methodist University provides “an introduction to a wide variety of religious traditions, communities and practices within the context of globalization” through modern methods in the field of the study of religion.
A 2019 course by Peter Gottschalk at Wesleyan University considers religion “as a phenomenon . . . the meaning of ‘sacredness’ & ‘the sacred’ and question their comparative use” in various religious traditions.
A 2018 course by Tina Pippin at Agnes Scott College explores “the concept of religion/s in scholarship and culture, engage[s] theories and methods in religious studies, and use[s] interdisciplinary tools to explore the religious worlds in Atlanta and beyond.”
A 2014 course by Margaret Ann Crain at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary examines the “theological and philosophical bases, goals, and methods of qualitative research in congregations and draw[s] on the fields of congregational studies, Christian education, evangelism, practical theology, sociology, anthropology, and educational evaluation.”
A 2017 course by Jessica Starling examines “acts of self-discipline in a variety of cultural contexts, including Eastern (Jain, Hindu, Buddhist), Western (Stoic, Christian mystic), and modern secular (eco-activism, fasting diets, and extreme exercise regimes)” and through this “various understandings of the self, the body, desire, liberation and virtue.”
A 2008 course by Catherine Wessinger at Loyola University New Orleans aims to “understand the ways women’s roles in society and religious beliefs are interrelated and affect one another . . . through the historical study of some of the major religions of the world.”
