This unit explores Greek religion as a defining feature of what it meant to be Greek. We will investigate similarities and differences between religious beliefs and practices throughout the ancient Greek world and trace how religion changed over time. Topics addressed include sacrifice, religious festivals and games, the use (and abuse) of divination, and shared notions of purity and pollution.

This Unit will examine various ways anthropologists have theorised religious belief and practice, and we will challenge these ideas by looking at the vast diversity of religious forms. Starting with the major theories of Durkheim, Weber and others, the Unit will focus on what anthropologists have identified as the key elements of religious forms cross-culturally. It will also look at debates around these ideas. Special emphasis will be put on the continuing salience of religious ideas and identities in modernity.

This unit will approach the core ideas of Buddhism on suffering, impermanence, non-self and interdependence in a systematic fashion and explore the implications for the Buddhist understanding of ontology (theory of being) and epistemology (theory of knowledge). The connection between philosophical ideas and the Buddhist path will be explored in relation to ethics, meditation and the cultivation of insight and wisdom. The connections between Buddhist philosophy and modern and postmodern Western philosophy will also be explored.

This unit explores the diversity and continued dynamism of Buddhism in modern Asia. The focus of the unit is social, cultural and political with an emphasis on the way Buddhism is influencing Asian societies and is, in turn, influenced by them. Buddhism's encounter with modernity and its role in the nation state, in lay and environmental movements and its influence on social and political discourses and practices will be examined.

This unit examines the history of Muslim veiling, the religious discourses which are regularly cited as dictating a dress code for Muslim women, and the historical, political, regional, and cultural variations in veiling practices. We also consider the multiple meanings that the veil has had for Muslim women, and pay attention to Muslim women's voices of resistance toward stereotypical images of the veil as they are disseminated by the media and by fundamentalist Islamist regimes.

This unit traces the history and development of Arab diasporic communities over the past two centuries in Australia, Europe, and the United States. We explore the cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity of these communities both at national and local levels and examine the multiple ways in which Arab immigrants are maintaining and reconfiguring their cultural, ethnic, and religious identities through cultural and artistic productions. This unit also offers an experiential learning aspect through structured encounters with various Arab communities in Sydney.

This unit focuses on the interplay between gender, culture and politics in the Arab world. Representations of gender and sexuality, and their politicization, will be studied through feminist, literary, and historiographical criticism, permitting a deep historical understanding of current debates.

This unit presents an overview of prophetic works of the Hebrew Bible, examining literary, socio-political, and religio-historical aspects of the texts, with special emphasis on the theme of Messianism in the biblical prophets.

This unit examines the Biblical Poetic Books such as Psalms, the Song of Songs and Lamentations. The main focus of the course is on how the literary conventions of the genre of Hebrew poetry are used by the poets to set out the theological and philosophical concepts the texts are designed to express. These literary conventions will be studied in the light of other Ancient Near Eastern literature of a similar genre.

This unit examines the relationship between the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth and the literary-theological achievement of the early Christian Gospels (including non-canonical Gospels). Students are encouraged to apply rigorous historical method and careful literary analysis in order to gain a nuanced understanding of how the leader of a Jewish renewal movement became the object of devotion in earliest Christianity. The unit will read Biblical texts in English translation.

The books of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible and Revelation in the New Testament are the only "apocalypses" found in any western Bible. In this unit students will apply advanced methods in analysis of biblical texts (literary, thematic, linguistic, and text critical) in order to analyse these texts in the context of the most relevant extra-biblical apocalyptic texts, such as 1 Enoch, 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch.

One of the most traumatic events in Jewish history was the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Explore the reasons behind the expulsion and the ways in which new centres of Jewish life emerged, especially in Eastern Europe. Light will also be shed on the establishment of Jewish communities in the Netherlands and England on the eve of emancipation when the new ideas of the Enlightenment paved the way for the rise of the modern Jew.

This unit is a general introduction to the history of religions, beginning with the emergence of religion in pre-literate societies as evidenced in art and archaeology. It then studies the ancient religions of Egypt and Mesopotamia, Persia, India, China, Israel, Greece and Rome; before turning to the growth and spread of world religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Students are expected to specialise in traditions and themes of their own choice in writing Essays.

