RELS Course Offerings in 2017-18 include 4 new courses

Next year's offerings include 4 new courses and 2 topics courses (see below).

Fall/Winter
RELS 131 A/B  World Religions/Religious Worlds

Fall
RELS 162 – Religion in the News   
RELS 201 – Themes in Religious Studies: Religion and Childhood
RELS 210 – Hebrew Bible
RELS 224 – Taoism
RELS 237 – Religion and Film
RELS 240 – Magic, Witchcraft, and the Supernatural  
RELS 268 – Religion and Biomedical Ethics
RELS 310 – Contemporary Christian Thought
RELS 322 – Yoga in India and the West
RELS 326 – Religion and Politics in Muslim Societies
RELS 331 – Religion and Violence
RELS 354 - Theory in Religious Studies

Winter
RELS 163 – Religion and Popular Culture  
RELS 212 – Mythology of the Ancient Near East
RELS 218 – Christianity
RELS 222 – The Hindu World
RELS 236 – Religion and Sex
RELS 252 – Mysticism
RELS 255 - Research Methods in Religious Studies (formerly RELS 355)
RELS 301 – Themes in Religious Studies: Religion, Ritual, and the Body
RELS 328 – Interpretation of Apocalyptic Literature
RELS 340 – Religion and Democracy
RELS 341 – Spirituality, Secularity, and Non-Religion  
RELS 394 – Religion and Politics in Contemporary China
RELS 401 - Honours Seminar

The University Timetable will be available in mid-June.

New Courses for 2017-18

RELS 162 - Religion in the News (Fall)
This course will identify and describe characteristics of religion as they appear in news reports of social, political and economic aspects of public life and analyze how the news presents, shapes, and creates perceptions of religion in public discourse.

RELS 163 - Religion in Popular Culture (Winter)
This course will identify and describe characteristics of religion as they appear in popular culture (e.g. fashion; comics; movies; art; music; novels; sitcoms; dramas; video games) and analyze how such depictions present, shape, and create perceptions of religion in public discourse.

RELS 240 - Magic, Witchcraft and the Supernatural (Fall)
Studies the differences between the categories of religion, magic, witchcraft, the supernatural, etc., as constructed in scholarship, popular culture, and practice. Focuses on examples such as New Religious Movements, depictions of magic in film & TV, and moral panics over alleged occult practices, and the histories that let us make sense of them.

RELS 341 - Spirituality, Securlarity and Nonreligion (Winter)
A study of concepts intended to summarize positions which are necessarily defined in reference to religion but considered to be other than religious. We explore the origins and presents of perspectives and experiences including the secular, spiritual-but-not-religious, atheistic, and other forms of imitation, indifference and hostility to religion.

Topics Courses Offered in 2017-18

RELS 201 - Themes in Religious Studies:  Religion and Childhood (Fall)
From probing ancient texts to considering contemporary abuses that are justified by religion, we will consider a broad range of issues related to the study of religion through the lens of children and childhood. A major focus will be on “lived religion”, and an exploration of the many ways that children in Canada and around the world are rejecting, embracing, ignoring and reshaping traditional religious landscapes as they navigate the contemporary world.

RELS 301 - Themes in Religious Studies: Religion, Ritual and the Body (Winter)
Examines how the body is used and affected in various religious ritual practices.