The course surveys the history of the relationship between religion and sexuality in the lands that became the United States from before European contact to the present. Religion has both sanctioned sexual expressions and attempted to prohibit deviations from the prescribed ideals. Human experiments with sexuality, marriage, and procreation have, in turn, challenged religious prohibitions and inspired new religious movements. Rather than viewing religion and sexuality as incompatible or oppositional, the course will explore the two forces as co-constitutive.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.