Courses

RELIGIOUS STUDIES COURSES

FALL 2026 | SUMMER 2026 | SPRING 2026

Check BU Brain for the latest updates, course descriptions, details and registration.

FALL 2026

* pending GenEds

RELG 101 Religions of the World
Douglas Jones | MWF 2:45pm-3:45pm | H, *GL, FYA | Cross listed: JUST 100, AFST 180E, ANTH 180C

What does it mean to study various religions from an academic perspective? How do we, as outsiders at a public university, discuss different traditions responsibly? Answering questions like these and developing our skills as scholars of religion is of no small importance in an increasingly global society. This class will take a thematic approach to a number of traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Prominent themes include the history of Religious Studies as a discipline, religion and popular culture, religion and violence, the history of utopian thought, and the status of new and controversial movements across the globe.

RELG 180A Intro to Judaic Studies
Dina Danon | TR 9:45-11:15am | D, H, FYA | Cross listed: JUST 101

This course, which is appropriate for first and second year students, provides a broad survey of Jewish history, religion, and culture beginning in the ancient period and continuing through the modern period. We will draw on a wide array of sources, ranging from the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature, and philosophical works, to poetry, memoir, and other forms of artistic expression. We will pay special attention to the diversity of Jewish experiences across multiple geographical and cultural contexts.

RELG 180B Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Michael J. Kelly | TR 3:15-4:45pm | *C, *H, *GL, FYA | Cross listed: JUST 180F, MDVL 180P

This course introduces you to the historical, theological and religious origins, characters and beliefs of three intimately entangled systems: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Students will learn by reading the primary texts of the religions across a mix of lectures and seminars. No previous knowledge of Christianity, Judaism, Islam or foreign languages is required.

RELG 180D Intro to African Religion
Anthony Ephirim-Donkor | TR 8:00-9:00am | H, FYA | Cross listed: AFST 171, ANTH 280L, SOC 180A

E. A. Wallis Budge defined African religion as “the worship of the souls of the dead, commonly called Ancestor Worship.” Also, Diodorus, a Greek historian of the 1st Century BCE, stated that blacks or Ethiopians, “were the first of all men, and the proofs of this statement, they say, are manifest. For that they did not come into their land as immigrants from abroad but were natives of it, and so justly bear the name of ‘autochthones’ is, they maintain, conceded by practically all men…. And they [i.e., the Greek historians relied on by Diodorus] say that they [i.e., the black peoples] were the first to be taught to honor the gods and to hold sacrifices and processions and festivals and other rites by which men honor the deity; and that in consequence their piety has been published abroad among all men, and it is generally held that the sacrifices practiced among the Ethiopians [i.e., the black peoples] are those which are the most pleasing to heaven.” Thus, students are introduced to the nature and phenomenon of African religion, conceptions of God and gods and goddesses, ancestors and ancestor worship, elders, sacrifices and symbols, and rituals that offer meaning to the lives of Africans.

RELG 221 Philosophy and God
Instructor TBA | F 11:30am-2:30pm | FYA | Cross listed: JUST 280N, PHIL 280A

This introductory level survey course in philosophy of religion introduces students to the many approaches to and questions about God, the divine, and religion in the history of philosophy. Students will read a wide range of texts from Greek thought through existentialism. Topics may include: the nature of God, God’s possible attributes, human knowledge of God, the relationship between God, religion, and morality, the nature of faith, and the problem of evil.

RELG 280A Jewish History Ancient to 1500
Michael J. Kelly | TR 1:30-3:00pm | N, GL, W, FYA | Cross listed: JUST 201, HIST 285D, MDVL 280J

This course offers an introduction to Jewish history from the Bible to the end of the Middle Ages. It surveys some of the major issues that defined Judaism, including the nature and development of biblical texts; the effort of small Jewish states in the age of great ancient empires; the impact of (Greek culture) Hellenism on Judaism and the rise of Christianity from it; the emergence of the Diaspora; and Jewish life under and interaction with medieval Islam and Christendom. The course's two major themes are: 1) the evolution and development of Judaism, and 2) the shifting character of Jewish identity and peoplehood. No previous knowledge of Jewish history and religion is required or assumed. This course satisfies the core and survey requirements for Judaic Studies majors and minors.

