RELG 2660

I honestly kind of regret taking this class. I come from a technical background (CS major), so take this review with a grain of salt. I decided to take this class to fulfill a pre-requisite since it seemed pretty interesting. I will say, there were some brief parts of the class where you learn about interesting topics. But the vast majority of it is extremely dull, boring topics that really jump all over the place.

The course follows a chronological timeline - you start in the 1800s and move to the modern day as the semester goes on. The class is basically like a mix of literature and history into one terrible combination of a class. The readings assigned are unnecessarily long and you had to buy like 5 books for the class. Thankfully I didn't waste my money and found PDFs for every single one online. Huge waste of money to buy a book you'll look at for maybe a few days and never again. Lecture is boring and I lost focus most of the time because the topics were so boring. Then again I'm an atheist and found a lot of the topics irrelevant, so again take this with a grain of salt.

Another annoying part about the class is everything seems to be repeated throughout the semester over and over again. You'll either hear the same thing again from lecture, an assigned reading, or discussion over and over again. For me this was frustrating and a waste of time. Some of the readings were 30 pages of some dude telling you that having a positive mental state is beneficial. Like really? Is this what people do in the religious studies department?

Probably the worst part of the class is you really skim over a ton of topics and never really get to understand any of them. As I mentioned earlier there are tons of readings that basically no one did - probably >100 pages a week. I would skim 5-10 pages of the most important reading (there were multiple every week) the day before the discussion since most of the time you don't ever do anything with the readings. Which turned out to be ok. Either way because of this lack of depth you spend a lot of time learning what something is but then moving on immediately before being able to analyze it.

Grading/tests/essays were ok. it's graded like a typical humanities class - you do your best and get an A- because you missed something you didn't include. This is why I avoid these kinds of classes as grading is incredibly subjective.

Again my perspective may be skewed so please take this review with a grain of salt. But I imagine there will be people in the future from technical backgrounds who may want to take this class for the hell of it. I would recommend something else. This one kind of sucks.

I LOVED this class. I am a chemistry major and took this to fulfill some college requirements, and I loved it so much that I decided to minor in religious studies. The material is slow in the first part of the course, and the readings are tough because they're so old, but the entire class is fascinating overall. Hedstrom is a great professor, and he is obviously so knowledgable and passionate about his work. I was also lucky enough to have an equally amazing TA as well. The class requires plenty of reading, and the three papers aren't necessarily easy to write, but learning in this class seriously opened my eyes and changed how I think about the world. Highly recommend

Amazing class and professors! So interesting. Not necessarily easy, but so worth it!

The material taught in class was fascinating, and Professor Hedstrom is an excellent lecturer, but there is SO MUCH READING. Seriously, if you cannot handle a reading-intensive class, do not take this course. If you can get past that, you'll learn a lot about a very interesting topic.

Hedstrom is a great lecturer and makes lecture easy to follow and interesting. He doesn't post notes so you HAVE to go unless you get them from someone else. Theres a lot of reading but you are able to skim and get the general idea and still do well on tests and essays. Super important who your TA is, mine was an easy grader so I did well on everything even though I didnt thoroughly read the books or readings. If you're a good skimmer and note taker this class is great!

Overall a good class! It can be boring but some parts of the class was pretty interesting! :D

Surprisingly interesting. Very easy if you get a good TA. Moss is definitely the best TA I've ever had at UVA. It's definitely a history class, don't get it twisted. If it sounds like you'd be interested in it, take it.

I have mixed feelings about this class. I took Hedstrom's intro to American Studies class last semester and loved it. This class sometimes was great (talking about psychedelics, QAnon) but sometimes it was so boring and just historical. It's a pretty straightforward class - 2 papers, midterm, final (take home, open note). I wasn't particularly interested in the course material because I took the class for the professor. My TA was Kerwin Holmes and he was not great. I'm 0/2 on good TAs with Hedstrom, and I don't think my friends liked their TAs, so I don't think he picks the best TAs. The discussions are too big, so people don't talk much.

Prof. Hedstrom is the best professor I have ever had. He is incredibly engaging and entertaining. As someone who comes from no religious background or knowledge, I didn't think I would enjoy this class as much as I did. The beginning of the class is a lot of history and pretty boring but that quickly opens up into some very fascinating topics. I absolutely recommend this course to anyone.