Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts

RELG_V: Religious Studies

CLST_V, RELG_V, NEST_V, and CNRS_V are all now AMNE_V courses. For current listings, please check https://amne.ubc.ca/


  1. RELG_V 102 (3) Introduction to Religions in Asia

    A survey of religious traditions of Asia, including communities, professionals, practices and beliefs of small-scale and large-scale societies. Approaches and theories drawn from the field of religious studies. Equivalency: ASIA110

  2. RELG_V 204 (6) Introduction to Asian Religions

    The religions of India, China, and Japan in their interactions and cultural contexts, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto.

  3. RELG_V 207 (3) Classical Islam

    The history and culture, values, and achievements of Islamic societies from 700-1500; the interconnections between power, politics, gender, and the arts in Islamic societies. This course is highly recommended as a basis for all 300- and 400-level Islamic Studies courses.

  4. RELG_V 208 (3) Modern Islam

    The history and culture, values, and socio-political movements of the Islamic world from 1500 to the modern day; the interconnections between power, politics, gender, and the arts in modern Islamic societies. This course is highly recommended as a basis for all 300- and 400-level Islamic Studies courses.

  5. RELG_V 211 (3) History of Christianity II (15th C. C.E. - present)

    The history of Christianity from the Reformation to the present day. Provides an historical overview of Christian thought and its institutions and significant people during the rise of the Reformation in various locales of Europe and beyond (Germany, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, and Scandinavia).

  6. RELG_V 302 (3) Death and Afterlife in Western Religious Tradition

    A survey of traditional attitudes toward death and beliefs regarding human existence after death in Western religions.

  7. RELG_V 309 (3) Jews and Christians

    Aspects of Jewish-Christian relations from the beginnings of Christianity to the present day. Emphasis on the study of Christian and Jewish texts in translation.

  8. RELG_V 310 (3) Jewish Responses to Catastrophe

    Topics include the destruction of the Second Temple, the Crusades, the expulsions from Spain and Portugal, and the Holocaust. A study of texts in translation.

  9. RELG_V 311 (3) Jewish Literature in Translation

    A survey of Jewish literature in medieval and modern times.

  10. RELG_V 312 (3) Jews and Judaism in Canada

    The history of the Jewish community in Canada, from New France to the present. Emphasis on the relationship between immigration and religious transformation, Jewish-Christian relations, the development of community structures.

  11. RELG_V 315 (6) History of Christian Thought

    Selected topics with special emphasis on doctrinal change and development, orthodoxy and heresy, tradition and authority, and Church and State in the Patristic, Medieval, Reformation, and Modern periods.

  12. RELG_V 321 (3-6) Prophetic Figures in the Christian Tradition

    Examined in their historical context and in terms of their continuing significance. Selection will vary from year to year, but may include Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and Teresa of Avila.

  13. RELG_V 323 (6) Christianity in the Modern World

    The interaction between Christianity and the major intellectual, social, and cultural developments since 1648 with special attention to the expansion of Christianity and its encounter with urban industrial society.

  14. RELG_V 328 (3) Medieval Philosophy

    Survey of Western European thought from Augustine to the fourteenth century. Possible topics and authors include: Augustine; Abelard; the influence of Islam; the rediscovery of Aristotle; Aquinas; Scotus; Ockham. Credit will be granted for only one of RELG 328 or PHIL 313. Equivalency: PHIL 313

  15. RELG_V 331 (3) Medieval Jewish History

    The political, social, economic, and cultural history of the Jews from the time of the Christianization of the Roman Empire to the expulsion of professing Jews from Spain and Portugal at the end of the fifteenth century.

  16. RELG_V 332 (3) Modern Jewish History

    The political, social, economic, and cultural history of the Jews from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the present, with special emphasis on changing attitudes to Jews and Judaism, and social and cultural transformations.

  17. RELG_V 365 (3) Daoist (Taoist) Religion and Its Philosophical Background

    A study of the Daoist religious traditions from their beginnings in the second century C.E. in cultural, intellectual and social contexts. Equivalency: ASIA381

  18. RELG_V 366 (3) Buddhism in China

    History, thought and practices of Chinese Buddhism from its beginnings until the twentieth century. Equivalency: ASIA382

  19. RELG_V 370 (6) Concepts and Methods in the Study of Religion

    Required of Major and Honours students in their third year. Open to others by permission of the instructor.

  20. RELG_V 385 (3) Mystical Traditions: Jewish and Christian

    Methodology, textual study and scholarly analysis of selected texts from these traditions.

  21. RELG_V 408 (3) Topics in Medieval Judaism

    The work of Maimonides and other Jewish philosophers, early developments in Jewish mysticism, the Jews as a minority culture in Islamic and Christian lands.

  22. RELG_V 409 (3) Topics in Modern Judaism

    The Jews in the ghetto culture, Hasidism, the Emancipation, Reform, Orthodox, and Conservative Movements.

  23. RELG_V 448 (3) Seminar in the History of the Religion of Islam

    A topic relevant to the study of Islam as a religion: e.g., the text and doctrines of the Qur'an; the Hadith (or Traditions) of the Prophet; Islamic Law; mysticism in Islam; the Shi'ah and the Isma'ilis. Not offered every year. Consult the departmental brochure for the topic to be offered.

  24. RELG_V 452 (6) Readings in Hindu Religious Texts

    Representative texts, in translation, of the Vedic, Epic, Puranic, Classical, Medieval, and Modern periods. Emphasis in the second term on texts of particular periods, movements, or sects, depending on the students' needs and interests. Those with the necessary preparation may read some texts in the original languages. This course is not eligible for Credit/D/Fail grading.

  25. RELG_V 479 (3-6) Directed Studies

    Reading and, where appropriate, other research on a topic arising in the discipline, arranged by agreement between the student and the instructor. The credit value for this course will be determined in consultation with the student prior to the registration. This course is not eligible for Credit/D/Fail grading.

  26. RELG_V 485 (3) Images of Eve

    The story of Adam and Eve, and its influence on the role and image of women in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

  27. RELG_V 649 (0) Doctoral Dissertation

    This course is not eligible for Credit/D/Fail grading.


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