This course introduces students to some of the classic texts of Western Civilization. The particular focus of this course will be on the religious elements of these texts, on their descriptions of how mankind interacts with the gods (or with God), and on the ways in which these interactions inform the basic metaphysical questions of human existence: what does it mean to be human (as opposed to divine), what does it mean for a human to communicate with (to hold communion with) a divine, what modes of thought (political, social, historical) are necessary to produce belief in this communication, and how do the basic energies of this communication (love, anger, resentment, supplication, etc.) come into being and receive definition? Writers to be studied include Homer, Aeschylus, Virgil, the group of people who authored the Tanakh, the group of people who authored the Christian scriptures, and Dante.
