Religious Studies Major

Eric D. Mortensen, Assistant Professor, Chair
Shelini Harris, Assistant Professor
Jane C. Redmont, Assistant Professor

Max Carter, Adjunct Professor

 

 

Religious studies at Guilford explores the mystery and meaning of our existence as selves in the many aspects of the social and natural world. We seek to nurture wonder, insight, clear and creative thinking, to understand humanity's destructive ways with others and the environment, and to imagine ways of mending the world. We want to open heart and mind to the sacred and the problematic in our world today and historically. The burning issues we address are forms of social oppression and environmental destruction, the nature of the divine and the human condition, the development and practice of religious traditions, and the meaning of the religious. We aim to draw forth leadership potential in all students to enable them throughout their lives to be agents of change where they find themselves, overcoming injustice and engendering the fullness of life. The Quaker context of Guilford is fundamental to our ways of teaching. All classes expect and enable students to discover the resources within to engage truth and to take responsibility for their learning and living in this world in ways that foster peace, simplicity, integrity, equality, and community.

Education in religious studies begins from where each student is, descends to the radical center, and draws forth each student's energies of creative, critical, and ethical responses in personal engagement with the multifarious issues of religious studies. Our teaching intends both to challenge and support the process of learning as mind-expanding and transforming. We work intensely on developing capacities of thinking orally and in writing, of listening, and of working together as well as in solitude. We do this not only for self-development and to know truth, but for the good of the community of being.

Religious studies employs many methodologies, such as the theological, philosophical, historical, ethical, literary, psychological, socioeconomic, and anthropological. Exploring religion is inherently interdisciplinary; we consider the interconnections in all our courses and require one explicitly interdisciplinary course for the major. We emphasize careful interpretation of significant works from a variety of religious and ethical traditions. Our global context includes the West, the Middle East, the Far East, Latin America, and indigenous peoples. The formats for learning emphasize seminar discussions, supplemented with individual reading and writing and student collaboration, lectures, role-playing, film analysis, and internships for social service and social action.

The careers our majors enter upon after graduation, often after circuitous journeys, are quite diverse--teaching, law, service and social work, the ministry, counseling, religious education, art, business, government, and non-governmental organizations.

Courses are offered at different levels, each of which has specific expectations and goals. The 100-level courses are introductory, designed for first-year and sophomore non-majors. They are accessible to entering first-year students, though perhaps with some difficulty. Normally only one 100-level course can count toward the major.

The 200-level courses are advanced introductory courses that function as core courses for the major. They are designed to serve as initial courses in the department for sophomores, juniors, seniors, and for beginning majors. Majors normally take several courses at this level.

The 300-level courses are designed for majors and for upper-level students with a strong interest in the subject matter and a background in the humanities. REL 310 courses have no prerequisites, but assume an ability to integrate disciplines in a sophisticated manner. Other 300-level courses are designed primarily for majors and assume at least one course in religious studies. Courses are usually offered in a seminar format which requires active participation by all class members. Majors should have several 300-level courses.

The 400-level courses are small seminars that usually examine one or a few thinkers or issues in depth. They are designed for advanced majors or, by permission, exceptionally interested and qualified non-majors.

Degrees Offered

The Bachelor of Arts degree is offered in religious studies.

Major Requirements

The major can be completed by fulfilling one of three tracks: Western, Comparative, or Self-Designed. In both the Western and Comparative Tracks, students take at least one course in each of six areas:

Contemporary Issues

  • REL 120: American Nature Writing
  • REL 212: Existentialism and the Death of God
  • REL 220: Belief and Unbelief
  • REL 222: Feminist Theology
  • REL 415: Contemporary Theology (required of students in the Western track)
  • REL 422: Contemporary Religious Problems

Biblical Studies

  • REL 215: Hebrew Bible
  • REL 216: New Testament

Ethics

  • REL 103: Voices of Liberation
  • REL 203: Buddhism, Ecology, Society*
  • REL 205: Ethics and Human Nature in Chinese Thought*
  • REL 206: Chinese Religions and Ecology*
  • REL 222: Feminist Theology
  • REL 233: Peace, War, and Justice
  • REL 312: Humanistic Ecology
  • REL 313: Nature, Culture, and Religion
  • REL 315: Human Rights
  • REL 316: Globalization from an Ethical Perspective
  • REL 330: Nonviolence—Theories and Practice
  • REL 468: Religion, Spirituality, and Social Change 

Comparative Religions

  • REL 103: Voices of Liberation
  • REL 106: Religious Meaning in Japanese Film and Literature
  • REL 200: Native American Religions
  • REL 203: Buddhism, Ecology, Society*
  • REL 204: Islam
  • REL 205: Ethics and Human Nature in Chinese Thought*
  • REL 206: Chinese Religions and Ecology*
  • REL 208: Hinduism
  • REL 310: Islam and Modernization*
  • REL 311: Religion, Literature, and Nature in Japan*
  • REL 313: Nature, Culture, Religion*
  • REL 314: Religion, Aesthetics, and Nature in China
  • REL 315: Human Rights
  • REL 316: Globalization from an Ethical Perspective

Western History

  • REL 101: History of Religion in America
  • REL 110: Quakerism
  • REL 234: African American Religion and Theology
  • REL 235: Quaker Origins
  • REL 337: History of Christianity (required of all majors)

Interdisciplinary Perspectives

  • REL 310: Islam and Modernization*
  • REL 311: Religion, Literature, and Nature in Japan*
  • REL 312: Humanistic Ecology
  • REL 313: Nature, Culture, Religion*
  • REL 314: Religion, Aesthetics, and Nature in China
  • REL 316: Globalization from an Ethical Perspective
  • REL 468: Religion, Spirituality, and Social Change 

* Courses may count simultaneously in one of the six areas and as one of the Comparative courses.

Western-Track students may count a maximum of two comparative religion courses toward the eight required courses. Students in the Comparative Track take at least four Comparative courses and at least three Western courses (REL 215 or 216, REL 337, and a Contemporary Issues course). In addition to courses in these six areas, majors in the Western and Comparative Tracks are required to take the Junior Year Colloquium (REL 395) plus two additional elective courses, for a minimum total of 33 credits in the major.

The Self-Designed Track is for majors who want to create their own program with a specific focus, such as ethics (for example, race, war, gender, class, environment), religion and interdisciplinary studies (for example, religion and literature, religion and the natural sciences), and philosophy of religion (the nature of the religious or the nature of the different methodologies used in religious studies). Students opting for this track must have demonstrated the ability to engage in substantial independent reflections on religion and must show a sufficient understanding of religious studies and their place within it in order to create their own course of study. In formulating their track, students articulate how their religious studies courses interrelate into a coherent course of study and how they contribute to the chosen focus.

Each self-designed course of study is formulated in conjunction with the student's advisor and is approved by the department as a whole. It is expected that every self-designed course of study will involve at least one course from each of the department's faculty and at least four upper-level courses (300s and 400s). Majors in this track are required to take the Junior Year Colloquium (REL 395) and have a minimum total of 33 credits in the major. Applications for the Self-Designed Track are normally submitted by the first semester of the student's junior year.

The major offers further opportunities for specialized study through independent studies, senior theses, and internships. The Frederic and Margaret Crownfield Prize is awarded annually to the student writing the best paper in religious studies.