Religious Studies - Hartwick College

Religious Studies from Hartwick College is a Campus Bachelor Religious Studies degree that prepares you for a Liberal Arts career. General Description The world's great religions are centered around the quest to find meaning and purpose in human life and existence. Religious beliefs and practices in various ways address not only what it means to be human, but also concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, the sacred and the profane. These beliefs and practices, in turn, help to shape the character of individual societies and cultures. Therefore, knowledge of religion and its various manifestations is indispensable to a study of the diverse social and cultural phenomena we encounter in the world around us. Hartwick's curriculum covers three general areas. The first focuses on the Western monotheistic traditions. Various courses in biblical studies take a historical approach by examining the books in terms of the historical and cultural contexts in which they were written. Other courses survey the histories of those religions that have had a notable impact on the West, primarily Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The second area is religious traditions of the Asian world, with a focus on India (Buddhism and Hinduism), forms of Central Asian Shamanism, Tibet, China (Ch'an, Confucianism, Taoism), and Japan (Shinto, Zen). The primary aim is to provide students with fundamental conceptual frameworks for understanding the major non-Western cultures of the world. The third area deals with recent and contemporary religious expression in the West and includes courses on religion in the United States, new religious movements, and the relationship between religion and other cultural activities, including literature, science, medicine, entertainment, technology, politics, and social change. Emphasis is placed on historical and social scientific perspectives on religion, particularly as these shed light on problem areas such as church/state relations, cultural diversity, gender relations, controversial groups, biomedical ethics, and the impact of secularization. View more details on Hartwick College . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Religious Studies courses.