Religion in Philadelphia

Catalog description

How do the many religious institutions in our society differ, and what common qualities do they share? Why do some religious institutions adapt to modernity while others do not? The course will begin with an introduction to current theories in the sociology of religion. We will then apply and critique those theories as we learn more about the histories, members, practices and beliefs of the all of the major religious groups in the US today, including Mainline, Fundamentalist and Evangelical Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and other groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons. Students will pick one religious group to research throughout the course of the semester and will write papers after ethnographic observation of that group.