THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
                         FACULTY SENATE 

                                                             
Senate Document Number   2297S
Date of Senate Approval  3/20/97

Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

     APC DOCUMENT 18:  Religious Studies Minor in Philosophy

Effective Date:     Fall, 1997

Add:     p. 204 (immediately after Psychology entries, prior
to"Russian (RUSS)"

RELIGIOUS STUDIES (RELS)
Associate Professor Grams, Director

     The Philosophy Department, in conjunction with other
programs in the University, offers a minor in Religious Studies
to help the student to understand religion and world religious
traditions by exploring them in an intellectual, disciplined and
methodologically objective way.

     18 hours distributed as follows: PHIL 213 (Human Religious
Experience), PHIL 303 (Philosophy of Religion) and 12 hours
selected from the list below.  Courses must come from at least
two other departments besides Philosophy.  Nine hours or more
must be at the 300-400 level.  Philosophy majors cannot include
PHIL 200 or PHIL 250 within the 18 hours required for this minor. 
Additional courses, including special topics courses, may be
approved by the director of the program for the minor, when the
subject is relevant to religious studies.

     ANTH 215   Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
     HIST 361   Renaissance and Reformation
     HIST 343   History of Christianity
     HIST 386   History of Buddhism
     IST 301    Western Attitudes Toward Death and Dying
     PHIL 200   Introduction to Ethics
     PHIL 250   Ancient Philosophy
     PHIL 309   Medical Ethics
     PHIL 313   Oriental Philosophy
     PHIL 333   Existence and Meaning
     PHIL 351   Kierkegaard and Nietzsche
     POLS 329   Politics of Religion
     SOC 302    Sociology of Religion

     171-3, 271-3, 371-3, 471-3 Special Topics in Religious
Studies (3)
     Courses not otherwise included in the catalog, but for which
there will be special needs.  May be repeated for credit as
subject matter changes.  Courses offered irregularly. 

Impact Statement:

1.   Because this Minor is constituted by courses already in the
offerings of many programs across the University, it cannot have
any observable resource or curricular effects upon these programs
other than possibly contributing to a modest growth in
enrollments.

2.   For the reason mentioned above, it should also have little
effect on the Philosophy Department beyond the need for a faculty
member to focus some of his/her advising load upon students
interested in pursuing this Minor.  NOTE: The University Planning
Council discussed the matter of impact and resources and gave
their formal approval of the Minor on October 2, 1996.


RATIONALE:

     A Liberal Arts curriculum by definition focusses primarily
upon the study of human values in the various domains of human
life.  One of the most dominant of values and most powerful of
motivators of human activity in every culture and age has been
religion.  In recognition of this fact, a wide range of academic
disciplines has traditionally devoted serious research and
analysis to the study of religion.  In public and private
universities one finds teaching and research in departments of
Philosophy, History, Sociology, Anthropology and others.  Here at
UNCA one can find all of this, in addition to courses or
components of courses in Political Science, Sociology, History,
the Humanities Program and in the work of the Center for Jewish
Studies.  
     Besides the academic interests of the universities
themselves, there is a growing interest in religious studies
among students and the public.  With this personal interest,
motivated for the most part by individual experience, there is a
concomitant need for a disciplined program to advance a more
intellectual, in-depth and methodologically objective study of
religious traditions.  
     The proposed Minor in Religious Studies is devised to
respond to this need, by drawing on the existing offerings of
UNCA to present an organized program to address the interests of
students, faculty members and the communities that this
university serves.
     To help unify the program and to ensure a broad foundation
for understanding the nature of religion itself, it is proposed
that there be a requirement of two courses for all who enroll in
the Minor; Phil 213, The Human Religious Experience and Phil 303,
Philosophy of Religion.

     The prefix "RELS" is requested at this time in order to
provide for the future presentation of any courses that may be
designed precisely for inclusion in this program.  Precedent for
this exists in the current catalog: WMST, AFST, ITAL, RUSS, ANTH,
STAT.