Hon Writers and Their Spiritual Searches: Religious Themes in Contemporary Literature

From the ancient period to today, writers have reflected on their own experiences, their tragedies and joys and realizations-their lives-as spiritual journeys. Augustine's Confessions is an early such effort. Those of contemporary authors follow in this line. Among these there are some very funny, very disturbing, and some very beautiful efforts. In this course, we will sample a selection, listen carefully to these stories, then together reflect on and connect them to our own stories and journeys both in class and in some writing. The authors include poets, memoir writers, novelists, social activists and stem from rich religious traditions and upbringings or none at all. (Students will receive credit for only one of the following courses: ANT, REL, or SOC 4025H. These courses may substitute for each other in the F-replacement policy.) This course may be used as an elective within the Sociology major, the Anthropology, Sociology, and Religion and Culture minors, or as a general elective for the BA, BBA, and BS degrees.Prerequisite: ENG 2150; SOC 1005 or ANT 1001.