Dr. Benfield: Philosophy of Religion
Dr. Garrett : Modern Philosophy
Dr. Herrera: Existence and Reality
Dr. McDermid: ST: Philosophical Issues in Science
Dr. Ibrahim: ST: Islamic Ethics and Law
Dr. Johnson: Religion and Social Change
Dr. Johnson: Religion &
Culture
Dr. Kogan: Old testament II Joshua to Daniel
Dr. Kogan: ST: TS. Eliot
Dr. Eller: Women in Religion
Dr. Vail: ST: Yoga Texts
Philosophy
Electives
PHIL 262
– Philosophy of Religion
HONP301 02–
Ways of Knowing
“What sort of God, if any, exists?”
“If God does indeed exist, what are God’s powers?” “Are there any
miracles?” “After our bodies die do we exist as
individual persons?” These are all important questions. Different
religious traditions provide apparently conflicting answers. Using a
new text edited by world renowned scholar Paul Knitter, The
Myth of Religious Superiority, we will examine in some detail
what is known as the pluralist response to these different answers.
Dr. Kogan, contributor to the Knitter volume, will be a guest
lecturer. If you are interested in attacking these and related
questions using reason and the tools of analytic philosophy, this is
the course for you.
The nature of all forms of truth will
be investigated. We will scrutinize the
traditional proofs for the existence of God and spend considerable
time examining the major attempts to reconcile a universe managed by
a Maximally Great Being with the obvious existence of an imperfect
world containing real evil. The necessary conditions for personal
life after the death of the body will be explored. The course has no
prerequisites; however, an open and tolerant attitude toward all
religions will be essential. The course will meet f2f and the
requirements will be: weekly journal entries; class-presentation
project; mid-term take-home exam; and a final examination.
In
this course, we will focus on a few of the more important metaphysical issues from the beginnings of philosophy to the present.
These issues will include the notion of truth, self/personal identity,
god, events/actions, time, meaning, and of course, the overall nature
of reality. We will also address practical issues raised by these
topics. We will draw on this course from the thoughts and writing of
classical authors, such as Plato, Kant, and Wittgenstein. Our goal
will be to relate the metaphysical speculations of the great thinkers
to the problems that we encounter every day, including our need to
accommodate each other, and understand our place in nature.
PHIL 333 –
History of Philosophy : Modern Philosophy
An introduction to
European philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries, which defined
modern thought. Readings will be from the central works of Descartes,
Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. The main themes
will be the nature of knowledge, reality, and the human mind. Some of
the specific issues to be considered are the following: Is it possible
to prove that I really exist, or that the physical world exists? Do
these questions even make sense? Is perception the basis of human
knowledge, or can we learn things about the physical world just by
logical thought (like mathematical deductions in theoretical physics)?
Is the world a vast, unified structure in which each event is linked
to other events by natural laws? Or is the world instead a
miscellaneous collection of unconnected events that we simply think of
more usefully in some ways rather than other ways? Can knowledge of
the material world be as reliable as the direct knowledge I have of my
own thoughts? What mental structures or capacities are needed to make
either sort of knowledge possible?
PHIL 290 – ST:
Philosophical Issues in Science
This course will
be looking at the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics – in a
very accessible manner. No prerequisites in terms of mathematics
are required (high school level is more than sufficient); no
antecedent knowledge of quantum theory or other science, beyond the
layman’s understanding, is necessary either. (The course will be
very “self-contained”.)
We will start by
looking at some of the strange predictions that quantum mechanics makes
about the world – that actually appear to be confirmed by experiments.
We will learn *some* actual quantum mechanics, but nothing requires any
advanced mathematics – visual representations will suffice for most
things. The core of the course will be looking at the central
conceptual and philosophical problem of quantum mechanics: the
“measurement problem”, and its solutions. This is, in some senses, a
rather obscure problem, but its effects are many. We will be asking
questions about metaphysics: what is reality? What is a
“superposition”? Does quantum mechanics require consciousness? Is the
world deterministic, or is chance a fundamental part of the world? Do
things have definite positions? We will be asking epistemological
questions: How can we tell if the world is like quantum mechanics says
it is? Can we know what a superposition is (even if we’re ‘in one’)?
What does quantum mechanics say about our general limitations in terms
of knowledge? What, exactly, is quantum mechanics telling us the real
world is like?
Religion
Electives
RELG 202 – Old Testament:
Joshua to Daniel
An examination of the history and theology of Israelite
religion as recorded in the Biblical books covering the middle and late
periods (1200 - 165 B.C.) of ancient Israel. A close reading of the
historical and prophetic books with analysis from a variety of scholarly
schools of interpretation and criticism. The course will cover the
“Deuteronomic History” that runs through the books of Joshua, Judges,
Samuel, and Kings, Prophetic books including Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah
and Ezekiel and later biblical writings. Recommended for students with an
interest in literature, history, philosophy and anthropology.
RELG 221 01, 221
02 - Religion and Culture
Dr. Stephen Johnson
Section 1
-
MW 10-11:15am
-
Room DI 175
-
Call Number 14140
Section 2
-
MW 1-2:15pm
-
Room DI 175
-
Call Number 14141
This course takes an historical
approach in studying the interactions of Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam with the broader cultures they impact and inhabit. Students will
learn amazing amounts of religious and secular history (especially
Western) in the first half of the course. In the second half of the
course, students will be immersed in fascinating (sometimes
terrifying) topics/foci. They will thereby gain insight into dynamics
still very much driving us (and driving us crazy) in these first years
of a new century and millennium.
Students must attend the classes,
survive two tough tests, and faithfully work at weekly written
assignments (thought questions, analyses, long summaries of videos
viewed during class, etc.)
RELG 225 –
Religion and Social Change
Brand new, Latest version of this course!
This spring we will study
What happens when good faith and spirituality
become imperial religions?
Historically organized, toward in-depth understanding of the last two
centuries. An exploratory but intense semester-long study of early
Christianity’s becoming Roman Catholicism, of Roman Catholicism’s
becoming increasingly papal-“Vaticanized,” and of early American
evangelical Protestant faith becoming later forms of Evangelical
religion, including today’s “religious right.”
Our two
major books for this are by Hans Kűng (one of the three most important
20th-century Catholic theologians) and by Mark Noll (an
Evangelical Christian who is also a leading scholar of American
Protestant thought and history).
No
prerequisites, but lots of serious reading and writing, as well
as stiff mid-term and final exams, and required-attendance policy.
We use
other books to discover how “twas not always thus” . . . . These
include Timothy Joyce’s survey of the long-lived early Irish Celtic
Christians (unique and very independent from the fifth into the twelfth
centuries) and Edmund Morgan’s study of the short-lived founding
generation of Massachusetts Puritans (very different from what their
descendents became).
RELG 267 –
Women in Religion
This course investigates women's religious practices and beliefs in
a number of established and alternative religions. It focuses in
particular on gendered patterns that are observable across a wide
range of religious traditions, ancient and modern. It is concerned
both with the description of women's religious experiences, and with
the development of theoretical models to assist in understanding the
gendered structure of various religions and the nature and functions
of women's beliefs and practices within them.
RELG 352 01 - ST: TS Eliot
This
course will be a close reading and analysis of virtually all of T. S.
Eliot's poems. We will examine the form, style and structure of the
poems but will emphasize the rich idea content. Eliot's view of the
intellectual and spiritual crises of contemporary civilization, the
isolation of modern man and the fragmentation of our culture will be
discussed. As the great religious poet of our age, his views on
religious faith and tradition and the spiritual struggle of the
individual in the age of the "death of God" will be given
particular attention.
NOTE: This class may be counted as a
seminar or non-seminar (for purposes of meeting the requirements for
the major in Religion).
RELG 352 02–
ST: Yoga Texts
RELG 352 03–ST:
Islamic Ethics and Law
This course provides
students with scholarly views and analyses on the topic of ethics
and the religious law of Islam. We will study the main schools
of Islamic ethics and law and their views on what constitutes the
right action and the ethical values in Islam. The course will
focus on addressing the Islamic view on contemporary controversial
issues such as abortion, euthanasia, war and peace, stem cell
research, and many others. In addition, students will read
selected sections from classical and modern works of Islamic law.
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