We offer a broad and diverse undergraduate curriculum focusing on the intertwined relationship between religion and politics across U.S. history, from the colonial era to the present. We also support early career scholars with fellowships that offer teaching and research opportunities at the Center.
Courses
Our courses range widely in topics, but all focus on the cultivation of research and interpretive skills necessary for analyzing and responding to issues that shape society and culture in the United States.
Gateway Courses
Gateway courses are required for the minor in religion and politics and serve as an introduction to the field of study.
This course focuses on groups and movements that highlight distinctive ways of being both "religious" and "American," including the Americanization of global religions in the U.S. context.
Please check back soon for a gateway course offering!
Please check below for our other course offerings this semester. Read more about gateway courses and the undergraduate minor in religion and politics here.
Our courses cover a wide spectrum of topics related to the intersection of American religion and politics both historically and in the present. Select a semester to see our most recent course offerings or scroll to the bottom to view past courses.
This seminar focuses on the formation of "spirituality" in American culture from the Transcendentalist world of Ralph Waldo Emerson on through more recent expressions of "spiritual-but-not-religious."
This course examines the construct of race across various American congregational communities in order to understand debates on American identity and belonging.
This course engages students in reading and analysis of influential religious texts from the western Christian world from the mid-sixteenth century to the present.
This course examines the relationship between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and religion as a way to study and understand twentieth century religion and politics specifically and the American experiment in democracy more broadly. Students will investigate the history of the FBI, as well as the various ways in which the FBI and religious groups have interacted with particular attention to the “modes” of FBI-religious engagement.
