Excavating the Birthplace of Zeus

Excavating the Birthplace of Zeus

This course was originally scheduled for Spring 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19 Since 2004 the University of Arizona has been excavating at the sanctuary of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion, known as the “Birthplace of Zeus.” High in the Arcadian mountains of Greece, it has...
How Buddhism Changed World Civilization

How Buddhism Changed World Civilization

Sorry! This course has sold out. Click here to join the course waitlist How did Buddhism change world civilization? This is a puzzling question for many people interested in philosophy, spirituality, and practice. As a major religious tradition, Buddhism deserves our...
Religion, Gods, and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

Religion, Gods, and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

This course will survey the fundamentals of ancient Egyptian religion from the Predynastic period (ca. 4000 BC) to the end of the New Kingdom (ca. 1000 BC). Material will be covered both as an overview of how things unfolded over the various periods as well as how...
Dante’s Paradiso

Dante’s Paradiso

Please Note: Summer 2020 Course Registration Opens Online on Monday, May 11th at 8AM This class deals with the climax of Dante’s Divine Comedy. While Inferno depicts sin and evil, and Purgatorio portrays redemption, Paradiso illustrates the possibility of...
Jesus, the Bible, and the Invention of Christianity

Jesus, the Bible, and the Invention of Christianity

Please Note: Summer 2020 Course Registration Opens Online on Monday, May 11th at 8AM The Christian religion is inextricably bound up with contemporary culture not only in America but also around the globe. Yet, even after centuries of scholarly inquiry, numerous...
From the Gods to the God Within

From the Gods to the God Within

THIS COURSE WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED IN THE SPRING BUT WAS POSTPONED TO SUMMER 2021 In 399 BCE Socrates was tried in Athens, the first trial in Western history to indict, convict, and condemn to death someone for impiety. In Plato’s Apology Socrates says that the...
Paul of Tarsus: Slave of Jesus Christ or Apostle of Liberation?

Paul of Tarsus: Slave of Jesus Christ or Apostle of Liberation?

The Christian religion is inextricably bound up with contemporary culture not only in America but also around the globe. Yet, even after centuries of scholarly inquiry, numerous questions regarding its historical origins remain contested and unanswered. The Christian...
Localizing the Sacred: Medieval Christian Architecture and Art

Localizing the Sacred: Medieval Christian Architecture and Art

Saints and cult sites were central to religious practice in the Christian Middle Ages. This course examines four sites (Qalʿat Simʿān, Constantinople, Conques, and Chartres) to find evolving concepts of sanctity and forms of cultic practice in medieval sociopolitical...
Introduction to Hindu Mythology

Introduction to Hindu Mythology

Images of Hinduism and Hindu deities have been integrated into our collective imagination as part of American popular culture. From the cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold as Love, photos of the Beatles seated alongside Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the goddess on the cover...
French Connections

French Connections

In this seminar several professors from the College of Humanities address different topics that connect France with other nations. Alain-Philippe Durand will first look at American and Brazilian French literature—how American and Latin American studies developed in...
Sacred Places

Sacred Places

Religion is often viewed as among the most intangible aspects of culture. Yet, from cathedrals to pyramids, some of the largest and longest-lasting monuments of past societies are religious. Today people throughout the world continue to worship in, make pilgrimages...
The Visual Culture of Modern Spirituality and Religion

The Visual Culture of Modern Spirituality and Religion

In this course we will consider historical and contemporary examples of architecture and the visual arts concerned with defining and engaging the spiritual and the sacred. This series of lectures will cover primarily American examples of religious utopian communal...
The History of Yoga

The History of Yoga

Yoga is a ubiquitous presence in the landscape of American fitness culture. For many, it is synonymous with selfcare and holistic healthy living. While yoga is often vaguely connected to Asian traditions, its long history as a philosophical and religious system can be...
Jesus, the Bible, and the Invention of Christianity

Jesus, the Bible, and the Invention of Christianity

Attend In Person OR Online! See Below for full details about our new Hybrid courses The Christian religion is inextricably bound up with contemporary culture in America and around the globe. Yet, even after centuries of scholarly inquiry, numerous questions regarding...
Creating the World of East Asian Buddhism

Creating the World of East Asian Buddhism

Attend In Person OR Online! See Below for full details about our new Hybrid courses The Hangzhou region has long been one of China’s most important cultural hubs and has had a wide-ranging impact on Chinese culture and Buddhism throughout East Asia. It came to...
Religion, Gods, and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

Religion, Gods, and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

This course will survey the fundamentals of ancient Egyptian religion, from the Predynastic period (ca. 4000 BC) to the end of the New Kingdom (ca. 1000 BC). Material will be covered both diachronically and synchronically. This course offers an examination of...