Graduate Division of Religion Course Atlas

Spring 2027 Course Atlas
 
(Please check back for changes and updates - last update 10.14.2026)
 

RLHT 736/ICIVS 770 - History of Religions
Wednesday, 2:30-5:15
Vincent Cornell
*This course will satisfy a Theories & Methods requirement

This course critically examines the discipline of Religious Studies as a product of Western intellectual history.

RLR 700 - Politics of Translation:Feiminism, Postcolonialism & Biblical Translation
Wednesday, 2:00-5:00
Musa Dube

This course will study the politics of translation by investigating the power relations espoused in its theories and practices as attested in the cases of gender, race, class, ethnicity, Earth and postcoloniality. It will explore theories of biblical translation and examine examples of its practices from feminist and postcolonial perspectives, using cases from Translation Studies, Two-Thirds World. AI, environmental and feminist biblical studies. The course will also investigate what constitutes liberating postcolonial feminist translation theories and practices.

 
RLR 700 - Experimental Ethnographic Methods and Writing
Thursday, 1:00-4:00
Jonathan Calvillo & Jim Hoesterey

This course will review ethnographic approaches to the study of religion, including traditional methods of participant observation as well as innovative experiments in ethnographic research, writing, music, performance, and visual media. This seminar will involve some field research and in-class exercises in addition to academic literature.

 
RLR 700 - Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
Tuesday, 1:00-4:00
Ellen Ott Marshall

This seminar fulfills one of the requirements for the Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding (RCP) concentration in the GDR. It is open to all GDR students and to other students with permission of the instructor. The RCP Concentration supports and equips doctoral students who intend to teach and research topics related to violence and peacebuilding within the fields of religious studies and theology. The RCP Seminar aims (1) to orient doctoral students to the RCP intersection with its varied literature and methodologies and (2) to deepen their understanding of connections between their disciplinary foci and the role of religion in violence and peacebuilding. While Dr. Marshall will serve as the instructor of record and convener for the course, faculty from across and beyond the GDR will guide us through materials from their respective fields. Participating faculty during Spring 2027 include: Jonathan Crane, Ellen Gough, Jim Hoesterey, Brendan Ozawa-de Silva, Scott Kugle, and Edward Queen. Each week, we will explore the RCP intersection from a different angle, determined by the faculty member’s area of expertise. While this is a developing, collaborative effort, our current plan is as follows: The first unit of the course provides an orientation to this interdisciplinary area, reviews the state of the field, and considers the different ways that religion scholars contribute to fields of practice beyond the professoriate. The second unit focuses on moral arguments concerning violence and peacebuilding practices from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The third unit begins with Gandhi and traces his influence across Jain traditions and into the US Civil Rights movement. The fourth unit focuses on the contemplative practices of Howard Thurman and Thich Nhat Hanh.