REL 348
Religion and Reason
Last Offered Spring 2018
Division II
This course is not offered in the current catalog

In his most famous and provocative book, The End of Faith, the “New Atheist” author Sam Harris very forcefully brings our attention to the dangerous clash between faith and reason, lamenting humanity’s willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs. This represents a pervasive trend of thought in the modern world that sees religion as being diametrically opposed to reason and rationality. This course is an in-depth investigation of this notion through the lenses of philosophy, theology, anthropology, and history, asking questions such as: What is reason, and what counts as a rational belief? Are there other grounds that might make one justified in holding a belief? What is the nature of religious belief or faith? Is religious belief uniquely irrational? What gave rise to this discourse on religion? We will be reading primary and secondary materials representing a variety academic disciplines, intellectual traditions, and geographic contexts.