This course investigates the ethical dilemmas and health law during pandemics. It covers various ethical issues regarding health equity, prevention, containment, cure, and management. In the US, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed health inequities that are propelled by racism and structural injustice. The course explores racial health disparities and the disproportionate and devastating impacts of the Covid19 pandemic on people of color, immigrants, and marginalized groups. It investigates how U.S. religious communities have understood the pandemic and responded to the pandemic.

This course surveys the major monotheistic traditions of the world - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - from their origins to the present day. The course fosters an appreciation of the distinctiveness and inner coherence of each of these traditions as well as to discern facets of unity among the three. Religious expression assumes many forms and is considered in traditional theological and philosophical texts as well as in political systems and the arts. The class is conducted as a combination of lecture and discussion.

A study of the various systems of myth, ritual, symbol, and thought that have significantly contributed to the development of Hinduism after the Vedic period. The approach of the course is primarily textual, examining a wide range of scriptural sources from the Hindu traditions.

This course examines the origin and development of religion in South Asian antiquity. Study focuses on the mythology and symbology of the Vedic textual corpus, the rise of ritual ideologies, and the meaning and influence of the yogic vision. In addition to Vedic texts, the course may include study of mythic epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana) and non-Vedic myths that appear in the Puranas.

This course examines Korean religions and culture through anthropological, sociological, and historical analysis. It surveys major religious traditions of Korea (i.e. shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity) and several new religious movements including Tonghak, Unification Church, and North Korea's Juche. The course examines impacts of Korean religions on social, political, and economic change in contemporary Korea society. The class explores a variety of religious elements that are deeply embedded in contemporary Korean culture through an examination of Korean film.

This course investigates and attempts to distinguish, identify, and understand the different modes and aspects of the mind and self in yoga, meditation, psychedelics, psychology, neuroscience and philosophy in a variety of cultural contexts. The class examines the fundamental question of identity and the question, "Who am I?" Primary texts include Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, Plato's Phaedo and Symposium, Freud's metapsychological essays, Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind, and David Presti on the mind/brain problem.

A study of the origin and development of Buddhism. Special emphasis is given to the history of Buddhist thought, the evolution of the primary schools of Buddhism, and the question of cultural influence on Buddhist expansion. Sources for study are drawn from Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese texts in translation.

This course examines relationships between religious traditions, the "state," and nationalism in Japanese history. Through careful study of primary and secondary sources, the course explores early symbiosis between religious rites and governance; the role of Shinto and Buddhism in legitimating systems of government centered on the emperor or warrior elites; religious components in modern Japanese imperialism; challenges to the separation of religion and the state in post-war Japan; civil religion; and cultural nationalism.

What do the lamb of God and White Buffalo Woman have in common? For one thing, they illustrate the sometimes-blurry intersection of humans, animals, and the divine; for another, they illustrate the powerful role played by animals in the religious imagination. As the French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss once remarked, "animals are good to think." As others have pointed out, they're also good to eat, ride, look at, hunt, train for battle, make things out of, and keep as companions.

This course provides an introduction to the wide range of religious beliefs and practices that have emerged over the course of Chinese history. Topics covered include not only the classic traditions Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, but also such broader examples of religious expression as oracle bone inscriptions, medieval ghost stories, and contemporary practices in longevity. Throughout the course students explore how those in China have understood the world religiously, and how scholars have interpreted the diverse world of Chinese religion.