Religion 111 - Introduction to Religion

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.