Current course offerings in religious studies can be found in the Buffalo State College catalog: Undergraduate 2010-2011
RELIGIOUS STUDIES
REL 104
INTRODUCTION TO RELIGIOUS STUDIES
3, 0/0; HUIF
Introduction to the rational study of religion, including religious practices and philosophies, and concepts basic to religious experience.
REL 105
INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN THOUGHT
3, 3/0; WCIF
A study of Christian thought from its origins to the present, and its influence on the literature, art, architecture, music, government, education, and lifestyle of Western civilization.
REL 121
INTRODUCTION TO JEWISH THOUGHT
3, 3/0; WCIF
Basic Judaism, the major divisions in Jewish thought and practice, the Torah and the problem of practice, the epistemological basis of Jewish sectarianism, God and the problem of knowledge, the “good” life, Israel and the Nations, and Jewish practices.
REL 205
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
3, 3/0; HUIF
The Old Testament, the backgrounds and cultures from which it grew, and the philosophies and literature it contains.
REL 206
INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
3, 3/0; HUIF
Introduction to the New Testament, with emphasis on its literary content, the society from which it emerged, the structures and varieties of its literary contemporaries, and the tools necessary for understanding it.
REL 303
WOMEN IN GLOBAL RELIGIONS
3, 3/0; NWIF
A study of women in world religions, with special attention to the effects of patriarchal religious institutions and religious myths that influence their lives. Feminist contributions to global religious thought and practice, and their effects upon the developing world.
REL 306
WRITINGS OF JOHN
3, 3/0
Historical and literary background of St. John’s Gospel, the letters of John, and the Book of Revelation; the content of the gospel, its major theological themes, and its distinctive contributions to Christian thought.
REL 321
WORLD RELIGIONS
3, 3/0; NWIF
A study of various world religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, along with Native American, traditional African, and other oral religions.
REL 329
CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT
3, 3/0
Prerequisite: Upper-division status or one course in religion. Worship, ministry, and theology of various Christian traditions and the context in which they developed, from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries; contemporary challenges to Christianity.
REL 332
MYSTICISM
3, 3/0
Prerequisite: Upper-division status or one course in religion. Introduction to some of the major mystical disciplines of the world, such as Zen, Christian, Jewish, Sufi, European, Far Eastern, African, and Native American mysticism; their underlying philosophies.
REL 350
HOLOCAUST
3, 3/0
Prerequisite: Upper-division status or one course in religion. Examination of the Holocaust (Europe 1933–1945) against the background of Jewish and other religious thought, with special attention to how the Holocaust has affected present religious and philosophical thinking.