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Classical Theories of Religion (481-1-20)

Instructors

Brannon Dobbs Ingram
Crowe Hall 4-135

Meeting Info

Crowe 4-130 Rel Studies Sem Rm: Tues 3:00PM - 5:30PM

Overview of class

This course offers a critical examination of scholars - the Comparative Religions "canon" - who played major roles in the formation of Religious Studies as a discipline in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The course begins by interrogating the very notion of a canon. What is a canon for? How do they get formed? For what purpose and by whom? Are they still relevant? Can we form new canons? We then proceed to approach the "canon" through a series of modules, focusing on the work, legacies, and scholarly interlocutors of William James, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Mircea Eliade.