Current Courses

This course is a collaborative inquiry exploring both the diversity across religions from around the globe, as well as the internal diversity within any single religion. The goal is to develop a knowledge base about the practices, rituals, beliefs, material culture and social organization of several world religions. Themes and issues encountered may relate variously to patterns of ritual and belief, styles of spirituality and religious cohesion, ideologies of gender and sexual regulation, intersections with politics and ecology, approaches to evil and suffering,death and the afterlife. The course fosters awareness of how multi-dimensional religious identities can be while providing the tools to think critically about them. Religions explored may include but are not limited to indigenous, hindu, buddhist, jewish, Christian, muslim, taoist,or pagan traditions.

Medieval Philosophy I (PHIL) A lecture course covering Medieval philosophy from its earliest origins, culminating in the Platonism of Augustine, Boethius, John Scotus Eriugena and Anselm. Prerequisites: PHIL 1013 and PHIL 1023, or permission of the instructor.

This course will explore the interaction between text and context of several writings deemed to be sacred, whether traditional or not, from a variety of religious traditions. Attention will also be paid to the particular situations and conditions in which these texts are created and received.

This course explores a wide range of topics in the area of death and dying. As a fundamental issue for human beings, these phenomena require investigation from a variety of perspectives. The course considers aspects of death and dying that are religious, philosophical, psychological, and sociological in nature. Further, the course is concerned with both practical and theoretical issues that arise from the relationship between aging, and death and dying.

An examination of the theoretical base and the significance of Christian ethics with an analysis of some of its central aspects such as the foundational role of love, critical thought and engagement, conscience and responsibility, and understanding contemporary dilemmas.

This course is a collaborative inquiry exploring both the diversity across religions from around the globe, as well as the internal diversity within any single religion. The goal is to develop a knowledge base about the practices, rituals, beliefs, material culture and social organization of several world religions. Themes and issues encountered may relate variously to patterns of ritual and belief, styles of spirituality and religious cohesion, ideologies of gender and sexual regulation, intersections with politics and ecology, approaches to evil and suffering,death and the afterlife. The course fosters awareness of how multi-dimensional religious identities can be while providing the tools to think critically about them. Religions explored may include but are not limited to indigenous, hindu, buddhist, jewish, Christian, muslim, taoist,or pagan traditions.

A lecture course covering the Medieval philosophy of the 13th century (especially Thomas Aquinas), the collapse of the Thomistic synthesis in fourteenth century philosophy, and the beginning of the Modern outlook. Prerequisites: PHIL 1013 and 1023, or permission of the instructor.

This course examines the agency, voices, roles and representations of women within and across religious traditions, ancient and contemporary. It therefore focuses on the experiences of religious agency by which women engage with, adhere to, abandon,retrieve,re-interpret,or even reinvent their faith identities in relation to particular and diverse religious traditions. This involves a feminist analysis of the range of standpoints whereby women have been variously represented, misrepresented, and/or under-represented in the texts, practices, histories and leadership across religious traditions.

]A critical and foundational examination of the role and function of media in Western society, focussing on its formative influence on religion and culture. Issues may include the business of news, entertainment, the nature of advertising, and religion and media. This course requires students to have a background in ethics and/or critical theory.

An examination of the processes and elements through which persons develop a critical perspective and appreciation of the role of value in their lives and in the social order. This course requires students to have completed previous work in ethics.