polymethodic - many methods in order to understand something as complex as religion, we need all the tools we can get so we'll use - you'll find anthropology in here, little political science, certainly some psychology. but religious studies, i think that's why i got into it because of my own quest to try to understand the nature of what it means to be human. i was always sort of frustrated with one methodology in psychology or one methodology in, say, history. i wanted something wider and i stumbled upon this relatively new field and i should mention that also. religious studies, though theology and the quest to understand human existence goes back to the dawn of time, religious studies is really only about 35, 40 years old. it's a relatively new field. in fact i'm only the first generation of religious studies professors who are trained at state universities. so, it's relatively new and - but i think the time is ripe and i hope, you know, as we journey through the course that will become evident. polymethodic, multicultural and comparative - we'll look at many different cultures an