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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
This course introduces students to the major themes and movements in American religious history from the colonial period to the end of Jacksonian reform. Among the topics discussed are Reformation "churches" and "sects," Puritanism and secularism in seventeenth-century America, ethnic diversity and religious pluralism in the Middle Colonies, slavery and slave religion, revivalism, religion and the American Revolution, and social reform. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. M. Bruce.
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3.00 Credits
The course seeks to understand the importance of religion in the evolution of a sense of national identity and of national destiny for the United States. Consideration is given to the importance of religious traditions both in the development and sanctioning of national mythologies, and in the critique or criticism of these mythologies. The historical background of such considerations begins with Native American religions. The course concludes with a study of "religious freedom" in a multicultural nation again uncertain of its grounds for unity. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. M. Bruce.
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3.00 Credits
This course considers the developing field of psychiatric ethics. Part one surveys the standard ethical issues raised by psychiatric medicine including informed consent, competence, boundaries in the therapeutic setting, research ethics, pharmacological interventions, and psychiatric disability. Part two considers recent efforts to describe, define, and theorize mental illness and assess how theories of illness bear on moral appraisals of psychiatric practices. The course draws on diverse readings from philosophy, religion, literature, and critical theory. Recommended background: one course in neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, religious studies, or ethics. Enrollment limited to 40. Staff.
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3.00 Credits
Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (in English translation) with readings in related ancient literature. This course traces the history of ancient Israel from its prehistory in the Bronze Age (the time of the Patriarchs) through to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian Empire (the end of the First Temple Period). Major topics of study include the evolution of Israelite religious ideas and practices and the various literary traditions represented in the Hebrew Bible (especially the prophetic, priestly, and wisdom traditions) and such topics as biblical mythology, nationhood, women in ancient Israel, internal politics, and international relations with the ancient Near Eastern centers of civilization. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. C. Baker.
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3.00 Credits
A study of the development of Christian thought from the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginnings of the modern era. The history of religious ideas in the West is considered in its social and political context. Readings include selections from Augustine, Gregory the Great, Anselm, Hildegard von Bingen, Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. Staff.
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3.00 Credits
A study of some encounters between Judaic and Christian traditions and modern culture, as they have developed since the Enlightenment. Attention is given to significant critiques of religion that have helped define the context for understanding religious meaning in a modern and postmodern culture. Readings are drawn from critics such as Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Mendelssohn, Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. Staff.
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3.00 Credits
Biblical narratives present various stories where we find fear, loss of love, death, and anxiety, all of which are part of the human condition. These aspects are examined through the narratives of creation, and the stories of Joseph, Moses, Samson, Jonah, and Job. Enrollment limited to 40. Staff.
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3.00 Credits
From John Winthrop to Ronald Reagan, Americans imagined themselves as a chosen people, a righteous empire, and a city upon a hill. The course examines this religious view of America and its role in shaping American ideas regarding politics, education, work, women, ethnic groups, and other countries. Assigned readings include works by Edmund Morgan, Sacvan Bercovitch, R. W. B. Lewis, and William Clebsch. Prerequisite(s): one course in religion. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. M. Bruce.
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3.00 Credits
This course examines the origins, historical development, and diversity of African American religious traditions from the Colonial era to the present. Throughout American history, African Americans have used religion not only as a means of expressing complex views of themselves and their world, but also as a form of cultural critique, social reform, economic independence, and political activism. Among the movements and topics discussed are African and Caribbean religious influences, slave religion, the rise of African American denominations, the Nation of Islam, the importance of spirituals and gospel music, Afrocentricity, and the civil rights movement. Given the complex nature of African American religious experience, this course adopts an interdisciplinary approach and draws upon scholarship on religion in sociology, politics, history, art, literature, and music. Prerequisite: Religious Studies 100. Enrollment limited to 40. M. Bruce.
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3.00 Credits
This course explores issues and thinkers in modern Judaism. Topics vary from year to year, and may include one or more of the following: twentieth-century European and American Jewish experience, the varieties of modern Judaism, religion and politics in contemporary Jewish thought, gender issues in Judaism, and interreligious relations with Islam and Christianity. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. Staff.
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