RELC 3470

Great class - take anything with Portmann!! He's fantastic.

Great class. Professor Portman knows everything.

Portmann was great in the beginning. Then you realize he doesn't really listen to what his students are saying in class and he just keeps talking about how great Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are. If you start talking and 10 seconds in, he finds something he wants to comment on, he'll pretty much ignore everything else you say so once you finish talking, he can say what he wants. Sometimes it feels like he's veering the class off topic just to show much he knows. This class is basically about science geniuses like Newton, Galileo, Darwin etc and their struggle with Christianity (if there was anyway to show you how actually boring this was, I would.) For you science majors, it really has nothing to do with current issues between christianity and science until halfway through the semester. Even then, the in class discussion is boring and long. The quizzes focus on the most miniscule and unnecessary details from the book; he doesn't test on the big picture concepts or major details like most rational professors. All in all, a gigantic disappointment from a usually fantastic religious studies department.

I thought this was an extremely thought-provoking class. Portmann takes you through both important people who have crossed the boundaries between science and religion, but also goes into more abstract philosophical areas about how the two subjects interact. I would definitely recommend this class if you like the subject. My only con: Portmann will often state his own ideas and go off topic just because he has the floor to talk, and not because it's relevant. The final paper is fun if you put the work in, otherwise it's just readings every work that you can put as much or as little work in as you want and still participate positively.