This course is a Religious Studies Capstone course. It is open only to Religious Studies majors and minors and to Berry Scholars and honors students. (To be signed into the course see the Religious Studies Chairperson, Dr. Yocum Mize, or Dr. Barnes.)

Brief description: a review and analysis of alternative ideas about the nature, existence, and activity of God, with some comparisons to ideas about the Ultimate in non-Western cultures. The course will begin with ancient polytheism, some comparisons of Ultimates in major world religions, and the refinement of Western concepts of God over centuries. The second section of the course will study the roots of modern atheism in deism and the subsequent growth of both atheism and Christian responses to it. The third section will examine a variety of 20^th century responses to previous developments as well as significant new approaches in theologies of God.

(See below for the outline of the course in three major segments, as well as
for the text, methods of evaluation (three exams and a paper), and mode of instructions.)

The course will include three major segments:

The Foundations

1.   From polytheism to monotheism in Hebrew history and equivalent movements in other world cultures (Persian, Indian, Chinese).
2.   The refinement of the concept of the divine unity and activity among the Jews and then Christians, and later among Muslims
3.   The medieval development of highly philosophical arguments about the nature, existence, and activity of God, including discussion of the absolute and ordained power of God.

The Beginning of the Modern Era

5.   The development of deistic interpretations of God, reliant upon arguments from design, and critical of belief in divine intervention in history.
6.   The emergence of modern atheism: Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud
7.   The redefinition of God & divine activity in liberal theology – Schleiermacher.
8.   Neo-orthodox reaction, and Christian existentialism as a further reaction.
9.   Atheistic existentialism: Camus and Sartre

Twentieth Century Developments (there may not be time for all of these)

10.  The response of Transcendental Thomism – Karl Rahner
11.  Process theology, as in Charles Hartshorne
12.  A feminist approach to God: Elizabeth Johnson
13.  The black face of God: James Cone;
14.  God for the oppressed: Gustavo Gutierrez
15.  Semi-popular science-based atheism in the late 20^th century – Carl Sagan
16.  The new arguments from design: anthropic principle & Intelligent Design
17.  Postmodern approaches to belief in God

Text:
There will be approximately 30 excerpts from various historical primary sources, mostly on the webpage for the course, a few as handouts for the course. In addition each student will have to select the relevant sources for the students paper.

Evaluations

Essay exams: There will be 3 essay exams, one at the end of each of the three major sections of the course.

Research Paper: There will also be a research paper, of from 12-15 pages. This paper can be in one of two major forms.

Form #1: A critical comparison of some specific position in the writings of any two major thinkers who differ significantly from each other, along with some reading in secondary sources as a guide. There are obviously significant differences between any given atheist and any theist, but it is also legitimate to investigate significant differences between two theists or two atheists, where such significant differences exist.

Form #2: A critical survey of a few major positions taken on a specific aspect of debates about God during some time period. This should include the use of both primary sources and secondary sources. This can be a "state of the question" review of current ideas, if you choose.

Mode of instruction:

Seminar style, if the number of students enrolled allows.