God and the Gods01:563:313
(cross-listed with 01:840:383)

This course examines three core issues in the way religious communities conceive of the divine: whether there are many gods or just one, whether the divine has a physical form, and what gender it should be assigned. Each of these questions is addressed through analysis of written and visual sources drawn from Judaism, Christianity, and Ancient Greek religion. In doing so, the course highlights the complexity of fundamental issues in the history of religion, including and especially issues that are commonly presented as uncontroversial: God’s masculinity, God’s incorporeality, and the superiority of monotheism to polytheism.