1:25-2:15 MW BH 310
Elections, wars, and plagues pale in importance aside the development
of two philosophical trends: The Rise of Modern Science and the
Development of Contemporary Religion.  Together these movements have
shaped the western world since the time of the Reformation and the
Scientific Revolution.  They are now reshaping the entire world
beyond recognition even to your grandparents.  Equally important
these two movements have shaped and continue to shape each other.

This Topics course will focus on the century between 1840 and 1940.
A time when science and religion vied with one another for the mind
and hearts of the western world.  You will be taken into the thick of
the fray and asked to follow the struggles and accommodations between
theories of biological evolution, and the ever changing Christian
tradition.  The weekly lectures will introduce you to some of the
particulars of the interaction of these two movements and to how
historians today interpret it.

You will be asked to read selections from the writings of the
period.  You will be asked to view many sides of the complex
questions that were being debated.  There will be weekly or biweekly
discussion sections in which you will explore in smaller groups the
issues presented in lectures and the reading selections.  There will
be section quizzes, an in-class and a final exam, which will cover
this same material.

The most valuable experience, however, might well be the research
paper you will be asked to write.  In short, you will be asked to
understand the ideas and concerns of an historical individual as he
or she wrestled with some of the same issues you will face in class
and the assigned readings.  Since this may well be the first College
paper you will write, you will receive guidance into the resources of
the IU library system.  You will learn the techniques of finding
relevant material for you individual documents, and you will be given
plenty of opportunity to develop your own interpretation of the
material you discover.  You will write several drafts before handing
in the final paper.