Spring Quarter 2025
- For day, time, room, and TA information, see our PDF Schedule or the class search tool https://registrar-apps.ucdavis.edu/courses/search/index.cfm.
- For all courses not described here, please refer to the General Catalog course descriptions: https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/courses-subject-code/rst/
RST 001F — Religion Today
Flagg Miller
This course focuses on religious freedom, especially its relationship to struggles for social justice. We devote special attention to Christianity, Islam and New Age religious traditions, particularly in contemporary North America. The free exercise of religion and protections against overbearing state regulation are, of course, ideals enshrined in the U.S. constitution and regulated by law. Rights and recognition afforded to those seeking religious freedom have also been subject to culture, politics and enduring forms of social inequality, however. We explore what religious practitioners themselves say about how they make sense of these complicated legacies. We also learn from scholars of religion who use various tools of the social sciences and humanities to try to produce a universal definition of “religion” while acknowledging religion’s cultural and historical variability. Particular emphasis is given to the ways in which structural inequities are institutionalized as well as re-shaped through religious nationalism, colonialism, racism, and sex/gender discrimination. American religious fundamentalism and the rise of the Christian Right will be our focus in Weeks 6-7. Insofar as religious communities have long valued “the religious experience” for its supposed distance from more commercialized or worldly pathways, we consider changing understandings of this concept throughout the course. Indeed, we engage in a comparative and cross-cultural study of this dichotomy by focusing on modern pilgrimage rituals – specifically to Mecca and to the Black Rock Desert, Nevada – and their role in shaping ideals of civil society. By the end of the course, you will be better equipped to voice your own thoughts and opinions about the opportunities and challenges involved in pursuing an authentic religious identity.
RST 040 — New Testament
Wendy Terry
RST 042 — Religion & Science Fiction
Lauren Eastland
RST 115 — Mysticism
Ryan Brizendine
RST 130 — Topics in Religious Studies
Section 1: Layne Little
RST 153 — Religion & Medicine
Meaghan O'Keefe
RST 158 — The Ramayana
Archana Venkatesan
RST 165 — Islam in Asia
Ryan Brizendine
This course provides a concise yet detailed introduction to Islamic history, thought, and culture in the four major cultural zones of Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, etc.), South Asia (the Indian subcontinent), East Asia (China), and Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia). We begin with historical overviews of Islam in each region, then proceed to explore the leading works of Asian Islamic thought and literature through comparative and historical study of primary sources in translation. Along the way, guided tours of distinctive cultural productions—art and architecture, music and film—are provided through slides and video clips. A foremost focus on the premodern period (ca. 1000–1800) as foundational to modern developments is supplemented by reference to present-day events and practices throughout.
RST 181 — Hindu Gods & Hindu Symbols
Layne Little