HUM199Y1
First Year Seminar 52S
Undergraduate seminar that focuses on specific ideas, questions, phenomena or controversies, taught by a regular Faculty
member deeply engaged in the discipline. Open only to newly admitted first year students. It may serve as a distribution
requirement course; see page 40.
RLG100Y1
World Religions 52L, 26T
An introductory study of the ideas, attitudes, practices, and contemporary situation of the Judaic, Christian, Muslim, Hindu,
Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, and Shinto religious traditions.
Exclusion: RLG280Y1
RLG101Y1
The Phenomenon of Religion 52L, 26T
Theories about the variety and nature of religious experience, personal and collective. How religious life is expressed in such
forms as myth, narrative and ritual, systems of belief and value, morality and social institutions.
200-Series Courses
Note
No 200-series course has a 100-series RLG course prerequisite or Co-requisite.
RLG201Y1
Aboriginal Religion 52L, 26T
A survey of spirits, indigenous rites, stories, visions, shamanic and healing practices. Canadian First Nations' and Metis'
experiences placed in cross-cultural perspective First Nations' and Metis' spiritualities studied academically in the history of
religions, anthropology, and stories.
Recommended Preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG101Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG202Y1
The Jewish Religious Tradition 52L, 26T
An introduction to the religious tradition of the Jews, from its ancient roots to its modern crises. Focus on great ideas, thinkers,
books, movements, sects, and events in the historical development of Judaism through its four main periods - biblical, rabbinic,
medieval, and modern.
Recommended Preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG101Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG203Y1
The Christian Religious Tradition 52L, 26T
An introduction to the Christian religious tradition as it has developed from the 1st century C.E. to the present and has been
expressed in teachings, institutions, social attitudes, and the arts.
Recommended Preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG101Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG204Y1
The Islamic Religious Tradition 52L, 26T
The faith and practice of Islam: historical emergence, doctrinal development, and interaction with various world cultures.
Exclusion: NMC185Y1
Recommended Preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG101Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG205Y1
The Hindu Religious Tradition 52L, 26T
A historical and thematic introduction to the Hindu religious tradition as embedded in the socio-cultural structures of India.
Recommended Preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG101Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG206Y1
The Buddhist Religious Tradition 52L, 26T
The teachings of the Buddha and the development, spread, and diversification of the Buddhist tradition from southern to
northeastern Asia.
Recommended Preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG101Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG207H1
The Sikh Religious Tradition 26L, 13T
(formerly RLG364H1)
Sikh religious teachings, practices and institutions; the founder, Guru Nanak, and the scripture, the Adi Granth; subsequent
Gurus, other Sikh texts and the religious aspects of the history of the Sikh community in India and abroad.
Recommended Preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG101Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG209H1
The Jain Religious Tradition 26L, 13T
(formerly RLG365H1)
Basic teachings and historical developments of the Jain religious tradition, with attention to Jain contributions to religious
philosophy, ethics, religious biography, literature and the arts.
Recommended Preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG101Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG210Y1
Introduction to the Sociology of Religion 52L,
26T
Religion from the sociological viewpoint; religion as the source of meaning, community and power; conversion and
commitment; religious organization, movements, and authority; the relation of religion to the individual, sexuality and gender;
conflict and change; religion and secularization. Emphasis on classical thinkers (Durkheim, Marx, Weber) and contemporary
applications.
Exclusion: SOC250Y1
This is a Social Science course
RLG211Y1
Introduction to the Psychology of Religion 52L, 26T
A survey of the various psychological approaches to aspects of religion such as religious experience, doctrine, myth, ritual,
community, ethics and human transformation. The historical place of introspective, psychoanalytic, humanistic and
transpersonal methods in the psychology of religion.
This is a Social Science course
RLG212Y1
Introduction to the Anthropology of Religion 52L, 26T
Anthropological study of the supernatural in small-scale non-literate societies. A cross-cultural examination of systems of belief
and ritual focusing on the relationship between spiritual beings and the cosmos as well as the rights and obligations which
arise therefrom. Among the topics covered are: myth and ritual; shamanism and healing; magic, witchcraft and sorcery;
divination; ancestor worship.
This is a Social Science course
RLG220H1
Philosophical Responses to the Holocaust 26L
This course deals with how the momentous experience of the Holocaust, the systematic state-sponsored murder of six million
Jews as well as many others, has forced thinkers, both religious and secular, to rethink the human condition.
RLG221H1
Religious Ethics: The Jewish Tradition 26L,
13T
A brief survey of the Jewish biblical and rabbinic traditions; the extension of these teachings and methods of interpretation into
the modern period; common and divergent Jewish positions on pressing moral issues today.