RELG 280B Muslim Peoples Of The World
Moulay Ali Bouanani | MWF 8:30-9:30am | GL, H, I, T, FYA | Cross listed: AFST 236, HIST 285E

Islam as the last Abrahamic revelation appeared amongst the Arabs in Mecca with Mohammed who would tirelessly fight for its survival at the beginning. It would have its book, the Qur’an compiled during the Rashidun Khulafa’s time and as Muslims believe, is a correcting force of the Abrahamic texts before it. Islam would spread across Arabia in a very short time and cross to Persia and the Byzantine provinces between 632 and 640. Cross-disciplinary survey of selected Muslim peoples and organizations in Asia (including “the Middle East”), Africa, Europe, Oceania and the United States and Latin America. The course will discuss Muslims living as minorities in non-Muslim majority states and the Modern Islamic diaspora in the West, including Australia and New Zealand. Chronologically, the course covers the period from the 7th to the 21st century.

RELG 280D UFO Religions
Douglas Jones | TR 11:45am-1:15pm | FYA

This course surveys UFO religions (and, to a lesser degree, Ufology and UFO enthusiasm) from the 1950s to the present. How do popular science and religion mix? What is the role of science fiction in the rise of modern religious movements that purportedly preach scientific “fact”? How has the rise of the internet and social media impacted UFO religions in the 21st century? Topics include the rise of the New Age, scholarship on cults and new religions, Raëlianism, the Aetherius Society, the Church of All Worlds, Heaven’s Gate, and so-called invented religions like Matrixism and Jediism.

RELG 280E Asian Mythology
Kristina Buhrman | MWF 12:15-1:15pm | FYA | Cross listed: AAAS 181A

A survey of the myths and their traditions across Asia, spread over four geographical areas of South Asia, East Asia, Inner Asia and Mongolia, and Southeast Asia. We will examine myths in translation, visual arts and ritual performance to look for cultural specifics as well as larger themes concerning the role of mythology in human cultures. We will compare definitions of myth; discuss the relationship between myths and religion, myths and politics; and explore mythology as a cultural and psychological resource. Modern adaptations of selected myths (movies, animation, and video games) will also be included. No prerequisites.

RELG 311 Faith and Reason
Randy Friedman | TR 1:30-3:00pm | C, H | Cross listed: JUST 311, PHIL 311

This reading-intensive seminar will explore some fundamental questions in philosophy of religion, focusing on the work of Maimonides, Spinoza and Kant. Topics will include the nature of divinity, metaphysics, the supernatural, creation, revelation, religious experience, and feminist philosophy of religion. Some questions will include: what is God? How does one know about God? How do we account for and understand revelation? What is the relation between God and morality and the good. In addition to the content of this course, students will practice the process skills of reading and writing critically. Students will be expected to read the texts carefully and to come to class prepared to ask and answer questions. The course will require at least 100 pages of reading each week. This course meets Judaic Studies major/minor survey requirement.

RELG 320 Protestant Christianity
Douglas Jones | MWF 9:45-10:45am | C, H, T

This course considers the Protestant tradition within Christianity from its origins in the Renaissance and Reformation to its unique expression in the United States. Along the way, we explore some of Protestantism's major themes, including justification by faith, the literal sense of scripture, and the priesthood of all believers. We also consider some of the social and political ramifications of reform, starting with the Peasants' Revolt in the 1520s and ending with the role of evangelicalism in contemporary political discourse. Other themes include the role of women in ministry, the lives of LGBTQ Christians, the rise of various forms of sectarianism and nondenominationalism, and, finally, the global phenomenon of the contemporary prosperity gospel. Note: If you have taken RELG 120 you will not receive credit for taking RELG 320.

RELG 380D African Kingship
Anthony Ephirim-Donkor | TR 11:45am-1:15pm | H | Cross listed: AFST 367

As living ancestors, kings and queens in Africa were—and are—seen as socio-political and spiritual leaders. However, this view of kingship has undergone significant changes in recent centuries, to the extent that nowadays traditional rulers do not enjoy the same temporal power and authority as was in the past. The reason for the changing dynamics of African kingship is colonialism. Thus the course examines African concepts of divine kingship, systems of succession, kingship rites, Western contact with African leaders, and how Europeans used policies like assimilation, association, and direct and indirect rules to undermine the power and authority of traditional rulers.

