Why Christianity is True

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

In our pluralistic age, we think of religion as a personal/individual choice, but have we been too quick to abandon the idea of religion as a set of truths, making it difficult, for example, to challenge the religious status of forms of religion that trade in deception? Taking Christianity as its test case, this course considers its overall tradition as a set of truths with both earthly and eschatological purposefulness. We first scrutinize the backstory: How did religion/truth get rebranded as a personal choice—and what’s the result today? We next look at concepts largely inspired by Christian reasoning (e.g., the common good, religious liberty, etc.) especially as they bespeak a human purposefulness (potentially shared with other traditions). Finally, the bulk of the course is devoted, first, to a range of critical issues from mental health to climate and the place of Christian reasoning in the emergent wisdom around those issues; and, second, to examples of recent high-profile conversions to Christianity. What truth drew them? This course trains students to identify the place of religious reasoning in civic discourse and university pursuits and thus its claim on the truths that make life purposeful.