2022-23 Pomona College Catalog 
    
    May 18, 2024  
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2022-23 Pomona College Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG] Use the dropdown above to select the current 2023-24 catalog.

Courses

Check major and minor requirement sections in the Departments, Programs and Areas of Study section to determine if specific courses will satisfy requirements. Inclusion on this list does not imply that the course will necessarily satisfy a requirement.

Click here  to view a Key to Course Listings and Discipline codes.
 

Religious Studies
  

  • RLST015 CM - Myth and Religion


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST020 PO - Introduction to the Hebrew Bible: Text and Interpretation

    When Offered: Each spring.
    Instructor(s): E. Runions
    Credit: 1

    This course introduces the diverse texts that make up the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Students will explore the texts through careful reading and critical analysis, using a variety of interpretive strategies, including historical, literary and ideological critical analyses. Students will be asked to engage critically with the biblical text, with their own interpretations of the texts, as well as with scholarly works about the Hebrew Bible.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST021 CM - Jewish Civilization


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST022 CM - Introduction to Western Religious Traditions


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST025 PO - Religion, Punishment, and Restoration in the U.S. (CP)

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2021.
    Instructor(s): E.Runions
    Credit: 1

    This course explores the influence of religion on the secular sphere of criminal justice. Questions raised may include: How has religion shaped ideals and practices of punishment and rehabilitation in the U.S., past and present? Has religion impacted the duration, extremity and social effects of punishment? What are religious arguments for and against the death penalty? What is the relation between religious ideas and existing practices of rehabilitation, including restorative and transformative justice? This class will be taught in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange format, alongside incarcerated students at the California Rehabilitation Center men’s prison. Letter grade only. Course is equivalent to RLST 181 PO .
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3; Analyzing Difference
  

  • RLST027 PO - Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible

    When Offered: Offered alternate years
    Instructor(s): E. Runions
    Credit: 1

    When it comes to gender and sexuality, the Christian Bible is often interpreted narrowly to enforce strict norms of behavior. Yet, biblical texts are far more uncertain in their depictions of sex and gender than many religious circles will acknowledge. This class looks at the varied ways that gender and sexuality are depicted in the Bible, reading texts closely for their ambiguities and gaps. We will consider texts in relation to ancient ideas about sex, culture, ethnicity, and conquest. We will see how histories of interpretation have flattened biblical textures into sexist and homophobic meanings. We will encounter reinterpretations of texts as open to alternate kinship relations, same-sex love, and non-oppressive gender expression. This class will be taught in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange format, alongside incarcerated men at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco. By PERM only. Letter grade only.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST037 CM - History of World Christianity


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST040 PO - Religious Ethics

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2021.
    Instructor(s): O. Eisenstadt
    Credit: 1

    What is ethics? To whom and for whom am I responsible? Where do these responsibilities come from? What do the various religious traditions of the world have to say about these questions? To what extent do they lay claim to the question of ethics, a question on which the philosophical traditions also have a lot to say? Do religious traditions generally say the same thing about morality, or do they differ on ethical fundamentals? In this course we begin to think about these difficult questions, through philosophy, religious text and literature.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST043 CM - Introduction to Religious Thought


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST045 CM - Sikhism


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST048 PO - Nourishing Life: Techniques for Bodily, Mental, and Environmental Health in East Asian Writings

    When Offered: Last offered fall 2018.
    Instructor(s): Z. Ng
    Credit: 1

    Nourishing Life translates yangshen, a phrase early Chinese thinkers coined in their debates on how to best care for oneself. The techniques, spanning from dietary and hygiene observances, physical exercises, alchemy, to moral conduct and mental training, often seek to harmonize body and mind, as well as the cosmos. The arts of nourishing life are also elaborated in later Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist literature, as well as in East Asian writings. Through close readings of selected primary sources in English translation (e.g. Mencius, Zhuangzi, Dogen’s “Instruction to the Cook,” and a Tibetan tantric meditation manual), we will analyze the different recipes proposed by East Asian thinkers for prolonging life and attaining health, and the different biological, ethical, philosophical, psychological, and at times spiritual assumptions undergirding their concepts of health and wellbeing.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3; Speaking Intensive; Writing Intensive
  

  • RLST049 PO - Buddhist Meditation Techniques and Cultures Across Asia

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2019.
    Instructor(s): Z. Ng
    Credit: 1

