Arts Courses That Cover Beliefs and Values
Winter 2021 in the Faculty of Arts at UAlberta
Updated December 18, 2020 with one additional course listing.
Still unsure of the courses you want to take this Winter Term? Are you interested in beliefs and values? If so, consider taking one of the courses listed below. At first glance, the disciplines and subject matter seem to have quite a range, but they all examine and question beliefs and values at their core. Topics range from ancient Chinese philosophers to The Parables of Jesus.
This is the first post of many where we will be highlighting courses from across the entire Faculty of Arts for Winter 2021, so be sure to come back to the blog leading up to the start of classes in January.
- Please note that course content, delivery method and instructors are subject to change. Refer to the course syllabus for full and final details.
Philosophy 357 (PHIL 357) — Philosophy of Religion
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Jack Zupko
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: T/R from 12:30–1:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: none
Course Description: In this course, you will learn to think philosophically about religious questions such as the existence of God, the divine attributes, the problem of evil, the relation of religion to science, and of faith to reason. Special attention will be paid to the concept of God:
- What meaning(s) should be attached to the various ways we have of thinking and speaking about God.
- Is it possible for human beings to know God?
- What evidential value should we attach to scriptural authority and to religious or mystical experience?
Whatever your own personal beliefs are, this course will help you reflect more deeply about the nature of religion and of religious beliefs.
Other Themes Covered: Identity (race, gender, sexuality, culture, age, etc.) | Beliefs and values
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: Education
East Asian Studies 438 (EASIA 438 )— Topics in Chinese Studies: Zhuangzi (An ancient Chinese philosopher)
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Daniel Fried
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: T from 2–4:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: EASIA 101 or *3 in East Asian Studies or Philosophy, or consent of instructor
Course Description: This course examines the thought of Zhuangzi, one of the most influential philosophers in East Asian civilization, who launched a powerful form of countercultural critique. Students will learn Zhuangzi’s system of anti-ethical thought, and how it is connected to his understanding of language, nature, and politics, as well as the evolution of this philosophy within the context of early China. Students who take the course will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the complexities of Asian thought, and gain a new perspective on the technocratic systems of contemporary civilization.
Other Themes Covered: Nature and the environment | Social concerns and issues
Women’s and Gender Studies 498 (WGS 498-B3) — Women Theologians
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Felice Lifshitz
Delivery Method: Entirely or mostly synchronous/real-time learning
Course Time: R from 2–4:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: Any Women and Gender Studies Course (or cross-listed course) from the 200 level up.
Course Description: The course will examine the contributions of various women, some historical and some contemporary, to Western (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Goddess thealogy), Eastern (Buddhism and Hinduism), and Indigenous (global) spiritual traditions. The course will understand theology to include the study (systematized or not) of religious faith, practice, and experience, the creation of beliefs, practices, and guidelines for right living (ritualized or not) associated with the holy, and the expression of spiritual and ethical beliefs in a range of textual, visual, performative, and material media.
Other Themes Covered: Social concerns and issues
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: Business | Education | Science
Anthropology 386 (ANTHR 386-B2) (45669) — TOPICS BIOL ANTHRO OR ARCHLGY (Seminar): Indian Country in the American Imagination
This Course Has Significant Indigenous Content
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Maggie Spivey-Faulkner
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: M/W/F from 2:00–2:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: None
Course Description: 18th and 19th Century Western conceptions of Native American cultures form the foundations of modern Native American life in the United States. In this course, we will examine the laws and opinions that comprise early Federal Indian Law and extract the axioms on Native American cultures embedded within them. Those axioms will then be critically examined against our current understandings of Native American cultures via anthropological data and interpretation. The resulting societal fallout from the gap between the American imaginations of Native Americans and the Native lived reality will be evaluated. This course heavily draws from literature written by Native American authors.
Other Themes Covered: Identity (race, gender, sexuality, culture, age, etc.)| Nature and the environment| Industry, invention, progress| Social concerns and issues| Fantasy and imagination| Time, cycles of life| Equity, diversity, inclusivity and decolonization | Social change
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: Education | Native Studies
Religion 415 (RELIG 415) — Advanced Studies in Christianity (Seminar): The Parables of Jesus
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Dr. Lorne Zelyck
Delivery Method: Entirely or mostly synchronous/real-time learning
Course Time: T from 2–4:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: One course in Christianity or consent of Program Coordinator.
