In addition to the departmental offerings, students in their junior and senior years may choose from among
the following non-departmental course offerings.Please note:
- Each seminar fulfills a major course requirement.
- If you wish to take a junior-senior seminar please indicate a 2nd and 3rd choice (seminar or other major
course).
- A seminar may be cancelled if fewer than 12 students elect it.
- These courses will not necessarily be offered in successive years.
975 From Germantown to G’town: The
Transformation of a Community
major elective
enrollement: limited to 15 students
Grades: 11, 12
The seminar is designed to explore the changes that
moved Germantown from an agrarian/artisan community
on the outskirts of Philadelphia in the 17th
century to an urban post-industrial community in the
21st century. There will be particular attention paid
to the period circa 1845-to the present. Students will
be exposed to primary and secondary sources, census
data, and conduct interviews with citizens in the community
to better understand the impact of the changes
in the 20th and 21st centuries.
974 World Religions
major elective
enrollement: limited to 15 students
Grades: 11, 12
The purpose of this course is to assist students in
acquiring an educated, intelligent understanding
about religion by exposing them to the beliefs and
practices of the world’s major religions: Hinduism,
Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In our
effort to come to an understanding of these religious
traditions, we will approach them with reverence and,
in so far as possible, enter into their spiritual worlds
through the eyes and hearts of their adherents. To
this end, while studying the origins and history of
each religion, we will endeavor to discover whatever
shared values and commitments they exhibit by
acquiring a familiarity with their respective scriptures,
beliefs, and ritual practices. A special feature of this
seminar will be field trips to local religious sites where
followers of these five belief traditions gather. Such
visits will allow us to observe the different forms of
prayer and worship and to hear and talk with the spiritual
leaders of each religion first hand.