LIN 125 — Language and Religion
This 3-credit, 100-level course offers a broad introduction to the complex relationship between language and religion. The course will focus on the intersection of language use and religious beliefs and practice as a lens for better understanding interaction in social context and analyzing the nature of human behavior in society. This course benefits from its interdisciplinary roots in linguistics, sociology, anthropology, education, and religious studies. This course seeks to turn language use and religion, two areas in which students often have a lot of personal experience, into objects of scholarly inquiry. In addition to introducing students to a set of theoretical perspectives through discussion of a wide range of texts and videos, this course will also incorporate discovery-based research projects that promote high-impact and reflective learning, as students learn about the practical, symbolic, and affective power of language in religious communities and practices in New York City.