Featured Courses
Engaging Religions: An Introduction to Religion and Global Affairs
KGSA 30600 / ASIA 30600 / IIPS 30434
Misbah Hyder
MW 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
3 credits
In a religiously diverse and vastly troubled world, how do religious traditions motivate believers to work toward the common good? “Engaging Religions,” the course title, refers to three things we will examine. First, it describes how religions are intrinsically engaging: they draw in adherents by fulfilling their material, intellectual, and spiritual needs. Second, it specifies what various secular institutions like governments and development organizations must do in pursuing the common good across our planet—most of whose inhabitants are religious. Finally, it characterizes our work in this class: exploring how various religious traditions conceptualize and work toward the common good in a global context. We will engage how religious traditions from the East and West—from Asian and Abrahamic “world” religions, to a variety of indigenous “local” religions—complicate or complement modern Catholicism’s emphasis on Integral Human Development.
Credit hours contribute to the:
Global Affairs Major — Keough School of Global Affairs
Peace Studies Supplementary Major or Peace Studies Minor — Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
Asian Studies Supplementary Major or Asian Studies Minor — Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies
American Adventurism in the Muslim World
KSGA 30604
Mahan Mirza
T Th 3:30 - 4:45 p.m.
3 credits
This course examines US engagement in hotspots across the Muslim world before and after 9/11. In particular focus are nations in South Asia and the Middle East: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq. We will also look at US relations with important Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well as policies toward Israel-Palestine and the Bosnian War in Europe. US engagement abroad takes many forms, including public diplomacy, trade, sanctions, alliances, covert operations, financial and military aid, and direct military intervention. What are the drivers of American decision-making in the region? Why is there so much anti-American sentiment in Muslim societies? Does peace depend on a critical reassessment of US foreign policy or the reform of a radical Islamist theology? Do certain interpretations of religion make conflict inevitable, or is it possible to attain reasonable outcomes even when dealing with extremists? Through a blend of history, investigative journalism, case studies, opinion polls, literature, and film, this course broadens our perspectives on some of America's longest wars in the Muslim world.
Credit hours contribute to the:
Global Affairs Major — Keough School of Global Affairs
American Evangelicals and Global Affairs
KSGA 30606
Charles Powell
MW 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
3 credits
Since the end of the Cold War, American Evangelicals' political influence has increased significantly. For example, Christian Zionist have continued to contribute meaningfully to American political support for the state of Israel. Additionally, to improve human dignity, Evangelicals have established schools and promoted literacy, built clinics and dispensaries, promoted agricultural development and distributed food aid, created orphanages, and propagated values about the inherent worth of all persons. Twenty-five to thirty percent of the US population is neo-evangelical and another five to ten percent adheres to some form of evangelical theology. That means that 100 million Americans are in one way or another tied to evangelical theology and they seem to pray, think, vote, and lobby as a coalition. This course will examine the rise of American Evangelicalism and explore matters deemed important to Evangelicals: social and political affairs, global engagement, participation in public affairs, international affairs, support of Israel, political and economic development. More generally, this course offers a compelling account of Evangelicals' influence on America's role in the world. Students will learn how to engage more thoughtfully and productively with this influential religious group - a group that has been called political kingmakers! Students will also learn about the largest protestant denomination in the world - Southern Baptists - from the professor, who was a former Southern Baptist Minister and church planter.
Global Affairs Major — Keough School of Global Affairs
Am. Evangel. & Global Affairs Minor — Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government
American Studies — Department of American Studies