Course	REL 156 Religions and Politics
Professor	Bruce Chilton
CRN	97541
Schedule	Wed Fri 12:00 – 1:20 pm OLIN 310
Distribution	Humanities

Cross-listed: Theology

With the close of the Cold War, a confrontation that took on some traits of a religious struggle between the Soviet and American empires, President George H. W. Bush announced a "new world order," and Francis Fukuyama predicted "the end of history." Events have disappointed belief in those and other forecasts. Instead, the underlying role of religion in shaping behavior, which had been obscured by the polarity of the "Superpowers," has become increasingly evident, and in some cases troubling. This course investigates how the global religions shape ideals and policies and strategies of governance out of their classic resources. Religion program category: Theoretical

Course	THEO 215 Trading Places:Judaism and Christianity
Professor	Bruce Chilton / Jacob Neusner
CRN	97199
Schedule	Mon Wed 1:30 -2:50 pm OLIN 306
Distribution	Humanities

Cross-listed: Jewish Studies, Religion

At the beginning of the common era, Judaism presented a view of God which was so appealing in its rationality, it competed seriously with various philosophical schools for the loyalty of educated people in the Graeco-Roman world. Christianity, meanwhile, appeared to be a marginal group, neither fully Judaic nor seriously philosophical. Six centuries later, the Talmud emerged as the model of Judaism, and the creeds defined the limits and the core of Christianity. By that time, Judaism and Christianity had traded places. Christianity was the principal religion of the Empire, and philosophy was its most powerful vehicle for conversion; Judaism was seen as a local anomaly, its traditions grounded in customary use rather than reflection.

Course	THEO / LIT 2270 Political Theologies
Professor	Nancy Leonard
CRN	97052
Schedule	Tu Th 1:00 -2:20 pm OLIN 310
Distribution	HUM

Cross-listed: Theology

Who is my neighbor? What is my responsibility towards him? How do I understand my action if I want to go beyond the conception of meaningful action as assertion of will, as power—a conception, Rowan Williams reminds us, in common between the blithe assumptions of liberalism and the extreme of fascism? These questions restore the relevance of prior ideas about being, or ontology, to the political-even the theological—without, of course, presuming the requirement of belief. This course will take up many issues: the identity of the other, the ethics of our engagement with that other, and the lacks addressed by both revolution and revelation. All seek in some way a language which represents law, community, and event in more meaningful kinds of human action. Debates will be drawn from a variety of thinkers from Paul, Augustine, and the Hebrew Bible to contemporary works of ethical and political philosophy by Slavoj Zizek, Emmanuel Levinas, Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou, John Milbank, Antonio Negri, Regina Schwartz, and others.

Course	PSY / REL 266 Mind, Brain & Religious Experience in the 21^st Century
Professor	Frank Scalzo / Paul Murray
CRN	97187
Schedule	Mon 2:00 -4:00 pm RKC 111 Tu Th 1:00 -2:20 pm OLIN 202
Distribution	Social Science

Course	REL 106 Introduction to Islam
Professor	Ismail Acar
CRN	97496
Schedule	Mon Wed 9:00 - 10:20 am OLIN 303
Distribution	Humanities

Course	REL 122 Catholicism & American Society
Professor	Paul Murray
CRN	97203
Schedule	Tu Th 4:00 -5:20 pm OLIN 201
Distribution	Humanities

Course	REL 338 World Religions in the Hudson Valley
Professor	Kristin Scheible
CRN	97197
Schedule	Fr 9:30 - 11:50 am OLIN 202
Distribution	Humanities