BenShea, Adam  

This guy is an encyclopedia of wisdom and knowledge on the topic of religion. He does really well at maintaining a secular approach to the study of religion, but also allows for some very thought-provoking questions. Just don't miss class because it'll hurt your grade.

Adam is a cool guy but he does not recognize student difficulties. During finals week I came down with a life threatening condition that required a two week stay in the hospital. All that I had left for the course was completing a paper. I reached out to him and told him about my condition and his response was apathetic. I even sent him a copy of the doctors note for verification. He ended up just giving me a D in the class. Adam was my only professor for the quarter that did not accommodate me.

Dr. Benshea is very knowledgable. Ask him any question about religion and he will have an answer for you. He has a very dry sense of humor but is a good teacher. Lectures can be boring but there is so much information thrown at you that you pay attention. There is one midterm, a presentation and subsequent paper and a final paper. He is a very fair grader and wants his students to grasp the information that he is so passionate about. I took this class to fulfill my C4 and I would recommend it.

He was excellent! Very smart and patient. Even though he just knows an incredible amount about history he doesn't seem to get frustrated and patronize you when you don't understand or forget simple concepts. He's an extremely fair grader. Even though the class subject gets a little dry sometimes and feels like an overload of information, he's funny, which makes class interesting. It was interesting if you like history and/or have Jewish heritage. At times the amount of information felt overwhelming, but we had a little bit of class discussion here and there, which worked to re-catch our attention.

I found Adam to be a wealth of knowledge. He proved himself to truly care about students, and heads a fascinating class. I found that I never really had to worry about my grade and could just focus on enjoying the lecture, which is nice for a GE.

Amazing professor. Super fair grader, the midterm was easy, not a ton of reading. Put in the perfect amount of work for a GE. And wow, this guy knows his stuff. He's also hilarious... just takes 5-10 seconds to realize he made a joke. Ask him literally anything about religion and he'll know the answer. Also... Look him up on YouTube. He's a martial arts master. Makes him that much cooler.

BenShea is super chill. He made the class really interesting and it wasn't too much work. We had to write a few sentences on reading each class for credit, took one test which wasn't bad at all and then had a 3 page paper and a 7 page paper for the final

This professor was AMAZING!I took RELS 304 and liked it so much that I took RELS 374 when I couldn't get the classes I needed and just needed units. He is so helpful with any question you ask and is really good at making the subject matter interesting. Show up to class and you will do fine in his courses. There are readings before class that you have to turn in a very short writing about, but it is easy to do and there is not a whole lot of busy work. I in no way was excited to take his class, but it turned out to be one of the best classes I have taken at Cal Poly! I HIGHLY recommend taking a class with him!

I cannot recommend this class highly enough. Don't be deterred by the "Religion and Violence" title. I didn't know if I wanted to take a whole class on violence but it ended up being my best decision of the quarter, hands down. I had this class from 6-8pm and actually looked forward to it. Mr. BenShea is a pure genius when it comes to religions. He can answer any question you could possibly come up with. Homework load is very light- just a few sentences/small paragraph due at the start of each class. Readings can be a little confusing but he goes over everything in class. Midterm was super straight forward and if you attend the class you'll be fine. Final essay wasn't bad either and he's super helpful at office hours. 10/10

One of my favorite classes that I've taken so far at Cal Poly. His class is relatively easy; if you do the basic things like paying attention in class and participating then you will do well. He is a very smart guy and likes presenting the material. I definitely recommend him for a C4. Also, there are videos of him fighting on YouTube lol

Great course on fundamentalism and extremism. Gives a great lens through which to view terrorist attacks and religious movements in the world today as well as in the past. No prior knowledge of religion needed which is a plus, makes it accessible to everyone. Midterm is in depth and final is a long paper but the reading is interesting and the lectures are funny and informative. Material really isn't that hard. Not an easy A per se but with decent effort in a few places a very manageable A to be sure. Recommend as a GE.

I had high expectations going into the quarter based on other reviews, but this class was just extremely boring and it wasn't worth putting in my time for because he just gives you random grades (B's) if he doesn't know you. He lectures the first half of the quarter going off on massive tangents when people ask ridiculous and unrelated questions, he has a monotone voice which makes it impossible to focus during those tangents, and for the midterm gives random "7/10" "8/10" for every answer with no explanation as to why you get docked down. He said you could go talk to him about your grades, but it'll probably result in a lower grade. The second half of the quarter is student presentations which you don't want to do and you sure as hell don't want to sit through for 4 weeks, and you'll probably get a B on that with no explanation. Then you have an 8 page paper for the final. If you're taking it as a GE, take a different one. It's boring, you won't get an A unless you kiss ass, and it's time consuming.

What else is there to say? Fine person, nothing interesting. Class was meh... Blah, blah, blah... Fine person.