An overview of the main myths of the heroes of the ancient Greeks and Romans and their influence in contemporary and later literature and art. Includes readings from both ancient and modern sources.

(IV)
Days:   12:00-12:00 AM

How does the legacy of human evolution affect our world today?  How have technological innovations shaped human societies?  How have human societies explained the natural world and their place in it?  Given the abundance of religious beliefs in the world, how have three evangelical faiths spread far beyond their original homelands?
This class follows the major themes of world historical development through the sixteenth century to consider how developments in technology, social organization, and religion—from the origins of farming to the rise of Christianity—shaped the world we live in today.

(Satisfies Pre-1800 Requirement)
Days: TU TH  09:30-10:50 AM

Jewish thought and practice have developed over millennia as an extended conversation between thinkers and writers in different places and times, their texts both reflecting and shaping the course of Jewish history. In this class, we will be tapping into this conversation. We will consider some of the foremost texts in Jewish history; the questions that have engaged Jewish writers; and how they have built on and responded to one another across centuries and continents. We will wrestle with their ideas, both as universal questions of perennial human concern and as expressions of a particular sense of Jewishness. Throughout, we will reflect on authority and interpretation, controversy and heresy, and will consider how texts have become cultural touchstones whose adaptations and reinterpretations stand as cultural practices in their own right.
Days: TU TH  03:30-04:50 PM

This course offers an introduction to theoretical and historiographical approaches to the study of race and caste. As ascriptive systems of social differentiation, race and caste have shaped the course of social history globally. How can historians analyze the social construction of race and caste? How have race and caste been constructed, by whom, and to what end? Why must the study of race and caste evaluate intersections of gender and class? This course evaluates how historians, activists, and social scientists have considered these questions. Each week will focus on a specific thematic and conceptual approach to the study of race and caste.
Days: WE  01:00-03:50 PM

In 1095, Pope Urban II called upon the military elite of Western Europe to undertake an arduous journey to rescue their fellow Christians and the holy city of Jerusalem from Muslim rule. His words marked the beginning of a crusade movement which resulted in the temporary establishment of Western European Christian colonies in the eastern Mediterranean. This course will explore how the resulting prolonged and violent contact among European crusaders, Jews living in Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, Byzantine Christians, and Muslims living in southern Europe and in the eastern Mediterranean profoundly shaped interfaith relations among all involved parties and influenced all aspects of Western European society, such as the development of institutions, collective memory, and gender relations. We will primarily focus on the long period when Europe was actively engaged in crusading (1099 to 1700) although students may write about how the medieval crusades have been remembered and deployed in more recent times for their final papers. This upper-division History seminar involves substantial reading. Students are expected to attend all seminars, write in-class reading responses, and give oral presentations about the assigned reading in addition to writing two short papers and one longer paper (8-10 pages).
Days: TH  01:00-03:50 PM

History 70B: Problems in History (B=Europe) provides an introduction to the historical problems, the issues of interpretation, the primary source evidence, and the historical scholarship of the history of Europe with an emphasis on developing skills necessary to making a historical argument. This particular iteration of History 70B, Monsters and Borders, will focus upon the historical problem of monsters. Monsters (particularly those perceived to be human-animal or human-demon hybrids) of varying types appear regularly in otherwise serious works of European literature, political polemic, and geography written between c. 450 BCE and 1700 CE (Please note that we will discuss much earlier examples in the first week). In order to better understand the role played by these horrific and fantastic figures in the unfolding of historical events and their recollection in premodern Europe, this class will explore how different European communities used the portrayal of monsters to define the boundaries of their communities, understand the unknown, reinterpret the past, promote religious and/or intellectual reform, and establish hierarchical political orders. Students will practice interpreting primary sources (historical evidence from the time of the event under study) and evaluating published scholarly arguments throughout the quarter. Grades will be based upon three in-class writing assignments, a single-take home written assignment, a group project, in-class participation, and participation in discussion lab.
Days: TU TH  11:00-12:20 PM

