Primary Texts: Personal Empowerment

COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE [→ ONLINE ARCHIVE MATERIAL]

“The function of the university is not simply to teach bread-winning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools, or to be a center of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization.”

The function of this class will be to put these words into practice as we read, discuss and write about a range of important primary texts with a variety of perspectives on the theme of personal empowerment: what it is, what it’s not, and how to get it (both inside and outside of school).  One of the authors we will read wrote the words just quoted; another author we will read disagreed.  Other authors put the emphasis elsewhere entirely.  Along the way, we will also focus on the development of critical thinking skills, including the ability to understand, assess and formulate logical arguments. Continue reading

(Cinematic) Visions of Christ

COURSES > LIFELONG | COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE [→ ONLINE ARCHIVE MATERIAL]

Although the very first depictions of Jesus were textual, pictorial representations of him were not far behind. At the turn of the 20th century, Jesus rose on the silver screen, first as simple recordings of theatrical “passion plays” and then as full-blown features depicting a wide variety of “Jesuses”. This course introduces students to the range of textual and cinematic depictions of Jesus by a close examination of a number of canonical and non-canonical gospels as well as of a number of major “Jesus movies”. Continue reading

Books That Didn’t Make It into the Bible

COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE

Although many people think of the Bible as containing all of the sacred literature of the Judeo-Christian tradition, many books of “scripture” that could have been included in the Hebrew Bible or New Testament were left out by the committees that put those anthologies together. In this seminar course we will examine a selection of such “lost” books (drawing from the Apocrypha, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library) in order to better understand what was left out of the Bible as well as what was kept in and why. Students will be responsible for doing close, thoughtful reading of each assignment and actively participating in each class discussion. In addition, students will be asked to write several papers and to make a presentation related to the themes of the course. The second essay is to be revised based on class and instructor feedback. Continue reading

Critical Thinking

COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE

This course is designed to provide an informal introduction to critical thinking.  After an initial consideration of the nature of “argument”, we will work to develop our abilities to (a) understand and analyze arguments put forward by others, (b) formulate and express arguments of their own, and (c) evaluate competing arguments on a given subject.  To pursue these goals we will use two modern “how-to” books to help us read, discuss, and write about the arguments contained in three dialogues of Plato. Continue reading

Ethics

COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE [→ ONLINE ARCHIVE MATERIAL]

This course is designed both to introduce students to some of the major texts of the Western philosophical tradition and to help students develop their critical thinking skills, including the ability to understand, assess and formulate logical arguments.  To pursue these goals we will read, discuss and write about a number of classical ethical systems, both ancient and modern. Continue reading

Icons of the Abrahamic Religions

COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE

At the head of each of the “Abrahamic Religions” is an iconic founder-figure who is believed to be connected with the distinctive scripture of that faith: Moses and the Torah for Judaism, Jesus and the Gospels for Christianity and Muhammad and the Quran for Islam.  This course will examine the historical facts (insofar as they can be determined) of the lives of these founder-figures, some of the various “mythologies” that each tradition has constructed both of its own founder-figure and the other founder-figures, and the history, structure and content of the scriptures (both canonical and non-canonical) associated with each founder-figure.  Using select secondary sources as a guide, the course will center on a close reading of selections from the three scriptures and their associated literatures and culminate with a reading of Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz’s Children of the Alley (1959). Continue reading

Religions of the Jews

COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE

Despite the traditional belief that it has remained unchanged since its fundamental principles were given to Moses at Mt.Sinai, what is today known as Judaism is the product of several thousand years of evolution. During this time a number of distinct “Judaisms” have come into being, some of which (including “Christianity”) survive until this day.  Beginning in ancient times and concluding in the present, this course will survey the development of these various forms and the people associated with them by examining a range of primary and secondary sources.  The course will consist of both lectures and class discussions.  In addition, students will be required to write three short papers on assigned topics and to make a presentation related to the themes of the course. Continue reading

Great Ideas I

COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE [→ ONLINE ARCHIVE MATERIAL]

This course is designed both to introduce students to some of the major texts of the Western tradition and to help students develop their critical thinking skills, including the ability to understand, assess and formulate logical arguments. To pursue these goals we will read, discuss and write about works loosely organized around two themes: 1) god(s); 2) power.  The oldest of these texts was composed almost 3000 years ago; the most recent was composed about 300 years ago. Continue reading

Introduction to Biblical and Qur’anic Conceptions of God

COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE [→ ONLINE ARCHIVE MATERIAL]

Though many people think of God as something fixed and unchanging, a careful study of scripture reveals that this is not so.  Rather, it seems that the Western conception of God — and indeed the very notion that there is only a single God – has evolved over the millennia.  This course will introduce students to some of the varying conceptions of God found in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur’an through careful reading and discussion of primary materials in English translation.  Readings will be drawn primarily from the Torah (especially Genesis and Exodus), the Book of Job, the Gospels, and key suras (chapters) of the Qur’an — though we will begin by looking at Mesopotamian and Greek conceptions of the gods as manifested in the Epic of Gilgamesh and Hesiod’s Theogony.  Students will be responsible for doing close, thoughtful reading of each assignment and actively participating in each class discussion.  In addition, students will be asked to write three papers (about 6 pages in length) and to make a presentation related to the themes of the course. The second essay is to be revised based on class and instructor feedback. Continue reading

Great Ideas II

COURSES > UNDERGRADUATE [→ ONLINE ARCHIVE MATERIAL]

This course is designed both to introduce students to some of the major texts of the Western tradition and to help students develop their critical thinking skills, including the ability to understand, assess and formulate logical arguments .  To pursue these goals we will read, discuss and write about a number of works loosely organized around the themes of morality and the relationship of the individual and society. Continue reading