RELG 380E Christ & Jews in Islamic Spain
Moulay Ali Bouanani | TR 5:00-6:30pm | H, I, T, GL | Cross listed: JUST 380E, AFST 370, SOC 380L

This course acquaints students with the contribution of Muslims, Christians and Jews to Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain & Portugal), from the eighth century to the 1400's. In the Islamic far west, Andalusian society was different from what existed in the Arabic-Islamic East and far more developed and sophisticated than any civilization Europe had known. During this time period, Al-Andalus was the most materially advanced area of Europe. Ethnic (Arabs, Iberians, North Africans) and religious minorities such as Christian Muwallads and Mozarabs enjoyed a high degree of tolerance and, like the Jews, formed prosperous and erudite communities. Women were, with the exception of those of Baghdad, the envy of even other Arabic-Muslim women. Cordoba was the most splendid city on the European continent with magnificent buildings, gardens, libraries, baths. There was a stable political system that facilitated opulence, education, beautiful homes, well-designed cities and towns, art and scholarship. This course will examine the civilization and culture of Islamic Spain and the contribution of each of the religious groups to its greatness.

RELG 380G Religion & AI
Michael J. Kelly | TR 11:45am-1:15pm | *C, *I, *O | Cross listed: JUST 380G

Course description TBA

RELG 480A Japanese Ghosts & Monsters
Kristina Buhrman | F 8:15-11:15am | C, N | Cross listed: AAAS 481T

From bird-men and sentient tea kettles to Pokemon, Japanese visual and literary culture is teeming with strange and fantastic creatures. This seminar introduces students to the variety of oral, written, and particularly visual sources for Japanese views of the fantastical. We will cover the foundations of the study of folklore, the history of the field in Japan, and how the otherworldly and monstrous was depicted in medieval, early modern, and modern Japan. Sources encountered in class include visual culture, ethnographic description, and works of literary fiction. Students will learn about the interaction between elite and popular culture, and between popular culture and national identity. After a guided introduction to the analysis of folklore, students will undertake their own original research project on Japanese ghosts and monsters, and produce a paper describing an aspect of early modern or modern Japanese culture reflected in the Japanese fantastical using ethnographic or folklore methodologies.

SUMMER 2026

Summer classes are asyncronous and online, more details here.

RELG 380A / JUST 380A God?
Randy Friedman | C, H | Term: S1

How do we conceptualize the divine? How does God/s function in religion? What if anything can we know about the Divine? This online, asynchronous Summer seminar will explore a set of intriguing intellectual questions drawn from Judaism, American transcendentalism, and other philosophical, poetic, and religious traditions. No background in any religious tradition is necessary or required for this course. We will examine central theological questions in philosophy or religion, including knowledge of the divine, the nature of revelation, religious experience, and the relation between God, humans, and nature. Students will also examine critical philosophy of religion through readings drawn from critical race theory and feminist theology. We will read both Hebrew Biblical and philosophical texts in which these questions are central concerns, including excerpts from Book of Job, Genesis 22, and Isaiah; Philosophical texts will include work by Plato, Maimonides, Spinoza, David Hume, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and John Dewey. In addition to exploring theology in terms of philosophy, we will also examine broader methodological questions about how religion and religious texts are studied in a university.

RELG 101 / JUST 100 Religions of the World
Douglas Jones | GL, H | Term: S2

RELG 280J / JUST 280J Catholicism
Michael J. Kelly | W, FYA | Term: S2

Catholicism is one of the oldest continuous forms of Christianity in the world. In this class, you will learn core aspects of the long history of Catholicism and what makes it unique as a religion, a theology, and a social movement.

SPRING 2026

RELG 101 Religions of the World
Michael J. Kelly | MWF 11:00am-12:00pm | G, H, FYA | Cross listed: JUST 100, AFST 180E, ANTH 180C

What does it mean to study religion from a scholarly perspective? What is the difference between finding truth by a religious facticity process (method) vs finding it through an academic discipline's science? Answering questions like these and developing our skills as students and researchers of religion is of no small importance in a society competing over truth claims and "facts". This class will take a historical and theological approach to a number of religious traditions with the aim of discovering the foundational (mathematical?) connectivities of world religions. First Year appropriate.

RELG 111 Philosophy of Religion
Randy Friedman | MW 9:45-11:15am | H, T, FYA, W | Cross listed: JUST 111, PHIL 111, COLI 180L

This introductory course will explore the many philosophical questions which emerge from a study of religious thought. Topics will include the nature of religious subjectivity, divinity, prayer, sacrifice, and faith. We will study some central biblical and non-Western stories and narratives and literary, philosophical, and theological responses to them. Students will practice techniques of textual exegesis and directly engage texts.

