Religion & Philosophy

To educate the whole boy or girl, as they are becoming men and women, we believe that each student should have the opportunity to learn how our ancestors and our contemporaries have grappled with this search for truth and explore the same questions that have inspired the great religious traditions of our time. The purpose of the Religion and Philosophy Department is to challenge our students to become knowledgeable about the origins of religious and philosophical thought, as it has manifested itself throughout history in the world’s great cultures and religious traditions. Having gained a deeper understanding of the important role religion has played in human history, we will grapple with the question of how these great thoughts and beliefs might be relevant in our time. After establishing a foundation of knowledge about religious thought, as manifested in individual traditions such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity, students will have the opportunity to engage in their own critical evaluation of these great traditions, the roles they have played in history and the influence they are having on our world today.

In its sixth year the Religion and Philosophy Department offers the following courses to be chosen on an elective basic:

• Introduction to Philosophy, Parts I & II - Introduces students to the history of Western philosophy and the great philosophers in that tradition with a focus on such topics as metaphysics, epistemology, the problem of evil, and the philosophical roots of ethics.
• Faith And Reason – The Philosophical Roots Of The Search For God – Explores many of the most compelling arguments from great thinkers for and against the existence of God and challenges students to decide for themselves whether these arguments are “reasonable.”
• Great Religious Leaders - Gives students the opportunity to study the lives of Mahatma Gandhi, the Dali Llama, Pope John Paul II, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and several others, in order to glean from their lives and their teachings some of the greatest moral and philosophical lessons of all time.
• Bioethics - Examines many of the challenging questions that arise at the intersection of medicine, ethics, life sciences, biotechnology, politics, and the law
• The Role of Religion in Contemporary America - This survey of the American religious landscape, with a particular emphasis on ways that religious belief has influenced education, family and political life, engages students in a series of “Opposing Viewpoints” debates as we consider important questions about what role, if any, religion should play in our public discourse.

Faculty Members

• John Pendergast