REL 11.01 God and Money
This course introduces students to the problems and concerns of the study of religion by examining the interaction between economic and religious discourse and practice. Money has long been an object of reflection in philosophical, ethical, and religious traditions. We will explore money as a social phenomenon, a way human communities construct meaning and relationships, deal with power and obligation, and communicate what matters to them. We seek to understand what money is, how it interacts with moral categories like guilt and human value, and how it shapes areas of life such as identity, friendship, love, and sex. We also examine perspectives emerging from religious and ethical traditions concerning the presence of money in modern life. In so doing, we grapple with issues of individual and communal meaning, identity, and value judgment, as well as the challenge of defining what counts as religion—concerns that are integral to the discipline of religious studies and central to humanistic inquiry more broadly.