A descriptive and interpretive study of religious content and of religious attitudes, experiences and practices. Drawing on biological, behavioral, psychoanalytic, Jungian, existential-phenomenological and humanistic viewpoints, this course considers the nature of religious experience; the meaning of religious images, creeds and rituals; and the origins and significance of individual differences in religious outlook.

An examination of mysticism as well as other forms of personal religious consciousness and the way individuals have integrated religious experience with their general understanding of existence. Attention will be given to accounts of mysticism and spirituality found in different cultures and historical periods. Fundamental issues include: the character of religious experience, the significance of…