RELIGN 55
Spirit of Medicine
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Examination of relationship between medicine, religion, and society; how religion is help or hindrance to health; and what health care might look like beyond biomedical clinic. Examination of historical entwinement of religion, medicine, and society in Western antiquity to early modern period; disentanglement in Enlightenment to early 20th century; and confluence of science, technology, and capitalism in biomedicine compartmentalized from religion today. Conceptualization of rhetorics and epistemplogies of healing--what it means to be healed and how one would know--and put in tension with faith healings and religion-as-medicine, medicine-as-religion, and integrated approaches. Analysis of alternatives to biomedical status quo in theoretical medicine and in health care delivery, with particular attention to questions of justice and holistic care in U.S. and of policy and practice globally. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - While the final grade isn't confirmed yet, I think Gillespie is a wonderful professor and I would highly recommend his class as a GE. There is a lot of reading though, but the only things that go into the gradebook are the midterm and final essay. Hes very nice, very chill & makes his class engaging. Answers questions very promptly too. I only recall using one chapter of the textbook so it really isn't that important. The important readings are given as pdf's on Canvas. No gradebook, you will need to print out your essays and they get marked on the paper btw.
Fall 2025 - While the final grade isn't confirmed yet, I think Gillespie is a wonderful professor and I would highly recommend his class as a GE. There is a lot of reading though, but the only things that go into the gradebook are the midterm and final essay. Hes very nice, very chill & makes his class engaging. Answers questions very promptly too. I only recall using one chapter of the textbook so it really isn't that important. The important readings are given as pdf's on Canvas. No gradebook, you will need to print out your essays and they get marked on the paper btw.
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