REL 1220 SEEING THE SACRED: AN INTRODUCTION TO RELIGION & VISUAL CULTURE

Why do religious sites and icons inspire as much violence and destruction as piety and devotion? How do different religious communities imagine and re-present their ideas of the sacred (however defined)? This course examines some of the world’s greatest works of art that have literally shaped our ideas about the category we call “religion.” Among other religious expressions, it considers Hindu gods and goddesses, Buddhist mandalas, modern Jewish performance art, Christian icons, Islamic calligraphy, and Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR) artistic expressions in and through nature. It also considers the destruction and/or reconstruction of sites and images, especially when religious traditions have interacted with other religious communities throughout history.

Credits

4 sh

Course Types

Interreligious Studies elective Proposed to be an International and Global Studies elective

Offered

Fall, Spring

Offered

• Fall
• Spring

1. Students will demonstrate their ability to think critically about the socially constructed
   nature of that which can be categorized as “religious.”
2. Students will recognize and describe the breadth and diversity within particular
   constructions of religion.
3. Students will recognize and explain ways in which “religion” has cultural, political, and
   economic significance and/or ways in which cultural, political, and economic phenomena
   have religious significance.
4. Students will produce nuanced reflections on the ways in which religious traditions and
   communities interact with other religious traditions and communities, whether in the past
   or in the contemporary period.