“Caring about More: An Integrative Capstone Course Connecting Religious Studies with General Education”

This paper describes and analyzes an "Integrating Seminar" capstone course for undergraduate religious studies majors, which has the following goals for student learning: (1) to reflect on the cumulative achievement of their studies of religion; (2) to take stock of their learning in liberal studies coursework; and (3) to explore the connections between these specialized and general learning experiences. Readings provided by the instructor and the students and discussions around them lead toward a final paper on this question: "In the context of becoming an educated person, what is religion, how do you know, and why do you care?" The paper concludes with some reflections on ways to better prepare students for this kind of integrated thinking through advising and ongoing colloquia.