RELI 250 - Across Religious Boundaries: Understanding Differences

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

The study of a selected topic or theme in religious studies that cuts across the boundaries of particular religions, allowing opportunities for comparison as well as contrast of religious traditions, beliefs, values and practices.

Topic for 2024/25a: Ecospirituality and Planetary Consciousness. (Same as STS 250) This course examines twentieth-century space exploration and emerging discourses about “one world,” planetary consciousness, the environment, and spirituality. It begins with the Apollo space technologies and how they produced a set of unexpected reflections about the earth and its place in the cosmos. That process began in 1968 when the Apollo 8 astronauts captured the now-famous “Earthrise” photograph of the Earth rising above the lunar surface. Seeing the earth from space for the first time led to a kind of “no frames, no boundaries” mysticism for many astronauts, who reported feeling awe that all humans lived together on a tiny, glittering, blue planet. This mysticism was taken up by many others in the wake of Apollo—by key figures in the counter-culture, new religious and spiritual figures, “Gaia” movement preachers and ecologists, cosmologists such as Carl Sagan, esoteric engineers at NASA such as Jack Parsons and many others convinced that technology had delivered a new era of planetary awareness and spiritual evolution. This course examines the history of the Apollo technologies, the cultural impact of these technologies, and the remarkable efflorescence of new planetary ideas and movements beginning in the 1960s. No prerequisites; all students welcome.Christopher White.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS