REL 203 - Modern Disenchantment and the Possibilities for Re-Enchantment

FDR: HU, GE4d
Credits: 3
When Offered: Fall.

Scholars interested in the meaning of modernity have long used the category “disenchantment” to characterize this age. With this term, they paint a picture in which modernity is understood to entail the decline and/or transformation of religious thought and practice in the west. Recent developments might suggest, however, that a simple reading of “disenchantment” is no longer the best way to understand contemporary culture. Students consider depictions of the modern west from the perspective of disciplines including sociology, economics, science and technology studies, aesthetics, and philosophy and theology. In the course of our explorations, we consider sociological, economic, scientific, aesthetic, and technological dimensions of the modern west, the impact these have on religion, and their relevance to a possible re-enchantment.Kosky.