Summer Programs For High School StudentsNew York City
Level: Open to students entering grades 11 or 12 or freshman year of college in fall 2013.
Session: I, June 24-July 12, 2013
Days & Time: Monday-Friday, 10:00 AM-12:00 PM and 2:00 PM-4:00 PM
Instructor(s): Daniel Vaca,
Related Courses: Students interested in this course might also be interested in Deity, Darwin, and Intelligent Design: A Historical Survey of Religion and Science in America.
This course introduces students to the world's major religious traditions and equips them with the ability to recognize and interpret religious language, practices, and imagery. Students explore foundational religious concepts and narratives not just through scholarly analyses, artistic depictions, and cinematic representations but also through encounters with representatives from a wide range of temples, churches, mosques, and synagogues. Using New York City as a laboratory, students use visits to religious communities and area museums as opportunities to put classroom lectures and discussions in dialogue with other representations of religious experience. By the end of the course, students are familiar not only with the histories, beliefs, and practices of the world's religious traditions but also with the ways that people make sense of religion in twenty-first-century America.
Note: tuition fees do not cover costs of text books and field trips. Students should budget approximately $150 for course related expenses.
Appropriate clothing for visits to houses of worship is required. Jeans, t-shirts and shorts are not appropriate. Appropriate clothing for female students includes dress pants, skirts or dresses that cover below the knee, and shirts with sleeves below the elbow. Appropriate clothing for male students includes dress pants and collared shirts.
Daniel Vaca is a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Center for the Study of Religion. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. A historian of religion and culture in the United States, he writes and teaches about American Christian thought and practice in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Before receiving his Ph.D., Daniel received degrees in religious studies from the University of Cambridge (UK) and the College of William and Mary.
Specific course information, such as hours and instructors, are subject to change at the discretion of the University.