Course Syllabus

PHIL 2600 World Religions

Course Description

This course is an introductory study of rituals, history, and beliefs of religions around the world. This study leads students to discover the values and cultures of religious institutions. Course may include field trips to religious sites.

Justification

The course is intended to help students understand the beliefs and practices of other cultures and religions from around the world. Every college in Utah offers a class similar to World Religions. It is most like PHIL 2600 at Utah Tech University and PHIL 3640 at the University of Utah. This course also fulfills the Humanities GE requirement. The Humanities are a group of academic disciplines that study the many ways by which humans have attempted to understand themselves and their world. At Snow College, the Humanities focus on cultural traditions that are expressed largely through text or which have a strong textual component: languages, literature, and philosophy. The methods by which the Humanities study culture are at once analytical and interpretive, objective and subjective, historical and aesthetic.

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. Students will read a variety of religious and philosophical texts and share their understanding of religion from a social, historical, and philosophic perspective. For example students may read passages from the Quran and discuss in groups the concept of a jihad as personal moral reform as well as a religious war. Students will demonstrate this outcome through class participation, projects, and/or written assignments.
2. A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. Through essay exams and out-of-class papers, students will work on developing the skills of finding and employing credible resources, formulating clear and specific positions, supporting positions with strong evidence, and using appropriate language, composition strategies, and rhetorical appeal to communicate ideas. Students will demonstrate this outcome through written assignments and projects.
3. A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. Students will explore religious questions/issues through different disciplinary lens. For example, students may do research on the historical, political, and cultural implications of Hindu Nationalism and the ways these disciplines interact in understanding this issue. Students will demonstrate this outcome through written assignments, class participation, and/or projects.
4. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. Students will reason analytically and critically in their explorations of religious concepts and issues. For instance, students may analyze soteriology in the Avesta and compare it to the soteriology of the Torah to make a critical argument about how soteriology functions in religions more generally. Students will demonstrate this outcome primarily through their written assignments and projects.
5. A student who completes the GE curriculum can communicate effectively through writing and speaking. Students will write essays exploring religious questions/issues. For example, students may write an essay about the art of the Navajo Religion to communicate effectively to an audience about the importance of preserving indigenous religious traditions. Students will demonstrate this through major written assignments for the course.

General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes

1. Through readings and class discussions, students will be introduced to the basic beliefs, practices, and history of major world religions. Students will demonstrate their ability to ask and explore questions related to world religions through class discussions, written assignments, quizzes, and exams. Through readings and class discussions, students will be introduced to the basic beliefs, practices, and history of major world religions. Students will demonstrate their ability to ask and explore questions related to world religions through class discussions, written assignments, quizzes, and exams.
2. Understand how knowledge is created through the study of language systems, literature, and/or philosophy. Through a close reading of philosophical and religious texts, students will learn the language and ways of thinking commonly associated with various world religions. Students will then use these expressions and concepts to convey ideas through written assignments and group discussions.
3. Understand cultural traditions within an historical context and make connections with the present. Students will examine and be able to explain the historical development of major world religions and will understand how these traditions have influenced world history and informed present circumstances. Students will demonstrate this through written assignments, exams, and field trip reflections.
4. Critically read and respond to primary texts (original, uninterpreted) from a Humanities’ perspective. Students will be able to read, interpret, analyze, and respond to a representative selection of primary texts, including portions of religious scripture. They will be able to perform a critical analysis of philosophical issues emerging from a text, and will be able to demonstrate their grasp of these issues through cogent argumentation. Students will demonstrate this outcome primarily through written assignments and projects.
5. Write effectively within the Humanities discipline to analyze and form critical and aesthetic judgments. Through projects, written assignments, and written exams, students will showcase their ability to analyze and write persuasively about religious texts, art, and rituals. Student writing will be thesis driven, thoroughly researched, and supported with balanced sources.

Course Content

The World Religions class examines theologies/beliefs, practices/rituals, and history of various world traditions, and should include discussion of such things as scripture, music, or art of these traditions. It may include such topics as Taoism, Confucianism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, or indigenous traditions. While the precise religions covered may vary depending upon the instructor, every class should include a mixture of Western, Eastern, and Middle-Eastern traditions. Course may include field trips to religious services and sites. The nature of the course content will engage with students from a variety of cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds; ideally, they will find connections to their lives in the variety of cultural and religious traditions the course covers.