Professor Hills is the best! He is so nice and is so passionate about religious studies. The reading is very dense and pretty boring, but lecture and section help break it down.

Great professor, I really enjoyed this class. Section was mandatory but was super helpful for breaking down the material. He provided the textbooks for the class and the reading was about two chapters per lecture. Class is a midterm, paper, and final which were all very easy if you attend class. Would totally recommend!

You can tell he actually likes teaching Buddhism.

Very funny guy who made learning Buddhism super interesting. Lectures weren't mandatory. Sections were, but they helped my understanding. The midterm and final were super easy, just go over the study guide. Final paper was also easy and fun to write. Readings were dense and sometimes long, although I only did a few after the midterm and ended fine.

1 midterm, 1 final, in person but easy. 1 5-7pg paper; also easy. Sections mandatory but very helpful. Readings provided online but are extremely dense and difficult to understand, but read at least the Eight Theories ones bc he doesn't go over everything in lecture. Funny guy. Don't know why someone said the class was boring, I had a great time.

Professor Hillis is a caring person and makes his lectures fun! He made learning about religion interesting for me. There are pretty long readings per week but he goes over the info in lecture for clarification and better understanding. I didn't expect to enjoy this class as much as I did!

Very nice in lectures, though they aren't mandatory.

He was honestly one of the best professors I've ever had. Super passionate about the material, even sang to us in class once, and very easy to understand him. Gives study sheets for his non-cumulative midterm and exam. Definitely recommend taking him, he was great.

Greg Hillis is a great professor! He's funny and sometimes sings in class and stuff like that to make lecture better. However, the class itself is horrible and very boring, and if this is for a GE please take something else I could barely sit through the class.

Greg really does the most out here to make the lectures engaging, and I love him for that. Study the study guide and lectures, not reading. Not great for DSP students, not great for nonbinary/trans students. Wouldn't take again for those reasons, but otherwise how good of a GE this is will depend on your TA, and whether you can show up to lecture.

Easy course

Mixed. Great lecturer; funny/engaging w/ clear lesson + slides. Went on some wild tangents a few times... However, the grading criteria wasn't clear. Midterm was out of left field; questions were bizarre/overly broad. The final paper prompt wasn't clear either... TA told me my thesis was good multiple times before vetoing it days before due date.

Professor Hillis is very funny and made Buddhism super interesting. The concepts talked about in lecture were all very fascinating ideas and allowed you to explore the religion. He posted all the lectures online for you to watch and you just write two papers, which are graded very fairly, and the final. Very good class!

This guy as funny as heck!! You will learn a lot about religion and it might even interest you if it didn't at first. Came into the class pretty reluctant because I'm not religious myself, but it wasn't even biased towards religion. I love the class and actually learned a lot. Could listen to this guy talk for hours hahaha

Going to be finishing my second year of Sanskrit with Professor Greg, very nice and caring Professor. He makes everything accessible and tries not to over stress students. The first year of Sanskrit is a little more intensive and requires a lot of writing but the 2nd year has been very pleasant.

It was a pretty easy class to do well in but dear lord the amount of readings and lectures that went over time nearly drove me crazy. 25% of your grade completely depends on what the TA wants to grade you on (participation or weekly assignments), 25% final paper, 25% midterm, 25% final. My TA offered like 6% of extra credit so :)

Hillis has long recorded lectures, he talks very slowly so watching them on 2x is okay. 10% of extra credit offered as well as study guides for midterms and finals. Section attendance w/camera is mandatory. Great GE class, the quality of your course experience will depend on your TA.

horrible, don't take any class with this professor

Prof Hillis is the best prof I've ever had. I took him for zen and it was just as easy. I showed up to lecture 3 times (he posts them all online) and he gives a study guide for both midterm and final that had everything on quizlet. No iclicker. He is the nicest and most jolly guy ever. TAKE THIS CLASS FOR EASY A.

I do not recommend. Hillis is a great guy with a good heart and funny jokes, but not the best teacher. It is possible to pass this class without attending any lectures. Go to all of the sections and study/do well on the midterms and final. You really have no reason to go to lecture if you do the readings.

One midterm, one paper, and one final. The midterm was essay based and on a curve. I wrote the paper in 1 day and did fine. The final was multiple choice and ok as well. Study before all. Hillis is an ok lecturer, he is very monotone, and his slides don't give much, take notes. There are better GEs out there.

Honestly, this class was a little harder than I expected it to be. However, I didn't do a great job of paying attention in class, so that makes sense. I studied hard for the midterm/final and wrote a good paper, so I got an A. Hillis is hilarious and entertaining.

Hillis is a a bit odd, but very funny guy. Definitely not boring as an individual, although some of this class was pretty dry. Honestly, I barely paid attention in class, but I studied hard for the final/midterm so I got an A in the class. Not too difficult and his tests have a very clear layout which he explains beforehand for you to study well.

I learned solely through lecture, and didn't put as much effort as I should have. Ended with a B+, wasn't as easy as the reviews make it out to be. very interesting class though. More like the atheist perspective on religion