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Fall 2010, Sections 200-03,
04 RH 348 MWF 10:30-11:20; 11:30-12:20pm
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Date/Topic |
Questions and Assignments |
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8/30 Introductions |
Questions: Why am I in this class? What do I hope to learn from taking this class? Who else is in this class and why? Who is this professor? What qualifies him to teach this class? Can he help me meet my learning objectives? Will taking this class turn me into an atheist? · Susan Henking, “This Just In: College Will Make You an Atheist,” Religion Dispatches |
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9/1 The Learning Covenant |
Questions: What is a "learning covenant"? What contribution, if any, can it make to my learning in this class and beyond?
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9/3 Why Study Religion? |
Questions: What continued questions do I have about the learning covenant? How ought we to treat one another in this class?
Assessment #1, Learning
Self-Assessment, Due (see Blackboard, Assessment Activities for guidelines on
this activity and to submit it) |
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9/6 |
Labor Day (No class) Laylat al-Qadr (Islamic anniversary of the night
Muslims believe the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the prophet
Muhammad.) |
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9/8 |
Mass of the Holy Spirit (10:45 in Panasci Family Chapel) (No Class) Nativity
of Mary (Catholic Christian celebration of the birth of the Virgin Mary.) |
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9/10 Culture and Religion Quiz |
Questions: What is culture? How does culture influence people? What is the relationship between culture and religion?
Blackboard quiz on Culture and Religion (under Assessment Activities) in lieu of class. It will be made available after class on 9/8 and remain available until class starts on 9/13. Rosh Hashanah (Jewish high holy day that celebrates
the new year.) Eid al Fitr (Islamic holiday that marks the end of
Ramadan and the period of fasting associated with it.) |
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9/13 Studying and Defining Religion |
Questions: How do scholars study and define religion? What are the differences between essentialist and functional definitions of religion? How do these definitions shape one's approach to religious phenomena?
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9/15 Definitions and Dimensions of Religion |
Questions: Are there similarities between religious traditions? If so, what are they? How extensive are they? How do I define religion? What are the dimensions of religion that scholars have identified?
*Bring the Ring text, Introduction to the Study of Religion |
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9/17 Religion, Order, and Meaning |
Questions: What does it mean to say religion brings order and meaning to the lives of individuals and communities? What is the nature of the order and meaning that religion provides? Does religion play any role in providing order and meaning in my life?
Assessment #2, Constructing an initial understanding of religion, due (see Blackboard, Assessment Activities for guidelines on this activity, and to post your understanding) |
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9/20 Introductions to Religions Traditions (Western) |
Questions: What are the origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? Who are the founders? Where did they develop? How widespread are they practiced? How many different sects of these traditions currently exist?
Learning Covenants Due |
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9/22 Introductions to the Religious Traditions (Eastern) |
Questions: What are the origins of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Chinese Religions? Who are the founders? Where did they develop? How widespread are they practiced? How many different sects of these traditions currently exist?
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9/24 Ritual Action: Types of Religious Ritual |
Questions: What is ritual? Why do people practice rituals? Do I have rituals that I regularly practice? How do religious rituals differ from secular rituals? What is the difference between a calendar, life cycle, and life crises ritual?
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9/27 Sacred Space |
Questions: What makes some space sacred and other space ordinary? Is there any space I would consider sacred? What moods, feelings, aesthetic sensibilities does sacred space seek to instill in people? What is the difference between a shrine and a traditional ritual space? Why do those roadside memorials I see develop?
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9/29 Sacred Time |
Questions: Why do religious traditions identify particular days and times as sacred? Are there days and times I would consider sacred? Is sacred time fluid (changing at different times and places) or fixed (the same for everyone regardless of year or place)?
Feast
of Michael and all Angels (Christian feast that celebrates the archangel
Michael and the protection and care offered by God through the angels.) |
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10/1 |
Catch-up day |
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10/4 Ethical Action: Moral Conduct |
Questions: What is ethical action? How does it differ from morality? Are religious ethics different from secular ethics? If so, in what ways? Can a person engage in ethical or moral action without being religious? Do religions require certain moral conduct on the part of their practitioners? What ethical actions have I done that have been influenced by my religious tradition?
