What is Religion?

What is the origin of religion? How can we begin to understand the forceful and continuous presence of religion in human history? What do we make of individuals who claim to hear God or interact with the supernatural? Is there any way to understand the people at Jonestown who drank the Kool-Aid or the individuals who brought down the Twin Towers at 9/11 besides dismissing them as crazy and/or brainwashed? In this course we will use select analytical frameworks offered by religious studies to explore these questions, and more. We will pay special attention to the construction of the category of religion and how modern attitudes and assumptions about it have shaped acceptable and unacceptable forms of religious behavior and belief.