This course will introduce students to the rich scholarship on the interaction between religion and politics in the United States and beyond. The first section will focus on classic and contemporary theories regarding the rational and functional approaches to religion, secularization, religious identity, religious worldviews and doctrines, and religious extremism. The second section will compare and contrast religion’s impact on policy formulation across - and within - Christian majority states in the developed world, Muslim majority states, and states with other religious majorities. The principal goal of the course will be to enable students to think critically about the multi-faceted impacts of religion on politics across a wide variety of socio-cultural contexts. After taking this course, students should be able to think about the relationship among religion and politics within, and across different political systems. The assessment techniques used in this class will include oral participation, critical reaction papers, a literature review, a midterm, and a final.
Frequency
Alternate Springs