RELG 043. In Quest of God: The Latin American Religious Arena


(Cross-listed as LALS 025 )
For millennia, humans have confronted a cosmos populated with unseen beings, imagined places, and supernatural powers. These agencies, and their sources of power and authority, form various understandings of God. In quest of God, humans have discovered meaningfulness in objects, beings, and persons; by connecting things together in symbolic patterns; and by creating elaborate forms of symbolic action and mythic narratives. This course focuses upon mythology in Latin American. Students will learn about different conceptions of God (polytheism, henotheism, pantheism, monotheism, etc.) and become familiar with various mythic traditions that one encounters in the Latin Americas, including the Mesoamerican and Caribbean indigenous deities of the Taíno, Nahua, Inca, and Maya peoples; the African Diasporic pantheons of the Yoruba orishas, Bantu simbi, akin to mermaids and other nature spirits; and the cult of Iberian Catholic folk saints and the Virgin Mary.
 
Humanities.
1 credit.
Eligible for LALS
Catalog chapter: Religion  
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/religion


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