Religious Studies
Curriculum Description
Through a variety of courses in the field of Religious Studies students are invited to deepen their understanding of religion by asking such questions as, Why have humans been so habitually religious? Is religious understanding compatible with reason and science? Can one retrieve anything of significance from ancient religious texts and traditions? What is the relationship between religion and culture? What is theology? What is the status of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other kinds of theology in a religiously plural world?
Faculty Advisor
Chester L. Gillis, Ph.D.
Format
In addition to the 13 required core and writing courses, 16 courses
must be taken from the following Religious Studies courses, which are
divided into four categories: Foundational, Biblical, Comparative, and
Religion and Culture. Foundational courses explore the question of the
coherence, meaning and plausibility of religion, especially in light of the
academic, psychological, philosophical, sociological, and feminist
suspicion of the integrity of religious life and thought. Biblical courses
inquire into the meaning of specifically biblical texts using the
modern tools of historical criticism and other current scholarly methods
Comparative courses seek to investigate non-Christian religions or
religious traditions either in themselves or by comparison with other
traditions. Religion and Culture courses relate the religious dimension of
human life with other aspects of culture such as art, literature, ethics,
science, psychology, and economics.
Students are required to take at least one course in each of these
areas.