RELG 280B Islamic Cultures in Africa
Moulay Ali Bouanani | MWF 9:45-10:45am | D, H, T, FYA |
Cross listed: COLI 280J, SOC 280B, ANTH 280V, AFST 251, ARAB 281E

Islam has a rich cultural and artistic heritage in Africa. With a history that goes back to the seventh century, it is now a vital part of the African cultural landscape. This introductory course explores a range of Islamic cultural productions from the advent of Islam to modern times by Muslim men and women in different regions of Africa from North to South and from East to West. It will focus on religious didactic writings, literature, music, architecture and documentary films in studying the syncretism of Islam and indigenous African religions and/or cultures, and in highlighting the unifying cultural influences of the religion. The course will also attend to the distinctive character of the vast contemporary post-colonial cultural productions in music (religious & profane), film, architecture and literature in large African metropolises with significant Islamic populations, and it will devote attention to the underlying factors and issues of artistic production of Muslims of Africa. First year appropriate.

RELG 312 Radical Religious Movements
Douglas Jones | TR 11:45am-1:15pm | C, H, T

This course focuses on movements that are deemed radical by their contemporaries. Topics will vary from week to week, though generally we will focus on the self-professed religious identity of these movements alongside their relationship with the broader religious culture. Do radical religions consider themselves radical? How do they communicate with, or seek to influence, the mainstream? Major themes include the proliferation of utopian and messianic movements in the seventeenth-century, socialism and religion, religion and violence, religion and suicide, the anti-cult movement in America, and the relatively recent appearance of sci-fi religions. Students who took RELG 212 course will not receive credit for 312.

RELG 361 Bible and Its Interpretations
Douglas Jones | MWF 1:30-2:30pm | C, H | Cross listed: JUST 361

This survey course takes a comparative approach to the history of biblical interpretation by looking at diverse communities within the Jewish and Christian traditions. How have these communities used the Bible to understand their place in history, address present tribulations, and even predict the future? What major conflicts have arisen over the issue of interpretation? Some topics include the theme of movement in the Torah and rabbinical tradition, 18th and 19th century biblical scholarship, the meaning of allegory in Catholic and Protestant interpretation, and the so-called literal sense of scripture. We will also close by considering the issue of biblical interpretation as it relates to new religious movements in America.

RELG 380B Gods, Kings, and Emperors
Kristina Buhrman | TR 3:15-4:45pm | N | Cross listed: PLSC 389Y / MDVL 381A / AAAS 381A

An exploration of the concept of divine or blessed rulership, or sacred kings, from god-kings to anointed politicians in the modern day. This course will introduce examples from Asian history, from the earliest examples of priest-kings in pre-Imperial China, to the divine Emperor of pre-war Japan, to contemporary Thai kings and the cult of modern dictators, as in North Korea. We will examine a number of case studies, comparing them to divine rulers in other parts of the world and various historical periods, from Mesopotamia to medieval Europe and to 20th-century revolutionary leaders during the end of the colonial period in Africa and the Middle East. The ways in which concepts of divinely-mandated rule can be used against leaders will be one topic of study, as will the boundary between humans and divine beings. Through these examples we will investigate how leaders take or maintain power, and how they motivate followers to action. No prerequisites required.

RELG 380D American Jewish Thought
Randy Friedman | MW 1:30-3:00pm | C, D, H, T, USD | Cross listed: JUST 352

This course offers both a historical and a theological study of the American Jewish community, from its origins through contemporary times. We engage central historical and sociological studies of American Jews in relation to Protestant, Catholic, and Baptist Americans, as well as other minority groups. We will also examine central philosophical and theological texts in American Judaism. Students will also read short works of American Jewish literature. We will examine how specific Judaic thinkers transform aspects of the Judaic tradition to fit the challenges of religious life in the modern and democratic age, and the response(s) to this transformation. Questions include: the relationship between theology and democratic culture, challenges to inherited religious traditions, the influence of feminist thought on religious practice, and the place and function of religious authority. The final third of the term will be spent analyzing rabbinic rulings on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

RELG 380H Religion in the Age of Trump
Douglas Jones | MWF 9:45-10:45am | H, T, W | Cross listed: HIST 380E / PLSC 382O

The basic assumption behind this course is that American Christianity has evolved in new and unexpected ways, beginning roughly with Trump's first term as President of the United States. The goal is to understand the diverse expressions of Christianity that both support and critically engage with MAGA culture. Over the course of the semester, we will consider the evolution of prophetic and charismatic Christianity, reevaluate the so-called "spirit of capitalism" in a 21st-century context, listen to religious voices on the right and left that seek to bring religion firmly into the public square, and trace the role of prosperity theology, positive thinking, practical antinomianism, and online sermonizing in our emerging religious landscape.

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RELIGIOUS STUDIES COURSES

FALL 2026

SUMMER 2026

SPRING 2026