Faith and Spirituality: Home

This course provides an overview of key concepts, methods and authors in both fields. These introduce the student to the types of reasoning required for the pursuit of in-depth analysis in each discipline. Emphasis on topics and authors varies with the particular instructor.

The purpose of this course is to examine how the two institutions of religion and culture interact and mutually influence one another. To do this a variety of definitions of religion and culture will be presented as well as an analysis of how religion interacts with such cultural phenomena as economics, politics, the state, war and the basic problem of social change. The purpose of this is to obtain a variety of perspectives on both religion and culture so that one can begin to articulate more clearly the different influences that occur in the development of one's own personal history and the culture in which one lives.

Notions of good and evil shape many of our day to day religious and philosophical claims and arguments. This course concerns questions and approaches to what is often called "evil," through a study of classical and contemporary texts and problems. The focus of the course will vary, but will include metaphysical, moral, and political ideas about kinds and relations of goods and evils from different religious and philosophical perspectives. This study takes into account notions of error, ignorance, wrong-doing, freedom and responsibility evident in contemporary religious and philosophical debate.

The purpose of this course is to examine, from the perspectives of history text, practice, and philosophy, some or all of the following religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto. The course will attend to the social context in which these religions began, their relations with their culture, their rituals and their continuing influences in the East and West.

The primary aim of this course would be student literacy in global religions. The course examines, from historical, doctrinal, scriptural and/or philosophical perspectives, major world religious and spiritual traditions. Attention will be given to the social context in which these religious traditions developed and will examine their continuing influence.

his course is organized around an advanced or specialized topic in religion and provides preparation for HU 3900 Inquiry Seminars in philosophy and religion. The focus will vary, but the material will be drawn from a particular religious thinker, a particular religious tradition or a particular historical or contemporary problem.