What is the 'new' atheism? How have globalisation and new media affected religious practice? This unit considers a broad range of recent high-profile events and contemporary debates and controversies in religion. Topics include: the supposed rise of fundamentalism, arguments over 'the death of God', new forms of spirituality and enchantment. Through the use of case studies, from UFO-religions to The Gospel of Judas, students examine the overarching theme: What is the future of religion?

This unit examines the history of Christianity from the late Roman Empire to the close of the Middle Ages. A survey of the chief landmarks of the Christian religion in its social setting, in terms of its significant beliefs, experiences and diverse cultural expressions. A tutorial hour will be devoted to an exploration of some major philosophical and theological themes from Late Antique Christianity to the Middle Ages.

Since the late 19th century, discussion within the philosophy of religion has shifted from the traditional arguments for God's existence to a broader set of themes concerning the relations of reason and faith. In this course, we will critically examine a range of philosophical approaches that are responsible for this shift, analysing how philosophers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein have understood these two concepts and the relations between them. We will ask: what is reason and what is its status? Is it sovereign or is faith autonomous from reason? Can they coexist or do they pose a threat to each other?

This unit discusses the textual, archaeological and socio-cultural evidence for the origins of Christianity; with a particular purpose to analyse how cults centred on the charismatic figure of Jesus of Nazareth led to the construction of such a powerful religious tradition. Tensions within that emergent tradition will be considered, and especially its struggle towards self-identity with both Judaism and the Greco-Roman world.

This unit investigates the mythology and the religion of the Celtic and Germanic peoples. It ranges from prehistoric sites of Hallstatt (800 BCE) and Jastorf (350 BCE) to the Christian Middle Ages, when mythological collections (e.g. the Eddas and the Lebor Gebala) were complied. Sources used include archaeology, texts, folkloric survivals, and Indo-European mythology. It covers deities and the supernatural; sacred times and places; kingship and priesthood; goddesses; death and afterlife; and the conversion of the Celts and Germans to Christianity.

This unit will introduce the cosmologies, gods and religious structures of Pharoanic Egypt, including the imperial cult, sacred language, popular religion and magic. It will then consider the legacy of ancient Egyptian religion and magic in late antiquity, including the cult of Isis, Hermetic and Gnostic movements, the spiritual influence of the city of Alexandra, and the persistence of Coptic magic. Finally, there will be discussion of the abiding fascination with all things Egyptian in modern esotericism and popular culture.

This unit investigates pressing contemporary issues in the method and study of religion. It prepares students for advanced research, including honours. Historical analysis of religion and contentious key terms are debated, as students are introduced to field studies methodology and other complex research strategies. Theoretical work is more tightly integrated in this unit with research practice and the unit is structured to nurture the student in an extended research project, helping them to find a dynamic and assured academic voice.

From the fifteenth century Christianity spread to Asia, the Americas, Africa, and the Pacific. Students will interrogate the relationship between Christian doctrine and cultural accommodation within colonialism, the European domination of the 'Global South', and the contemporary re-evangelisation of the 'Global North' by former colonies. New trends explored include online Christianity, growing Pentecostal congregations, radical transformations caused by individualism, gender, and indigenous politics. Students' investigations will focus on global agendas, such as liberation theology, environmental ethics, and Christian popular culture.

This unit examines the ways in which the religious impulse has been expressed socially, the role of religion in society, the way in which individuals form and change religious commitments, the ways in which religious groups have been organised and evolve, the nature of belief as it is expressed collectively and individually, and controversies over the role of religion in social life. Illustrations from contemporary events will be used to explore major religious policy issues and controversies.

Students will investigate typologies of 'religion', distinguishing between 'world religions' and other 'religions' (particularly indigenous religions), and recognise that these classifications resulted from European colonialism and the encounter of Christianity with other religions (in Asia, the Americas, and Africa). Religions with scriptures, priesthoods, and institutions paralleling those of Biblical traditions were privileged over oral cultures and indigenous religions. Students study methods of textual criticism and historical investigation of the 'origins' of religion, from which emerged the discipline of 'religious studies'.