Belief Systems

HIS 3395 Historiography and Philosophy of History
Prerequisite(s): Six semester hours of history or consent of instructor. An introduction to ancient, medieval, and modern historiography and the development of the philosophy of history. Critical consideration will be given to traditional thought about concepts fundamental to history, including the ideas of historical explanation, purpose, cause, and interpretation. Emphasis will be given to methods of historical research and writing.

PHI 3305 British Philosophy & Culture
British Philosophy and Culture This course is designed for Baylor University’s study-abroad program. (Note: see section in this catalog regarding foreign study.) While the specific course content will vary with the instructor, attention will be given to the way issues have been addressed by philosophers in the British Isles such as Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, John Stuart Mill, Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, and Gilbert Ryle. The philosophical ideas of literary figures such as Jane Austen, Robert Browning, and William Wordsworth may also be considered. Discussions will be developed in the rich settings of cathedrals, theaters, universities, and museums.

PHI 3312 History of Philosophy: Modern European Philosophy
A study of the major developments in philosophy from the Renaissance through the first half of the nineteenth century. The demise of late Scholasticism, the rise of modern science, the philosophies of the Continental Rationalists and the British Empiricists, the critical philosophy of Kant, and German Idealism are considered. Philosophers studied include Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche.

PHI 4340 East Asian Philosophy
An historical and critical survey of the major movements in Chinese, Indian.

PHI 4341 Contemporary Continental Philosophy
A critical study of philosophical movements in Europe during the past one hundred and fifty years. Some of the major philosophers studied include Nietzsche, Husserl, Adorno, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Wittgenstein, Russell, Carnap, Gadamer, Habermas, Lyotard, Foucault, and Derrida. Movements studied include phenomenology, positivism, naturalism, critical theory, existentialism, structuralism, deconstructionism, and postmodernism. Course may be repeated once with a different area of concentration.

PSC 3363 Western Political Thought: Classical and Medieval
The tradition of western political thought from its origins in Greek antiquity through the Christian middle ages, stressing the original writings of great political philosophers.

PSC 3373 Western Political Thought: Modern
Modern political thought from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries, stressing the original writings of great political philosophers.

PSC 4379 Islam and Democracy
Prerequisite(s): Upper-level standing. Examines the evolution of political philosophy and institutions in Muslim culture.

PSC 4383 Contemporary Political Thought
Twentieth-century political ideas, with emphasis on contemporary democratic political theory and the challenges posed for traditional democratic ideals by major movements in contemporary psychological, existentialist, ethnic, feminist, socialist, and nationalist thought, and by problems arising from technology, mass society, and the observations of empirical political science.

REL 3333 History of Roman Catholicism
Prerequisite(s): REL 1310 and 1350; and upper-level standing. Historical and theological developments of Roman Catholicism from the patristic period to the present. Special attention will be directed toward individuals, movements, and councils.

REL 3345 World Religions
Prerequisite(s): REL 1310 and 1350 or BIC 3358; and upper-level standing. Historical, aesthetic, philosophical, anthropological, sociological, and psychological approaches to the major faith traditions of our world.

REL 3394 War and Peace in Christian Tradition
Prerequisite(s): REL 1310 and 1350; and upper-level standing. An examination of relevant Biblical materials and their interpretation and application throughout Christian history. An analysis of three major historical positions; pacifism, just war, and crusade, and an examination of contemporary expressions in scholarship, public policy, and popular thought.

REL 4340 Christian Missions
Prerequisite(s): REL 1310 and 1350; and upper-level standing. Biblical basis for missions, the expansion of Christianity, the encounter with non-Christian traditions, and contemporary rationales for Christian missions.

REL 4348 Modern Judaism
Prerequisite(s): REL 1310, 1350 and upper-level standing. Trends in 20th Century in Jewish thought, including Zionism, post-Holocaust thought, movements of Jewish renewal, and ecumenical relations.

SOC 4325 Sociology of Religion
Ways in which religion influences society, culture, and personality and, conversely, how the latter affect religion.