WESTERN INTELLECTUAL AND RELIGIOUS HISTORY TO 1500

RELIGST 200

Topics in religious studies in the humanities at an introductory level.

HISTORY/RELIGST 209

A survey of major trends in Western intellectual history and religious thought in the modern era, a period that saw a new range of competing ideas about the divine, the human condition, justice and the social order, and the quest for meaning. Explores shifts in Christian and Jewish thought as well as secular alternatives to religious outlooks. Topics include the impact of the Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and Enlightenment; radical critiques of religion; existentialism; theological responses to World Wars and the Holocaust; and civil rights and social justice. Sources include films, novels, autobiographies, essays, theological works, and political manifestos.

HISTORY/RELIGST 212

A survey of Christianity from being a small, persecuted sect in the Roman Empire to becoming the dominant religion of western Europe, penetrating into the lives of Europeans, fissuring into multiple churches, and spreading across the globe. Attention is given to doctrine, ritual, worship, architecture, images, and music.

HISTORY/RELIGST 411

European intellectual history in the 17th and 18th centuries, from the Wars of Religion to the French Revolution. Examines the rise of Enlightenment thought in relation to political and religious conflict, revolutions in science and philosophy, and the emergence of the public sphere. Special attention is paid to the Enlightenment's relationship to religion and to contemporary critiques made of Enlightenment thinking, including those of the early Romantic movement.

ILS/RELIGST 234

Explores literary forms through which religions originating in western culture convey ideas. Focuses on Jewish, Christian, Muslim and related religious texts.