This site is an archive. See the current website at www.extension.harvard.edu.

Skip to content

Courses

This page contains content from the 2007–08 academic year. For current information, visit the Harvard Extension School website at www.extension.harvard.edu.

Religion

Related Courses

  • CELT E-155 Medieval Hagiography: Lives and Cults of the Saints in Ireland and Wales
  • CLAS E-128 Death and the Afterlife in the Ancient World
  • ENGL E-230 The Rhetoric of Belief
  • GOVT E-1064 Religion, Liberalism, and Democracy
  • HIST E-1010 History of Western Christianity, 100-1100
  • HIST E-1015 History of Western Christianity, 1100-1500
  • HIST E-1883 Islam, Secularism, and Human Rights: From Egypt to North America

RELI E-1010/W World Religions (21794)
(Website) (Printable version)
Christopher S. Queen, PhD, Lecturer on the Study of Religion, Harvard University.
Writing-intensive course. Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $700, graduate credit $1,625.
Spring term: Thursdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 113.
Online and on-campus options. See Distance Education. Lecture 1 video.

The historical origins, central teachings, and devotional practices of the major religious traditions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—are considered in relation to common themes of human experience: the holy or sacred, evil and suffering, love and compassion, wisdom and justice, death and deliverance. The roles and meanings of religious symbols are explored through lectures, discussion, film, and the writing of short critical essays. (4 credits)

RELI E-1015/W Comparative Religious Ethics (12898)
(Website) (Printable version)
Anne E. Monius, PhD, Professor of South Asian Religions, Harvard Divinity School.
Writing-intensive course. Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $700, graduate credit $1,625.
Fall term: Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Harvard Hall, Room 104.
Online and on-campus options. See Distance Education. Lecture 1 video.

This course is a comparative examination of conceptions of the moral self and ways of thinking and acting ethically within the framework of three religious traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. (4 credits)

RELI E-1060 Religious Dimensions in Human Experience (12908)
(Printable version)
Davíd Carrasco, PhD, Neil L. Rudenstine Professor for the Study of Latin America, Harvard University. Chris Callahan, AM.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $700, graduate credit $1,625.
Fall term

*** RELI E-1060 has been CANCELED.***

Online and on-campus options. See Distance Education.

This course utilizes religious studies and anthropological approaches to the questions of "What is religion?" and "What are the most pervasive religious dimensions in human experience and social life?" Does religion emerge from powerful, individual, emotional encounters with sacred beings, nature, ancestors, ghosts, places, and people that stimulate the creation of meaning, ethics, social world views, and extraordinary actions? Or does religion mirror and enforce social constructions of reality through aesthetics, symbols, myths, institutions, theodicies, and collective ritual effervescence? The course creates a point-counterpoint dynamic between memoirs and social analysis to explore the place of individual experience, memory, and re-memory in tension with collective representations, traditions, and enforced mental states. We read a set of fascinating memoirs as well as compelling scholarly interpretations to explore various ways of being religious. (4 credits)

RELI E-1063 Literature of Journey and Quest (22840)
(Syllabus) (Printable version)
Stephanie A. Paulsell, PhD, Amory Houghton Professor of the Practice of Ministry, Harvard Divinity School.
Course tuition: noncredit $400, undergraduate credit $700, graduate credit $1,625.
Spring term: Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 102.

This course explores themes of journey and quest in world literature with particular attention to the religious dimensions of those themes. The course considers the relationship between home and exile, between interior journeys and journeys through external landscapes, and between the religious and literary dimensions of literature itself. (4 credits)

RELI E-1076 Religion and Politics in Current Fundamentalist Movements (22767)
(Website) (Printable version)
Harvey G. Cox, Jr., PhD, Hollis Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School.
Course tuition: noncredit and undergraduate credit $700, graduate credit $1,625.
Spring term
Online only, beginning Feb. 6. See Distance Education. Required sections to be arranged. Lecture 1 video.

This course is a comparative investigation of ultraconservative movements within four different religious traditions: Jewish "Settler" theology, the Chabad, and the Lubavot; Roman Catholic dissenting Marian groups and Opus Dei; Protestant TV evangelists, "Christian Zionism," and megachurches; and Islamic radicalism (Hamas) and the Muslim Brotherhood. The recorded lectures are from the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences course Religion 1076. Prerequisite: students must view sample online lectures before they register. (4 credits)

RELI E-1420 History of Ancient Christianity (12897)
(Syllabus) (Printable version)
Helmut Koester, DrTheol, John H. Morison Research Professor of Divinity and Winn Research Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Harvard Divinity School.
Course tuition: noncredit $400, undergraduate credit $700, graduate credit $1,625.
Fall term: Thursdays, 7:35-9:35 pm, Andover Hall, Sperry Room.

This course examines Christian history from the beginnings to the end of the fourth century in its political and cultural context. We discuss Jesus, the diversity of developments, the process of institutionalization, Montanism and Gnosticism, the development of doctrine, persecutions, and the controversies and councils of the fourth century. (4 credits)

RELI E-1510 The Bible and Politics (22283)
(Syllabus) (Printable version)
Paul D. Hanson, PhD, Florence Corliss Lamont Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School.
Graduate seminar. Course tuition: graduate credit $1,725. Limited enrollment.
Spring term: Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Andover Hall, Room 103.

The seminar examines political models found in the Bible; the role of biblical tradition in church-state relations in the history of the United States; and the possibility of developing a suitable political theology within the context of contemporary society. (4 credits)

RELI E-1550 Introduction to Islam (22627)
(Printable version)

Course tuition: noncredit $400, undergraduate credit $700, graduate credit $1,625.
Spring term

*** RELI E-1550 has been CANCELED.***

This course is an introductory survey of the fundamental concepts of Islam and devotional practices of Muslims around the world, focusing on the diversity of Muslim religious worldviews and the manner in which they have been shaped by the political, social, and cultural contexts in which Muslims live, particularly in the modern period. (4 credits)

RELI E-1705 Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (22756)
(Syllabus) (Printable version)
Leonard van der Kuijp, PhD, Professor of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies, Harvard University.
Course tuition: noncredit $400, undergraduate credit $700, graduate credit $1,625.
Spring term: Thursdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 209.

An introduction to and exploration of Tibetan Buddhism in the context of Tibetan intellectual and political history, cultural manifestations, doctrines, and thought. Students read secondary works and examine various primary materials in translation. The course assumes no background in the study of Buddhism, Asian history, religion, or languages. (4 credits)

RELI E-1710/W Introduction to the Hindu Traditions of India (22731)
(Website) (Printable version)
Anne E. Monius, PhD, Professor of South Asian Religions, Harvard Divinity School.
Writing-intensive course. Course tuition: noncredit $400, undergraduate credit $700, graduate credit $1,625.
Spring term: Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30 pm, Sever Hall, Room 203.

This course is an introduction to the many distinct yet interrelated religious traditions of South Asia that are often labeled Hinduism. We consider the ways in which Hindus from a variety of historical time periods, local traditions, and social backgrounds have attempted to make sense of their world and their lives within it. (4 credits)