Humanities Courses

Explore what makes cities energizing, amazing, challenging, and perhaps humanity’s greatest invention.

This course examines the Sikh scripture from a doctrinal and historical perspective by providing an overview of Sikh teachings as well as the historical context within which the scripture evolved and became canonized.

Learn how the Manchus conquered the Qing and established the last of the imperial dynasties.

Combine literary research with data science to find answers in unexpected ways. Learn basic coding tools to help save time and draw insights from thousands of digital documents at once.

Learn about the key beliefs and practices of Judaism through an examination of its sacred texts and their interpretation.

Join Harvard faculty in this online course to discover the physical history of the Jewish bible.

Learn about Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, an iconic Romantic symphony that ushered in an era of narrative “program music.”

Traces Albert Einstein’s engagement with relativity, quantum mechanics, Nazism, nuclear weapons, philosophy, the arts, and technology.

Gain an understanding of history, museum studies, and curation by looking at, organizing, and interpreting art, artifacts, scientific curiosities, and the stuff of everyday life.

Explore the underlying structures of everyday arguments and develop the tools to communicate effectively.

Embark on a global journey to explore the past, present, and future of world literature.

An overview of divination systems, ranging from ancient Chinese bone burning to modern astrology.

Learn about Christianity through a study of its sacred scriptures. We will explore how diverse Christians have interpreted these writings and practiced their teachings over a 2000 year, global history.

Learn about the rich and diverse beliefs and practices of Buddhists across time and place. Experience Buddhism through its scriptures, both relationally as well as academically.

Why should we care about Confucius? Explore ancient Chinese philosophy, ethics, and political theory to challenge your assumptions of what it means to be happy, live a meaningful life, and change the world.

Explore the reunification of China under the Tang with a focus on aristocratic culture — from poetry to calligraphy to literature.

Examine how cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how their vision of literature contributes to our understanding of civilization, culture, and literature today.

Learn about China’s origins, its integral early thinkers, and competing states and schools of thought.

Explore the birth of modern China with a focus on the time between the fall of the Qing and the end of World War II.

Develop skills in digital research and visualization techniques across subjects and fields within the humanities.

Learn how businesses thrive and grow while simultaneously solving some of the world's biggest challenges in this course from Harvard Business School (HBS) Online.

Study Japanese scroll art as text and as "little movies" that immerse the viewer through visual narration. 

An overview of modern Chinese history, including the fall of the Qing and the end of imperial China.

Discover Handel’s Messiah in this installment of First Nights, which will explore five masterpieces of western music.

Learn how early American politics informed the U.S. Constitution and why its promise of liberty and equality has yet to be fully realized.

Reimagine global health problems with some of the leading global health thinkers and actors through a case-based biosocial framework.

Prepare your student for college-level writing now.

Power and Influence for Positive Impact, a Harvard Business School (HBS) Online course, helps individuals develop their own power to gain influence and make an impact.

Learn about Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, one of the first operas ever written.

An introduction to the study of bioethics and the application of legal and ethical reasoning.