University of Virginia Library

Popular Courses

One of the professors whose
classes are habitually overcrowded
is James F. Childress, Assistant
Professor of Religious Studies. His
popular courses dealing with
religious ethics are the topic of
many a heated debate. For
example, his Religion 16, an
introductory course, deals with
man's nature and possibilities,
posing such critical questions as
"Does organized religion hinder or
fulfill man?" Mr. Childress'
"Religion and Society" course and
graduate seminar in "Sociology and
Religion" deal with how religion is,
in fact, related to socio-political
orders.

This semester, Religion 44 seems
to be most in demand among the
students. This course, entitled
"American Religious Thought,"

deals with the relation between
ethics and politics through
contemporary interpreters. It is
concerned with an analysis of
specific problems such as civil
disobedience, conscientious
objection, and just wars and
revolutions. Mr. Childress also
offers a seminar dealing specifically
with the question of non-violence,
attempting to examine the way
various thinkers have approached
the subject and asking students to
criticize and analyze their views.

In addition to offering topics
attractive to the student, the books
covered in the course add to its
widespread appeal. M. Gandhi's
"Non-violent Resistance," H.
Marcuse's "Essay on Liberation,"
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Stride
Toward Freedom," and R. Dahl's
"After the Revolution" are a
sampling of the required reading.
And Mr. Childress himself has
written on related subjects,
including an article in the
November, 1969 issue of the
Virginia Law Weekly on civil
disobedience entitled "Guides for
Ethical Evaluation" (which, by the
way, he lectured on this past
weekend to religion majors at
UNC). He also has a book coming
out this fall, "Civil Disobedience
and Political Obligation" (Yale
University Press). Both of these
works deal with the justification of
civil disobedience — which he
interprets as public, non-violent
submissive violation of law and
protest — in light of political
obligations.