GS 204: Spirit & Nature: Religion & Science
Blocks 1 and 2, 2005-2006
Keith Kester - Instructor
Barnes 326: 389-6440
Hannah Underdahl - Mentor
Introduction
Come and explore the realms of spirit and nature, and within those realms the human spirit and human nature. Examine where good and evil are to be found. Study the parallels and differences between religion and science; and how practitioners of each come to know the world and universe of which they are a part. Engage in a search for workable and meaningful relationships between the natural and the supernatural, between immanence and transcendence, between the animate and the inanimate, between the sacred and the secular. Consider how a person of integrity can be both religious and scientific. Explore our world in both natural and religious settings. Become aware of the diversity of life, and of religions; and look for ways to nurture and protect both diversities. Come away looking at our world and all its components, including the spiritual and the natural, in new and different ways.
Course Format
This course is designed to satisfy several of general education requirements:
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It serves to meet the 2-block Critical Perspectives on the Western Tradition requirement to provide “an understanding of the development and nature of significant dimensions of the Western tradition.” (We will not however be limited solely to western materials.)
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It will satisfy one unit of Natural Science requirement.
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One block will count as a unit of Humanities credit.
As a First Year Experience course, we will read and discuss significant, challenging works, write critically and creatively in journals and (individual and team-based) papers and reports, give oral presentations, engage in field and library research, cultivate basic programming skills and utilize computer based resources, and undertake community service learning.
Course Materials
Online Materials:
British Museum of Natural History, Nature
at Work
Books:
Diana Eck, Encountering God
Ursula Goodenough, The Sacred Depths of Nature
Roger S. Gottlieb, ed., This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment,
2nd Edition.
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
"Reacting to the Past" Series: Charles Darwin, The Copley
Medal, and the Rise of Naturalism.
Lance Morrow, Evil: An Investigation
Rosemary Reuther, Gaia and God
Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith
A CD-ROM:
Edward 0. Wilson and Dan L. Perlman: Conserving Earth's Biodiversity
Articles & Poems in the Course Packet:
A. R. Ammons: selected poems
Robert Bellah: "Religious Evolution"
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace: "The Linnean Papers"
Charles Darwin: "Instinct."
Mark Hartwig: “Whose Comfortable Myth?”
James Jeans: “Some Problems of Philosophy”
Sallie McFague: “A Square in the Quilt….”
Videos:
Bill Moyers, “Spirit and Nature”
Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man Series: "The Ladder of
Creation
Nova, "World in the Balance"
Frontline, "Faith & Doubt at Ground Zero"