An exploration of the changing face of Christianity in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries focusing on such topics as: Christianity in the Global South; new religious movements within Christianity; and intra- / inter-religious debates and conflicts in contemporary Christianity.

Beginning at the end of the Apostolic Age and continuing up to the seventh-century confrontation with early Islam, this course examines the evolution of Christianity from a persecuted sect to the predominant religion of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, with a particular focus on the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamian contexts.

By the end of the fourth century, Constantinople was becoming the centre of a distinct branch of the Christian Church. This course will explore the formation and development of this "Eastern Orthodox" Christianity, including its theology, religious practices, social and cultural impact, and relationship to political power.

A detailed study of selected aspects of South Asian Religions. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

This course explores historical encounters between Indo-Islamic and Hindu cultures in pre-colonial South Asia, including narratives of conquest and resistance, iconoclasm and the reuse of images, patterns of courtly dress, translations of Sanskrit sources into Persian, indigenous Islamic practices, and sufi and bhakti poetry.

Using primary texts as well as films, art, and architecture, this course explores the interbraided cultures of Islam and Hinduism in South Asia from the early modern period through the present day. It examines colonialism and nationalism’s effect on Hinduism and Islam and religion’s role in modern South Asian culture.

How does film capture religious experience? This course explores this question via nonfiction films about Hinduism in both South Asia and the diaspora, with attention to various nonfiction film genres and various modes of religious life (e.g., pilgrimage, Vedic ritual, asceticism, family-based devotion).

Since antiquity, icons and images have been a key mode of religious life in South Asia. How has the rise of mass media reshaped image-based religion? How has religion shaped mass-mediated visual culture in South Asia and beyond? This course pursues these questions through a series of case studies on topics like poster art, comic books, film, monumental statues, WhatsApp, TikTok, and other media.

This course focuses on the history of the image in Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sikhism, and Islam in South Asia. What is an icon, an image, a representation, and what is the ritual function of each form? When is the destruction of an icon and act of “iconoclasm”? In this course we consider acts of political plunder, reuse and rebuilding (spolia), and the power of the visual in shaping South Asian religious lives.

A detailed study of selected aspects of Buddhism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

The course deals with the historical development of doctrines and controversies pertaining to the most important schools of Buddhist thought up to the end of the first millennium CE. It discusses the relationship of reason, belief and practice while giving a closer look at Buddhist positions on specific philosophical questions.

A study of Buddhist institutions and practices, this course varies in focus. Topics may include devotion, alms-giving, meditation practices, literature, hagiography, monastic codes, artistic and material histories, and/or the political and economic features of Buddhist institutions in particular times and places.

The course looks at popular Buddhist educational storytelling, courtly dramas, Buddhist poetry or the life-histories of the buddhas, bodhisattvas and Buddhist holy men and women. It reflects on how popular motifs, aesthetic styles and literary media have helped transport Buddhist doctrines across various times, regions and languages.

Museums have long collected and curated religious objects for public audiences, with missionaries as a primary collections source. Multiple visits to the Royal Ontario Museum and other museums will enable students to think critically about how museums received and presented these objects, while engaging with the challenges of museum curation.

An in-depth study of the main teachings, practices and institutions of the major, and several of the minor, religious traditions: namely, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

A detailed study of selected aspects of Zoroastrianism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

This course studies the “Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), a poem describing the author’s journey through the afterlife. It analyzes the religious themes of the text, highlighting how different traditions, such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Paganism, contributed to Dante’s shaping of the imaginary structure of the otherworldly spaces.

A comprehensive study of special topics in the history of religions. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.

A critical exploration of selected topics concerning the relationship between religion and aesthetics, as expressed through the literary, visual, and performing arts. The focus in any given year may be on a particular tradition, or on broader, comparative understandings of "religion." Similarly, the course may concern one specific art form or a variety of forms, including architecture, dance, film, literature, music, visual art, etc. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

Stories are central to sacred texts and to creating meaning generally. This course examines different types of stories using approaches from the study of religion. Stories may come from religious traditions or anywhere else, and may involve various media such as books, films, video games, popular music, graphic novels, podcasts, etc.

A critical exploration of selected topics concerning the relationships among religion, media and culture. The focus in any given year may be on a particular religious tradition or on a broader thematic question. Assigned readings typically include a combination of visual and written cultural texts, as well as works of cultural and social theory. Content in any given year depends on the instructor. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

This course gives advanced students the opportunity to pursue in-depth study of major classic and contemporary texts in critical theory, cultural studies, and the philosophy of religion. Topics may include: religion and politics; crises of faith; psychology of religion.

A critical exploration of selected topics in the study of religion. As part of this course, students may have the option of participating in an international learning experience that will have an additional cost and application process. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

This course combines lecture and seminar approaches to understand how ideas about women, gender, and the body were constructed and naturalized in ancient and medieval Christianity.

An exploration of South Asian literary and oral epics moving across boundaries of language and genre. Students will engage with a variety of performative and aesthetic traditions including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Buddhist narratives, Sufi poetry, and vernacular epics. We will situate heroic, sacrificial, and romance genres in their social and performative contexts.

This course focuses on Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh objects and rituals, and we will read primary sources and scholarship in religious studies, anthropology, and ritual theory. Topics may include the gaze in the formation of icons and images, votive offerings, feasts and fasts, smells (perfumery and corpse disposal), and the aesthetics of religious architecture.

In this course we examine the intersection of material practices and senses in South Asian Islamic rituals in how religious worlds are experienced. The course also focuses on the role of ritual and material culture in shaping South Asian Muslim identities (Sunni, Shiʿi, Sufi).

A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Judaism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

This course provides a survey of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a brief history of the period in which the Scrolls were written, and a presentation of the various ways in which scholars have interpreted them. The course also includes in-depth study of selected texts and themes illuminating the formation of the Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism, and the historical and theological background of the New Testament and early Christianity.