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Religious Dimensions in Human Experience
ANTHRO 1475

Jointly Offered with: Faculty of Arts & Sciences as RELIGION 16, Harvard Divinity School as HDS 3160

Course Information

Description

What is religion? Why does it show up everywhere? Using archaeology, religious studies, and social thought, this course studies the major themes in the history of religions including encountering the holy, sports and ritual, crossing borders, sacrifice as creation, pilgrimage and sacred place, suffering and the quest for wisdom, music and social change, and violence, the Holocaust and cosmic law. Readings originate from Native American, African American, Latinx/+, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu traditions. The course focuses on the tension between individual encounters with the holy and the social construction of religion. Readings include works by Gloria Anzaldua, Toni Morrison, Judith Sherman, Arthur Kleinman, the Popul Vuj, Mircea Eliade, and Emile Durkheim.

School Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Credits 4
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Department Anthropology
Course Component Lecture
Grading Basis FAS Letter Graded
Exam/Final Deadline Dec. 11, 2026
General Education N/A
Quantitative Reasoning with Data N/A
Divisional Distribution Arts and Humanities
Course Level For Undergraduate and Graduate Students