REL 410 - Ancient Religious Texts of Africa and the Middle East

3 Semester Hours
The ongins of writing can be traced to ancient West Asia and North Africa. While our first texts are simple economic documents, the earliest exemplars of narrative literature are what we would now call “religious.” In this course we will examine these early literary texts from Anatolia, Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. We will also look at the earliest examples of what we would now call “prescriptive ritual,” or texts which describe religious practice. These texts provide wonderful insight into the worldviews and lives of these ancient peoples, while also depicting the origins of many religious beliefs and practices which still exist today. *Different iterattons of this course will cover different material based on the current research of the professor.

Writing Intensive
Term(s) Offered: Every 2-3 years.