Course Number:

Credit Hours:

4

Course Title:

Religion, Human Services, and Diversity in the United States

Course Description:

Explores the links among and between society, identity, and religion from the perspective of community service and social justice. In conjunction with the Jewish Studies Program, themes from Judaism are used as examples throughout the course in order to understand the ways in which religious/ethnic identity helps to shape the lives of real people. In the first part of the course we historically situate religious social services in the United States. The second part looks to the politics of doing good and its effect on community service, professional ethics, personal identity, and moral beliefs as part of the larger American collective consciousness. In the last part we use contemporary American Jewish social services as the major lens through which we explore critical service-related issues.