RLG222H1
Religious Ethics: The Roman Catholic Tradition 26L, 13T
Reason, experience (the natural law tradition) and revelation as the bases for moral judgment; faith and morality; freedom of
conscience and the Church's claim to be a moral teacher; relevance to contemporary Catholic moral theology.
RLG223H1
Religious Ethics: The Protestant Tradition 26L, 13T
The development of Protestant ethics since the Reformation. Gospel and law, love and justice, realism and perfectionism,
moral norms and moral context, the personal, political, and economic orders.
RLG224Y1
Problems in Religious Ethics 52L, 26T
An introduction to the analysis of ethical problems in the context of the religious traditions of the West. Abortion, euthanasia,
poverty, environmental degradation, militarism, sex, marriage, and the roles of men and women.
Exclusion: RLG105Y1
RLG225H1
Christian Ethics and Human Sexuality 26L, 13T
The basis of Christian ethics for a formulation of standards of inter-personal conduct and sexual relations; an analysis of
changing sexual mores, familial structures and child-rearing techniques; and a critical evaluation of the development of
reproductive technologies.
Recommended Preparation: RLG224Y1
RLG228H1
Religious Ethics: The Environment 26L, 13T
The ethics and religious symbolism of environmental change: animal domestication and experimentation, deforestation,
population expansion, energy use, synthetics, waste and pollution.
RLG231H1
Religion and Science 26L, 13T
(formerly RLG 231Y1)
The impact of the physical and social sciences on religion and religious thought. A comparative philosophical study of scientific
and theological ways of analysis and of the status of scientific and religious assertions. Areas of cooperation and of conflict
between the "two cultures."
Exclusion: RLG 231Y1, SMC230Y1
RLG232H1
Religion and Film 26L, 13T
The role of film as a mediator of thought and experience concerning religious worldviews. The ways in which movies relate to
humanity's quest to understand itself and its place in the universe are considered in this regard, along with the challenge which
modernity presents to this task. Of central concern is the capacity of film to address religious issues through visual symbolic
forms.
RLG 236H1
Women and Religion in Asia 26L, 13T
A study of women in the religious traditions of South and East Asia, including
historical developments, topical issues, and
contemporary women's movements.
RLG237H1
Women and Western Religions 26L, 3T
(formerly RLG 237Y1)
The social and legal status of women in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The historical and contemporary situation of women
in these traditions.
Exclusion: RLG 237Y1
RLG239H1
Special Topics 26L
Some topic of central interest to students of religion, treated on a once-only basis by a professor visiting from another
university. For details of this year's offering, consult the Department's current undergraduate handbook.
RLG241Y1
Early Christian Writings I 52L, 26T
An introduction to New Testament literature, examined within the historical context of the first two centuries. No familiarity with
Christianity or the New Testament is expected.
RLG274H1
Chinese Religions 26L, 13T
The religions and philosophies of China, including ancient religion and mythology, the three traditions of Confucianism, Taoism,
and Buddhism (including their philosophical dimensions), and Chinese popular religion.
Exclusion: RLG272Y1, 370Y1
RLG275H1
Japanese and Korean Religions 26L, 13T
The religions of Japan (Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism) and the religions of Korea (Confucianism, Buddhism, Shamanism).
Exclusion: RLG273Y1, 370Y1
RLG280Y1
World Religions: A Comparative Study 52L, 26T
An alternative version of the content covered by RLG100Y1, for students in second year or higher who cannot or do not wish
to take a further 100-level course. Students attend the RLG100Y1 lectures and tutorials but are expected to produce more
substantial and more sophisticated written work, and are required to submit an extra written assignment.
Exclusion: RLG100Y1
Prerequisite: Completion of 6 full course equivalents
RLG299Y1
Research Opportunity Program
Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. See
page 43 for details.
300-Series Courses
Note
All 300-series courses normally presuppose at least three prior RLG half-courses
(or equivalent). Only specific Prerequisites or
recommended preparations are listed below. Students who do not meet the Prerequisites
but believe they have adequate
preparation should consult the Undergraduate Administrator regarding entry
to the course.
RLG301H1
Sigmund Freud on Religion 26L
Systematic analysis of Freud's main writings on religion, studied within the context of central concepts and issues in
psychoanalysis such as: the Oedipus Complex, the meaning and function of symbols, the formation of the ego and the
superego, and the relations between the individual and culture.
Prerequisite: RLG211Y1
This is a Social Science course
RLG302H1
Carl Jung's Theory of Religion 26L
Jung's analysis of the development of the personality through its life cycle, and of the central place which religion holds within
the process of maturation. The unconscious, the collective unconscious, dreams, myths, symbols, and archetypes; implications
for religious thought, therapy, education, and definitions of community.
