4cr This course will provide an in-depth introduction to those social, philosophical, and religious phenomena that Western observers have called Hinduism. The first part of the course will focus on religious texts, as we explore the roots of the tradition and the flowering of the devotional movement. The later part of the course will focus more on modern Hindu life, in an attempt to give some appreciation of its religious quality. This process will provide some opportunity to reflect on the nature and meaning of religious life, and to consider the ways in which the faith of these men and women can inform our own lives. RELI