Trinity College Dublin

This course introduces students to the literary genres and theological contours of the Hebrew canon and its transmission, translation and interpretation in antiquity and in contemporary culture. The variety of terms used to designate the ‘Hebrew Bible’ (e.g. Old Testament, Hebrew Scriptures, Tanak) indicate the richness of traditions related to these writings, the various ways that they are viewed, and also their life within different communities at different times. This course orients students to the literary and theological contours of the Hebrew canon, introducing them to the rich variety of genres within. The exploration of the Pentateuch and Chronicler’s History provides a historiographical framework and develops students’ ability to identify literary themes while interrogation of the Prophets, Psalms and Wisdom Literature demonstrate the incredible diversity of literary and theological genres contained within the Hebrew Bible. 

This course offers students an introduction to the role of management accounting within the modern organization. Cost terms and concepts are introduced, as well as the various techniques that aid decision making, such as cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis, cost behavior, pricing decisions and capital investment appraisals. The discipline of management accounting is an evolving one, and topical issues are considered in this course, including how to view and manage costs in a strategic sense. 

This course examines the region of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean between 1500 BCE to 100 CE. Topics include an introduction to Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world, the Neo Assyrians and their Empire – 900 to 600 BCE, the Neo Babylonians and their rule – 600 to 537, and the Achaemenid Persian Empire – 537-333BCE. The Hellenistic Empires, Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires, and the Romans and Parthians are also covered.

This course introduces and engages in contemporary scholarly reflection on critical animal studies, posthumanism, and ecotheology. Students engage with theological perspectives on the definitions of “humanity,” “animality,” and “creatureliness.” They explore a number of theo-ethical topics in this area from animal conservation to food. Recent questions in ecological ethics swirl around “the question of the human” and “the question of the animal.” Theological and ethical concepts that define human beings as unique, with souls created imago dei, in the image of God with dominion over the planet are critiqued as being morally complicit with species decline, animal suffering, and habitat loss. On a planet undergoing the sixth great wave of animal extinction, this critique is no small matter. This course discusses how we understand the human in relation to other nonhuman creatures that occupy the planet. Students consider animal ethics, the blurry lines between wild and domestic, human and nonhuman, living and extinct, veganism and vegetarianism, human and posthuman and ask how these conversations cause us to rethink theological understandings of “creatureliness” and “creation” and “kinship.” The course asks how definitions of what it means to be “human” are already entangled in our theo-ethical and ecological concerns.

This course examines the historical construction of the “tropics” as both an ecological reality and an ideological concept central to Western thought. Adopting a global perspective, the course explores how European and later North American interpretations of tropical environments shaped colonial expansion, economic development, and enduring social, racial, and cultural inequalities. This course explores the multiple dimensions of this history from a global perspective, emphasizing the creation of a unified and coherent bioclimatic zones that amalgamates parts of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. After discussing the concept of ‘tropicality’ – the European gaze on non-European environments – the course covers critical aspects of that amalgamation, including colonialism, resource extractivism, and intertropical species transfer and acclimatization. The last part of the course focuses on two urgent contemporary issues, namely climate change and decolonization, seeking to discuss the future of the ‘tropics’.

This course examines how the Internet works and how everyday online activities generate data that are collected, analyzed, and monetized by digital platforms. It explores key issues related to data privacy, security, ownership, and control, addressing questions about how personal information is used and how individuals can protect themselves online. The course provides practical knowledge and tools for understanding Internet infrastructure, data tracking practices, and strategies for managing one’s digital presence with greater confidence and awareness.

This course is designed for complete beginners with no prior knowledge of Spanish. It introduces the fundamentals of speaking, listening, reading, and writing, while also exploring a key cultural topic in its linguistic context.

This course examines the role of human psychology, human thought and behavior, in the climate and biodiversity crises. It explores how we got where we are, what it is about human thought and behavior and the structures and systems created that produced these crises and inactions. The course covers how the Climate Crisis is affecting human health, behavior, and well-being as well as the ways these effects are unevenly distributed across the world and the implications of this inequity. Finally, this course covers what psychology has to offer in terms of solutions and how to leverage our understanding of human thought and behavior to enact climate justice.

This course introduces students to the history of political thought, with a focus upon the ancient world of classical Greece. Topics include the birth of politics in ancient Athens; Plato’s critique of democracy; the justification of political rule; the role of virtue in political life.

This course examines some of the wealth of artistic production in the Netherlands in the 17th century. The course is based around the study of Rembrandt and Vermeer as contrasting and complementary figures who represent some of the diverse tendencies of the time. This entails the study of the development of individual styles and subject matter ranging from history painting to portraiture, landscape, and genre painting. The distinct artistic character associated with centers of production, even ones that were geographically close, is assessed with an emphasis on Amsterdam, Delft, and Utrecht. The final block of the course looks at the posthumous reputations of Rembrandt and Vermeer, examining questions of attribution, authenticity, canonicity, and rediscovery.