RELG 1000 - Introduction to Religion

Hours: 4
This course is an introduction to the academic study of religion. It treats religion as a significant phenomenon in the historical development of humanity, and therefore as a subject worthy of serious critical investigation. The course approaches religion from standpoints derived from a number of disciplines (including history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and comparative religions), and takes into account a wide variety of perspectives on the subject, even those of such radical critics of religion as Freud, Marx, and Richard Dawkins. The course examines both the practical and the conceptual aspects of religion, and considers such important issues as the origins and development of religion; similarities and differences between Eastern and Western types of religion; varieties of religious experience and expression (including symbol, myth, ritual, community, and ethics); and the relationship between religion and contemporary life, science, sexuality, the occult, dreams, and belief in life after death.

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RELG 1000 - Introduction to Religion