Prerequisite: RLG211Y1
This is a Social Science course
RLG303H1
Evil and Suffering in the Psychology of Religion 26L, 13T
Problems of negative life experience and their relations to issues of meaning and personality development. Includes discussion
of internal conflict and suffering in the experience of melancholia and the divided self, and the existential experiences of evil
and suffering. Examines myth, symbol, and forms of religious discourse as responses to such crises.
Prerequisite: RLG211Y1
This is a Social Science course
RLG304H1
Language, Symbols, Self 26L, 13T
Theories of the self that involve the constitutive role of language in its various forms. Problems of socially-conditioned
worldviews and sense of self as related to discourse. Myth, symbol, metaphor, and literary arts as vehicles for personality
development and self-transformation along religious lines.
Prerequisite: RLG211Y1
This is a Social Science course
RLG307H1
Religion and Society in Canada 26L, 13T
(formerly RLG 307Y1)
Sociological examination of religion in contemporary Canadian society: religions of English and French Canada; religious
organization and demography; relation of religion to ethnicity, social questions and politics; secularization and privatization.
Exclusion: RLG307Y1
Prerequisite: RLG210Y1/an introductory course in sociology
This is a Social Science course
RLG309Y1
Religion, Morality and Law 52L, 26T
The relationships between religious and ethical norms, social and political ideals, and systems of law. The roots of Western
legal concepts such as authority, duty, rights, and punishment in biblical and natural law tradition, and their counterparts in
positive law theory. Church and State conflict in a philosophy of law context.
Prerequisite: three RLG or PHI/PHL half-courses and third year standing
RLG310Y1
Modern Atheism and the Critique of Religion 52L
(formerly RLG310H1)
Historical and critical-philosophical examination of the development of atheism in Western intellectual circles. Consideration of
18th, 19th and 20th century critiques of religion derived from: theories of knowledge that privilege science; radical social and
political thought; and analysis of the soul and its symbol-systems. Authors include Hume, Marx, Bakunin, Nietzsche, and
Freud.
Prerequisite: three RLG or PHI/PHL half-courses and third year standing
RLG311H1
World Religions and Ecology 26S, 13T
A study of the responses of selected world religious traditions to the emergence of global ecological concerns. Key concepts
and tenets of the traditions and their relevance for an examination of the environmental crisis.
Recommended preparation: RLG228H1
RLG312H1
Faith and Reason: Barth, Ogden, Rahner 26S, 13T
Karl Barth, Schubert Ogden, and Rahner, three influential 20th century Christian thinkers, on how religious believing is related
to critical thinking. Illustrations are drawn from their diverse accounts of God.
Exclusion: RLG313Y1
Prerequisite: three half courses in RLG, PHL or Christianity and Culture
RLG314H1
Gender Issues in Religion 26L 13T
Examination of gender as a category in the understanding of religious roles, symbols, rituals, deities, and social relations.
Survey of varieties of concepts of gender in recent feminist thought, and application of these concepts to religious life and
experience. Examples will be drawn from a variety of religious traditions and groups, contemporary and historical.
This is a Social Science course
RLG315H1
Rites of Passage 26L, 13T
Analysis of rituals of transition form one social status to another (e.g., childbirth, initiation, weddings) from theoretical, historical
and ethnographic perspectives. Particular attention is paid to the multi-religious North American environment, and to the
importance of rites of passage in the construction of gendered identities.
Prerequisite: three half-courses in RLG or PHI/PHL
This is a Social Science course
RLG316H1
Classical Anthropological Theories of Religion 26S
An examination of the theories of religion developed by late 19th and 20th century anthropologists such as Taylor, Frazer,
Durkheim, Freud, Van Gennep, Levi-Strauss, Douglas and Turner. Their ideas about systems of ritual and belief in small-scale,
non-literate, kinship-based societies.
Recommended preparation: RLG212Y1 or any Anthropology course.
This is a Social Science course
RLG317H1
Religious Violence and Nonviolence 26S, 13T
Religious violence and nonviolence as they emerge in the tension between strict adherence to tradition and individual actions
of charismatic figures. The place of violence and nonviolence in selected faith traditions.
Recommended preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG320H1
Judaism and Christianity in the Second Century 26L,
13T
Judaism and Christianity in the period from 70 C.E. to 200.CE. The course focuses on the relationship between the two
religious groups, stressing the importance of the setting within the Roman Empire.
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1
RLG321H1
Early Christian Writings II 26L, 13T
An introduction to the first and second century Christian writings. A survey of the surviving works and their historical contexts,
close analysis of selected texts and an examination of what these sources tell us about the early Christian communities.
