Religious Studies

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Religious Studies

Professors Payne (Chair), Hardy, Zubko; Associate Professor Harvey

Participating Faculty: Holland Goldthwaite (Ancient Mediterranean Studies), Kaplan (Mathematics); Maitra (Philosophy)

The Department of Religious Studies seeks to engage students in the study of religion as an academic discipline within the broader tradition of the liberal arts. As a field of humanistic inquiry, the study of religion at UNC Asheville investigates both the development and contemporary significance of the human religious experience from interdisciplinary perspectives that incorporate a variety of methodological approaches.

As is appropriate to its setting in a publicly supported university, the department is nondenominational and nonconfessional. We do not advocate for or against any religion; rather students explore a diversity of historical and contemporary religious traditions as a means to examine the larger role of religion in human cultures and societies. Courses in Religious Studies are inherently multidisciplinary and stress the academic skills of critical inquiry and effective communication that are appropriate to a wide variety of careers and graduate study opportunities.

Religious Studies

Programs

• •  Religious Studies
• •  Religious Studies Minor

Courses

• RELS 144 - Religion, Death, and Afterlife (4)
• RELS 145 - Sensing Religion: Body, Desire, and Emotion (ANTH 145) (4)
• RELS 146 - Religion and Horror (4)
• RELS 215 - Judaism and Christianity in the Ancient World (AMS 215) (4)
• RELS 280 - Asian Religious Traditions (4)
• RELS 302 - Sociology of Religion (SOC 302) (4)
• RELS 303 - Philosophy of Religion (PHIL 303) (4)
• RELS 312 - Religion in America to 1865 (4)
• RELS 313 - Religion in America Since 1865 (4)
• RELS 315 - Islamic Philosophy (PHIL 315) (4)
• RELS 326 - Religion and Dance in South Asia (4)
• RELS 330 - Religion and Gender (4)
• RELS 342 - African Religions in the Americas and the Caribbean (4)
• RELS 381 - Religions of South Asia (4)
• RELS 386 - Buddhism (4)
• RELS 387 - Religion and Culture of Judaism (4)
• RELS 389 - Jewish Women and Religion (4)
• RELS 398 - Theory and Method in the Study of Religion (4)
• RELS 492 - Senior Seminar in Religious Studies (4)
• RELS 499 - Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies (1-4)

• RELS 171-4 - Special Topics in Religious Studies (4)
• RELS 271-4 - Special Topics in Religious Studies (4)
• RELS 371-4 - Special Topics in Religious Studies (4)
• RELS 471-4 - Special Topics in Religious Studies (4)

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