In Search of Meaning: From Holy Texts to Hollywood

This course explores topics such as the existence of a higher being, the meaning of life, one’s role in the world, one’s obligations to others, human nature and the existence of evil. The title refers to the wide-ranging texts that we will examine from scriptures to film, reflecting religious, philosophical, and secular ways people over the centuries and throughout the world have sought answers to basic questions of human existence, where today in a time of global disruption, people search for meaning and purpose. That is, today we turn to holy texts, people and places, to nature, shrines, smartphones, the escapist glitter of Hollywood, and the infinite possibilities of self-(re)creation that social media offers.