Ryan ChartrandFall quarter is officially underway, and for students who find themselves frantically trying to fill their schedules by crashing classes and praying that they reach the top of the waitlist, there is another option: look to Jesus.
“You’ve read the book, now take the class,” said religious studies professor and class instructor Stephen Lloyd-Moffett.
“Jesus: The Class,” (RELS x205) takes a look at who Jesus was from a historical and academic perspective as opposed to a spiritual and faith-based look. It’s not about ‘what would Jesus do?,’ but rather, ‘what did he do?’
“It’s an awesome class, I’d recommend it to anyone,” industrial technology junior Aaron Buckley said. “There are a lot of misconceptions about Jesus and this class presents the archeological and historical side of who Jesus was.”
Most people have an agenda when they talk about Jesus, but this class is different, Lloyd-Moffett said.
“It’s not my role to make you believe or disbelieve; my role is to present the evidence from an unbiased perspective,” he said.
Nor is the class an oversized bible study. In fact, there is no textbook and all of the required readings, including bible excerpts, are posted on Blackboard Academic Suite. The class studies Jesus’ role in other religions and culture along with the Bible.
The class was offered once before in the spring of 2007 and will be offered for a second time this quarter on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. in business building, room 213.
“I take into account that this is an elective course and doesn’t fulfill any GE requirements,” Lloyd-Moffett said. “It’s not as demanding as some of my other courses; I really just want the students to learn.”
Those who show up hoping to add on Wednesday may be blessed. The class limit is 200, but Lloyd-Moffett said he will add as many students as there are seats in the room.
“The more people taking an academic look at Jesus, the better,” he said. “Part of the educational goal for me is to make people see things from a different perspective; this is a figure that’s talked about a remarkable amount on campus, and the opportunity to contribute to the depth of that conversation is important.”
Though the subject matter is inevitably serious, Lloyd-Moffett said that the class is fun too. In addition to watching movies like “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” students will have the opportunity to choose whom they would cast as Jesus in a movie.
“Jesus is the most important person in a lot of people’s lives, and I am not trying to trivialize that, but any class that is from 6-8 p.m. better be fun,” Lloyd-Moffett said.
When the class was first proposed it was met with some controversy.
“People wanted to make it clear that this was a public university, not a private seminary,” Lloyd-Moffett said. “Eventually people realized that this is a history class, not an indoctrination to Christianity.”
The class was popular the first time around and is one of Lloyd-Moffett’s favorites to teach. The reason for open spaces at the start of the quarter is due to lack of awareness of the class, Lloyd-Moffett speculated.
“Last time students saw the coming of Jesus was through flyers and word of mouth and they were drawn to it,” he said. “But the second coming seems to be a surprise,” he added humorously.
Students who took the class last spring found it englightening.
“It was interesting to find out how this one man has caused so much discussion and turmoil in history,” said English senior Robyn Dawley. “I felt like it was one of those classes that you wanted to write everything down in, not so you have it to use for the test, but so you have it.”