Quaker Studies Minor

Director of Firends Center and Campus Ministry Coordinator

The Quaker studies concentration explores Quaker spirituality in relation to the world. Through study of Quaker history and “social testimonies” (social ethics), it uses the perspective of this world-mending spirituality to reflect on justice issues. As an interdisciplinary exploration it seeks to understand forms of systemic oppression in our time (such as sexism, racism, classism, militarism, religious imperialism and environmentalism) and how to transform them.

This study will develop several kinds of thinking in speaking, listening and writing: analysis, criticism, imagination, textual interpretation, social problem-identification and problem-solving and self-reflective exploration. It will investigate the interrelated subtle aspects of individual selves, characteristics of a religious movement, large but obscured social systems and the student’s own religious and ethical commitments.

Minor Requirements

The minor requires a minimum of 16 credit hours (four courses).

1. GST 105 Quaker Social Testimonies and Spiritual Roots	2 credits
2. GST 405 Quaker Faith & Practice	2 credits
3. REL 110 Quakerism or REL 235 Quaker Origins	4 credits

4. Two courses from:	8 credits

BIOL 212 Environmental Science
ECON 344/IDS 458 Environmental and Resource Economics
ENGL/THEA 215 Play Analysis
ENGL 224 Self Image in Women Writers
ENGL 230 African American Literature
ENGL 331 Black Women Writers
GEOL 121 Environmental Geology
HIST 223 Gender & Power in US History
HIST 225 African American History
HIST 308 The Underground Railroad
HIST 315 The Civil Rights Movement
IDS 423 Ethical Issues in Biology and Medicine
IDS 424 The Sea and Us
JPS 244 Conflict Resolution
JPS 313 Law and Society
JPS 425 Family Violence
PECS 103 Voices of Liberation
PECS 330 Nonviolence Theories and Practice
PHIL 111 Ethics
PHIL 247 Philosophy of Law
REL 120/ENGL 228 American Nature Writing
REL 222 Feminist Theology
REL 233 Peace, War, and Justice
SOAN 313 Sociology of Sex and Gender
SOAN 265 Racial and Ethnic Relations

Or other courses addressing the normative Quaker testimonies of spirituality, simplicity, integrity, peace, equality and community by permission of the coordinator, or
evidence of an internship (credit or non-credit) that provided direct experience with Quaker faith and practice.

Total credit hours required for Quaker studies minor	16 credits