History of Religions

Catalog description

This course will be a historical and broadly comparative study of religion, religions, and religious phenomena. First, it will incorporate a cross-cultural study of such phenomena as myth, ritual, sacred places, gods and goddesses, mysticism, and the various forms of religious community and authority. Second, it will also trace the historical development of the scholarly study of comparative religion. Finally, it will focus on the historical evolution of a particular religious phenomenon through many centuries, i.e., the historical evolution of the devil and the concept of hell in the Old Testament and Christianity. Offered Alternate Years.