Division
of Social Studies
Website: http://religion.bard.edu
Updated
December 3, 2021
Advising Faculty
1.
Dominique Townsend (director, Fall
2021)
2.
Shai Secunda
(director, Spring 2022)
3.
Bruce Chilton
4.
Richard H. Davis
5.
Nora Jacobson Ben Hammed
6.
Hillary Langberg
7.
Dominique Townsend
Overview
At
Bard, the study of religion is undertaken as an interdisciplinary examination
of various ways in which religion operates in and affects life. Courses in the
program approach religion through multiple questions and perspectives,
including the study of scripture, the performance of religion in everyday life,
intersections of religion and politics, religion and material culture, and the
evolution of concepts like tradition, modernity, and secularism. Moderation in
religion equips students in the key methods and approaches in the humanities
and social sciences while also familiarizing them with central doctrines,
practices, and narratives of major religious traditions.
Students
are required to take three courses in religion prior to Moderation, and three
elective courses in religion thereafter. In total, courses must be taken in at
least three of the religious traditions offered in the Bard curriculum:
Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. After Moderation,
enrollment in Imagining Religion,
our seminar in the study of religion, is ideally required of juniors,
while seniors must enroll in the Religion Colloquium in addition to the
Senior Project.
Students
are encouraged to take courses relevant to the study of religion offered by other
programs, such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, theology, literature,
historical studies, philosophy, and gender and sexuality studies. Courses
outside the program that centrally involve religious issues or texts may, in
consultation with the adviser, be counted as religion courses. Students are
also expected to study a language relevant to the particular religion or area
of study upon which they intend to focus for their Senior Project. Relevant
languages taught at Bard include Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese,
Latin, and Sanskrit.
Moderation
Guidelines:
1.
REL elective course
2.
REL elective course
3.
REL elective course
Graduation
Guidelines:
4.
REL elective course
5.
REL elective course
6.
REL elective course
7.
Language relevant to the religion or area of
study that Senior Project will be focused on
8.
REL 317 Imagining
Religion: Seminar in the Study of Religion
9.
REL Colloquium concurrent with Senior
Project
10.
Senior Project I
11.
Senior Project II
The
Senior Project in the Religion Program will ideally be the culmination of the
student’s investigation of religion at Bard and should reflect a sustained
analysis of a carefully defined topic in the critical study of religion.
Requirements
for concentration in the program include any two courses in religion prior to
Moderation, and two elective courses in religion thereafter. In total, courses
must be taken in at least two different religious traditions.