Nov 22, 2024
OHIO University Undergraduate Catalog 2024-25
CARS 3400 - Greek and Roman Religions and Society
This course studies the nature and practice of religion in the ancient Greek and Roman world. It explores how Greeks and Romans conceptualized the divine and its interaction with human spheres of activity. Particular attention is given to the practice of ancient religion, the rituals, priesthoods, festivals, and ceremonies through which humans engaged in religion, and the underlying concepts that gave shape and meaning to these practices. Attention is also given to related topics such as ancient philosophical critiques of religious practice, to the intersection of religion and magic, and to the ways in which Greeks and Romans reacted to new or foreign religious ideas, practices, and beliefs and to parallels with contemporary responses to encounters with other religions.
Requisites: Soph or Jr or Sr
Credit Hours: 3
OHIO BRICKS: Bridge: Diversity and Practice
General Education Code (students who entered prior to Fall 2021-22): 2HL
Repeat/Retake Information: May be retaken two times excluding withdrawals, but only last course taken counts.
Lecture/Lab Hours: 3.0 lecture
Grades: Eligible Grades: A-F,WP,WF,WN,FN,AU,I
Learning Outcomes:
- Students will be able to define key concepts and terms in ancient thinking about ancient religion.
- Students will be able to describe how religion was practiced in ancient Greece and Rome, why these forms were important, and the roles religious practice played in people’s lives.
- Students will be able to explain how Greeks and Romans conceived of the divine and their relationship to the divine, and how this evolved over time and across cultures.
- Students will be able to develop a greater understanding of the diversity of human experience regarding religious thinking and practices in the ancient world.
- Students will be able to develop cultural self-awareness and articulate insights of their own cultural rules and biases by studying religions and religious beliefs in the ancient world.
- Students will be able to demonstrate empathy for different cultures by interpreting ancient religious ideas from their own and others’ worldview in a manner that supports the feelings of those in contemporary society.
- Students will be able to explain how Greek and Roman religion and religious practice influenced their development of their cultures, and how cultures reacted to challenges to their religious beliefs and practices.
- Students will be able to use their experience studying ancient religions to initiate and develop interactions with culturally different others while suspending judgment in valuing his/her interactions with culturally different others.
- Students will be able to analyze and evaluate ancient literary texts and material culture, identify the influence of biases and/or unique perspectives, and assess their reliability and utility in studying ancient religion.
- Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of cultural differences by studying ancient religions, and negotiate a shared understanding based on those differences, in verbal and non-verbal communication.
- Students will be able to draw connections between ancient Greek and Roman religious culture and contemporary religious controversy in a way that demonstrates curiosity, openness, and empathy toward religiously diverse others.
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