COURSES
Humanities classes often fulfill Core Requirements for students in all majors. Learn more about our courses.
FALL 2026 COURSES
HUM 2001–001
Dr. Jahdiel Perez
T/Th 10:00-11:15 am
Core: Advanced Theology
How can humans make claims about God? What do they imply, and are they well founded? We will also consider what the questions and potential answers about God reveal about human life, society, and nature. The course begins by considering modern critiques of religion that help us understand our own uses and abuses of religion. We then inquire whether it is responsible to love and believe in a Christian God. In doing so, we must consider the possibility that God reveals Himself precisely to help us know and love God. After investigating claims about revelation, we turn to theological questions that arise out of the experience of having a relationship with God. We conclude with a dramatic investigation of the major themes of the course.
HUM 2002–001
Dr. Paul Camacho
T/Th 1:00-2:15 pm
Cross List: Peace & Justice, Public Service Administration
It has been said that a crisis in humanism—an insufficient understanding of the human person—underlay the manifold political, social, and historical tragedies of the twentieth century and their ongoing repercussions. In this course, we will attempt to engage the major questions confronting us in the twentieth-first century by examining fundamental aspects of the human experience, from birth through death, and considering how to pursue the good in the dramatic unfolding of human life. We will consider together the manifold strange wonders that make us human, including food, family, friendship, education, work, and love.
HUM 2003–001
Dr. Jesse Couenhoven
T/Th 11:30-12:45
Cross List: Environmental Studies, Philosophy, Sustainability Minor
The way we look at and understand the natural world affects the way we think about ourselves, and vice versa. In this class, we will consider the conceptions of the world most common today, discuss their origins, examine their presuppositions, and think through their implications both for our relationship toward the world and also for our understanding of what it means to be a human being. Among the topics we will cover are: how we experience, observe and conceptualize the world; what it means to give a causal explanation; what it means to speak of God as creator and why one would do so; the relationship between science, philosophy, and religion; and the meaning of the human person and social order in relation to the world.
HUM 2004–001
Dr. Veronica Ogle
M/W 1:55-3:10 pm
Cross List: Peace & Justice, Political Science, Public Service & Administration
We live in a time when political, economic, and family life compete to occupy our horizon of concerns. Our culture is often cynical about the possibility of finding meaning in these fundamental aspects of human society. But is that right? How well does the modern view of society as a contract amongst consenting individuals really work? What insights can we glean from a more ancient understanding of society as a fulfillment of human nature? Does society help or impede our quest to find truth or to become our best selves? To truly understand the human person, it is essential to think hard about our relationship to society. To do so we will take up Hobbes, Locke, DuBois, Aristotle, Rousseau, Lewis Mumford, Nietzsche, John Ruskin, and William Morris. |
HUM 1975-001
Dr. Mitchell Kooh
T/Th 8:30-9:45 am
Core: Literature & Writing Seminar
An “epiphany” is a moment of recognition that sheds light on the human condition and the mystery of creation. Pope John Paul II, himself a poet and avant-garde playwright, spoke of how a deep engagement with literary art can realize new moments of recognition, which he called "epiphanies of beauty." But how can the wonder of such an “ah ha” moment change our lives? Can it ever mislead us? These literary, social, theological, and ethical questions animate this core literature and writing seminar. We will engage in close reading of many genres, including novel, drama, poetry, short story, non-fiction, and film. Our authors include Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Zadie Smith, Franz Kafka, Karen Blixen, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Using a multi-faceted humanistic methodology, we will work on developing interpretative skills for both poetry and prose and writing thesis-driven critical essays about how literary art can illuminate what is good and what is beautiful. |
HUM 2900–001
Dr. Eugene McCarraher
M/W 3:20-4:35 pm
Core: History
Should Americans think of the United States as an empire? Our economy, our conception of “freedom,” and our everyday lives have all depended on empire, but there has also been a long current of anti-imperialism in American culture. With readings ranging from Locke, William Penn, Chief Powhatan, Emerson, and Melville to Che Guevara, Martin Luther King, Jr., Fukuyama, and Friedman, this course considers the historical role of empire in our personal and social lives.
HUM 2900-002
Dr. Christopher Daly
M/W 4:45–6:00 pm
This course focuses on the development of the late-medieval and early-modern state in western Europe. In particular, we will think about the rise of centralized monarchies in France and England, the shifting structure of religious hierarchy and practice in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, and the cultural shifts in music and art from the late medieval period to the early baroque. As we examine the political, religious, and cultural patterns of this extended period, we will reflect on different aspects of faith and belief, of attitudes towards citizenship and personal autonomy, and social cohesion and disarray. Beyond western Europe, we will consider enterprises of colonization and proselytization in Japan and the Caribbean.
