RELS 106 Philosophy, Spirituality, and Religious Diversity
What do people mean when they talk about God and spirituality? What is worship or prayer or meditation and how are these related to religion or faith or wisdom? What is the relationship between mystery and belief in God, and evidence and argument? How can one value and respect religious beliefs that differ in fundamental ways from one's own?
What is the proper role of religion in government? What relationship does religion have to morality? How can God allow the innocent to suffer? This course examines these and other provocative questions with the aid and materials drawn from a variety of religions, practices, and perspectives.
Overlaps: PHIL 106.
Special information
4 Undergraduate credits
Effective August 23, 2024 to present
Meets graduation requirements for
Learning outcomes
General
- Develop a beginning understanding of critical analysis of work in philosophy, focusing especially on the issue of whether such analyses are appropriate for claims about God or religious belief.
- Explore, through an investigation of writings in philosophy and the humanities, the concepts of God and religious belief.
- Investigate the moral and social consequences of accepting these various understandings.
- Understand the variation in understanding of these concepts as emerging in different historical and social contexts.
Minnesota Transfer Curriculum
Goal 6: The Humanities and Fine Arts
- Demonstrate awareness of the scope and variety of works in the arts and humanities.
- Understand those works as expressions of individual and human values within a historical and social context.
- Respond critically to works in the arts and humanities.
- Engage in the creative process or interpretive performance.
- Articulate an informed personal reaction to works in the arts and humanities.