Brown’s Religious Studies department has a wide-spanning range of courses to be explored this semester! Courses range in topics from Islam in South Asia, Zen Practices, Chinese Philosophy to the History of Antisemitism. Read more about some of our courses below.
Department of Religious Studies
Featured Courses - Fall 2026
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RELS 0038 Tomb, Tome, and Throne: Islam in South Asia
S. Shiraz Ali
South Asia is home to more Muslims than any other region. This course asks how that came to be, and what being Muslim on the subcontinent has meant over a millennium. We read about saints and the shrines built over their tombs; rulers and the jurists who advised them; poets who praised God—and sometimes complained to him—in Persian, Urdu, and Panjabi verse; and women who built mosques and took Sufi vows. We follow reform movements, colonial courts, and modern states that argue over who speaks for Islam.
RELS 0063 Antisemitism: A History
M. Satlow
Antisemitism is sometimes called the “longest hatred,” and from Pittsburgh to Paris it is on the rise. This course will examine the history of antisemitism and antisemitic tropes; theoretical approaches to its persistence; and individual case studies. Topics will include: Christian and Muslim anti-Judaism; racism; economic stereotypes; and modern manifestations in the U.S. and Europe.
RELS 0120 The Classical Chinese Philosophy of Life
L. Difiori
An introduction to the origins and early development of the indigenous religious thought of China from the oracle bone divination of the Shang Dynasty to the ethical philosophy of Confucianism and the cosmology and mysticism of Daoism. The course will seek to identify and elucidate the basic elements of the distinctive Chinese world view and demonstrate how they have shaped the nature of religious practice and experience and how they have been shaped by them.
RELS 0602 Sanctifying the Everyday: Halakha, Kabbalah, and the Making of Haredi Judaism
P. Nahme
This course examines the development of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Judaism as a response to modernity through the evolving relationship between halakha (Jewish law), kabbalah (mysticism), and rabbinic authority. We explore how halakhic observance, rather than fading under the pressures of secularism, became intensified, mystically infused, and socially restructured to forge a new model of religious life in the modern world.
RELS/COST 0711 Being Zen: Zen Practice and its Asian Roots
H. Roth
“Being Zen” in contemporary Western culture has come to mean “remaining inwardly composed, emotionally nonreactive, and gracefully present amid the pressures of everyday life.” (CHAT 5.2). As if we could somehow will that state to happen in ourselves or others by purchasing a particular product or by simply repeating the phrase. In reality, Zen practice is a complex contemplative and religious phenomenon that originated over many centuries in Asia and was transmitted to the West over the past century. We will examine the Asian roots of Zen and how it came to be practiced in the West in an effort to discover for ourselves what “being Zen” genuinely means.
RELS 1530H Problems in Islamic Studies: The Latest Methods and Theories in the Study of Islam
N. Khalek
This course examines exciting new approaches to the study of Islam. Each week we take a fresh look at recent and paradigm-shifting works from a variety of disciplines: including religious studies, anthropology, history, politics, and culture. We will consider how Islam has been studied in the past, and discuss why and how methods for how we study and talk about religion and culture are subject to change. Other themes include secularism, orientalism, colonialism, and gender.