Note: This is a COAS Intensive Writing Course

In Western culture, since that moment in antiquity when the
Scriptural tradition and the tradition of Greek and Roman philosophy
first interacted, religious thought has largely been oriented around
the ways in which Christianity, Judaism, and later Islam could be
reconciled with rational thought.  In this course we shall first
discuss various ways in which this encounter between religion and
reason occurred: rational proofs for the existence of God; religion
and the decision of faith; the problem of divine attributes;
religious language; and the problem of evil.  Then, we shall discuss
the shift, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to a different
relationship between the human and the divine and to the movement
that came to be called "religious existentialism."  Among others, we
shall examine the thinking of Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Karl
Barth, and Rudolph Bultmann.  Finally, we shall look at some recent
problems connected with religious life and religious faith, including
the question of whether religious life can be understood by the non-
believer and can be studied from the "outside" and the question of
whether religion and philosophy are incompatible and therefore
whether the philosophy of religion is in fact impossible.

The readings for the course will come from assigned texts and a
reading packet.  P371 is a COAS Intensive Writing course; there will
be no examinations but several written assignemnts.  It is
recommended that the course be taken only by those who have already
had their basic writing course, and while there are no prerequisites,
it would be very helpful if you have had some prior training in
philosophy or the study of religion.

For further information, contact Michael L. Morgan at
morganm@indiana.edu.