Fall 2023

Introduction to Religion

Listed in: Religion, as RELI-111

Faculty

Lloyd D. Barba (Section 01)
Susan Niditch (Section 01)

Description

This year's theme for comparative religion is “The End of the World” in Judaism and Christianity. The course examines a particular theme to focus on ways that scholars draw on contextual information to understand religious practices, ideas or beliefs, artifacts, institutions, and symbols.  Jewish and Christian ideas of an end-time apocalypse offer a particularly rich matrix for comparative work. Recurring motifs variously applied and understood include expectations of cataclysm, judgment, and new creation, and definitions of the blessed saved and the irrevocably condemned. Our study will include a trajectory from ancient to contemporary sources and draw from a variety of relevant media, historical moments, and popular cultural movements.

Fall semester. Professors Barba and Niditch

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Class will involve discussion in the group as a whole and in smaller work groups. Assignments will include a series of brief essays and the preparation of a final independent research essay that deals with a particular modern or contemporary group whose beliefs include expectations about an end-time. Skills required for this cap-stone project will be provided throughout the semester.

RELI 111 - LEC

Section 01
M 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM FAYE 115
W 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM FAYE 115
F 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM FAYE 115

Offerings

Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024