OEO Office of Equal Opportunity - Department of Mathematics and ...

RELIGIOUS STUDIES 281
Introduction
The Religious Studies Program is an interdisciplinary unit
within the College of Arts & Sciences, with participation
from faculty and students from across the entire University,
including the various colleges, professional schools, branch
campuses, and the evening/weekend program. Our undergraduate
program provides both an introduction to the scholarly
study of religion and broad training in the liberal arts. We
study religion in its own right and as a lens through which to
view the human condition, contemporary human societies,
intellectual and social history, spirituality, and ethics. Students
major or minor in religious studies in order to pursue careers
as educators or scholars of religion, to work toward becoming
clerical or lay ministers in a variety of traditions, to prepare for
professional school, to pursue graduate education in allied
humanities or social science disciplines and/or to explore
their own deepest interests.
Major Study Requirements
The major requires 33 hours in Religious Studies, of which
at least 18 must be at the upper division level. Required are
230, 232, 263, 264; and 447 or another seminar at the 400
level. In addition to the four lower division required courses,
the student must also take at least one other course in each
of the four distributional areas: Asian Religions, Western
Religions, Sacred Texts and Religion in America.
In order to provide flexibility of scheduling, the “Asian
religions” distributional requirements (263 and another Asian
religions course) and the “Western religions” distributional
requirements (264 and another Western religions course)
may also be met by appropriate pairs of general courses
that together cover Asian and Western religions respectively.
Thus, for example, the “Asian religions” requirements may
also be met by taking two courses, one in Hinduism and
one in Buddhism; and the “Western religions” requirements
may also be met by taking two courses, each covering one
of the three major Western traditions, Judaism, Christianity
or Islam.
Hebrew, Arabic and Sanskrit, when these courses include a
study of religious texts and are integrated with a program of
advanced studies of sacred texts.
Religious Studies undergraduate courses count with Group
II (Humanities) in the Arts and Sciences group requirements.
Concentrations in Religious Studies are also offered through
the engineering and management colleges.
Honors in Religious Studies
Students wishing to work for Honors in Religious Studies
should contact the Director of the Religious Studies Program
during their junior year. Honors students sign up for two consecutive
semesters of RELG 497, in which they prepare an
Honors thesis under the direction of a committee.
Graduate Program
A master’s degree program in Religious Studies remains in
the planning stages, but no timetable for implementation has
been set. Contact the Religious Studies Program for more
information.
Religious Studies (RELG)
101. Introduction to Religious Studies. (3)
Comparative study of religious beliefs, practices and institutions.
103. Introduction to Bible. (3)
Survey of Bible in historical context.
104. New Testament Greek. (1-6 to a maximum of 6) ∆
(Also offered as GREK 104.) Introduction to New Testament
Greek.
105. Religion and the Arts. (3)
Introduction to the relationship between religion and culture
as reflected in the arts.
ARTS AND
SCIENCES
Classes in Religious Studies are divided among the four
distributional areas (classes offered under topics course numbers
247, 347 and 447 are assigned to one of these areas as
appropriate). The courses for each area are:
1. Asian Religions: 107, 407, 408, 263, 331, 438, 439,
440, 442, 448, 449, 453, 457, 481.
2. Western Religions: 105, 264, 306, 323, 324, 326, 327,
350, 360, 361, 365, 404, 413, 426, 450, 452, 465, 475.
3. Sacred Texts: 103, 104, 109, 230, 231, 232, 463; 407,
408, 440, or 449 may be used if not applied to Asian
religions requirement.
4. Religion in America: 303, 308, 333, 387, 388, 389,
390, 392, 422, 430, 441, 482, 483, 490, 491; Law 665.
Dual Major Requirements
Students may combine a major in Religious Studies with
another major. For students with such dual majors, the total
number of hours required for the Religious Studies major is
reduced from 33 to 30, while the other requirements for the
major remain the same.
Minor Study Requirements
The minor requires 18 hours in Religious Studies, of which at
least 9 must be in courses with a RELG prefix.
Additional Information
With the permission of the Director of the Religious Studies
Program, a student may include among courses for a major
or minor a limited number of courses in such languages as
Classical Chinese, Classical or Biblical Greek, Latin, Biblical
107. Living World Religions. (3)
Introduction to major living world religions, such as Buddhism,
Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.
109. Biblical Hebrew I. (4)
(Also offered as MLNG 109.) Introduction to the language of
the Hebrew Bible.
230. Hebrew Scriptures. (3)
Pentateuch and the historical books of the Old Testament.
{Fall}
231. Hebrew Prophets. (3)
Prophetic books and later Hebrew scriptural writings.
232. Christian Scriptures. (3)
New Testament and early Christian history.
247. Studies in Religions. (3) ∆
Elementary topics in the study of world religions. Course may
be repeated up to three times provided the topics vary.
263. Eastern Religions. (3)
A study of major Asian traditions, such as Taoism, Hinduism
and Buddhism. {Fall}
264. Western Religions. (3)
A study of major Western traditions, such as Christianity,
Islam and Judaism. {Spring}
303. Introduction to Black Liberation and Religion. (3)
(Also offered as AFAM 303.) Students will be introduced to
the Black experience, which necessitates the redefinition
of God and Jesus Christ in the lives of Black people as the
struggle for transcendental and political freedom.
UNM CATALOG 2006–2007 Symbols, page 611.