Department of Conflict Resolution and Sociology
Course: SOCL 3100
When: Monday/Wednesday/Friday
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.
Course Description:
As a discipline sociology is basically the scientific study of society. So what happens when we apply such a perspective to the study of religion? The underlying structures of how humans think about their world become apparent, things often taken for granted. Key questions pertinent to this investigation include:
- What are the meanings of religious beliefs and practices?
- What do these provide to individuals and to societies as a whole?
- Why does religion and mythology persist in our modern secular
- and scientifically ordered world?
- What is the connection between religion and economics?
- How does gender and other social constructions figure into religious life?
- Is atheism a form of religion?
We will also be analyzing religious phenomena from a mythological perspective. In the words of mythologist Robert Ellwood, “The first myths were undoubtedly the first spoken human attempts to talk about the great questions of life: Where did we and the rest of the cosmos around us come from? How are we supposed to live our lives? How should we organize our society? What powers lurk out there that can affect us, and how do we deal with them?” Using a comparative methodology, we will examine various types of cultures in terms of their social, philosophical and religious aspects. We will compare the ancient myths of Mesopotamia with modern versions such as the Matrix. We will see the connections that exist between the Grail Knights of Arthurian legend and the Jedi Knights of Star Wars. We will discover that science fiction tales are only modern manifestations of myths that have roots extending back in time to the Greeks and the dawn of civilization.
Further inquiries will include how different forms of religion have affected a given society’s relationship with nature. For example, during the past few decades we have witnessed the dawning of a new environmental sense, or ‘eco-spirituality,’ as individuals have begun to rethink their relationships with the environment. This is evident, as people are seeking to live in a balanced way with nature. This can involve how some people are pioneering (and re-discovering) new ways of living and coexisting with the rest of the natural world through adopting religious and/or spiritual ideologies.
