Religion

This course is an introductory examination of several major religions and worldviews. Attention will be given to the religious significance of human life through discussion of a range of questions including, but not limited to: What is the meaning, the aim of our life? What is sin? What is the road to happiness? What are death, judgment? Students will be encouraged to broaden their worldview in response to the people, forces and things that surround us.

This course provides an introduction to religious ethical reasoning through the comparative examination of the ethical claims of major world religious traditions. Attention will be given both to the religious and theological frameworks that inform traditions’ approaches to ethical reasoning, as well as the diverse ways such traditions understand ethical issues. Issues covered may include, but are not limited to, sexuality, marriage, and the family; capital punishment; war and peace; economic justice; and the environment

The three monotheistic traditions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, will be studied comparatively. Topics within the course include, but are not limited to, the prehistory and history of sacred texts, their creation stories, and how such texts influence worship practices and shape understandings of authority and community, gender, and material culture. (Former title:  Comparative Sacred Texts)

Course explores the notion of cinema as a type of technology that has served a variety of thought-provoking roles in American history and culture, such as a medium for defining “good” and “evil,” as an audio-visual technology for shaping American politics, and as an inventor of new religious trajectories. WI

This course provides an examination of the role religion plays in society and public life. Specific topic(s), which will be chosen at the instructor’s discretion, may include, but are not limited to: the role of religion in politics, religious influences on social relationships and/or institutional forms, topics in religion and economics, topics in the sociology of religion, topics in religious history, and so on. May be repeated once, if topics are distinct.