RELS 281 Religion and Politics

This course will explore aspects of the complex theoretical and practical relationships between religion and politics ranging from the most abstract kinds of questions regarding the very ideas of 'the religious' and 'the political' to the scrutiny of very specific particular practices statements and conflicts. Possible themes and questions that may be the focus of the course include: the debates regarding the role of religion in establishing political legitimacy and authority; understanding the theological roots of core concepts of political philosophy. How has violence (war torture martyrdom punishment) been understood appropriated deployed and resisted in religious practice and discourse in relation to politics and the state? What is 'the secular'?