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1
RLG322H1
Early Christian Gospels 26L, 13T
Literary, historical, and rhetorical analyses of selected early Christian gospels. The gospels to be treated will vary, but each
year will include a selection from the four canonical gospels and extra-canonical gospels (the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of
Philip, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Truth, infancy gospels, and fragments of Jewish-Christian gospels)
Prerequisite:RLG241Y1
RLG323H1
Jesus of Nazareth 26L, 13T
An examination of the "historical Jesus" based on a critical study of the earliest accounts of Jesus, with intensive study of the
Gospels to determine what can be said about Jesus' activities and teachings.
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1
RLG324H1
Paul of Tarsus 26L, 13T
An examination of Paul's life and thought as seen in the early Christian literature written by him (the seven undisputed letters),
about him (the Acts of the Apostles, the Acts of Paul) and in his name (the six disputed NT letters).
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1
RLG325H1
Visions and Revelations in Ancient Judaism and Christianity 26L, 13T
This course treats the major elements of the apocalyptic literary corpus and accompanying visionary experiences in ancient
Judaism and Christianity. Contemporary theories on the function and origin of apocalyptic literature.
Prerequisite: RLG202Y1/RLG203Y1/RLG241Y1 or permission of instructor
RLG326H1
Roots of Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism 26L 13T
Analysis of selected documents of Second Temple Judaism in their historical contexts, as part of the generative matrix for both
the early Jesus movement and the emergence of rabbinic Judaism.
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1/RLG202Y1/RLG203Y1
RLG327H1
Magic and Miracle in Early Christianity 26L 13T
Magic, religion, astrology, alchemy, theurgy, miracle, divination-all of these phenomena characterize the context and practice
of ancient Christianity. This course examines the constitution of these categories, the role and character of these phenomena
in the Graeco-Roman world, and the interaction with and integration of these phenomena by ancient Christianity.
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1
RLG329H1
The Development of Christian Identity 26L, 13T
The development of Christian identity, examined from a pscyo-social, ethical, and theological perspective, and as revealed in
autobiographies, diaries and letters.
Prerequisite: one RLG course
Recommended Preparation: RLG241Y1, 242Y.
RLG330H1
God and Evil 26L
A study of some of the most important and influential attempts by Christians to reconcile their experience and understanding of
evil with their purported experience and understanding of God. Selections from biblical writers, Augustine of Hippo, Thomas
Aquinas, John Calvin, Karl Barth, and Gustavo Gutierrez.
Prerequisite: Three half-courses in RLG, PHI/PHL or Christianity and Culture
RLG331Y1
Eastern Christianity 52L, 26T
The formation and development of distinctively Eastern traditions of Christianity. The history and major writers of Eastern
Christianity up to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The development of the national Eastern Churches up through the modern
period, and their particular contributions to the Eastern Christian tradition.
RLG332Y1
Protestant Thought 52L, 26T
(formerly RLG246Y1)
The central ideas of Protestant Christianity from the 16th century reformers to their 20th century heirs: Luther, Calvin, Zwingli,
Edwards, Schleiermacher, Ritschl, Rauschenbusch, Barth, Tillich, Niebuhr, Moltmann. Analysis of pietism, orthodoxy,
liberalism, fundamentalism, neo-orthodoxy, the contemporary situation.
RLG334H1
World History of Modern Christianity, 1770s-1914 26S
Thoroughly cross-cultural study of how Christians across the world constructed the extraordinary variety of their religious life
during the period when Christianity became by far the most widespread, the most diverse, and the most populous religion in
world history. Emphasis on selected cultures on all continents.
RLG335H1
World History of Modern Christianity, 1914-present 26S
Analysis of how Christians (i.e., one-third of the world's population) have engaged large themes since the First World War:
liturgy, migration, creedal change, the Holy Spirit, religious privatization and public life, denominations, war, inculturation,
scripture, secularity, disintegration of empires, world capitalism, encounter with Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, indigenous
religions, Judaism.
RLG338Y1
Technology, Ethics and the Future of Humanity 52L, 26T
The role of technology within various projections of global economic development, examined from a Christian ethical
perspective. Ethical responses to problems that threaten the future of humanity: poverty, resource depletion, environmental
degradation, arms build-up, and biotechnical revolution.
Prerequisite: One RLG course
Recommended preparation: RLG224Y1
RLG340Y1
Classical Jewish Theology 52S
A study of four great figures during critical moments in Jewish history, each of whom represents a turning point: Jeremiah
(biblical era), Rabbi Akiva (rabbinic era), Moses Maimonides (medieval era), Franz Rosenzweig (modern era). Belief in God;
Torah as law, teaching, tradition, revelation, eternity of Israel, meaning of Jewish suffering, problem of radical evil, history and
messianism.
