COLA courses are 1-credit seminars capped at 18 first-year students, all of whom are assigned to the instructor as advisees. They are topically focused on an area identified by the faculty member; they also include a significant advising component centered on undergraduate issues (e.g., choosing a major, study abroad opportunities, undergraduate research, etc.). For detailed descriptions see http://college.as.virginia.edu/COLA

This course will introduce first-year students to their forum topic. Students should enroll in the section associated with the forum to which they were accepted. (See http://college.as.virginia.edu/forums for information on the forums.)

This course follows the first-semester introductory forum class and keeps students engaged in the content of their forum. Students should enroll in the section associated with the forum to which they were accepted. (See http://college.as.virginia.edu/forums for information on the forums.)

This course is the capstone course for forum students. It is to be taken in the fourth semester by forum students only. Students should enroll in the section associated with the forum to which they were accepted. (See http://college.as.virginia.edu/forums for information on the forums).

Responses to the Holocaust

Explores how ethical issues in religious traditions and cultural narratives are addressed in literature, scripture, essay, and memoir. How do stories inquire into "the good life"? How may moral principles and virtues be "tested" by fiction? How does narrative shape identity, mediate universality and particularity, reflect beliefs and values in conflict, and depict suffering?

The Pavilion Seminars are open, by instructor permission, to 3rd and 4th year students. They are 3-credit, multidisciplinary seminars, focused on big topics and limited to max. 15 students each. For detailed descriptions of current offerings, see http://college.artsandsciences.virginia.edu/PAVS.

Introduces the study of religion as an interdisciplinary subject, utilizing methods in history of religions, theology, sociology, depth psychology, and literary criticism. The seminars are thematic and topics will vary according to the design of the instructor. Limited to twenty religious studies majors.

Systematic readings in a selected topic under detailed supervision. Prerequisite: Permission of departmental advisor and instructor.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of general religion.

This course will explore the interrelations between evil and suffering of 20th- and 21st- century European and American thinkers, theologians, and theorists, as well as literary authors and artists, with particular attention to the Holocaust and American slavery.

Given the multidisciplinary character of religious studies, it is imperative for new scholars to gain a basic sense of theoretical and methodological options in the field. By way of an examination of landmark texts, this course surveys the formation of religious studies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and considers some important contemporary approaches.

We will explore the narrative dimensions of ethical thought and expression and the ethical questions raised by particular literary texts, including how we make ethical decisions, what it means to be a good person and live a good life, how we should live with and respond to those around us, what visions of the world we should cultivate and seek to realize, and what responses we might develop to life's sufferings and the fact of our mortality.

This course will focus on key texts of the group of scholars known as the Frankfurt School, including Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, and Jürgen Habermas.

In this tutorial, we will explore the interrelations between memory, history, and religion, as well as questions about collective and individual identity; how the past affects our responsibilities, rights, and debts in the present; the relationship between truths, histories, and memories; and the ways religious traditions have understood and shaped the practices of memory and history.

This tutorial focuses on key texts in the field of Holocaust Studies. Reading lists will be adjusted to the particular interests of the student, but may include scholarship on the ethics of representations, individual and collective memory, evil and suffering, moral agency and culpability, comparative studies of genocide and mass atrocities, theodicy and anti-theodicy, and Holocaust testimony.

Research on problems leading to a master's thesis.

For doctoral research, taken before a dissertation director has been selected.