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The study of Religion at Wheaton
College plays two roles. It provides a quintessential liberal arts experience
for all students, and cultivates religion majors. The Religion Department
seeks to provide = specialized courses for students majoring in the discipline, and = general courses for students interested in religion, but who are pursuing other majors The department offers
courses in a variety of areas in the study of religion, clustered around the
particular interests and expertise of the faculty. We have courses that
fulfill the requirements for Cultural Diversity, Perspectives on the
non-Western World, Writing Intensive, as well as Arts and Humanities. In
addition, we offer a Jewish Studies minor, and the Asian Studies major draws
a significant number of its courses from our department. Successful religion majors
come out of the program with three skills central to a sound liberal arts
education: = the ability to recognize and communicate to others the diversity of human cultural expressions = the ability to interpret one's own and others' different cultural perspectives as systems - as coherent, integrated world views = and the ability to articulate the significant connection between religion and ethical behavior - why we and others do what do. It is not the goal of our
program to convince students to "be religious," but rather to think
critically and reflectively about the religious dimension of their own and
other people's experience. A comparative approach is essential for critical
reflection, so students will study not one but several religions, namely,
Western Biblical traditions, Islam, East Asian and native traditions, and
contemporary religious movements like eco-feminism. Recognizing in addition
the importance of experiential learning for understanding
"religion-in-action," we encourage students with interests in
social activism and/or particular religious traditions to pursue them in
service learning or other extra-curricular activities and will provide
students with opportunities to reflect on the religious dimensions of such
experiences. For
descriptions of the department's Fall 2004 courses, click Syllabi: Spring 2005 For syllabi of courses not
offered this semester, click Religion Syllabi Archive. Content by Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, Associate
Professor of Religion |
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