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Minor
MinorOverview
A Religious Studies minor is a complement to many majors throughout the university. Students contemplating the minor are invited to consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies. The Undergraduate Student Services Officer in Building 70 can also field questions regarding the declaration procedure within the department.
Requirements
Core Program Requirements
Requirements Overview
A minor in Religious Studies requires a minimum of 28 units. Students are encouraged to focus their program of study either on a religious tradition or a theme that cuts across traditions. In consultation with their minor advisor, students may design the minor in Religious Studies to complement their major. The minor must be declared no later than the last day of the quarter, two quarters before degree conferral.
Religious Studies Courses - 1-99
Two courses (3-5 units each) from courses numbered RELIGST 1-99, only one of which may be an Introductory Seminar.
RELIGST 1
Religion Around the Globe
RELIGST 2
Is Stanford a Religion?
RELIGST 3
The Religious Life of Things
RELIGST 4
What Didn't Make the Bible
RELIGST 6N
Religion in Anime and Manga
RELIGST 8N
Gardens and Sacred Space in Japan
RELIGST 10N
The Good Death
RELIGST 12N
Perspectives on the Good Life
RELIGST 16N
Stop the Steal: January 6 as a case study into American Religion and Politics
RELIGST 17N
Meditation and Arts in Zen Buddhism
RELIGST 18N
What is Called Living?
RELIGST 19Q
Does Religion Divide Us? Legal, Political, and Cultural Perspectives from Across the World
RELIGST 21X
Dangerous Ideas
RELIGST 23S
The Devil Through the Ages
RELIGST 23X
Democracy and Disagreement
RELIGST 24S
Witches, Witchcraft, and Witch-Hunting in Early America
RELIGST 31X
Crisis and Community in the Jewish Tradition
RELIGST 35X
Introduction to African American Studies: Black Religion, Culture, and Experience to the Civil War
RELIGST 36X
Dangerous Ideas
RELIGST 41
Just Religion: Spirituality, Social Action, and the Climate Crisis
RELIGST 50
Exploring Buddhism: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Challenges?
RELIGST 53
Exploring Jewish Spirituality
RELIGST 53X
Sustainability and Civilization
RELIGST 55
Exploring Zen Buddhism
RELIGST 56
Exploring Chinese Religions
RELIGST 61
Exploring Islam
RELIGST 62
Exploring Islamic Mysticism
RELIGST 86
Exploring the New Testament
Religious Studies Courses - 100-280
Three courses (4-5 units each) from courses numbered RELIGST 100-289, of which at least one must be at the 200-level.
RELIGST 103
Buddhism and Medicine
RELIGST 105
The Art of Exorcisms
RELIGST 108
The Lost Scriptures
RELIGST 108X
Environmental Wayfinding: Cultural, Artistic, and Spiritual Approaches to Life on a Changing Planet
RELIGST 109
Alternative Ontologies: Religion in the Pluriverse
RELIGST 110
Religion and the Politics of Nature
RELIGST 115
Interfaith Peacebuilding and Global Justice
RELIGST 115X
Europe in the Middle Ages, 300-1500
RELIGST 116
Buddhist Philosophy
RELIGST 116X
The Hebrew Bible: Readings in religion and culture
RELIGST 118X
Ghosts, Gods, Spirits, and Companion AI: Talking with Non-Human Others Across the World
RELIGST 119
Religion, Conflict, and Peace
RELIGST 119X
Global History of Psychedelics: From the Stone Age to Silicon Valley
RELIGST 120
Magic, Marvel, and Sinners: Exploring Religion in Popular Culture
RELIGST 122
Theological Reading Group
RELIGST 122X
The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Texts
RELIGST 123
The Hindu Epics and the Ethics of Dharma
RELIGST 124
The Bhagavad Gita: The Many Lives of a Text
RELIGST 129
Milk and Honey, Wine and Blood: Food, Justice, and Ethnic Identity in Jewish Culture
RELIGST 130
Culture Wars: US Religion and Politics Since 1920
RELIGST 135
Contemporary Islam & Muslims in the United States
RELIGST 136
Christian Faith in Dark Times: The Political Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr
RELIGST 137
The History of Yoga: Yoga's Roots, Philosophy, and Practice
RELIGST 138
Indian Philosophies
RELIGST 141
Between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, JR.: Race, Religion, and the Politics of Freedom
