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May 03, 2024
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2015-2016 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
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RE 325 How Climate Change, Geography Shape Religion
The course explores the impact of climate change, geography, and technology on religion from 11,000 BCE to 200 BCE utilizing scientific methodologies such as climatology, ethnobotany, biological anthropology, archeology, evolutionary psychology, and cultural ecology. Issues include the global warming at the end of the ice age, the development of agriculture and subsequent population explosion, the emergence of religious elites, megaliths to honor the dead, and urban life. The course then examines the crisis of meaning that occurs in the age of empires and the emergence of the concept of individual salvation during the Axial Age. Finally, the course speculates, as we enter into the age of information and the potential of a new period of global warming, as to the impact of climate change, social media, and new technologies on the character of religion.
Prerequisite: It is recommended that one Religion course be taken or a course in Biology, Psychology, Sociology, or Anthropology.
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