Religion 111 - Introduction to Religion

This course introduces students to the comparative study of religion by exploring two distinct religious traditions. It focuses on the ways that scholars draw on contextual information to understand religious practices, ideas or beliefs, artifacts, institutions, and symbols. The traditions examined vary from year to year.   In Fall 2018, the major traditions will be Christianity and Judaism and the theme will be "the end of the world." We will trace and compare Jewish and Christian ideas of an end-time often accompanied by expectations of cataclysm, judgment, and new creation and by varying definitions of the blessed saved and the irrevocably condemned. Our study will include a trajectory from ancient to modern sources and draw from a variety of relevant media, historical moments, and cultural movements.

Fall semester. Professors Doran and Niditch.