Course Description: The parables are some of the most well-known teachings of Jesus (e.g. the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son) because they seemingly convey basic concepts about God and humanity. However, there are over 50 parables attributed to Jesus in the canonical and non-canonical gospels (the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Thomas), and two-millennia of scholarly debate suggests that their meaning is far from clear. This course will offer a critical examination of the parables and will explore questions regarding their genre, literary and historical context, issues of biblical criticism and the historical Jesus, and methods of interpretation. As a result, students will encounter the issues and debates surrounding the sources and historicity of the parables, analyze and critique different scholarly interpretations, engage with the linguistic and contextual oddities of the parables, strengthen analytical skills through a careful reading of primary and secondary sources, and sharpen investigative and writing skills by producing a research paper about the parables.
Other Themes Covered: Social concerns and issues
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: Education | Science
Anthropology 484 (ANTHR 484-B2) (45387) — TOPICS IN ARCH/BIOL ANTHRO (Seminar): Native American Science
This Course Has Significant Indigenous Content
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Maggie Spivey-Faulkner
Delivery Method: A combination of synchronous/real-time and asynchronous/any-time learning
Course Time: T from 2–4:50pm MT
Pre-requisite: None
Course Description: Critical observation of the world is a fundamental part of Native North American cultures. In this course, we investigate Native American scientific epistemologies in spacetime, ecology, mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, and forestry. Due to the fragmented nature of evidence remnant from settler colonialism, we are forced to take a multi-national view of Native American science, using case studies from multiple regions, peoples, and Native Nations. We pay special attention to evaluating phenomena of the world through Indigenous, emic paradigms of thought and will require the student to demonstrate mastery of this material through the completion of problem sets.
Other Themes Covered: Identity (race, gender, sexuality, culture, age, etc.)| Nature and the environment| Industry, invention, progress| Social concerns and issues| Fantasy and imagination| Time, cycles of life| Equity, diversity, inclusivity and decolonization
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: ALES | Native Studies | Science | Computing Science
Women’s and Gender Studies 498 (WGS 498) — Feminist Historiography
Number of Sections Offered: 1
Professor/Instructor: Felice Lifshitz
Delivery Method: Entirely or mostly synchronous/real-time learning
Course Time: F from 2–4:50pm MT
Pre-requisite:
1. Any Women’s and Gender Studies course from 200 level
2. Any other department’s course cross-listed with a Women’s and Gender Studies course from 200 level
3. Any other department’s course that is equivalent to a Women’s and Gender Studies course from 200 level
3. At the discretion of the instructor
Course Description: Everything has a history because everything changes over time and space. This includes bodies, sexualities, governments, prisons, sex work, food, drink, gender, slavery, work, education, childhood, old age, medicine, magic, war, art, music, literature, theatre, marriage, family, religion, dress, science, the weather, the landscape, media, movies, travel, transportation, language(s), buildings, love, disability, race, ethnicity, friendship, sports, cities, agriculture…in short, everything, including the writing of history itself.
Everything also has historiography, for the histories of bodies, sexualities, prisons, food, work, childhood, war, family, love, race, and so on have been told and retold, constructed and reconstructed, envisioned and revised, imagined and re-conceptualized, differently across time and space. Finally, it is possible to say that, in 2020, every historiography includes a feminist strand, indeed a whole range of feminist approaches to telling the stories of dress, disability, movies, travel, ethnicity, the weather, and so on.
The class will examine, as a group, some particularly significant examples of feminist historiography, and will allow ample room for students to pursue the specific historiographies of the subjects most of interest to them. Students are strongly encouraged to contact the instructor in advance of the class, in order to make their interests known and thereby have an impact on the assigned readings for the class.
Other Themes Covered: Social concerns and issues
Other faculties/programs that would take this as an option course: ALES | Education | Native Studies
