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  • RELST 265: Extreme Religion:The Body,Pain,Sex and Martyrdom in Religious Experience W

    3.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    For the sake of their soul and their faith, religious individuals engage in a variety of actions which-in other contexts-would be considered extreme: self-mutilation, snake-handling, fasting, celibacy, tantric sex, polygamy, suicide, martyrdom, etc. This course focuses on the role of religious experience; particularly on ecstatic or extreme religious expressions in world religions today. After examining the roles and functions of "experience" withinreligion, this course focuses on specific examples (or case studies) of "extreme" religious practices, seeking tounderstand their meaning and significance for the practitioners of the religions themselves. Prerequisite: three semester hours in one of the following: history, English, philosophy, or religious studies. Offered in selected Winter Sessions.
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  • RELST 303: Saints and Heretics:Christian History I

    4.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    Through lecture and discussion of key primary texts, this course traces the "plot" of the development of Christianthought about questions of fundamental human importance from the formation of the medieval world to the Reformation. We examine the mutual dependence of theology and wider culture with special attention to developing strategies for reading the Bible. May be taken in conjunction with RELST 304 or independently. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies. Offered fall of even-numbered years.
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  • RELST 304: Damned and Saved:Christian History II

    4.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    Through lecture and discussion of key primary texts, this course continues the "plot" of the development ofChristian thought. We trace the creation of our own modern world view from the wake of the Reformation through the Enlightenment and into the 19th and 20th centuries. The focus is on the development of strategies for reading the Bible. As in RELST 303, we examine the interrelation of theology and its cultural context at each step of the way. May be taken in conjunction with RELST 303 or independently. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies. Offered spring of oddnumbered years.
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  • RELST 319: Christian Ethics

    4.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    Focuses both on the distinctiveness of "Christian ethics"over against other ethical theories (e.g., ethical egoism, utilitarianism, etc.) and on the different ways in which Christians themselves use biblical texts within theological ethics. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies. Offered intermittently.
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  • RELST 320: Science and Religion

    4.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    Centers around two main questions: What has been the impact of science on theology, and are science and religion incompatible? The first question is primarily historical. We examine key advances in the history of science (the heliocentric theory of the universe and evolution, for example) and theological responses to them. The second question is primarily philosophical. In each case, discussions take their departure from the issues raised in important primary texts. Prerequisite: junior/senior status, or at least one course in the natural sciences or consent. Offered intermittently.
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  • RELST 324: Local Religions in Practice

    1.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    The study of religion, long dominated by the study of what "believers" were "thinking", also has a long traditioof observing what adherents were doing. From the earliest sociologist and anthropologists, the study of religion has never been complete without an understanding of religion in practice. This course introduces students to the practices of participant-observation and ethnography, as well as to some of the foundation literature and pressing questions still asked in the study of people in the course of their religious lives. Offered on demand.
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  • RELST 326: Methodism

    4.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    An interdisciplinary exploration of the history of Methodism, with special foci upon the Wesleys, Asbury, other early itinerant preachers, and upon the religious and cultural development of the Methodist denomination and its Wesleyan offshoots (e.g. AME). Prerequisite: 4 semester hours of religious studies or history. Offered spring of evennumbered years.
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  • RELST 331: Rationalism and Mysticism in Religion

    3.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    Rationalism and mysticism are radically different ways of comprehending the world, and yet many of the world's major religions feature both rationalist and mystical forms. First, this course examines rationalism and mysticism as comprehensive and competing religious paradigms; second, surveys manifestations of religious rationalism and mysticism in the monotheistic religions, and third, examines in detail the oscillation of rationalism and mysticism in Judaism from Late Antiquity until the 20th century. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies.
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  • RELST 332: Jewish Ethics

    3.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    Focuses on how Judaism helps people meet the challenges of contemporary life. What do classic sources and contemporary thinkers say about animal experimentation, child custody, duties to others, hazardous waste disposal, and medical ethics? These and other pressing concerns are treated in this course through careful attention to classic biblical and rabbinic texts. Prerequisite: at least three semester hours in one or more of the following: English, history, philosophy, religious studies. Offered intermittently.
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  • RELST 335: Christian Theology and Film

    4.00 Credits
    Virginia Wesleyan University

    A seminar devoted to exploring how the fields of theology and film studies cross-fertilize each other, with special attention given to the ways in which film functions as religious discourse. Students seek to investigate the historical evolution of film as a means of communicating theological doctrines or themes through its narrative patterns and to analyze how religious and secular films have been and are considered as cultural texts that advise not only how one should live, but what one should believe. In particular, we explore the sermonic nature of film, various hermenuetics of film, and how audiences receive and appropriate both manifest and latent religious meanings. Identical to COMM 335. Prerequisites: three semester hours in either communications, English, history, philosophy, or religious studies. Offered spring of evennumbered years.
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