Department of Religious Studies

Does God exist? What's s/he like? This course explores the history of an idea—the existence and nature of God and gods/goddesses—in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern world (e.g. Greece, Rome, Egypt, Babylonia) and the reception and transformation of those ideas in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. We will explore the history and variety of the ways people have imagined God/the gods, and learn how scholars use interdisciplinary approaches drawn from the disciplines of History, Philosophy, Classics, and Religious Studies to study the history of ideas. We will explore questions including: arguments for the existence of God/gods; atheism, ancient and modern; whether the gods have bodies and emotions, how humans and gods can/should interact. All readings will be in English.

GenEd A&H, CASE A&H, CAPP

• A&H
• CAPP
• What are CASE requirements?