Examines the role and representation of the Christian in popular film. It identifies and analyzes ways in which contemporary cinema reflects, shapes and embodies Christian myths, histories, rituals and doctrines and non-Christian attitudes towards them.
Examines texts in Ancient Greek philosophy, the Bible, and modern European thought in order to assess the fruitfulness of viewing modern self-consciousness in terms of the relationship of faith and reason.
This interdisciplinary course compares the cultural history of two modes of affective experience: melancholy and nostalgia. Based on carefully selected examples, students follow how the two concepts were framed and shaped over time in medical, literary, philosophical and other discourses, and how they have in turn shaped European identity.
Examination of the relationship between science and religion through a study of the implications of the following intellectual developments for religious thought: the rise and triumph of Newtonian science, the Darwinian revolution, relativity theory, quantum physics, "big bang" theory, and creationism
Explores the interactions of religion and gender from the traditional to the modern period in Korea, and relates this material to the general process of cultural development.
A study of concepts of tragedy and tragic themes in literature from antiquity to the present viewed in their cultural and historical contexts as well as in relation to their contemporary relevance. Readings by authors such as Aeschylus, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Pirandello, Brecht. Course credit exclusion: AP/EN 4142 6.00.
Tracing the origins and histories of different Canadian religious communities, this course identifies and analyzes ways in which the religious reflects, shapes and embodies the social and cultural diversity of everyday life in Canada.
Analyzes Anne Frank's World War II diary from literary, cultural, and historical perspectives. Examines the evolution of Frank and the diary as cultural icons by analyzing representations of Frank as a figure in literature, including novels, poems, films, theatre, exhibitions, memoirs, and other people's diaries, with an eye to personal, collective, and historical memory.
Provides the students with an opportunity to critically engage in analysis of the genesis of the myths claiming 'veracity' and 'historicity' of the selected tales from The Arabian Nights and a range of other sources that use themes from the Arabian Nights.
Explores the contours of Christian-Muslim-Jewish co-existence in medieval Spain, focusing on religious and social themes. Topics include conversion, cross-traditional intellectual stimuli, sacred violence and positive images of the religious other.