What is Religion?
What is Religion? What is the origin of religion? How can we begin to understand the forceful and continuous presence of religion in human history? What do we make of individuals who claim to hear God or interact with the supernatural? Is there any way to understand the people at Jonestown who drank the Kool-Aid or the individuals who brought down the Twin Towers at 9/11 besides dismissing them as crazy and/or brainwashed? In this course we will use select analytical frameworks offered by religious studies to explore these questions, and more. We will pay special attention to the construction of the category of religion and how modern attitudes and assumptions about it have shaped acceptable and unacceptable forms of religious behavior and belief.
What is Religion? What is the origin of religion? How can we begin to understand the forceful and continuous presence of religion in human history? What do we make of individuals who claim to hear God or interact with the supernatural? Is there any way to understand the people at Jonestown who drank the Kool-Aid or the individuals who brought down the Twin Towers at 9/11 besides dismissing them as crazy and/or brainwashed? In this course we will use select analytical frameworks offered by religious studies to explore these questions, and more. We will pay special attention to the construction …Read more
The material in this class was quite intriguing. The class was very fast paced though with TONS of reading. There were many times where we'd have lengthy readings and paper due on the same day. You absolutely could not just skim the reading, because our discussions were based on intricate details within the reading, and the Prof. would just take us down a very narrow rabbit hole. Even if I did the reading, I still felt very lost. Grading was a lil wonky too, as the Prof. made me rewrite my papers multiple times. This class was 100% the most stressful class I have ever taken, and would not recommend to freshman.
The material in this class was quite intriguing. The class was very fast paced though with TONS of reading. There were many times where we'd have lengthy readings and paper due on the same day. You absolutely could not just skim the reading, because our discussions were based on intricate details within the reading, and the Prof. wou …Read more
I absolutely love Professor Anzali, but this class was pretty rough. If you didn't do the readings, you would be so lost in class. Everything is graded on participation, and he would literally make check marks next to your name whenever you talked. If you didn't read, it was really hard to fake it. The class was also pretty boring, and it was hard for me to find anything interesting. Ata was incredible and I would absolutely take another class with him, just not this class.
I absolutely love Professor Anzali, but this class was pretty rough. If you didn't do the readings, you would be so lost in class. Everything is graded on participation, and he would literally make check marks next to your name whenever you talked. If you didn't read, it was really hard to fake it. The class was also pretty boring, a …Read more