Philosophy of Religion Syllabi Project

I am starting a new project to collect and analyze philosophy of religion syllabi. My goals are to get a better sense of how teaching is currently being conducted, share ideas for course designs, consider new approaches, and highlight neglected but promising texts, especially from underrepresented traditions and groups. I also want to get a better sense of text assignment practices: how many people use anthologies or textbooks? How many people assign a few individual texts? My efforts here are inspired by Bob Pasnau‘s recent discussions and analysis of survey courses in medieval philosophy.

To make this project work, I need syllabi. Lots of them. That’s where you come in. You can simply email your syllabi to philreligionsyllabi@gmail.com or you can complete this form,  which gathers some details about your course structure, topics, and institution.

I am interested in the teaching of philosophy of religion around the globe, so syllabi in any language are welcome. You may also submit syllabi anonymously or without identifying information, if you prefer. If you have taught multiple version of a philosophy of religion survey course, please send a syllabus for each version you have taught. The more approaches shared the better.

I’m also looking for any innovative assignments that people have created and are willing to pass on to others within the philosophy of religion community, so please send me any assignments or group activities that you are willing to share.

Thanks to generous funding from the Dean’s Office of MSU Denver’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, I will be working with a student research assistant to analyze which authors, texts, and topics are most frequently covered and will be posting about that in the next few months on this page. We plan to compile a list of commonly used readings, both contemporary and historical, on major topics as well as alternative readings, with a special focus on underrepresented groups. We also plan to highlight material that might engage students in different ways (e.g. films, short stories, dialogues etc.) and non-standard assignments. Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions.