The structural center and history of Judaism are explored from the biblical period and the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism of the Mishnah and Talmud through the medieval period, Haskalah, and into modern times. Study areas include the distinctive features of Jewish faith, practice, and worship in the home and synagogue, the advent of new Judaisms, and the issues of Holocaust and the State of Israel.
PHRE 310 The Hindu Tradition as taught by Lloyd Pflueger
This course examines the history, structure, and essential teachings of the complex of South Asian traditions know in the West as Hinduism. We will survey this religious complex from its ancient beginnings to its modern expressions, with special attention to classical texts and formulations, illuminated by films, slides, music, art, field trips, and discussions. Our goal is to gain empathetic appreciation and a clearer understanding of the Hindu response to life as a sacred totality.
PHRE 336 History of Philosophy I: Ancient Philosophy as taught by Stephen Pollard
What things are most knowable? What things are most worth knowing? (What can we know the best, and what is it best to know?) Plato and Aristotle will help us to answer these questions. Our intensive reading of Platonic and Aristotelian texts will focus on Plato's doctrine of Forms and Aristotle's response to it.
PHRE 342 Symbolic Logic as taught by Dr. Patricia Burton
This course is primarily a problem-solving course in which the syntax and semantics of a first-order predicate calculus (with identity and definite description operators) are developed in order to scrutinize human reasoning (including mathematical reasoning), natural language, and certain properties of abstract structure in general.Symbolic Logic should be of particular interest to students in Linguistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, and the other sciences (life, physical, and social).Topics covered include:sentential logic, predicate logic, properties of relations,the logic of descriptions, semantic decision procedures, modal logics, the algebra of sets, and/or related topics in current philosophy of logic.
PHRE 360 African-American Religions as taught by Mike Ashcraft
This course will focus on African American Christianity, Islam, and African diaspora religions like Santeria and Vodou. We will survey developments in these traditions from slave times to the present. The course requires a field trip, class discussion of readings, written assignments, and in-class presentations.
PHRE 362 Women in Buddhism as taught by Ding-hwa Hsieh
This course examines the images and roles of women and the issues of gender and sexuality in Buddhism. We will read some important Buddhist scriptures concerning female sexuality and women's capacities for spiritual perfection, Buddhist biographical accounts of pious women, and contemporary scholarly works on Buddhist women’s experiences and movements in different cultures and time periods. The purpose of this course is to provide a comparative, cross-cultural perspective on women in various Buddhist traditions. Readings are taken from primary texts in translation & secondary works.
The structural center and history of Judaism are explored from the biblical period and the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism of the Mishnah and Talmud through the medieval period, Haskalah, and into modern times. Study areas include the distinctive features of Jewish faith, practice, and worship in the home and synagogue, the advent of new Judaisms, and the issues of Holocaust and the State of Israel.
PHRE 310 The Hindu Tradition as taught by Lloyd Pflueger
This course examines the history, structure, and essential teachings of the complex of South Asian traditions know in the West as Hinduism. We will survey this religious complex from its ancient beginnings to its modern expressions, with special attention to classical texts and formulations, illuminated by films, slides, music, art, field trips, and discussions. Our goal is to gain empathetic appreciation and a clearer understanding of the Hindu response to life as a sacred totality.
PHRE 336 History of Philosophy I: Ancient Philosophy as taught by Stephen Pollard
What things are most knowable? What things are most worth knowing? (What can we know the best, and what is it best to know?) Plato and Aristotle will help us to answer these questions. Our intensive reading of Platonic and Aristotelian texts will focus on Plato's doctrine of Forms and Aristotle's response to it.
PHRE 342 Symbolic Logic as taught by Dr. Patricia Burton
This course is primarily a problem-solving course in which the syntax and semantics of a first-order predicate calculus (with identity and definite description operators) are developed in order to scrutinize human reasoning (including mathematical reasoning), natural language, and certain properties of abstract structure in general.Symbolic Logic should be of particular interest to students in Linguistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, and the other sciences (life, physical, and social).Topics covered include:sentential logic, predicate logic, properties of relations,the logic of descriptions, semantic decision procedures, modal logics, the algebra of sets, and/or related topics in current philosophy of logic.
PHRE 360 African-American Religions as taught by Mike Ashcraft
This course will focus on African American Christianity, Islam, and African diaspora religions like Santeria and Vodou. We will survey developments in these traditions from slave times to the present. The course requires a field trip, class discussion of readings, written assignments, and in-class presentations.
PHRE 362 Women in Buddhism as taught by Ding-hwa Hsieh
This course examines the images and roles of women and the issues of gender and sexuality in Buddhism. We will read some important Buddhist scriptures concerning female sexuality and women's capacities for spiritual perfection, Buddhist biographical accounts of pious women, and contemporary scholarly works on Buddhist women’s experiences and movements in different cultures and time periods. The purpose of this course is to provide a comparative, cross-cultural perspective on women in various Buddhist traditions. Readings are taken from primary texts in translation & secondary works.
PHRE 365 Method and Theory in Religious Studies as taught by Dereck Daschke
In this course we will survey several theoretical approaches to the study of religion to understand religious belief, community, and practice. Designed for students with previous coursework in philosophy or religion. Especially helpful for majors planning to write about religion in the senior seminar.
What do you know, and what is it reasonable to believe? Can we reasonably believe certain things in the absence of evidence? What exactly is knowledge and reasonable belief, and how do we acquire either of them? In addition to addressing these questions, we will see what kinds of responses we can give to the skeptic who challenges the reasonableness of our beliefs. We will also investigate the character and epistemological standing of perceptual beliefs, beliefs about the future, and belief in certain “self-evident” truths.
PHRE 387 Religion and Science as taught by Jennifer Jesse
This course deals with the contemporary search to understand how religion and science interact in the ways we make sense of our lives and the world in which we live. How do recent scientific discoveries fit into prevailing Christian worldviews? How can traditional religious beliefs, such as faith in a transcendent and personal God who orders and sustains the world and human existence, be retained in the face of physical evidence that not only does not support those beliefs but seems to contradict them? We will study works by contemporary philosophers, theologians, and scientists who present a broad range of answers to these questions.
