The objective of this course is to introduce students to the variety of intellectual disciplines by which the religions of mankind can be studied and some of the typical foci of such study. Topics to be covered in the course include: What is religion? Religious studies vis-'-vis theology; literary, historical, anthropological, sociological, psychological, philosophical, phenomenological approaches to religion; the sacred/holy; myth, symbol, doctrine; ritual; society and the sacred; deity; cosmogony, religious anthropology, theodicy; ethics, soteriology, eschatology; secularism and pluralism.
