HINDUISM
This course explores the roots and ramifications of one of the major philosophical/religious traditions of the world. We will trace the evolution of its respective emphases on ritual, meditation, and devotion. The semester course assumes students have a grounding in the history and culture of India because of their background in Humanities. Building on that foundation, our focus will be on the wonderfully diverse and often paradoxical nature of the ideas and wisdom contained within the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita. Modern Hinduism will be examined within that traditional context. (F)

CHRISTIAN LIVES
Since its beginnings, Christianity has been lived in a wide variety of ways, as people through the ages have tried to use the lives of Jesus and the apostles as models for their own lives. We will look at the variety of Christian life, from Jesus to many others, including martyrs and monks, teachers and missionaries, soldiers and pacifists, artists and musicians. We will look at how people are living the Christian life in the modern world, from communalists to community organizers, from moral crusaders to black liberationists. Along the way we will try to figure out what the gospel has meant over time and what it means to different people today. We will probably do some exploring of our own community to discover how Christianity is shaping people’s lives. The emphasis will be less on doctrine than on daily experience.The course is open to sophomores through seniors. (F)

ISLAM
Several key elements of the Islamic tradition will be examined in this course. First, we will do a thorough historical examination of the beginnings and spread of Islam. This includes readings from the Quran, a careful study of the life of the Prophet Muhammad and analysis of Islam’s rapid expansion. Second, we will look at two trends in popular Islam, Shia Islam and the mystical Sufi tradition. Finally, we will examine the Islamic response to modernism and contemporary issues. Students are encouraged to take Middle Eastern Literature in conjunction with Islam in the spring semester. (F)

PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Religions from both the East and the West will provide material for our exploration of the ideas inherent in religious thinking. The focus of this course will be on issues such as the role of reason in the life of the spirit, connections between religious conflicts and different ways of seeing the truth, and differences between religious approaches to questions of life and death, and psychological, artistic, or scientific approaches to the same questions. (F)

BUDDHISM
This course provides an opportunity to explore one of the world’s most extraordinary religions in greater depth than can be achieved in Humanities. Although we will touch upon its cultural and historical dimensions, the emphasis will be on the ideas of Buddhism and their relevance for our time. (S)

JUDAISM
This course offers a thematic approach to Jewish religious traditions: drawing from the Hebrew Bible, as well as rabbinic sources, commentaries, mystical and folk traditions and modern Jewish writers,
we will explore such themes as covenant theology, ritual and purity, the nature of evil, and exile and return. We will try out various modes of Jewish scholarship -- itself a form of worship -- and seek
generally to understand the religion through its canons of writing (S)

RELIGION AND THE NATURAL WORLD
Religion is often associated with the supernatural world and science is often associated with the natural world. This course seeks to make those associations more complex than they might seem at first glance. For example, many religions consider the natural world to be sacred and many scientific theories consider the supernatural world to be rational. Through readings, writings, discussions, and a weekend field trip this course will consider these issues as well as many others. Its focus will be on philosophy, science, and religion. (S)

RELIGION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
This course will explore the world’s major religions and their theories of ethics and social justice. Questions of justice, freedom, equality, economic development, individualism, and human rights will be major themes of the course. Students will reflect upon their commitment to social justice as global citizens and leaders. They will develop a philosophy of service that translates their knowledge into action as change agents.(F)

THE GOOD LIFE
We will take as our central question what it means to try to live a good life, or a life of goodness. Starting with the ancients, like Aristotle and Confucius, we will examine different approaches to what can make us both good and happy, including philosophical approaches like Stoicism and Epicureanism, teachings of the ethical religions, asceticism and monasticism, and more modern utopian experiments. We will include recent reflections on the good life from a variety of traditions, including insights from modern psychology. A central task of the course will be for each student to reflect on and write about his or her own philosophy of the good life. (S)

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