(Condensed) Freshman Inquiry: Faith & Reason

Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive, but rather different modes of knowing. How we know things—where we locate the sources, proofs and limits of our knowledge—profoundly affects the way we answer questions of meaning. What is truth? What is reality? In the face of uncertainty, what does it mean to live an ethical life? How does my view of death relate to my view of morality? Why is there so much suffering? This course will explore these questions by examining a series of trials, both historical and fictional, in which faith and reason both define and defend their own ways of knowing and making meaning.

Faculty:

Jennifer Schuberth received her Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religions from the University of Chicago. Her dissertation, "Allegories of Annihilation: Porete's Mirror and the Medieval Self," examines the relationships between loss and the self in a late medieval text by mystic and condemned heretic Margaret Porete. She is also a painter and printmaker and recently completed a collaboration with a poet on a series of panels exploring loss and the poetic I. Her research and teaching interests include medieval mysticism, history of religions, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and gender theory. Her work can be seen at www.jenschub.com