World Religions I : Judaism, Christianity, Islam
This is a G.E. lecture class offered to 200 students on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. There are no prerequisites for the course. The class offers a survey (not a deep analysis) of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, with three weeks on each religion. Week ten is given to atheism as part of the theistic story. For each religion, we’ll cover key historical events, major figures, basic ideas, essential practices, significant texts, material culture, and important trends in scholarship. The course approach is academic, not devotional; themes are religious, not political. Attendance at lectures is not taken. But attendance is highly recommended since test performance will come down to students’ note-taking skills, inasmuch as the professor is not publishing his lecture notes. Attendance  WILL  be taken for the once-a-week small-group discussion sections (meeting even in week one), and an absence from any discussion sections will detract points from your grade. Classwork entails reading from the textbook; and writing brief essays based on weekly ‘thought questions’ that help facilitate discussion sections (even in week one); and taking four in-class essay tests—one on Judaism, one on Christianity, one on Islam, one on atheism. A few test questions for each test will be take-home questions (answers to be written in the test booklets you bring to the in-class tests).  For the in-class essay test questions (not the take-home questions), you’ll be permitted to use a ‘cheat sheet’ during the in-class test. For the 4 tests, you’ll need to purchase 4  ‘Large’   Blue or Green test booklets at a campus Zot shop, the UCI bookstore, or Albertsons. There is one required textbook for the class, available in the campus bookstore and elsewhere.
(IV  and  VIII )
Days: MO WE  01:00-01:50 PM

A survey and investigation of the major thinkers, theories, and methodologies in the study of religions. Designed to develop the student's ability to analyze and articulate theoretical arguments in writing; includes a paper on relevant Religious Studies topics.

Prerequisite: (REL STD 5A or HISTORY 16A) and (REL STD 5B or HISTORY 16B) and (REL STD 5C or HISTORY 16C). Satisfactory completion of the Lower-Division Writing requirement.

Overlaps with REL STD 110.

Restriction: Religious Studies Majors and Minors have first consideration for enrollment.

(Ib)
Days: TU TH  09:30-10:50 AM

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
EAS 120/Rel Stud 120
Japanese culture is often portrayed as having a uniquely harmonious relationship to nature. From Shinto to Buddhism, from haiku poetry to the animated films of Miyazaki Hayao, nature has served as a central concern for Japanese thinkers, writers, and artists more broadly. At the same time, Japan has suffered from devastating natural disasters and industrial pollution. This course begins with two questions: 1) How can the human relationship to nature be both harmonious and harmful? and 2) What happens when we stop seeing nature as merely the background for human action, and start considering it as a character in a text? To answer these questions, we will adopt an interdisciplinary approach from the emerging field of environmental humanities. We will focus on examples of modern Japanese literature and film in which landscapes and non-human animals and plants play a central role, as well as religious texts, works of Japanese environmental philosophy, environmental history, and anthropology. We will examine the different ways nature is represented in all of these texts, and what these descriptions might say about the human relationship to nature. All readings will be in English translation; no Japanese language ability is required.
Days: TU TH  02:00-03:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: World Religious Traditions (Category 1)
World Religious Traditions (Category 1)
Days: TU TH  11:00-12:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
Philosophy of Religion and Science for the Coming Generations In an Age of Rapidly Advancing Science
Science and technology are advancing at an exponential rate. Scientific developments such as evolution theory (biology), neuroscience, and the Big Bang (physics), have deeply challenged the rationality and credibility of faith communities. Technological advances in Artificial Intelligence (ChatGPT, robotics, self-driving technologies, etc.)  alongside post/transhumanism, and gene editing have enhanced the quality of human living, even as they cause ethical, social, and psychological issues, in both religious and secular contexts. Together we'll consider the decline of Christianity in the Global North and its rise in the Global South, as well as other traditions such as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and Jainism, among others, that exemplify historical conflicts, dialogues, and ethical engagement between religion and science. Students will develop critical thinking skills through real-world examples of the interplay between religion and science across both Western and non-Western contexts. Furthermore, we will cultivate scholarly research skills and practical abilities for engaging in constructive and respectful discussions about controversial topics with those holding fundamentally different viewpoints. Through a planned field trip to the UCI Samueli Integrative Medicine Center, in addition to other investigative activities, students will acquire first-hand exposure to the development of moral implications concerning the interaction between religions and medical science.
Days: TU TH  02:00-03:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: World Religious Traditions (Category 1)
No description is currently available.
Days: T TH  02:00-03:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
This course offers students an overview of modern Middle Eastern politics. It provides a detailed historical analysis of the conditions that shaped and consolidated different forms of governance in modern Middle Eastern states. Specifically, the course focuses on the development of national identities, political institutions, and leadership forms in individual states of the region. It then turns to the political economy and the region-wide political processes. The primary objective of this course is to give students a nuanced understanding of the Middle East, its states, peoples, religions, and politics. The course is multidisciplinary, and integrates history, geography, religion and politics of the Middle East.
Days: T TH  12:30-01:50 PM

Emphasis/Category: World Religious Traditions (Category 1)
No description is currently available.
Days: T TH  02:00-03:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
No description is currently available.
Days: T TH  02:00-03:20 PM