    This course offers an in-depth introduction to cross-cultural practices of Buddhist meditation in Asia. It will look at calm-insight and mindfulness practices in Southeast Asia, contemplative and visualization techniques in China, Zen communities of East Asia, mandala visualization in Tibet, and finally, the global “mindfulness” of socially engaged Buddhists, The course will include one weekly lab practicum where students meditate under the instructor’s supervision.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST055 CM - Jewish Art and Identity


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST057 CM - Islamic Empire and Political Theory


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST058 CM - End of the World as We Know It


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST059 CM - Dreams, Visions, and the Afterworld in Islamic Tradition


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST060 SC - Feminist Interpretations of the Bible


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST061 SC - New Testament and Christian Origins


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST065 CM - Contemporary Issues in the Study of Islam: Gender, Violence, Modernity


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST076 CM - History & Anthropology of Witchcraft


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST078 CM - Matriarchal Societies


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST081 SC - Precolonial Africa Christian Spirituality


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST084 CM - Religion, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement


    See the Claremont Mckenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST085 SC - Conquered and Colonized Christianities


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST087 CM - Israel: Zionism and the Jewish State


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST090 SC - Early Christian Bodies


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST091 SC - Heretics, Deviants and “Others” in Early Christianity


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
  

  • RLST092 SC - Introduction to Early Christianities


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST093 SC - Early Christianity and Theory


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST094 SC - Feminist Histories of Early Christianity


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST095 SC - Jesus, Paul, and Early Christian Sexualities


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST096 SC - Eros & Human Sexuality: Antiquity and Byzantium


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST097 SC - Queer African Christianities


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST100 PO - Worlds of Buddhism

    When Offered: Each spring.
    Instructor(s): Z. Ng
    Credit: 1

    An introduction to Buddhism as a critical element in the formation of South, Central, Southeast and East Asian cultures. Thematic investigation emphasizing the public and objective dimensions of the Buddhist religion. Topics include hagiography, gender issues, soulcraft, statecraft and the construction of sacred geography.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST101 PO - Womanist Theological Ethics

    When Offered: Each semester
    Instructor(s): N. Smith Robert
    Credit: 1

    This course introduces students to womanist religious scholarship, a field of study that focuses on the experiences of Black women with interlocking systems of oppression in secular and sacred contexts. The emphasis of this class explores how racial, gendered, and economic inequities construct narratives of deviance that create unique burdens for Black women who are punished for transgressing dominant norms of white middle-class society. Students will examine teachings of sin, sacrifice, and surrogacy and analyze how these church theologies may (or may not) reproduce carceral logic. Students will also interrogate ethical practices, such as politics of respectability, that are harmful and condemn Black mothers’ moral agency. Specifically, participants will explore real-life issues, such as the criminalization of poverty and welfare reform, and consider how social and ecclesial appraisals construct poor Black women as unworthy of moral concern. Based on this critical study of adverse church teachings and practices, students will construct helpful ways to apply liberatory womanist religious values with abolitionist principles to shift narratives of deviance and create moral re-appraisals that advocate for the flourishing of Black women beyond punishment and prisons.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    PO Area 3 Requirement
  

  • RLST101A CM - The Mahabharata


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST101B CM - Sanskrit and Indian Epics


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST102 CM - Hinduism and South Asian Culture


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST103 PO - Chinese Thought and Religions

    When Offered: Last offered fall 2020.
    Instructor(s): Z.Ng
    Credit: 1

    This course will survey the major thinkers and religious traditions of China. It will also treat some of the popular practices and culture of China.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST105 HM - Religions in American Culture


    See the Harvey Mudd College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST106 PZ - Zen Buddhism


    See the Pitzer College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST107 PO - Buddhist Modernity in Twentieth-Century China

    When Offered: Last offered fall 2019.
    Instructor(s): Z. Ng
    Credit: 1

    During China’s transition from imperial rule to modern state, traditional religions were challenged with the seemingly inevitable fate of being erased by modernizing and secularizing forces. To meet intellectual, social and political challenges that included state persecution. Buddhist leaders poured their efforts into rearticulating Buddhism under a spectrum of approaches defined by two polarities: (1) conservatives who emphasized restoring Tradition and (2) progressives who favored modernization. We will look at the Buddhist adaptations to modernity, particularly the modern state, from the perspective of religious history, exploring how metaphors of “Tradition” versus “Innovation” can be used toward the preservation and revitalization of religion. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: Any previous course in Religious Studies or Asian Studies.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3; Writing Intensive
  