RELIGST 141X
Ancient Greek Religion
RELIGST 142
Life Worth Living
RELIGST 144
John Calvin and Christian Faith
RELIGST 145
The Gothic and the Supernatural
RELIGST 146
Religion, Place, and Power
RELIGST 147
Building Heaven and Hell
RELIGST 149
Finding Utopia: New Religious Movements in the 19th and 20th Centuries
RELIGST 150
Texts that Changed the World from the Ancient Middle East
RELIGST 151
Mantras, Meditations, and Spiritual Bodies: Healing in Tantric Traditions
RELIGST 153
Buddhist Tantra
RELIGST 155
What Makes a "Cult?" Studying Religion on the Margins
RELIGST 156
The Age of Apocalypse
RELIGST 156X
Sounds of Islam
RELIGST 158
Spiritualism and the Occult
RELIGST 163
Ghosts, Ghouls, and Demons: Religion and the Supernatural
RELIGST 167
Reading the Quran
RELIGST 168
Philosophy of Religion: An Historical Introduction
RELIGST 170D
Readings in Talmudic Literature
RELIGST 171
Gender(s) and Sexuality in Jewish Culture
RELIGST 171A
Biblical Greek
RELIGST 173X
Latin 400-1700 CE
RELIGST 174
Religious Existentialism
RELIGST 176X
That Mortal God: Deifying the Political in Early Modern Politics
RELIGST 192
Practical Training and Internship
RELIGST 196
Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
RELIGST 199
Individual Work for Undergraduates
RELIGST 202
Indian Religious History Through its Material Culture and Iconography
RELIGST 203A
South Asian Islam
RELIGST 205
Silk Road Transformation of Buddhism
RELIGST 205A
Rituals in Asian Religions
RELIGST 205X
How to Think About Antisemitism
RELIGST 206
Thinking Theory Theologically
RELIGST 207
On the Concept of Islamic History
RELIGST 208
Women of the Movement
RELIGST 210
Translating Religion
RELIGST 210X
Doing Religious History
RELIGST 215
Death, Power, and Religion
RELIGST 217A
The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Buddhism
RELIGST 217B
Music and Sound in Buddhism
RELIGST 218X
The Holy Dead: Saints and Spiritual Power in Medieval Europe
RELIGST 220
Political Theology
RELIGST 223
Advanced Readings in Jewish Mysticism
RELIGST 224
Ritual and the Senses in Asian Religions
RELIGST 227
Political Theology Revisited
RELIGST 228
The Earliest Christians
RELIGST 231
European Reformations, 1500-1650
RELIGST 231X
Learning Religion: How People Acquire Religious Commitments
RELIGST 232
Buddhist Meditation: Ancient and Modern
RELIGST 233
Comparative Mysticism
RELIGST 234
Islam and Material Culture
RELIGST 234X
Church, State, & Schools: Issues in Education & Religion
RELIGST 235
Sacred Space
RELIGST 235X
The Trial of Galileo: Science, Politics, and Religion
RELIGST 239
Philosophy of/in Religious Studies
RELIGST 241
Black Religion in America
RELIGST 242
Chinese Buddhism
RELIGST 243
Early Christianity in the Middle East
RELIGST 246
Constructing Race and Religion in America
RELIGST 247
Chinese Buddhist Texts
RELIGST 250
Readings in Tibetan Literature
RELIGST 252
Hearts and Diamonds: The Lives of Buddhist Sacred Texts
RELIGST 255
Perspectives on Caste and Religion in South Asia
RELIGST 257
Women in Japanese Buddhism
RELIGST 257X
Female Divinities in China
RELIGST 261
What Does It Mean to be Secular?
RELIGST 262
Sex and the Early Church
RELIGST 263
The Religions and Cultures of Enslaved People in America
RELIGST 264
Hindu Tantra
RELIGST 266
Islam, the Uncanny
RELIGST 266A
Religion and the Civil Rights Movement: Race, Faith, and Kinship
RELIGST 267A
Reading Islamic Texts
RELIGST 273
Alexander and Asoka: Empire-building, Myth-making and Memory
RELIGST 274
Buddhism and the Arts
RELIGST 275
Devotional Religions in South Asia
RELIGST 276
Visions, Dreams, and Meditations in Buddhism
RELIGST 277
Hindu-Muslim Encounters in South Asia
RELIGST 280
Reconstructing Religion: Friedrich Schleiermacher and the Beginnings of Modern Christian Theology
RELIGST 281
Asian Religions in America; Asian American Religions
RELIGST 289X
Desire, Violence, and the Sacred: Introduction to Rene Girard's Theory
Remaining Units
The remainder of the coursework needed to bring the total Religious Studies unit count to 28 is chosen in consultation with the student’s minor advisor according to interest.