THIS COURSE IS DESIGNATED AS WRITING INTENSIVE: Arizona Western College believes writing
provides students a unique opportunity to learn disciplinary content while mastering writing skills. Writingintensive (WI) courses at Arizona Western College integrate writing assignments in ways that help students
learn both the subject matter of the courses and discipline-specific ways of thinking and writing. Writing
Intensive courses help develop students' identities as good writers by linking their writing proficiency with
their desire to know more about the field of study, to engage in questions in the discipline, and to become a
participant in academic discourse.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is a critical examination of religious claims and phenomena. Topics include, but are not limited
to: the nature and existence of God; the epistemology of religious belief; the possibility of miracles, life
after death, and mystical experience; as well as the interrelationship between ethics, values, and religion.
1. COURSE GOALS
1.1 Articulate the conventions, methods, and reasoning strategies necessary to conduct a
philosophical analysis of religious phenomena and truth-claims, drawing attention to the
distinctive features of the philosophical perspective in contrast to other scholarly approaches
to religion
1.2 Showcase the major issues and themes in the philosophy of religion (God’s existence, the
coherence of theism, the problem of pluralism etc.), and present the major arguments,
perspectives, and objections defended by both classical and contemporary thinkers
1.3 Draw attention to well-known instances in which differences in perspective over the major
issues has resulted in clashes between individuals and groups in the broader culture.
1.4 Fine-tune strategies for reading, analyzing, and evaluating complex ideas and issues
contained within the philosophical literature
1.5 Provide tools and opportunities for critical reflection, discussion, and development of one’s
own views on the philosophy of religion
2. OUTCOMES
Upon satisfactory completion of this course, students will be able to:
2.1 recognize and explain conventional terminology and vocabulary used within the discipline
2.2 interpret relevant primary and secondary source texts as well as extract crucial information
(e.g., main thesis, premises, assumptions, etc.) central to the claims being made in those texts
2.3 analyze and evaluate an argument using the principles of logic and critical reasoning
2.4 uphold in dialogue and debate the intellectual virtues and social conditions required for the
project of genuine truth-seeking
2.5 describe the nature of philosophy as a discipline and philosophy of religion as a branch of
that discipline