Prerequisite: RLG100Y1/RLG202Y1/RLG221H1/RLG280Y1
RLG341H1
Dreaming of Zion: Exile and Return in Jewish Thought 26L, 13T
An inquiry into the theme of "exile and return" in Judaism, often called the leading idea of Jewish religious consciousness.
Starting from Egyptian slavery and the Babylonian section, and culminating in the ideas of modern Zionism, the course will
examine a cross-section of Jewish thinkers- ancient, medieval, and modern.
Prerequisite:RLG100Y1/RLG202Y1/RLG280Y1/RLG342Y1
RLG342Y1
Judaism in the Modern Age 52L, 26T
(formerly RLG244Y1)
The development and range of modern Jewish religious thought from Spinoza, Mendelssohn and Krochmal, to Cohen,
Rosenzweig and Buber. Responses to the challenges of modernity and fundamental alternatives in modern Judaism.
Prerequisite: RLG100Y1/RLG202Y1/RLG221H1/RLG280Y1
RLG343H1
Kabbala: A History of Mystical Thought in Judaism 26L, 13T
A historical study of the Kabbala and the mystical tradition in Judaism, with emphasis on the ideas of Jewish mystical thinkers
and movements.
Prerequisites: RLG100Y1/RLG202Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG344Y1
Antisemitism 26L, 26S
The religious and cultural roots of antisemitism and its manifestations in Western civilization: anti-Jewish aspects of pagan
antiquity, the adversus Judaeos tradition in classical Christian theology; racist antisemitism in Europe (the Aryan myth); the rise
of political antisemitism; the Nazi phenomenon, antisemitism in Canada and the United States.
Prerequisite: A 200-level course in Judaism or Christianity or Western history
RLG345H1
Social Ecology and Judaism 26L
The environment and human society studied as systems of organization built for self-preservation. Such topics as
vegetarianism and the humane treatment of animals, suicide and euthanasia, sustainability and recycling, explored from the
perspective of Judaism.
Prerequisite: RLG100Y1/RLG228H1/RLG280Y1/one course in Jewish Studies
RLG346H1
Time and Place in Judaism 26L
The meaning of holy time and holy place, the physics and metaphysics of time and space within Judaism. Topics include the
garden of Eden, the temple, the netherworld, the land of Israel, and exile; the sabbath and the week; the human experience of
aging as fulfillment and failing.
Prerequisite: RLG100Y1/RLG280Y1/one course in Jewish Studies
RLG350H1
The Life of Muhammad 26S, 13T
This course examines Muhammad's life as reflected in the biographies and historical writings of the Muslims. Students will be
introduced to the critical methods used by scholars to investigate Muhammad's life. Issues include: relationship between
Muhammad's life and Qur'an teachings and the veneration of Muhammad.
RLG351H1
The Qur'an: An Introduction 26L
The revelatory process and the textual formation of the Qur'an, its pre-eminent orality and its principal themes and linguistic
forms; the classical exegetical tradition and some contemporary approaches to its interpretation.
Prerequisite: RLG100Y1/RLG204Y1/224H1/RLG280Y1/NMC185Y1
RLG352H1
Islam in Religious Interaction 26L
Aspects of the relationship of Islam with other religions and cultures. Topics treated may include attention to both the medieval
and the modern periods as well as to contemporary challenges faced by Muslim populations in Europe and North America.
Prerequisite: RLG100Y1/RLG204Y1/224H1/RLG280Y1/NMC185Y1
RLG361H1
Hindu Myth 26S
Readings in Vedic, Pauranic, Tantric and folk myths; traditional Hindu understandings of myth; recent theories of interpretation,
e.g. those of Levi-Strauss, Eliade, Ricoeur, applied to Hindu myths.
Prerequisite: RLG100Y1/RLG205Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG363H1
Hindu Ritual 26L
Hindu ritual in its Vedic, Pauranic, Tantric, and popular forms; the meaning that ritual conveys to its participants and the
relation of ritual to Hindu mythology and to social context.
Prerequisite: RLG100Y1/RLG205Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG365H1
Modern Hinduism 26L, 13T
The development of modern Hindu religious thought in the contexts of colonialism, dialogue with "the West" and the secular
Indian state.
Prerequisite:RLG100Y1/RLG205Y1/RLG280Y1
Exclusion:RLG360H1
RLG366H1
Classical Hindu Philosophy 26L, 13T
A study of six classical schools of Hindu philosophy, focusing on the key issues of the Self, the Real, karma and ethics.
