REPH 102: World Religions (3 credit hours – Fall)
World Religions includes a historical survey of major non-Christian religions with a view to discover the conceptual, ethical, ritual and symbolic expressions of each faith. The course will cover Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism and Islam among others.
REPH 111: Introduction to Ethics (3 credit hours – Fall)
The course includes an analysis of the vocabulary, presuppositions and principles basic to moral evaluation and exploration of the major options in normative ethics as they are applied to selected issues in ethics.
REPH 156: Old Testament Survey (3 credit hours – Fall)
This course is a survey of the basic historical and theological events and themes of the Old Testament.
REPH 157: New Testament Survey (3 credit hours – Fall and Spring)
This course is a survey of the basic historical and theological events and themes of the New Testament. Broad themes will be identified as the writings are explored for the Christian content, the historical and hermeneutical background and the meaning for contemporary life.
REPH 200: United Methodist Heritage (3 credit hours – On demand)
This course is a survey of the history, polity and doctrine of the United Methodist Church. It is designed especially for students majoring in Family and Youth Ministry who are seeking certification with the United Methodist Church. Required for certification by the United Methodist Church.
REPH 201: Introduction to Philosophy (3 credit hours – Even year Spring)
This course is a critical inquiry into some of the basic topics of philosophy, including theory of knowledge, the question of truth, deductive and inductive logic, human nature, meaning of history, ethics and the existence of God.
REPH 225: Spiritual Formation (3 credit hours – Spring)
This course will explore spiritual disciplines and will examine ways to nurture growth in faith in persons of all ages. The class will be both theoretical and experiential in nature.
REPH 252: The Prophets (3 credit hours – Odd year Spring)
An exploration of the nature of Hebrew prophecy, the prophetic movement and its literature with special attention paid to the socio-political context of the prophetic word and its meaning for our day.
REPH 258: Jesus and His Teachings (3 credit hours – Fall)
The class will explore the life and sayings of Jesus within the socio-historical context of the gospel writings in order to understand His message, its interpretation in the church and meaning for the present.
REPH 259: Paul and His Teachings (3 credit hours – Even year Spring)
The course is an investigation of Paul’s writings in their historical settings in order to understand Paul, the development of his thought and the meaning of his witness to the contemporary church.
REPH 300: Philosophy of Science (3 Credit hours – Odd year Fall)
This course is designed to provide an overview to some of the major philosophical and epistemological issues in science, including rationality and objectivity, causality, induction, probability, verifiability and the relationship of science and religion. Prerequisite: REPH 201 or BIOL101 or higher, or CHEM120 or higher or PHYS118 or higher.
REPH 306: Survey of Church History (3 credit hours – Odd year Spring)
This course acts as an overview to the events and theology of church history from the ecumenical councils through the modern church. This course will focus on formative theological, cultural, sociological and historical factors in church history.
REPH 310: Aesthetics (3 Credit hours – even year Spring)
This course is an examination of visual culture as well as a historical and conceptual overview of the major thinkers in aesthetic value theory, covering the significance of beauty and human creativity. This class involves extensive student activity outside the confines of the classroom. Special emphasis is placed upon the reading of primary texts Prerequisite: REPH111 or REPH201.
REPH 312: Philosophy of Religion (3 credit hours – Odd year Spring)
The course includes a critical survey of such problems as the nature of religion and the meaning of religious experience, mysticism, religious symbolism and ritual, the existence of God, the function of religious language, evil, suffering, death, immortality and the meaning of the religious quest.
REPH 315: The Christian Faith (3 credit hours – Fall)
This course will consist of a systematic philosophy of the topics central to Christian thought, including Trinity, the significance of Jesus Christ, the church, sacraments, the Holy Spirit and the Bible.
REPH 455: Senior Seminar (3 credit hours – On demand)
The seminar is a capstone course for Junior or Senior Religion majors. It will concentrate on either a Biblical topic or a theological topic agreed upon in advance by the professor and students. Prerequisite: Completion of at least 15 credit hours of the major or by permission of the instructor.
REPH 460: Internship (3-12 credit hours – On demand)
This course provides an opportunity to work actively and to try new skills, as well as to observe, evaluate and learn in a professional ministry situation. This course can be taken up to three times if each experience is different. See Internships under Alternative Means to Academic Credit for further guidelines.
REPH 485: Selected Topics (3 credit hours – On demand)
This course provides the opportunity for intensive study of special topics and selected materials in Religion and/or Philosophy. Under different subtitles this course may be repeated for credit. Possible topics include Process Theology, Methods in Biblical Studies, Religion in Film, Religion in America, Feminist Theology and Liberation Theology.
REPH 490: Independent Study (Variable credit – On demand)
Independent Study consists of research, reading or other scholarly investigation or creative work. See Independent Study under Alternate Means to Academic Credit, for a more detailed description.
