There is a new class offered this year in the philosophy and religion department, created by department chair Dr. Carter Aikin. The class is called “Jesus,” and it is about the many different versions of Jesus throughout different cultures and interpretations. Aikin describes the class as being about “who was Jesus and who is Jesus.” He wants the students to walk away from his class having a clear understanding of what Jesus means to them.
“You’ve got your South Park Jesus, American Values Jesus, Capitalist Jesus, Communist Jesus,” Aikin explained. He felt that there were a lot of studies about Jesus that failed to interact with the other versions of Jesus. “We know that culturally the definition of who he was is a mess,” Aikin elaborated, “but it’s also a mess academically.”
Aikin does not have any books assigned to this class because all the books he has are too lengthy to get the same point across. His goal for the course is to collect “neutral and not neutral sources and have the students weigh for themselves who he, Jesus, was. This is entirely up to them.”
Classes like this usually start off as a topics course, but Aikin was very passionate, so he started it as a course that is going to be offered for two years minimum. He anticipates this course will last quite a while depending on how the students respond to it.
Senior Spanish major Daniel Ramirez is currently taking the Jesus course. “I really love this class,” Ramirez raved. He loves the content of the course and believes “Dr. Aikin’s enthusiasm really brings the class together.”
Dr. Aiken’s office in Hudson
“Jesus” is one of the two new courses in the department this semester.