M E STD M50B
Origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Description: (Same as Ancient Near East M50B and Religion M50.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Examination of three major monotheisms of Western cultures--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--historically and comparatively. Development, teachings, and ritual practices of each tradition up to and including medieval period. Composition and development of various sacred texts, highlighting key themes and ideas within different historical and literary strata of traditions, such as mechanisms of revelation, struggle for religious authority, and common theological issues such as origin of evil and status of nonbelievers. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - If you have no knowledge of religion (which I did not) I would make sure you understand the amount of work you are getting into when taking this class. You truly do learn a lot about all 3 religions which requires reading and lots of memorization. Not the easiest GE but the professor is nice and has office hours you can attend. Interesting concepts but slides were sometimes boring and in trying to have a "discussion based class" it often ended up with tangents answering religious students very complex questions that had nothing to do with the concepts and were not understandable for other students. Attendance is randomly taken like three times throughout the quarter and she posts very helpful study guides for each exam that truly have everything you need to know on them. Consists of 2 exams and a final paper where you choose one of around 3 topics. Overall take the class if you have an interest and are not afraid of reading, but keep in mind it is definitely not the easiest GE out there.
Winter 2025 - If you have no knowledge of religion (which I did not) I would make sure you understand the amount of work you are getting into when taking this class. You truly do learn a lot about all 3 religions which requires reading and lots of memorization. Not the easiest GE but the professor is nice and has office hours you can attend. Interesting concepts but slides were sometimes boring and in trying to have a "discussion based class" it often ended up with tangents answering religious students very complex questions that had nothing to do with the concepts and were not understandable for other students. Attendance is randomly taken like three times throughout the quarter and she posts very helpful study guides for each exam that truly have everything you need to know on them. Consists of 2 exams and a final paper where you choose one of around 3 topics. Overall take the class if you have an interest and are not afraid of reading, but keep in mind it is definitely not the easiest GE out there.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Pregill is one of those professors who you either love or hate. He made dumb jokes in class and he thought he was funnier than he was. However, this guy is a great teacher. If you pay attention and take notes, this class is easy. The problem is you have to do this for 75 minutes straight because he goes through a lot. There wasn't much outside reading but listen to what he says and what the TAs say and you should be fine. It's not an easy A but if you want to get an A it is very possible.
Winter 2019 - Pregill is one of those professors who you either love or hate. He made dumb jokes in class and he thought he was funnier than he was. However, this guy is a great teacher. If you pay attention and take notes, this class is easy. The problem is you have to do this for 75 minutes straight because he goes through a lot. There wasn't much outside reading but listen to what he says and what the TAs say and you should be fine. It's not an easy A but if you want to get an A it is very possible.
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