ajax18 wrote:Maybe this isn't what you're asking but I always found Religion classes to be one of my few As that didn't require much work as long as I steered clear of those with General authority last names. I can't say religion really hurt my other academic pursuits.
Thanks for the response ajax.
How hard were the classes?
Any real work or just a lecture with a couple tests?
Bond
"Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded."-charity 3/7/07
ajax18 wrote:Maybe this isn't what you're asking but I always found Religion classes to be one of my few As that didn't require much work as long as I steered clear of those with General authority last names. I can't say religion really hurt my other academic pursuits.
Thanks for the response ajax.
How hard were the classes?
Any real work or just a lecture with a couple tests?
Bond
It depended on the class. Some of the 300 level religion classes I took required papers. Most were a lecture/test format, though.
Actually my favorite Religion elective classes were a preparation class to teaching seminary. We actually had the opportunity to teach a High School seminary class for a month as part of the curriculum. It was a lot of fun!
ajax18 wrote:Maybe this isn't what you're asking but I always found Religion classes to be one of my few As that didn't require much work as long as I steered clear of those with General authority last names. I can't say religion really hurt my other academic pursuits.
Thanks for the response ajax.
How hard were the classes?
Any real work or just a lecture with a couple tests?
Bond
I transferred to BYU my junior year, so i only had to take about 4 religion classes (i think). The only one i really remember was a D&C class - and the only thing i remember about that class was that we had to memorize the section numbers, along with a short 5 to 10 word description of the section. There were about 4 tests for the semester, and each one was identifying the section number (out of about 30 sections). Of course, 2 weeks later, i couldn't remember anything - but that's probably because of my lack of interest...
hope that made sense.
edit - i also remember a Book of Mormon class taught by a McConkie. He told us that the great abominable church was the catholic church. (though when i said this on FAIR a while back, some people disagreed with me (that he would teach that)).
WK: "Joseph Smith asserted that the Book of Mormon peoples were the original inhabitants of the americas"
Will Schryver: "No, he didn’t." 3/19/08
Still waiting for Will to back this up...
Who Knows wrote:I transferred to BYU my junior year, so i only had to take about 4 religion classes (i think). The only one i really remember was a D&C class - and the only thing i remember about that class was that we had to memorize the section numbers, along with a short 5 to 10 word description of the section. There were about 4 tests for the semester, and each one was identifying the section number (out of about 30 sections). Of course, 2 weeks later, i couldn't remember anything - but that's probably because of my lack of interest...
hope that made sense.
edit - i also remember a Book of Mormon class taught by a McConkie. He told us that the great abominable church was the catholic church. (though when i said this on FAIR a while back, some people disagreed with me (that he would teach that)).
I think if you follow the link from maklelan it tells how many religion classes you have to take if you're transfering. Once you get up to 90 credits or so I think its zero or maybe 1 class.
Bond
"Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded."-charity 3/7/07
maklelan wrote:It's a university run by the church. If someone wants gay pride parades and theological speculation they should know better than to go to BYU.
My point is that BYU is not really a 'university,' at least not in sense of open debate and discussion. Otherwise, I agree with you.
"Moving beyond apologist persuasion, LDS polemicists furiously (and often fraudulently) attack any non-traditional view of Mormonism. They don't mince words -- they mince the truth."
-- Mike Quinn, writing of the FARMSboys, in "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View," p. x (Rev. ed. 1998)
maklelan wrote:It's a university run by the church. If someone wants gay pride parades and theological speculation they should know better than to go to BYU.
My point is that BYU is not really a 'university,' at least not in sense of open debate and discussion. Otherwise, I agree with you.
There's plenty of open debate and discussion, but when a professor decides that their employer is wrong and refuses to respect their employers wishes, why should the employer be obligated to allow them to continue? Outside of that, the students can debate and discuss pretty much anything they want.
There needs to be some clarifications on what constitutes real work. The difficulty just depends on the teacher like any other class. Some you walk in and get an A. Others you have to study or worse, memorize. I don't think religion classes at BYU are harder or easier than any other humanities type classes. The more important aspect of the question of "real work" is what you study. For most the classes the institute manuals are the texts. After nearly acheiving a minor in religious studies, you won't have learned a single thing about critical method and you'll know less than a student who took a 1 credit hour class and got a C at just about any Bible school. The study is entirely faith promoting. You might learn interesting things about history you didn't know but almost always in a Sunday School context.
Interestingly though, BYU has an INCREDIBLE religion library. Apparently, that was entirely for the benefit of Hugh Nibley - you won't need access to a single book there to complete your studies. I had fun writing my religion papers and was always lucky to have teachers with a sense of humor who allowed me to base my papers on books I got from the BYU library. I'd read existentialist Bible scholars, for instance, and argued that Jesus didn't die for our sins but the symbolism of his death was important in some way for humanity to become one. Always got A's for that without any chastisement so..what can I say. Maybe I thought I was being rebelious but my teachers were secretly Internet Mormons and really appreciated what I was writing.
There's plenty of open debate and discussion, but when a professor decides that their employer is wrong and refuses to respect their employers wishes, why should the employer be obligated to allow them to continue? Outside of that, the students can debate and discuss pretty much anything they want.
Do you really believe this? Can I interest you in some ocean-front property in Arizona?
grayskull wrote:I'd read existentialist Bible scholars, for instance, and argued that Jesus didn't die for our sins but the symbolism of his death was important in some way for humanity to become one. Always got A's for that without any chastisement so..what can I say. Maybe I thought I was being rebelious but my teachers were secretly Internet Mormons and really appreciated what I was writing.
That is good to know. It serves as a beacon of hope for change in the Church.
...you'll know less than a student who took a 1 credit hour class and got a C at just about any Bible school. The study is entirely faith promoting.
Sort of like what we learn in the Gospel Doctrine class. Selected scripture to reaffirm some unique point in past LDS teachings, but we won't really study the New Testament with any depth this year.