RELI 2 Comparative World Religions (Fall 2018)

SID# 942877

Religion 2 provides an overview of major world religious traditions and introduces students to the comparative study of religion. How do we become human? Are there divine forces that impinge on our lives, and if so, what kinds of lives should we lead in response to this fact? What gives meaning to the short span of our lives between birth and death?

In this course we will explore ways various religious traditions take up these questions, turning to scripture, history, literature, ethnography, and, briefly, film. We will pay attention to encounters between and among traditions and to the intersections of race, class, gender, and ethnicity as we see how religions develop the significance of a life well lived, form us as moral subjects, and give us different ways of conceiving what it means to be human.

Instructor Bio

Justina Torrance is currently finishing a dissertation entitled, “‘A Sick Philosopher is Incurable:’ Herman Melville and William James on the Ethics of Perception” (Ph.D. Harvard University, 2019). Her primary research and teaching interests are in comparative religious ethics; philosophy of religion; and religion and literature.

She holds a B.A. with distinction in psychology from Stanford University, an M.A. in Religious Studies from Stanford University, and an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School in Theology.