Religion
The religion program at New College aims to encourage critical reflection about religious ideals and practices in history thus developing critical thinking skills; to develop empathetic insight into the fundamental ideas and values of other peoples, times, and places which are key to any effective communication with those outside one’s own culture and time; and to foster critical self-consciousness about the values and commitments of one's own age and society and thus learn about the historically develop content of one’s own culture. In the face of the influence of religion in the intellectual heritage of the West, and the equally obvious significance of religion in non-Western cultures, the program provides the beginning student with an understanding of the complexity of religious phenomena and offers the advanced student a variety of methods appropriate to such study. Course work, tutorials, and independent projects seek to develop a probing and critical mind as much as mastery of a particular body of knowledge. This work will develop the student’s critical thinking skills, foster effective communication shills, and provide specific content about one’s own culture as well as those of others.
The program works toward these goals through a combination of introductory courses, advanced seminars, and courses offered in cooperation with other disciplines, e.g., art history, classics, history, literature and philosophy. For advanced students, the present faculty in religion offer intensive work in philosophical issues in religious thought, method in the study of religion, religious texts, and religious ethics. Strong attention is given to historical study, analysis of the relationship between religion and society, and in-depth study of key thinkers and traditional problems in religion. Faculty in allied fields and visiting faculty provide additional opportunities to pursue diverse traditions and approaches.
Recent and new courses offered in religion: American Catholicism; American Religious History; Ancient Jewish and Christian Novels; Asian Religions; Asian Religions in America; The Bible in the Jewish Tradition; Buddhism; Christian Scriptures; Civil Rights; Contemporary American Religion; Daoism, Ch'an, Zen; Human Freedom in Modern Christian Thought; Introduction to American Religious History; Introduction to the Study of Religion; Jewish Scriptures; Judaism and Ecology; Kierkegaard and Tillich; Liberation Theology; Medieval Philosophy and Religious Thought; Orientalism; Religious Cultures of South Asia; Ritual Theory; Study of Religion; Topics in Philosophy of Religion; Vajrayana Buddhism; Varieties of Modern Judaism; Women and Religion.
Prospective majors in religion should consult with faculty to construct an individualized plan of study. Typically this plan will include: an introduction to the study of religion to provide critical thinking skills over the discipline; work in a variety of approaches to the study of religion including conceptual approaches to the study of religion as well as religion in society to foster critical thinking skills; some work in ethics to provide specific content in this field as well as the bases for communication skills; work in the sacred scriptures of a religious tradition to provide specific content knowledge; coverage of the history and development of a particular religious tradition and work in a tradition distinctly different from one’s major focus to develop critical thinking skills and provide specific content knowledge. Interdisciplinary majors, or senior projects linking religion to other areas of inquiry, are particularly encouraged.
