Special Studies & Honors
Special Studies
Advanced students in the Religion Department—normally senior majors who have had four semester courses above the introductory level—may arrange for special studies with faculty members. These courses can be for 2–4 credits, and for a semester or a year. Topics and logistics are worked out with the designated faculty member, and must be submitted to the department for approval.
REL 400 Special Studies
2 to 4 credits
Offered both semesters each year
REL 408d Special Studies
8 credits
Full year course
Honors
Majors in the Religion Department are encouraged to apply to the departmental Honors Program and pursue a significant research project of their own design. Students in the Honors Program develop, research, write, and defend a thesis in close consultation with a faculty mentor. For further details please contact the Director of Honors.
Director: Peter N. Gregory
430d Honors Project
8 credits
Full year course
Recent Special Studies
NA
Vera Shevzov, Fall 2007
“Advanced Chinese Buddhist Texts”
Peter Gregory, Fall 2007
“Intermediate Sanskrit 1”
Andy Rotman, Fall 2007
“Intermediate Sanskrit 2”
Andy Rotman, Spring 2008
NA
Vera Shevzov, Spring 2008
“Advanced Chinese Buddhist Texts”
Peter Gregory, Fall 2008
“Women and the Taliban in Pakistan”
Andy Rotman, Spring 2009
“The Russian Icon: Theory and Practice”
Vera Shevzov and Carol Zaleski, Fall 2009
“Churches in Transition: The Consolidation of Northampton’s
Catholic Parishes”
Vera Shevzov & Carol Zaleski, Fall 2009, Spring 2010
“C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien: Evidence of Influence”
Carol Zaleski, Fall 2010
“Pilgrimage Rituals: A Comparative Study between Islam and Buddhism”
Suleiman Mourad, Fall 2010
“John Henry Newman and British Romanticism”
Carol Zaleski, Spring 2011
“The Wives of the Prophet”
Suleiman Mourad, Fall 2011
“G.K. Chesterton and Ian Ker: The Art of Biography”
Carol Zaleski, Spring 2012
“Marketing the Marketplace”
Andy Rotman, Spring 2012
Recent Honors Projects
Chelsea Sunday Kline, “Give Us Children or We Shall Die: Modern Reproductive Technology and Jewish Law” (2008)
Sarah L. Woodbury, “Separations at Sinai: Boundaries in Exodus 19” (2010)
Natalie Sargent, “αδελφοι: A Comparative Study of Pauline Theology of Salvation to Jews and Gentiles in Acts 28 and Romans 9-11” (2012)