  • RLST109 CM - Readings in the Hindu Tradition


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST110 PO - Death, Dying, and the Afterlife in East Asian Religions

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2019.
    Instructor(s): Z. Ng
    Credit: 1

    This course will explore various ways East Asian religious traditions deal with death and the dead. We will examine how the Daoist, Buddhist, and folk traditions of East Asia historically and currently address the question of “What happens when we die?” We will look at different ritual practices surrounding death, dying and the dead in their ongoing relationships with the living. We will also explore various descriptions of the terrain of the afterlife or postmortem world by critically engaging a variety of textual and visual records of China, Korea and Japan. Some of the topics that will be discussed in the course include the nature of the self, the function of funerary rites, the geography of the afterlife, communication with the dead and religious notions of salvation/liberation. By exploring a variety of narratives and practices regarding death and the afterlife, students will develop a rich and detailed picture of the relationship between the living and the dead in the East Asian religious landscape.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3; Speaking Intensive
  

  • RLST111 CM - Rebels/Radicals/Religion on Margins


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST111 PO - Theology, Morality and Public Policy: Black Motherhood in the U.S. Carceral State

    When Offered: Irregularly
    Instructor(s): N. Smith Robert
    Credit: 1

    This course will examine tensions between law and morality within the context of survival and the criminalization of impoverished Black motherhood in the U.S. carceral state. We will explore the ways in which these social dilemmas correspond to public policy paradoxes that assign punitive consequences to target populations considered unworthy of moral concern. Students will also consider the ways in which Christian teachings and practices work together with societal perceptions and policies to reproduce punitive harms that cause individual blame rather than systemic accountability. Finally, students are encouraged to reimagine these retributive teachings and practices within Church and society to realize emancipatory visions for abolition and human flourishing, particularly for poor Black mothers. Letter grade only.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST112 HM - Engaging Religion


    See the Harvey Mudd College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST113 HM - God, Darwin, Design in America: A Historical Survey of Religion and Science


    See the Harvey Mudd College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST114 HM - 2038: Prophecy, Apocalypse


    See the Harvey Mudd College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST115 CM - Asian American Religions


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST117 PO - Islamic Law: Justice, Ethics, and Power in the Muslim World

    When Offered: Each fall.
    Instructor(s): S. Khan
    Credit: 1

    This course offers an in-depth introduction to Islamic law or the Shari’a by examining its substantive content and historical evolution. Students will gain a holistic understanding of the Shari’a’s major doctrines and practices, ranging from laws of worship and ritual purity to institutions of marriage, slavery, war, and economic welfare. We will examine the broader historical and sociological contexts in which Islamic legal schools evolved, from 7th century Arabia to colonialism and the modern nation-state. The second half of the course will focus on the Shari’a’s tumultuous relationship with liberal democracy and secularism. Students will critically assess the cultural and normative presuppositions informing discourses on the relationship between Islamic law and terrorism, women’s rights, and the treatment of minorities. The course carries no prerequisites and is open to all majors. No background knowledge of Islam is assumed.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    PO Area 3 Requirement
  

  • RLST118 CM - Hindu Goddess Worship


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST119 PZ - Religion in Medieval East Asia


    See the Pitzer College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST121 SC - The Pauline Tradition


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST128 CM - Religion of Islam


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST129 CM - Ancient Jewish Experience


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST135 CM - Jerusalem: The Holy City


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST136 CM - Religion in Contemporary America


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST137 CM - Jewish-Christian Relations


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST137 JT - Jewish-Christian Relations


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST138 CM - American Religious History


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST139 PO - Benjamin, Blanchot, Levinas, Derrida: Contemporary Continental Jewish Philosophy

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2019.
    Instructor(s): O. Eisenstadt
    Credit: 1

    Benjamin, Blanchot, Levinas and Derrida all object to the totalizing nature of the philosophy of history which, as they see it, has dominated modern thought. Each criticizes or replaces it with a philosophy of language – translation, writing, dialogue – in which theorizing arises from the relation of same and other. We examine their ideas about history and language and look at their literary styles as expressions of their philosophies; in addition, we read some illustrative literature.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST141 PO - The Experience of God: Contemporary Theologies of Transformation

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2018.
    Instructor(s): J. Irish
    Credit: 1

    An exploration and assessment of African-American, Asian, ecological, feminist, liberation and process theologies. What do these theologies have in common? How do they differ? Do they speak from our experience? What insights do they have for our pluralistic, multicultural society?
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST142 AF - The Problem of Evil: African-American Engagements with(in) Western Thought