Prerequisite:RLG100/205/280/
Exclusion:RLG362H1
RLG371H1
Buddhism in East Asia 26L, 13T
The schools of Buddhism in East Asia, with focus on two principal ones: Ch'an (Zen) and Pure Land. Readings in translation
from their basic sutras.
Prerequisite: RLG100Y1/RLG206Y1/RLG280Y1
RLG372H1
Tibetan Buddhism 26L, 13T
A survey of the various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, focusing on differences in both theory and practice, with readings of
Tibetan texts in translation and ethnographic studies of Buddhist practice in Tibet.
Prerequisite: RLG206Y1
RLG375H1
Buddhist Thought in India and Tibet 26L
An introduction to philosophical thought in the Buddhist traditions of India and Tibet.
RLG376H1
Death and Rebirth in Buddhist Traditions 26S
This course considers Buddhist notions of death, the afterlife, and rebirth. Topics include Buddhist cosmology and karmic
causality, exemplary models of death and birth, and ritual studies of mortuary rites and birth practices. Readings will combine
Buddhist primary texts in translation and secondary scholarship in religious studies and anthropology.
Prerequisite: RLG206Y1
RLG380H1
Comparative Mysticism 26S
A comparative examination of Christian (Latin and Orthodox), Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Hindu and Islamic mystical
traditions.
RLG384H1
Pluralism and Dialogue 26S
The contemporary phenomenon of religious pluralism: its historical emergence, social context and intellectual justifications.
Achievements, techniques and outstanding issues in inter-religious dialogue.
RLG386Y1
Religions of Non-Literate Societies 52L, 26P
This course explores the nature of religion in societies whose main traditions are orally encoded. Emphasis will be placed on
the peoples and cultures of Oceania in terms both of ethnography and of various theories about how to understand religion in
small scale, kinship-based societies without written traditions.
Exclusion: RLG 318Y1
Prerequisite: RLG212Y1 or 2nd year Social/Cultural Anthropology Course
RLG388H1
Special Topics I 26L, 13P
RLG389H1
Special Topics II 26L, 13P
RLG398H0/399Y0
Independent Experiential Study Project
An instructor-supervised group project in an off-campus setting. See page 43 for details.
400-Series Courses
Note
400-series courses are intended primarily for Specialists and Majors who
have already completed several RLG courses.
Prerequisite for all 400-level courses is permission of the instructor.
All 400-level courses are E indicator courses. Students
must enrol at the department.
RLG400Y1/401H1/402H1
Independent Studies Abroad
Intensive programs of study including site visits and lectures in areas of religious significance abroad. Preparatory work
expected, together with paper or assignments upon return.
(Y1 course: 4 weeks minimum; H course: 2 weeks minimum)
RLG410Y1
Advanced Topics in Religion TBA
RLG411H1
Advanced Topics in Religion: Reflection on Nature in
Eastern Religions 26S
This course explores the study of Nature in South Asia from the perspective of both natural sciences and the spiritual
traditions, and how, if at all, these two perspectives encounter each other. The course is structured as a seminar in which
active participation by students is encouraged and expected. The religious traditions of South Asia are explored more in the
context of their cultural expressions, values and institutions, and must less in their textual, philosophical interpretations. Study
of nature too is examined an historical and cultural context, with its on going, every day exploration for survival, understanding
and meaning for human drama.
RLG412H1
Advanced Topics in Religion: Aesthetics, Politics and
Muslim Identity 26S
This course looks at the cultural production and representation of Islam and Muslim identities. Drawing on the works of
contemporary "Muslim artists" working in various media--film, visual arts, music--we look at the ways artists negotiate both the
art-worlds/markets along side their own relationships to an "Islamic discursive tradition." Critical questions on postcoloniality,
cosmopolitanism, patriotism, nationalism, citizenship and the ummah will be addressed, in addition to understanding the limits
of beauty and pleasure in the context of suffering and violence.
RLG420H1
Religion and Philosophy in the European Enlightenment 26S
An advanced study of selected Enlightenment thinkers with a focus on their interpretations of religion. The work of Immanuel
Kant will form a focus point, but others will be discussed as well. Issues include the rational critique of traditional religion, the
relations among religion, ethics and politics, and the pursuit of universal approaches to religion.
RLG421H1
Topics in Psychology of Religion 26S
Provides an indepth study of selected theorists in the psychology of religion, such as Freud, Ricoeur, Lacan, and Kristeva.
Approaches the topic both in terms of interpretive models applied to individual and cultural religious forms, such as symbols,
rituals, and personal experiences, and in terms. Of religious subjectivity as related to self-knowledge and ethical development.