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10/6 Ethical Action: Moral Conduct (cont.) |
Questions: What are norms for moral conduct? What norms for moral conduct do different traditions require? How are laws, ends, and responsibilities different? Are there any norms that all religious traditions agree upon? Are there any that I would agree upon?
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10/8 Ethical Action: Moral Character |
Questions: How do norms for moral conduct differ from norms for moral character? What is moral character? Would I consider myself a moral character? How does religion shape moral character? What is the difference between a moral conscience and moral consciousness?
Beginning
of Navaratri (Hindu festival to mark the advent of winter with “nine nights”
of fast and prayer to Durga, the Mother Goddess who embodies all the power of
the universe.) |
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10/11 |
Fall Break (no class) |
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10/13 Ethical Action: Moral Exemplars |
Questions: What is a moral exemplar? Who do know that I would call a moral exemplar? Who are the moral exemplars in the religious traditions we are studying them? What characteristics make them examples that others should follow? Are there commonalities among them?
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10/15 Relationship Between Ritual and Ethics |
Questions: What do the terms, moral pedagogy, moral redemption, and moral transformation mean? Have I engaged in any rituals that have sought to help me to become a better person? Do all religious rituals encourage a certain moral way of life? Or do broader ethical issues sometimes call certain rituals into question?
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Rituals and Moral Objections |
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10/18 Talking About the Sacred |
Question: How do people talk about the sacred? What metaphors, symbols, names do they use? Why is metaphorical language so important in this regard? What metaphors do I use for the sacred? Are there some names that I have difficulty with? Why is this the case?
Assessment #3 due (Online Mid-term evaluation
of the course found on Blackboard under Assessment Activities) |
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10/20 Aspects of the Divine |
Questions: What metaphors, symbols, or names do the traditions we are studying use for the Sacred? Are there similarities among them or are they really different? How do my ideas relate to them? What is theism? Why are western religious traditions monotheistic while many eastern traditions are polytheistic or even atheistic or monistic? What do these terms even mean?
Birth
of the Báb
(Bahái holy day that celebrates birth of this one who prepared the way for Bahá'u'lláh,
the Founder of the Bahá'í Faith) |
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10/22 Myths of Origin |
Questions: What is the peculiar way that religious traditions use the term myth? What are the myths or stories of religious traditions attempting to say about the origins of the universe and the place of humanity in it? Are there any myths that I find meaningful for understanding the universe?
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10/25 Stories of Challenge and Suffering: Job |
Questions: What is a theodicy? Why do religious traditions provide stories to help people deal with suffering in the world? How do I understand the nature of innocent suffering in the world?
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10/27 Sacred Texts and Interpretation |
Questions: Why do religious traditions identify some writings and texts as sacred? Do all people in those traditions interpret the texts in the same way? If not, why not? Are there any texts that I would consider sacred? What are they and why?
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10/29 Doctrines and Creeds Quiz |
Questions: What is a doctrine or a creed? Are there any doctrines or creeds that I have? How do the traditions view death, redemption, and the afterlife? What are the similarities? What are the differences? How do I view them?
Blackboard quiz on Doctrines and Creeds (under Assessment Activities) in lieu of class. It will be made available after class on 10/27 and remain available until class starts on 11/1. |
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11/1 Conversion Accounts |
Questions: What triggers someone to have a conversion experience? Are conversions only from one religion to another? Or can people have a conversion experience within the same tradition? Do you know of people who have had conversion experiences?
All
Saints' Day (Catholic Christian celebration in honor of all the saints, known
and unknown). |
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11/3 |
Questions: (see questions for Augustine’s Confessions) What do you think of Augustine’s experience? How does it relate to your own? · Finish reading Augustine, Confessions and be prepared with answers to questions. |
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11/5 Personal Religious Change as Development and Conversion |
Questions: Has your religious experience changed over time? In what ways? Has the change been slow and gradual or sudden? What does conversion mean? What does it mean to be "born again"?
