Current Course Information

The following list represents the detailed course descriptions of our current offerings; for the full range of courses offered in the Religious Studies program, please consult the Undergraduate Course Descriptions in the UNF Catalog.

Fall 2013 Upper Division

REL 3101 Religion and Popular Culture

CRN: 83018 
M 1800-2045 
Instructor: J. Ingersoll

As the cultural clout of religious institutions declines, the "religiousness" of individuals persists. This course will explore the presence of themes and functions, traditionally associated with religion, as they are found in less clearly "religious" aspects of culture such as country music, wine tasting and popular films.  This focus will raise questions about the definition of religion and the power dynamics implicit in defining "religious" and "nonreligious." This course can be used to fill university electives or requirements of the Religious Studies Major or Minor

REL 3102 Religion As Culture

CRN: 81194
MW 1330-1445
Instructor: J. Ingersoll

This course will introduce students to one of the primary approaches to Religious Studies: the Social Scientific Study of religion as culture. We will begin with a unit examining classical theorists (Durkheim and Weber) and current theoretical developments and exploring some key methodological issues.  In Units Two and Three we will draw on case studies illustrating religious diversity in the United States to refine/apply our understandings of theory and method and practice that application in the context of a field based research project. This course fulfills the University’s “Cultural Diversity” requirement and is a requirement for both the major and the minor.

REL 3241 New Testament

CRN: 82984
W 1800-2045 
Instructor: T. Simpson

This course will be a study of the four Gospel narratives using scholarly critical methods. This is not a literal approach to the text but an examination of its content and message within the cultural context of the ancient world.  The study will also include conflicting scholarly interpretations of Paul’s writings. Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to: 1) identify various types of Biblical critical methods; 2) display critical thinking in the preparation and use of scholarly materials in a Classroom PowerPoint Presentation; 3) write well organized, grammatically correct descriptions of the scholarly approaches to the New Testament in essays and exams; 4) answer questions about the content of the Gospels and Paul’s letters. This course can be used to fill university electives or requirements of the Religious Studies Major or Minor.

REL 3930 Philosophy Of Religion

CRN: 82967
TR 925-1040 
Instructor: J. Matheson

This course will examine several debates within the philosophy of religion.  We will focus on two broad questions.  Q1: What would God be like?   Q2: Is it rational to believe in God?  Under Q1 we will examine such puzzles as: Can God create a stone too heavy for God to lift?  Can God know the future free actions of people?  Can God be perfect and still be free?  What is God’s relation to morality?  Under Q2 we will examine such puzzles as: Does the existence of evil show that God does not exist?  Does religious disagreement or science show that God doesn’t exist?  Do religious experiences make it reasonable to believe that God exists?  Does the existence and intricacy of the universe make it reasonable to believe that God exists? This course can be used to fill university electives or requirements of the Religious Studies Major or Minor.

REL 3936 Religion, Literature and the Arts

CRN: 82985
TR 1505-1620 
Instructor: B. Denison

How have religious people used art and material culture to create and sustain an identity? In regions and eras of intense religious contact, what role has material culture played in sustaining or perpetuating conflict? In what ways do art and material culture create the sacred for communities? Where is religion in art? Can art be analyzed as a religious phenomenon? By exploring the borderlands of art and religion, we will think critically about the creation and maintenance of social borderlands of identity, propriety, and the sacred and the profane. We will examine the transformation of religious practices as religious people migrate, transformation of nature and the self in nature, change in Native American religions, and visions of the future.  We will conceive of art broadly to include novels, movies, television, short stories, poems, music, material artifacts, and visual art. This course can be used to fill university electives or requirements of the Religious Studies Major or Minor.

REL 3936 Religious Pluralism and Diversity

CRN: 82986
TR 1630-1745 
Instructor: B. Denison
 

In 1835, Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: “The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.” Indeed, many Americans have taken great pride in the religious freedom offered under the Constitution. Other Americans, though, have experienced frustration as the government and other citizens’ persecuted religions that fell outside of protected religions. For these groups, religious freedom remained an elusive goal granted only to mainstream religions. This course will be a historical survey of the inherent ambiguity and tensions in religious diversity in America. Using primary source documents, we will examine the genealogies of pluralism and diversity, while attending to the limits of religious toleration. This course can be used to fill university electives or requirements of the Religious Studies Major or Minor.