Academic Calendar 2017/2018 - Practicing Religion: Rituals, Ceremonies and Celebrations

RLCT 2016  Practicing Religion: Rituals, Ceremonies and Celebrations

Prerequisites:

Any 18 credits completed.

Hours:

Three hours of lecture per week for one term.

Credits:

3

Description:

Ceremonies and celebrations mark significant milestones in an individual's life. Aside from their festive quality, these ceremonies function on a variety of interconnected levels. Ceremonies marking important life events intersect the private and the public sphere, and are embedded in social as well as religious contexts. This course will examine celebrations such as birth, wedding, and coming-of-age ceremonies from both eastern and western religious traditions in order to understand the important role of these ceremonies in providing form and meaning in the lives of individual persons as well as entire communities. This course will also examine how these ceremonies reinforce notions of belonging, community, and culture.