RELC 1210

This was my favorite class of the semester! Professor Halvorson-Taylor is a very engaging lecture and never put me to sleep. She is also incredibly easy to take notes to. The material was interesting and encouraged critical thinking. My section was always fun and thought provoking with Andrew Guffey. I definitely recommend this class!

Absolutely excellent class. Professor H-T is incredibly kind, helpful, and interesting. It's fascinating listening to her lecture on this subject and I enjoyed coming to every class. The readings aren't that long at the beginning of the semester, but it picks up as the semester goes on. Unfortunately, the readings also get more boring near the end of the semester too. However, this was an incredible class that everyone should take, even if you're not interested in Religious Studies. You learn a lot about the Bible and about the history of the Jews, and you learn about controversies in the Bible that I had never even thought of before. David's also an amazing TA; very personable and friendly. Take his section.

I AM OBSESSED WITH HALVERSON-TAYLOR. Take this class. If I had one piece of advice to give every single student at the University of Virginia, it would be to take this class. You won't regret it.

Professor Halvoson-Taylor is probably one of my favorite professors thus far at UVA. She does a great job of explaining and connecting the material and lectures are really interesting. Throughout the semester, I've found that I have a much better grasp on the content, history, and analysis of the Old Testament.

I am shocked at the number of positive reviews that have been posted for this class. While Professor Halvorson-Taylor is a genuinely nice person and a relatively good lecturer, this class is terrible in so many ways. Firstly, it tries to do WAY too much for a 1200 level religion course. Religious studies classes are typically a cake walk, but this class DEMANDS your full attention or you will get a bad grade. The readings numerous, and so similar that you will be confused quickly. Midterm/Final has a study guide, but gives you a list of 150+ terms to memorize when only 8 will be on the exams. TA Hoffman has ridiculous expectations for papers, grades relatively unfairly. As a student who excels in critical writing, I was shocked to be averaging a "check" on the discussion papers. Also that note, they try to use section as basically another lecture with all new material instead of reviewing the lecture material. Overall, avoid. There are much easier classes in the department that you can still learn a great deal in.

This class was pretty interesting, but it was a lot of work for a lower-level introductory religion class. Professor H-T was a great lecturer and very knowledgeable about the subject, but class was very demanding and required a lot of effort. Ashleigh was a great TA and made discussions enjoyable as well. Overall, a good class that requires a lot of hard work and effort just to pull off an A-.

This class was not worth it for a 1000 level. You have to pay attention or you miss small details and the final has an extremely large number of terms to memorize and ridiculous passage IDs. Don't take unless you have a lot of background Biblical knowledge.

Professor Halvorson-Taylor is the best! This class made me want to declare my Religious Studies major. You leave every lecture in awe! To the people who downrated this class because "you actually have to pay attention," shame on you. This class DESERVES attention. Don't take it because you think it will be easy (it isn't hard; despite what a previous reviewer said, you don't need previous knowledge of the Bible and she lays out all the terms on the midterm and the final for you in midterm reviews), take it because the material is interesting and you're ready to learn--as you should be as a student at UVA anyway.

I found this class very interesting, but for a 1000 level it is not worth the reading or difficulty. I've grown up around the Church and am very family with its history and everything, and I still struggle to keep an A in the class. Not to mention the mid-term is only 50 minutes when it should be about 3 hours- literally nobody stopped writing when they called time. All in all, it fulfilled some requirements so that was nice.. but it simply wasn't worth the work if you aren't genuinely interested in the Old Testament. As for people being "blown away" by lecture, I'm not sure what they are talking about.. reading the textbook, doing the homework, and going to discussion is the most important part. She gives you a study guide for exams and you simply memorize that and hope you can answer the essay.

I really enjoyed this class! I had a background in Christianity, so for me this definitely helped. I would not necessarily recommend this class if you are not at all interested in religion and/or history because the course is very much structured around the history of the Jewish religion. This class is not easy (the midterm is crazy because they only give you 50 min) but if you don't mind reading and writing and are interested in the topic, it's definitely worthwhile! Ashley Tate is the best TA!