Religion Courses To Be Catalogued Together; New Dept. Considered

Religion courses open to undergraduates will be grouped under one heading in the 1967-68 course catalogue, making a coordinated list of religion courses readily available for the first time.

Previously, the catalogue listed each course under the department of its instructor.

A full-fledged Department of Religion may eventually be created, Richard R. Niebuhr '47, Florence Corliss Lamont Professor of Divinity, said yesterday.

He cautioned, however, that "all such plans must be very hypothetical right now. We haven't had time yet to give much thought to Re-igion as an eventual field of concentration for undergraduates."

New Courses

The Committee on Higher Degrees in the Study of Religion, which Niebuhr chairs, will compile the list of current course offerings and propose new courses for the 1968-69 academic year. The Committee will also study various approaches to the teaching of religion to undergraduates.

"We plan to discuss such topics as the historical, psychological and sociological aspects of religion and then suggest possible courses in each area," Niebuhr said.

Most current courses are specialized and cover religions of particular sects or countries. The Religion committee plans to organize more comprehensive courses and to fill gaps in the Religion curriculum.

Teachers

Faculty members from the School of Arts and Sciences will probably teach most of the projected courses, Niebuhr said. Instructors from that School now teach the larger portion of undergraduate Religion courses. "This new effort is interdepartmental, not reserved for the Divinity School," he emphasized.