RELG 2300

Overall, I loved the course. For context, the class spends each week reading different theologians and thinkers addressing a moral and ethical dilemma from their religion's lens (Christian, Jewish, or Muslim). The first half of the class focused on personal dilemmas like lying, sex, and marriage, while the second half focused on larger societal problems like war, the death penalty, and evil. The class consists of a midterm (15%), a final (25%), two reading presentations (10%, 20%), pop-reading quizzes (10%), and in-class participation (20%). Each class was led by three students who did a presentation on the readings for the day, and then the class broke up and discussed the readings in small groups. Professor Mathewes would add to presentations and bring the class back together to talk about the implications of the readings in our day-to-day lives. Professor Mathewes is incredibly knowledgeable, and I loved every second of the class because it forced me to think about my relationship with the world around me and my own morals. That being said, most of us had to put a decent amount of work into the class. You have to do the readings, have to attend class, have to study for the exam. If you aren't willing to put some time into this class, you will find yourself in a bad spot. The reading quizzes were true or false, and I still found myself failing some despite actually doing the readings. (This shouldn't scare you away, though. I skimmed 1/3 of the readings, failed at least two reading quizzes, and still earned an A) To succeed in this class, you HAVE to talk about the readings to make sure you understand them. Professor Mathewes is incredibly accessible and able to meet with you in case you are confused or need extra support. He also offered tons of extra credit opportunities after the first midterm due to the lower scores.

Bottom line: this class will make you a better person. Don't take if you are expecting to show up and just earn an A though.

Mathewes really cares about his students and tries hard to make his class fun, meaningful and relevant. His lectures are sometimes hard to follow, and the class has a lot of readings for a 2000 level class. However, if you put in some effort and really think about the subject matter discussed in class - it is extremely interesting and rewarding. I believe that everyone needs to take a class like this during his/her time here.
Rebecca Levi is a quality TA. Really knows her stuff, cares about students, very available and helpful, no bullshit. Discussion has always been a blast.

Lectures rarely stay on topic and the exams test you on random knowledge including the ability to assign random quotes to unheard theologians.

Mathewes is a terrible professor. His lectures are rarely on topic and his attempts at humor and random outbursts of anger detract from the subject matter. He foolishly offered up an extra credit paper that would earn students an A+ if they completed it. When students were inevitably interested he altered the assignment multiple times without clear guidelines until finally most students were forced to take the final and were rewarded for 10-15 hours of preparation and writing with a 6% boost on the final instead of an A for the semester. Tests judge the ability of students to identify the random quotes of theologians whose work have made no significant contribution to their field or society. These theologians are largely unheard of and only a few sources are well known theologians such as Aquinas.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS

Great TA - good readings and bad readings - hard to keep track of each author's viewpoint but that's the point of the class

Good class - very interesting and Professor Mathewes' lectures were pretty engaging. Covers a lot of material during lecture though, sometimes hard to keep up, but TAs are very helpful.

Good Professor. Have to do all the reading because there can be pop quizes in class any day. Grading all up to TAs, which can make it tricky. Also demand that essays be in specific format, which I didn't like.

Great class, very interesting readings (albeit alot of them). Professor Mathewes actually cares about his students -- a rarity in the university world. Multiple old practice exams are provided for midterms and finals.

This is an amazing class. Professor Mathewes is an engaging, entertaining, and knowledgeable professor, and the readings are genuinely interesting and enjoyable. You learn to become a better thinker and to gain new perspective on issues that we encounter everyday. This is an incredibly worthwhile class.

Way too much reading, if they cut it down the class would be much more enjoyable and worthwile

Very interesting topics were presented in this class and discussion was usually quite thought provoking. Professor Mathewes is a brilliant lecturer, but he doesn't use a powerpoint or anything- he just stands up and talks, so you have to be really good at taking notes and listening. Personally, I thought the readings, though interesting, were excessive. However, if you are able to keep up with the readings, this class is very worthwhile.