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2021.
    Instructor(s): D. Smith
    Credit: 1

    Thematically explores the many ways African-Americans have encountered and responded to evils (pain, wickedness and undeserved suffering) both as a part of and apart from the broader Western tradition. We will examine how such encounters trouble the distinction made between natural and moral evil and how they highlight the tensions between theodicies and further ethical concerns.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST143 CM - Philosophy of Religion


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST147 HM - World Religions and Transnational Religions: American and Global Movements


    See the Harvey Mudd College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST150 AF - The Eye of God: Race, Sun, & Empire

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2021.
    Instructor(s): D. Smith
    Credit: 1

    In mythic cycles from the “Western Tradition,” there has been a sustained intrigue over the relationship between the human eye and the heavenly sun. From the Cyclops of Homer’s Odyssey to its refiguring in D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” the powers of the eye are equated with those of its celestial counterpart. This intrigue has been reshaped—but not lost—with the advent of modern visual surveillance techniques. In this course, we will examine a range of manifestations of the solar eye, paying particular attention to the relationship(s) it bears to reality and the ways in which the solar eye operates in schemes both great and small of confidence and illusion. We will consider works by Plato, Foucault, Ellison and Morrison; documents in government policy; and movies like “The Fly,” “Cube,” “9” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Letter grade only.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3; Analyzing Difference
  

  • RLST151 CM - Poverty, Religion, and Social Change


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST152 PO - Ritual and Magic in Children’s Literature

    When Offered: Last offered fall 2020.
    Instructor(s): O. Eisenstadt
    Credit: 1

    Many children’s stories describe a passage from immaturity to individuality and responsibility and facilitate such a passage in their readers. We study this pattern in various works with a focus on the role of ritual and magic. Our purpose is to arrive at a critical awareness of how the stories work and to speculate on the residue they leave on our religious sense and hermeneutics.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST153 CM - Religion and American Politics


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST156 CM - The European Reformations


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST157 PO - Philosophical Responses to the Holocaust

    When Offered: Last offered fall 2018.
    Instructor(s): O. Eisenstadt
    Credit: 1

    According to some thinkers, the event of the Holocaust has called into question all Western thought that preceded it. We examine this claim, focusing on the question of whether, after the Holocaust and similar contemporary horrors, theology and philosophy must change in order to speak responsibly. Thinkers taken up include Arendt, Fackenheim, Browning, Bauman, Spiegelman, Voegelin, Adorno, Jabes and Levinas.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST158 PO - Introduction to Jewish Mysticism

    When Offered: Last offered fall 2019.
    Instructor(s): O. Eisenstadt
    Credit: 1

    Close reading of selections from various texts of medieval Jewish mysticism in translation, including the Zohar, Abulafia, Cordovero, Luria and the Hasidim.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3; Writing Intensive
  

  • RLST159 CM - History of Christianity in Asia


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST161 CM - Gurus, Swamis and Others: Hindu Wisdom Beyond South Asia


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST162 PO - Modern Jewish Philosophy

    When Offered: Last offered fall 2017.
    Instructor(s): O. Eisenstadt
    Credit: 1

    An introduction to Jewish philosophy in the modern period, focusing on its relation to the wider philosophical tradition and to Christian thought.  We begin with early modern attempts to define Judaism as against secular society, and follow this concern as it evolves into contemporary theory about the role of dialogue with the other in the formation of the individual.  We read Spinoza, Mendelssohn, Rosenzweig, Buber, and Levinas.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST163 CM - Women and Gender in Jewish Tradition


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST164 PO - Engendering and Experience: Women in Islamic Traditions

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2021.
    Instructor(s): Z. Kassam
    Credit: 1

    Explores the normative bases of the roles and status of women and examines Muslim women’s experiences in order to appreciate the situation of and the challenges facing Muslim women. (CWS, MES)
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST165 CM - Religion and Politics in Medieval and Early Modern Europe


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST166B CM - Religion, Politics and Global Violence


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST167 SC - Early Christian-Muslim Relations


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  
  

  • RLST169 CM - Christianity and Politics in East Asia


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST170 SC - Women and Religion in Greco-Roman Antiquity


    See the Scripps College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST171 CM - Religion and Film


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST173 CM - US Latino Religions and Politics


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST174 CM - Religion and the American Presidency


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST175 CM - Visions of the Divine Feminine in Hinduism and Buddhism


