R300 The History of God (3 cr.) TR 1:00-2:15 M242 (Weitzman) AUTH
**Obtain authorization from Honors College or Religious Studies

Whether there really is a God or not, the idea of God has had a very
real impact on the history of religion, literature and philosophy.  In
this course we will examine the history of the idea of God, focusing
on the earliest and most recent stages in its development.  When and
why did the idea of God first arise and what is its relation to
earlier conceptions of the divine?  What did the authors of the Bible
understand to be God's motives and relationship to humanity, and how
did they rise to the challenge of representing a deity who seems to
want to remain hidden?  How did the idea of God change over time, and
where do believers in God think He (She/It?) is now, in the shadow of
the Holocaust?  Our approach is fundamentally historical, to
contextualize the development of a concept, but students will also
have the opportunity to reflect on their personal understandings of
God in dialogue with one another and with what we have learned in
class.  Assignments include several brief or medium sized writing
exercises (some analytical, some creative) and a take home final exam.
This course is open to Honors students or Religious Studies majors
only.