Even though the Biblical materials stand at the foundation of the Western tradition, common knowledge of the Bible is at a low point. The popular debate often gets polarized into two extreme positions: the Bible holds all truth, or the Bible is irrelevant. Yet many modern discoveries on archeological sites or in the archives now provide a much clearer idea of the way the Biblical materials are put together over the centuries, and the way the Biblical authors respond to each other, developing, critiquing, and reinterpreting ideas in the political and cultural crises of their times.

A Survey of intellectual developments in western civilization from the Renaissance through the eighteenth century focusing on the relationship between the individual and the state. Emphasis is placed on the many narrative genres Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1605) encompasses and subverts: the chivalric romance, the picaresque narrative, the Moorish romance, the pastoral romance, etc., as well as on the visual arts.

This course examines ways in which the arts (literary, cinematic, theatrical, visual, and aural) develop key ideas that help shape a culture’s system of beliefs. The ideas and themes under consideration vary with different versions of this course. Recent examples include the myth of the "rugged individual," the nature of the unconscious, the relationship between imitative behavior, rivalry, and violence, the quest for forbidden knowledge, the pursuit of flow states for peak performance, the "psychedelic renaissance."

Taoism is one of the most influential beliefs in East Asia, and is perfectly embodied in landscape art. As a significant visual tradition in the world, this landscape art reveals the complicated relationships between man and self, man and man, man and society, and, above all, man and nature. From an interdisciplinary perspective the course examines the richness of this cultural heritage.

The Interdisciplinary Humanities Emphasis allows students to explore topics of enduring importance and to customize their academic experiences while fulfilling requirements.