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST176 CM - Visionaries, Prophets, and Transformative Leadership


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST177 PO - Gender and Religion

    When Offered: Last offered fall 2019.
    Instructor(s): E. Runions
    Credit: 1

    This course examines the complicated intersections of gender and religion. Neither gender, nor religion are straightforward categories, as the literatures on each attests and must be theorized as categories with particular histories and cultural contexts. This course will look at the ways in which “gender” and “religion” interact with various historical and cultural contexts to reinforce, contradict and also resist traditional notions of gender and religious experience. Attention will be paid to how religion affects experiences of gender; and how gender affects experiences of religion. More specifically, we will explore the way in which the intersection of gender and religion affects understandings, experiences and negotiations of religious origins, personal identities, religious experiences, agency, body shapes, images and disciplines, sexuality, race relations, cultural appropriations and power structures.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST179 HM - Special Topics in Religious Study


    See the Harvey Mudd College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  
  

  • RLST180 CM - Interpreting Religious Worlds


    See the Claremont McKenna College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST180 PO - Interpreting Religious Worlds

    When Offered: Each spring by rotation at the Claremont Colleges.
    Instructor(s): Staff
    Credit: 1

    Required for all majors and minors. Examines some current approaches to the study of religion as a legitimate field of academic discourse. This course is taught in alternating years at Scripps, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, and Harvey Mudd Colleges.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST181 PO - Prison, Punishment, Redemption (CP)

    When Offered: Each fall.
    Instructor(s): E. Runions
    Credit: 1

    This course will explore ideologies of punishment and redemption in relation to the prison industrial complex. We will critique and redefine themes of redemption, correction, debt, virtue, shame, guilt, purity, atonement, damnation, hell and conversion as they influence, infuse and complicate popular understanding of prison, policy development and lived experience of prison. We will be analyzing religious teaching, literature, media, pop culture, policy, political discourse and art. The approach taken will be interdisciplinary with intersectional analysis that includes race, gender, sexuality, ability, class, age, mobility, literacy, education, nationality. Six times in the semester students will take part in a writing workshop in the prison California Institute for Women. Letter grade only.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3; Analyzing Difference
  

  • RLST183 HM - Ghosts and the Machines: Occult Mediumship and Modern Media


    See the Harvey Mudd College Catalog for a description of this course.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST184 PO - Queer Theory and the Bible

    When Offered: Fall 2021.
    Instructor(s): E. Runions
    Credit: 1

    This course will look at how the Bible can be read productively through queer theory. We will examine biblical passages that are central to prohibitions on homosexuality and the larger discourses of heteronormativity (constructed around gender, sexuality, class, state formations, migration, kinship, children, etc.) in which homophobic readings of the Bible emerge. We will also look at the ways in which these discourses and the identities they shore up can be “queered,” as well as at biblical texts that can be read as queer friendly. This process of queering will allow and require us to approach the biblical text in new ways.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3; Analyzing Difference
  
  

  • RLST187 PO - Queering Religion

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2018.
    Instructor(s): E. Runions
    Credit: 1

    Religion is often queerer than one might imagine. This course looks at religious practices, texts, and traditions that defy the usual assumption that religions insist on binary gender divisions and heteropatriarchal kinship models. Along the way we question what we mean by “religion” and what we mean by “queer.” We consider how sexualities and genders are shaped in and through religious practices, texts, and traditions. We consider the intersections of religion and sexuality with transnational politics, ethnicities, cultures, and power relations. We consider how religious traditions can push back on received norms and create space for queer gender expression, identity, and sexual practice. The course will pay particular attention to how we research and write about queer religious phenomena. Letter grade only.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
  

  • RLST189E PO - Feminist Theories and Feminist Theologies

    When Offered: Last offered spring 2020.
    Instructor(s): L. Reznik
    Credit: 1

    This course looks at the various ways religious thinkers have used the insights of feminist theorizing to critique and critically reconfigure Jewish and Christian traditions from within and the field of feminist theology that emerged from this critical endeavor. The course will consider feminist critiques of religious doctrine and practice, feminist biblical interpretation, and feminist theological approaches to racism, capitalism, homophobia, embodiment and vulnerability, and ecological disaster. Some time will also be devoted to the interface of feminist theologies with queer and trans theorizing and theologizing. Readings may include texts by Mary Daly, Judith Plaskow, Delores Williams, Sharon Welch, and Marcella Althaus-Reid.
    Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
    Area 3
 

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