RELH 3105

Wow. Literally, one of the most amazing courses I have taken in my entire life. Hinduism and Ecology manages to bring together two seemingly different disciplines and blends them together so well, and Professor Allen should get all the credit for doing so. The course structure is as follows. For the first 6 weeks, we did Hinduism, and while there was some discussion, it was mainly Professor Allen leading the discussions and even lecturing a few times to make sure the class had an adequate understanding of Hinduism. This culminated with the first paper. After that, for the next 3 weeks, we mainly explored Ecology- this is my opinion was the most boring part, but it wasn't even that annoying- it makes you think of the environment in ways you would have never even dreamt of before. Finally, for the rest of the semester, we did case studies dissecting the relationship between the two, and this was so so interesting. The class ends with a paper, and that was it. I cannot say enough good things about this course. Don't get me wrong- its a lot of work, and the work needs to be done well if you want to do well- there are a set of reading and discussion questions for each class, and 3 papers. However, like Professor Allen said at the beginning of class, if you do the work, you will get so much out of it, I did. He even lets you skip the second paper if you want!! (I did, and he recommends it if you do well on the first one) I am going to miss him so much, and he is such a caring, nice man who will go out of his way to help you and do well. I think I sent him 8 emails over final exams with questions about the last paper, and he responded to each one in a timely manner with the necessary information. Cannot recommend enough, take and you will enjoy. Ok.