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Mar 13, 2026
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REL 220 - Religion and Globalization
It has been claimed that globalization has produced vast networks of power and intercultural exchange that have come to dominate the world in which we live. Such networks - intellectual, political, industrial, etc. - have reshaped all things from human societies to the environment. But what does these claims really mean, in terms of religion? If we are to speak of religions as themselves “global networks of power and intercultural exchange,” how are we to understand what this implies, and is it an accurate statement? If so, how so? If not, why not? How do religions operate as, or within, or against, or in ways indifferent to, such networks? What are the social and environmental harmonies, frictions, and disasters in which religion participates, as a direct agent of and/or a response to such networks? In other words, what are the relations of religion to globalization? This, then, is the central problematic of this course.
The course begins with various perspectives on globalization from different disciplinary perspectives, and proceeds with case studies of religions and religious practices in different places around the world that help engage the questions given above.
Cross-listed with GCS 100
3 credits
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