RELG 3730

If you're genuinely interested in Religious Studies, have some courses in the department under your belt, and will actually do the readings, definitely take this class!!! Don't take this class as a first RELG course (you probably won't understand much) or if you're never going to crack open your books (you'll hinder yourself and your classmates from having incredible discussions).

As a third-year RS major, this has been my favorite course. You delve super deep into religious studies theory and walk away with an incredible understanding of the field: foundational authors/theories, major debates, UVA faculty members, and your own informed perspectives. Every week, we read foundational pieces from 1-2 authors. Some of the pieces were a difficult read (this was Geddes' first time teaching this course for undergrad), but most of them were manageable and interesting. For each week's readings, we had to write a 250-word response to a passage of our choice. Then we discussed the readings and our responses in class. These discussions as a whole class and in small groups were super insightful, and especially helpful for the harder readings. Each student had to facilitate at least one discussion during the semester, but it was low-stress: all you needed was a few main points from your reading and some discussion questions about them.
My favorite part of the class was faculty interviews. Most weeks, we brought 1-2 religious studies professors into the class and asked them about their experience in the field, personal backgrounds, research interests, etc. It was a blast to get to know professors and see the real-life application of the theory/methods we were reading about, which can seem dry and abstract sometimes.
There were no exams. Grades consisted of participation (30%), weekly reading responses (30%), faculty interviews (15%), discussion leading (5%), and a broad, 1500-word final paper comparing any two authors we read in their approach to religious studies (20%).
Professor Geddes was also awesome! She was very available, responsive to our feedback as a class, flexible with assignments when I needed it, and a great facilitator in our discussions.

#tCFS24