David Maldonado Rivera

This course offers an introduction to the academic study of religion, focusing on race and ethnicity as categories of analysis. Students examine the emergence and performance of racial and ethnic categories and their relationship to religious phenomena in various historical contexts and through the lenses of diverse disciplines of the social sciences and the humanities. The course explores the genealogies and trajectories of race thinking in our contemporary society along with test cases from various religious traditions. Current debates among various critical approaches and methods of the academic study of religion are also part of this course. This counts toward the 100-level introduction to religious studies requirement for the major. No prerequisite.

This course explores the rich history and diverse traditions that are part of the Christian heritage. Close to 2 billion people today call themselves Christians. Who is a Christian? What are some of the differences among their traditions? How do Christians define — and how have they defined — the identity of Jesus? Why do Christians have different canons for their sacred scriptures? What is salvation, and how is it achieved? Where is Christianity growing and decreasing in the world today? What attitudes have Christians shown toward gender, wealth, poverty, science, art and other issues? Over a span of 2,000 years, Christians in different parts of the globe have answered these questions in an amazing variety of ways. It is not an exaggeration to speak about Christianities or the faiths of Christians, considering the ever-changing networks of movements, beliefs, practices and forms of identification that we can appreciate as part of the long trajectories of the world Christian movement. This counts toward the religious traditions requirement as Christianity. No prerequisite. Offered every two years.

This course introduces students to the varieties of the Jesus movement in the Levant and to the official church that emerged under the Roman Empire, its regional expansions and adaptations across the Mediterranean basin and beyond in the subsequent centuries. We focus on the plurality and wide reach of Christian traditions in the premodern world as we engage key issues like the debates between orthodoxy and heresy; the emergence of various Christian institutions; engagement with other religious traditions; and debates about human nature, the environment, economics and politics. We engage a wide variety of sources, including biblical commentary, theological treatises, New Testament Apocrypha, legal documents, material culture, graphic novels and cinema. The course gives special attention to the academic study of religion and its historical interpretation (How de we define "religion" in a premodern context? How do we learn about the past? What approaches may help us engage the Christian past and probe our sources? How is the past still not past?). No prerequisite. Offered every other year.

This course is an introduction to the literature of the New Testament. We engage the social, political and religious contexts of various texts from the first and second centuries of the Common Era. We reflect on issues such as the material culture of the ancient world; the cultural and political background of early Christian literature; the role of women in the Jesus movement; competing forms of Christianity in the ancient world; the relation between Christian movements and the Roman Empire; the interactions between different trends in Judaism and the development of different Christian trajectories; and the process of biblical canon formation. We also engage different methodologies currently practiced in biblical exegesis, ranging from form criticism and redaction criticism to historical criticism and literary criticism. Special attention is devoted to the reception history of the New Testament in pre-modern and modern contexts through a variety of media (literary sources, material culture, art, cinema and others) and geographical settings. This counts toward the religious traditions requirement as Christianity. Offered every two years.

This course explores the variety of movements that we identify as “Christianity” from its official recognition under Emperor Constantine to its regional expansion across the Mediterranean basin and beyond in the subsequent centuries. This course engages key issues like the debates between orthodoxy and heresy, the emergence of various Christian institutions, engagement with other religious traditions, debates about human nature, the environment, economics and politics. We engage a wide variety of sources including biblical commentary, theological treatises, New Testament Apocrypha, legal documents, material culture, graphic novels and cinema. The course gives special attention to methodological practices in a historical framework (How do we learn about the past? How can we probe our sources? What approaches may help us engage the Christian past? How is the past still not past?). This is an advanced Christianity tradition course. No prerequisite. Offered every two or three years.

This course explores the political, social, cultural and demographic shifts that make the Global South (Africa, Latin America and Asia) a key center of the world Christian movement. The course engages historical and regional surveys by examining test cases with an interdisciplinary outlook, emphasizing the richness and diversity of what we can call "World Christianities." The students gain a sense of Christianity as a cluster of polycentric and culturally diverse traditions and of the challenges that Christians in the Global South face in the contemporary world. The advanced course devotes special attention to the emergence of new Christian movements, the development of liberation theologies, colonial and postcolonial struggles, and the complex processes of identity formation of Christians in the Global South. This counts toward the religious traditions requirement as Christianity. No prerequisite.

This seminar explores the symbols, interpretations and practices centering on death in diverse religious traditions, experiences, historical periods and cultures. We engage religious texts from various traditions, art, literature and memoires. We also explore various approximations to the study of death and dying, including ethnographic, psychological, philosophical and anthropological studies. As part of our inquiry, we pay special attention to various social issues ranging from the memorialization of the transatlantic slave trade, death and self-formation, illness and writing, and contemporary ecological threats. This counts as a theory/methodology course for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every two years.

This course is designed as a capstone experience in religious studies for majors in the department. Themes vary according to the instructor. Past themes have included religious autobiography, religion and cinema, and new religious movements. Religious studies minors are encouraged to enroll, provided there is space. This is a required course for all senior majors. No prerequisites. Majors only. Senior Standing. Offered every fall.

The department reserves individual studies to highly motivated students who are judged responsible and capable enough to work independently. Such courses might entail original research, but usually they are reading-oriented, allowing students to explore in depth topics that interest them or that supplement aspects of the major. Students may pursue individual study only if they have taken all the courses offered by the department in that particular area of the curriculum. An individual study course cannot duplicate a course or topic being concurrently offered. Exceptions to this rule are at the discretion of the instructor and department chair. Students must secure the agreement of an instructor to provide guidance and supervision of the course. The instructor and student agree on the nature of the work expected (e.g., several short papers, one long paper, an in-depth project, a public presentation, a lengthy general outline and annotated bibliography). The level should be advanced, with work on a par with a 300-level course. The student and instructor should meet on a regular basis, with the schedule to be determined by the instructor in consultation with the student. Individual studies may be taken for 0.25 or 0.5 units, at the discretion of the instructor. A maximum of 0.5 units of IS may count toward major or minor requirements in the department. A student is permitted to take only 0.5 units of IS in the department (one 0.5-unit course or two 0.25-unit courses). A student must present a petition with compelling reasons in order to obtain special permission to take an additional IS course. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the end of the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of the proposed individual study by the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval. Prerequisite: GPA of at least 3.0. Exceptions (e.g., languages not taught at Kenyon are granted at the discretion of the instructor, with the approval of the department chair.)\n

Prerequisite: permission of department chair.

Prerequisite: permission of department chair.