RLG422H1
The Study of Non-Literate Religions in 19th and Early 20th
Century France 26S
This course will concentrate on works by Emile Durkheim, Arnold Van Gennep, Marcel Mauss, Lucien Levy-Bruhl, Robert Hertz
and others that attempted to establish universals of religious beliefs and experience. Topics include double burial, sacrifice,
rites of passage, "participation", and concepts of sacred and profane.
RLG423H1
The Birth of Anthropology 26S
This course will examine the 19th Century origins of anthropology in the study of the bible and 'other' primitive religions. It will
focus on influential works by Frazer, Tylor, Robertson-Smith, Mueller, Bachofen and Freud.
RLG430H1
Advanced Topics in Judaism 26S, 13T
RLG431H1
Advanced Topics in Judaism 26S, 13T
RLG432Y1
Natural Law in Judaism and Christianity 52S, 26T
This seminar deals with the question of how a religion like Judaism or Christianity, based on revelation and its norms, can
acknowledge and incorporate norms discovered by human reason, without reducing reason to revelation or revelation to
reason.
RLG433H1
Maimonides and His Modern Interpreters 26S, 13T
An introduction to The Guide of the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides, and to some of the basic themes in Jewish philosophical
theology and religion. Among topics to be considered through close textual study of the Guide: divine attributes; biblical
interpretation; creation versus eternity; prophecy; providence, theodicy, and evil; wisdom and human perfection. Also to be
examined are leading modern interpreters of Maimonides.
Exclusion: POL421H1
RLG434H1
Modern Jewish Thought 26S, 13T
Close study of major themes, texts, and thinkers in modern Jewish thought. Focus put on the historical development of modern
Judaism, with special emphasis on the Jewish religious and philosophical responses to the challenges of modernity. Among
modern Jewish thinkers to be considered: Spinoza, Cohen, Rosenzweig, Buber, Scholem, Strauss, and Fackenheim.
RLG435H1
The Thought of Leo Strauss 26S, 13T
The philosophic thought of Leo Strauss approached through his writings on modern Judaism. Primarily addressed will be the
mutual relations between philosophy, theology, and politics. Among other topics to be dealt with: origins of modern Judaism,
Zionism, liberal democracy, and biblical criticism; meaning of "Jerusalem and Athens"; cognitive value in the Hebrew Bible.
RLG440H1
Religion and Healing 26S, 13T
The relationship between religion and healing in the North American context through analysis of the religious roots of the
biomedical model, as well as religious influences on alternative modes of healing.
RLG441H1
Augustine, Aquinas, Lonergan 26S, 13T
Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Bernard Lonergan on God as knowable by natural reason, God as manifested by
supernatural revelation, and the psychological analogy for the Trinity.
RLG442H1
North American Religions 26S, 13T
This course considers the varieties of religious practice in North America from anthropological and historical perspectives. Of
particular interest are the ways religions have mutually influenced each other in the context of nineteenth and twentieth century
North America.
RLG448H1
Religion and Material Culture in the Ancient World 26S,
13T
The course emphasizes the importance of material culture (artifacts, tombs, architecture, art, industrial installations, etc.) in
studying the ancient world, and how it relates to other ways of interpreting religion and society. The course does not require
previous familiarity with archaeology, but it presupposes interest in studying a range of excavations. Open to advanced
undergraduates and qualified graduate students with permission of the instructor.
RLG449H1
The Synoptic Problem 26S, 13T
Investigation of the history of solutions to the Synoptic Problem from the eighteenth century to the present paying special
attention on the revival of the Griesbach hypothesis and recent advances in the Two-Document hypothesis.
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1 and at least one of RLG320H1-RLG327H1
RLG451H1
The Parables of Jesus 26S, 13T
Examination of the parables in the gospels and other early Christian writers, and major trends in the modern analyses of the
parables. Special attention will be paid to the social and economic world presupposed by the parables.
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1 and at least one of RLG320H1-RLG327H1
RLG452H1
The Death of Jesus 26S, 13T
Examination of the accounts of the passion and death of Jesus in their original historical and literary contexts.
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1 and at least one of RLG320H1-RLG327H1
RLG453H1
Christianity and Judaism in Colonial Context 26S,
13T
Sets the study of early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism into relation with postcolonial historiography. Topics include
hybridity, armed resistance, the intersection of gender and colonization, diaspora, acculturation, and the production of
subaltern forms of knowledge. Comparative material and theories of comparison are also treated.
RLG454H1
Social History of the Jesus Movement 26S,
13T
The social setting of the early Jesus movement in Roman Palestine and the cities of the Eastern Empire. Topics will include:
Rank and legal status; patronalia and clientalia; marriage and divorce; forms of association outside the family; slavery and
manumission; loyalty to the empire and forms of resistance.
