Study of one selected topic in U.S. religious history in cultural context. Examples include evangelicalism, revivalism, fundamentalism, millennialism, communalism, Transcendentalism, new religions past and present, metaphysical traditions, religion and ethnicity, religion and healing, nature religion, New Age.
4
UnitsOptional
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeUpper division only
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeGreat professor. Not an easy course, and Prof. Walker constantly pushed us to challenge simple stories about religion. But this was the best GE class I've taken at UCSB. Walker cares a lot about his students, and if you put in the work (and go to class & follow written comments), you'll do well and learn a lot.
Professor Walker is one of the smartest, most interesting, well spoken, and intriguing people I have ever met. He is incredibly knowledgeable about any number of subjects, and always has something insightful to add to comments in class discussion, no matter what they are about, or what outside sources are mentioned. His classes are must-takes.
He has a very interesting lecture style, it sounds like he's preaching or something. This course is very interesting though and he'll give great lectures on them, but you do have to listen through them and take good notes. He'll give warnings to when the pop quizzes are going to be. Also, you will have to keep up with the readings.
Professor Walker was one of my favorite UCSB professors. His teaching methods are a bit unconventional but so long as you go to lecture and section, it will all connect and is super fascinating. He chooses amazing things to lecture about and really cares about the students and their feedback.
I really enjoyed this class, and although his teaching methods may seem a bit unconventional, if you go to lectures, it's easy to follow along. He's clearly very passionate about what he teaches, and his lectures were super interesting. Sections allowed us to dive deeper into concepts from class and were super helpful. Would highly recommend.
Really great class. Even if you're not super interested in the subject, David Walker's lectures were just amazing. Fairly difficult and requires a lot of reading and quite a bit of writing.