HUM 2900–003
Dr. Paul Camacho
T/Th 2:30–3:45 pm
Core: Advanced Theology
Where am I going in my life? What am I really seeking? Augustine famously describes the human heart as restless—pulled by desire, pride, fear, and love—until it learns what it is really seeking. This course treats Augustine’s life as a pilgrimage in the strict sense: a demanding journey of self-knowledge, truth-seeking, and re-formed longing. We will ask how Augustine’s account of formation can illuminate contemporary struggles for authenticity, integrity, and communion, especially when the self is tempted to fold in on itself.
Reading Confessions as our central text, we will place Augustine in conversation with selected writings from his wider corpus and context, and we will examine the “pilgrim virtues” that his thought repeatedly calls forth: humility, forgiveness, patience, wonder, and conviviality. Embedded travel to Italy over Fall Break is designed to deepen the course’s central claim: that Augustine’s account of moral and spiritual development is grasped most fully when it is put into practice—through attention, prayer, conversation, and shared life in community.
HUM 2900–004
Dr. Jahdiel Perez
T/Th 1:00–2:15 pm
Core: Advanced Theology
"Who would win a debate between Friedrich Nietzsche and C.S. Lewis? Let’s find out.
Nietzsche and C.S. Lewis were two of the most influential writers of the past 150 years. Both were raised in religious homes; both lost a parent early in childhood; both served in a war; both were brilliant students, both were academic outcasts in their universities, and both became internationally renowned intellectuals. Despite their similarities, both developed radically different worldviews: Lewis defended traditional Christianity, while Nietzsche embraced radical atheism.
Throughout this course, we will put some of their signature classics into dialogue, including Nietzsche’s The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and Beyond Good and Evil as well as Lewis’s The Pilgrim’s Regress, The Last Battle, The Abolition of Man, and An Experiment in Criticism. We will compare and contrast their different worldviews to explore a range of fundamental questions: Is God a living presence or an outdated concept? What is the meaning of life? Is human life more like a tragedy or a comedy? Is it better to be suspicious or trusting in our pursuit of Truth? What role does power play in human relationships?
HUM 2900-005
Dr. Noel Dolan
M/W/F 10:40-11:30 am
Core: Fine Arts
Art is fueled by the imagination and seeks to captivate the viewer, but in the use of artistic gifts and talents, there is a deeper inspiration. St. Pope John Paul II wrote of how “artists of every age…are captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colors and shapes…sensing in [their] some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate [them].” In this class we will consider the use of art to tell a story, infuse metaphoric connection, and uplift the spirit within a context of the “enchanted world of statues…stained glass…and holy pictures” (Fr. Andrew Greeley) that is the Catholic experience of faith. We will both read stories firsthand from the Bible as well as read critical analysis, and throughout the course we will closely “read” paintings, stained glass windows, and more.
Our authors include St. Augustine, St. Pope John Paul II, St. Hildegard of Bingen, Flannery O’Connor, Sally Read, and JRR Tolkien, among others. The art will range from the late Middle Ages through the contemporary, in several forms common to church worship and personal devotion, and including such artists as Gozzoli, Michelangelo, Gentileschi, and Tanner. Using shared terms for artistic analysis, we will work on interpreting scenes and themes, writing two thesis-driven critical essays on Catholic artistic enchantment as well as one visual project that explicates a work of sacred art.
HUM 2900–006
Dr. Andrew Lynn
M/W 4:45–6:00 pm
Cross List: Sociology
Core: Social Science
What place does work have in a well-lived life? Is work a burden or a blessing? Under what conditions can work contribute to human flourishing? How have modern economic and technological developments reshaped--and perhaps diminished--the possibility of meaningful work? This seminar examines the meaning of work in human life, with readings drawn from classic and contemporary sources, including Aristotle, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Pope Leo XIII, Simone Weil, and Josef Pieper.
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HUM 4000-001
Dr. Kevin Hughes
M/W 3:20-4:35 pm
Core: Arab & Islamic Studies, Advanced Theology, Diversity 3, Peace & Justice, Jewish Studies
Intellectual discourse in our modern world occurs within a cultural context of radical pluralism. This pluralism takes shape in many forms, be it political, racial or religious. Some even characterize the contemporary situation as a clash of cultures. In this course we will examine one face of this situation, that of religious pluralism. We will analyze the emerging traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam in broad strokes. We will learn how each faith came upon the world stage, how each came to define its beliefs and practices, and how these were defined by conversation, confrontation and conflict with each other. This introduction to the three Abrahamic traditions will enable us to engage in inter-religious conversation from some knowledge of each tradition’s origins, beliefs, and practices.
HON 5305
Dr. Jahdiel Perez
T 4:00-5:15 pm
1-credit
What virtues do we need for life? In this 1-credit course, we will read (or re-read) C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia to discover what values should guide our journey. We will turn to Aslan the Lion, Reepicheep the mouse, and Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle for guidance. We will focus on reading and discussion over essays and exams.