Prerequisite: RLG241Y1 and at least one of RLG320H1-RLG327H1
RLG456H1
Readings in Qur'an and Tafsir 26S, 13T
This course is an introduction to the rich literature that has grown around the study of the Qur'an in the Arabic tradition. In
addition to readings in the Qur'an students will read selections from works in ma'ani and majaz and major tafsir works.
Selections include: al-Tabari, al-Tha'labi, al-Zamakhshari, al-Qurtubi and al-Razi. The course will culminate in a study of al-
Itqan of al-Suyuti.
Prerequisite: At least two years of Arabic, or advanced reading knowledge, or permission of the instructor.
RLG457H1
The Qur'an and its Interpretation 26S, 13T
This course is designed to orient students to the field of contemporary Qur'anic studies through reading and discussion of the
text itself and of significant European-language scholarship about the Qur'an as well as through examination of the principal
bibliographical tools for this subject area.
Prerequisite: At least two years of Arabic or advanced reading knowledge, or the permission of the instructor.
RLG458H1
Apocryphal Bible 26L, 13T
Biblical or para-biblical literature continued to be produced by Jewish and Christian writers long after the establishment of the
canons of the Jewish and Christian Bibles. This course introduces the student to some of the more important pieces of Old
Testament pseudepigrapha and New Testament apocrypha and their modern scholarly study.
RLG464H1
History and Historiography of Buddhism 26S, 13T
This course examines histories of Buddhism authored inside and outside Asia, considering how various models of
historiography affect our knowledge of Buddhism and Buddhist cultures. Readings will include translations of indigenous
Buddhist histories, recent histories of Buddhism that have shaped the field of Buddhist Studies, and theoretical studies of
historiography
RLG466H1
Buddhism and Society in East Asia 26S, 13T
Issues common to the establishment and development of the Buddhist tradition(s) in China, Korea, and Japan. The reactions
to Buddhism by the societies in which it was being implanted. Transformation of Buddhist teachings, practice, iconography,
institutions, etc. as they were assimilated by the host countries.
RLG468H1
Religion and Society in Classical Japan 26S, 13T
Major developments in the history of Japanese religious traditions from the earliest known times (ca. 6th cent. C.E.) to the
beginning of the modern era. This course will focus on the relations between the religious dimension of Japanese society and
its social-political-economic dimensions.
RLG469Y1
Readings in Tibetan Buddhism 52L, 26T
Advanced readings in Tibetan Buddhist literature. Tibetan language skills required.
Prerequisite: Instructor's permission required for admission to course.
RLG471H1
Advanced Topics South Asian Studies 26L
Content varies from year to year.
RLG482H1
The Taking of Human Life 26S, 13T
Frequently today in discussions in bioethics dealing with life and death, even secular thinkers invoke the concept of the
"sanctity of human life." Yet that concept is clearly religious in origin. What do the three great monotheistic traditions have to
say about this concept and its ethical significance?
RLG483H1
Christian Political Philosophy 26S, 13T
The writings of Simon Weil will be studied within the context of political theory and contemporary Christian philosophy. The
basis for Weil's critique of the technological society will be examined.
RLG484H1
Religion and the Environment 26S, 13T
This course examines how religious concerns within various religious traditions interface with contemporary environmental
issues. Particular attention is paid to the challenge posed to the human and religious values of these traditions by the present
ecological crisis and some salient ethical and religious responses to this challenge
RLG486H1
Religion and Ethics: Critiques of the Technological Society 26S,
13T
Major twentieth-century critiques of the technological society through an examination of the philosophical and theological
writings of George Grant, Jacques Ellul and Simone Weil. Their seminal critiques will be contrasted with the ethical analyses
of Ursula Franklin, Albert Borgmann, Hans Jonas, and Zygmunt Bauman.
RLG487H1
Liberation Theology 26S, 13Ti
This course exploresthe work of these two seminal contemporary Christian thinkers, Gustave Guiti‚rrez, founder of the
liberation theology, and U.S. "geologian" Thomas Berry, a cultural historian and prime architect of "the new cosmology". The
two thinkers highlight the conflict and convergence of social justice and ecological invitations within Christianity.
RLG490Y1/491Y1/492H1/493H1/494H1
Individual Studies TBA
Student-initiated projects supervised by members of the Department. The student must obtain both a supervisor's agreement
and the Department's approval in order to register. The maximum number of Individual Studies one may take is two full course
equivalents. Deadline for submitting applications to Department including supervisor's approval is the first week of classes of
the session.
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