CONN 344 | Magic and Religion

This course in intellectual history draws upon history, religion, anthropology, and sociology in order to understand how the cagtegories of `religion' and `magic' have been shaped by the Western, and largely Christian-influenced, tradition. `Magic' and `religion' arose out of the history of the West's engagement with internal groups decried as `deviant,' such as medieval `heretics,' or Catholics in the Protestant imagination, and then, during colonialism, in response to other societies and cultures. The course draws upon a range of disciplines to examine how intellectual categories are dynamic, how they shaped over time, and how particular assumptions and viewpoints inform the creation of these categories.