Lincoln and Darwin
Instructor: Dr. Bill Campbell
W 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm

The seminar will study the lives, developing patterns of thought, and contributions of two men born on the same day of the same year and an ocean apart: Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. Each student will give two oral reports, keep a reading journal, meet with the instructor in conference each month, and compose a research paper of about twenty to twenty-five pages. Our course texts will probably be Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings (Vintage Books), The Portable Darwin (Viking Press), and one other text to be named later.

Modern Dance and Modern Art in the 20th Century
Instructor: Dr. Rayma Beal
W 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm

This course will begin with reading about creative minds and creativity focusing on Martha Graham, Pablo Picasso, and Igor Stravinsky. We will examine the development of modern dance by Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Mary Wigman, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Hanya Holm, Merce Cunningham, Jose Limon, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, and Twyla Tharp. We will examine the artworks of Kadinsky, Matisse, Picasso, Dali, Gaudi, Giacometti, Calder, Wright, Mondrian, Nevelson, Lichtenstein, and Johns. A trip to Chicago or New York City is planned for the Fall Break Weekend. A final project is creating and performing dances based on the observations and information gained through research on the artists and dancers along with the performances observed. Video and written analysis of the creative works by the members of class will conclude this seminar.

Modern Tales of Humanity: The International Short Story
Instructor: Dr. Morris Grubbs
TR 6:00 pm - 7:15 pm

The modern short story is an elemental and essential form, offering us rare and very valuable glimpses into humanity. This course will follow the modern genre from some of its Russian, French, and American roots in the 19th century to its international flowering in the 20th, particularly by writers from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. The diverse array of writers will include Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Conner, Bobbie Ann Mason, Raymond Carver, Isabel Allende, Margaret Atwood, Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana), Bessie Head (Botswana), Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya), Mtutuzeli Matshoba (South Africa), Nadine Gordimer (South Africa), Mohammad Dib (Algeria), Alifa Rifaat (Egypt), Ghassan Kanafani (Palestine), Pramoedya Anata Toer (Indonesia), Vo Phien (Vietnam), Ding Ling (China), Mori Yoko (Japan), Katherine Susannah Prichard (Australia), Colin Johnson (Australia), Collette (France), and Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina).

We will read the stories to open windows into cultures mostly unfamiliar to us. As we peer through we will see reflections of the universal human condition, while paying close attention to the traits and tendencies inherent in the genre. Students will come away from the course with a rich reading experience and a firm knowledge of the formal and thematic continuities of the modern short story.

A Comparative Study of Religions – Keeping the Faith
Instructor: D. Kay Woods
TR 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm

Course Description

This course focuses on our modern encounter with traditional faiths. Important analytical paradigms that have been useful in interpreting religious belief and praxis will be explored and analyzed. Thus, the concept of "religious tradition" from antiquity to modern day will serve as the organizational focus of our study. The course is comprised of a thematic humanities approach in examining how religions are expressed and practiced. In addition to lectures, readings, and discussions, students will be required to visit at least two religious services that are foreign to their personal choice of faith or philosophy. Films and guest speakers will also supplement our religious experiences.

Objectives

• Students will develop an understanding of and tolerance for diverse religious beliefs.
• Students will analyze primary source materials as well as secondary commentaries and theories regarding religious growth and application both historically and in the modern world.
• Students will research various religious traditions and present a visual/oral project sharing their learning experience.
• Students will raise questions about and discuss key issues involving religious developments and diversity.

Required Books: (The following are foundational. Two or three other works may be added depending on the development of the course. I am still searching for fictional works that deal w/questions of faith from Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism.)

• Gwynn, Paul. World Religions in Practice: A Comparative Introduction (Oxford: Blackwell Pub.), 2009.
• Haque, Nadeem. Search for the Questions to the Answers of Life.
• Kurtz, Lester R. Gods in the Global Village, 2nd ed. (London: Pine Forge Press), 2007.
• Merullo, Roland. Breakfast with Buddha.
• Spechler, Diane. Who by Fire.
• Young, William P. The Shack (Los Angeles, CA: Windblown Media), 2007.
• Zakiyyah, Umm. If I Should Speak.

Articles and handouts may be assigned as supplements.