Believers, Agnostics, and Atheists in Contemporary Fiction and Memoirs

In recent decades, there has been a resurgence of religiosity in contemporary society, while at the same time many have been skeptical and even hostile to religious belief and practice. Others are just not sure what to believe. We will study selections of fiction and memoirs by writers of Christian and Jewish background that explore such situations as the affirmation or negation of the existence of God, the role of religious ritual in a person’s life, and the positive and negative impacts on society of religious institutions and the clergy who lead them. Enrollment limited to 19 first-year students.