Course content
The course Religion and Politics (KOS4050) explores the dynamic relationship between religion and politics in our increasingly globalised world.
Through various perspectives, it equips students with the tools to decipher current events and achieve a comprehensive understanding of how religion and politics intersect to shape our contemporary landscape.
Topics include the rise of the religious right in the United States, the Iranian Revolution, the Chinese cultural revolution, the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the debate over mentioning God in the European Constitution, the development of religious social movements in the Meddle-East and the emergence of new market-driven forms of religion.
Furthermore, we will explore how these events were perceived and interpreted within contemporary academic discourses and integrated into broader narratives that provided either an optimistic or pessimistic "diagnosis" of the present and a hopeful or alarming vision of the future.