November 19, 2004

(Don't) Give Me That Old-Time Religion

By DON TROOP

Time was when an undergraduate who signed up for a religion or philosophy course could count on a marathon slog through countless chapters and dreary lectures about the ideas of men long dead (apologies to Plato et al.).

Those dead male thinkers are still a part of the curricula, to be sure, but professors are increasingly using popular culture as a tool to teach difficult or controversial topics. Students are as likely to hear a lecture on Captain Picard as Kierkegaard, Neo as

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