Mathewes is a fantastic lecturer and the subject matter is fascinating. Peter Kang was very helpful and fun as a TA. The only drawback to the course is that there is an excessive amount of reading (4-6 hours per week), and while most of it is interesting, you must commit yourself to really going through the readings thoroughly in order to do well in the course.

Extremely interesting, but you need to be caught up with the reading. There's A LOT of reading, and some of it is pretty dense, so if you don't like to read, I wouldn't recommend it.

Mathewes is a good professor and keeps lectures fairly interesting, but there is entirely too much reading for this course (~900 pages of course packet for the semester). Midterm and final included sections on matching authors to articles - wasn't too difficult but doesn't do anything to help you learn. There was so much reading I ended up feeling like I couldn't get much out of it and we couldn't cover it all in discussions.

Mathewes is an amazing lecturer who is able to keep the class engaged, even though it is so large. Scott Bailey, my TA, is by far the best TA I have had.

The class is really interesting and I highly recommend it. Matthewes lectures raise some interesting issues, but you must really know the articles for the exams. Scott Bailey was a great TA who really helped us understand the articles for each week.

Some of the readings were interesting. But there were too much assigned reading in general (about 1000 pages). Quizzes are random and not very effective. Prof. Mathewes is an interesting lecturer. This course does challenge you to think more critically about ordinaray issues.

This is absolutely one of the best classes UVA offers. Professor Mathewes is truly an intellectual; he's very engaging and charismatic. It's one of those classes that really opens your eyes to new perspectives, and a new way of viewing the world. There's a substantial amount of reading, but most of the time I found it enjoyable. If you go to lecture and take good notes the exams will be fine. This class is well worth the time.

I thought the class was all right. I guess I had high expectations since everyone thought it was a good class (not just those on the course forum). I think he covered way too many readings than was necessary and should have focused mainly on the religion's view on each topic, not individuals who happened to be a part of one of the major religions. his lecturing style, i thought, was also very hard to follow. i wasn't sure what he was talking about half the time and didn't know if my notes were right. the second half of the semester was a little easier since i knew what to expect. it's important to know the main views of each article. the midterm and final are quote ids (not as hard as it may seem, but you really need to prepare for them), short answer on the main points of the article, and an essay section that ties in most of the readings. he sent out a past midterm and final, which was really helpful (some of the questions/quotes are the same). overall i wouldn't not recommend the class, but it would definitely not be one of the classes i'd recommend right away.

Mathewes is an enjoyable lecturer, even if he does focus on the readings. There is a lot of reading, but it won't kill you if you don't read every last word. Do understand, you need to have a feel for all the readings to do well, and know some of them inside and out.

I loved this class, there was a bit of reading but it was pretty much all interesting and if you do the reading the class isn't very hard. Lectures are interesting and you get to think about why you believe certain things

LOTS of reading for this class - all articles in two volumes of course packets. One midterm and one final are the only exams, and two 4 page papers. Topics covered very interesting and Matthewes is a great lecturer.

Matthewes has a good repuation and i've been disappointed with the class. He goes on incredibly random tangents all the time and will waste half the class talking about nothing, and while this is sometimes entertaining it does not help you to do well on tests. There's a lot of reading, and there are random in-class quizzes to make sure you've done it. Also he claims the class will look at christianity, judaism, and islam, but we really only looked at islam i think on two topics all semester. I think given the interesting topics of the class (lying, homosexuality, capital punishment, warfare, etc) Matthewes managed to make it more boring than necessary forcing you to try to learn 5 or so author's different viewpoints on each subject instead of a big overall concept for what each religion values. Papers were graded hard and I had the worst TA I've ever had. This class is overrated, i was amazed to see the Cav Daily saying how highly reccomended it was; it was okay but i would not necessarily reccomend it either. Maybe it depends what you're looking to get out of the class.

Very interesting and humorous lectures that will keep you entertained. Stay on top of the reading; it is dense but you have to do it. Only two short papers due regarding the readings. Be sure to know what author said what and be able to explain how the major traditions view certain problems/ethics, as well as major concepts....all of which he includes in his lectures. Go to class, or you might miss a pop quiz.

This class is really worthwhile.