This fall, Arizona State University is offering eight courses with words like witchcraft, magic or the occult in the title. Meanwhile, one course will cover Christianity.
“Think about that for a moment,” writes Owen Anderson, who teaches philosophy and religion at the university, at TheBlaze.com. “At one of the largest public universities in the country, students can choose from a small festival of courses on witchcraft, while Christianity receives [only] a single titled course.”
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A quick web search reveals other major universities across the country are offering similar classes.
More than history?
ASU might argue the courses fall under the classification of history and don’t promote witchcraft and the occult. But at least one course syllabus does not bear that out. The syllabus for “Witchcraft and Heresy in Europe” says the class will examine how the identity of the heretic and the witch was constructed against its binary opposite, the “orthodox” Christian. It then turns to “religious Othering,” especially “the female as Other,” and asks students to explain how centuries-old witch persecutions continue to shape their own lives.
“A student scrolling through the catalog may think, Witchcraft? That sounds like an interesting history class,” Anderson writes. “What the description does not announce plainly is that the course has already selected its moral and political framework before the first reading begins.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Jerri Menges and originally published by Decision Magazine.