Diwali
(Deepavali) (Hindu celebration - a five day festival of lights marking the
end of the Hindu year and symbolizing the human urge to move toward the
light. Gift exchanges, fireworks and festive meals. Jain celebration of Lord
Mahavira's day of final liberation. First day is observed as a holiday
by many Hindu people.) |
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11/8 |
Catch-up Day (we will use class time to review; use preparation time to work on your covenant activities) |
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11/10 Society and Religion |
Questions: In what ways do religion and society
affect one another? How do changes in a society create changes in
religion? What about the reverse? What effects do you notice in
the
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11/12 Social Change as Catalyst for Religious Change |
Questions: In what ways do changes in society generate changes in religious ideas, practices, and traditions? What effect has the development of modern western society, with its emphasis on personal, political, and economic freedom, had on religion? How has this freedom affected your own religious practice? · Introduction to the Study of Religion, 233-249 Birth of Bahá'u'lláh, the Founder of the Bahá'í Faith |
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11/15 Religious Fundamentalisms |
Questions: What is fundamentalism? Is it unique to Christianity or does it affect many religious traditions? To what social changes in modern society do fundamentalist movements respond? What is the connection between fundamentalism and violence in various parts of the world? What responses would you make to the rise of fundamentalist movements? ·
Daniel Schultz, “Destruction,
Or, Why Do Fundamentalists Seem To Enjoy Blowing Things Up?” Religion Dispatches · Robert Wuthnow, "Fundamentalism in the World" (all read) ·
· Notes on Fundamentalism (all read) (write reading summary on these two readings) Eid al Adha (Islamic “festival of sacrifice” to commemorate
the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to
God.) |
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11/17 Religious Change as Catalyst for Social Change |
Questions: see questions for King's letter below
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11/19 Religion as Alienating |
Questions: What does it mean to say that religion can be alienating? In what ways can and has religion been alienating to people? Have you experienced religion in alienating ways? · Konstantin Petrenko, “The Two Faces of Atheism” Religion Dispatches · Introduction to the Study of Religion, 293-311 (write reading summary on this reading) |
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11/22 Alienation: Philosophical Responses |
Questions: In what ways does Feuerbach say religion alienates humanity? How does Marx push his ideas? What do these philosophers suggest will ultimately happen to religion? Do you agree? Supplementary First Draft of Ritual Activity due (see
Blackboard, Graded Activities to post your draft) |
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11/24-28 |
Thanksgiving Break (No classes) |
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11/29 Alienation: Personal Responses |
Questions: see questions for Wiesel, Night below and on Blackboard.
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12/1 Reconciling Religion |
Questions: How does religion act as a reconciling force for the individual and for society? In what ways has it been reconciling for you or for people you know? · Introduction to the Study of Religion, 264-291 |
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12/3 Reconciling Religion |
Questions: see questions for Patel, Acts of Faith on Blackboard · Eboo Patel, Acts of Faith, chapters 1-3. Hanukkah
(12/2-9) (Jewish Festival of Lights that commemorates the Maccabean recapture
and rededication of the Jerusalem Temple in 165-164 b.c.e. Special readings
and praise songs focus on liberty and freedom. The eight candle Menorah is
lighted.) |
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12/6 Religious Activism |
Questions: see questions for Patel, Acts of Faith on Blackboard · Eboo Patel, Acts of Faith, chapters 4-6. St.
Nicholas Day (Christian commemoration of St. Nicholas of Myra, a saint who
had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes
of those who left them out, thus becoming a model for Santa Claus.) |
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12/8 Religious Pluralism |
Questions: What is religious pluralism? What
is the impact on the perception of the · Eboo Patel, Acts of Faith, chapters 7-8, conclusion. ·
Ivan Petrella, “Beyond
Progressive Religion,” Religion
Dispatches Supplementary
Bodhi
Day (Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the historical Buddha,
Siddhartha Gautauma, experienced enlightenment.) |
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12/10 Summary and Review |
Questions: How has your understanding of religion changed? What have you learned this semester about the nature of religion? What do you think you still want to learn? Assessment #4, Revised
understandings of religion, due (see Blackboard, Assessment Activities for
guidelines for this activity) |
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12/13 |
200-04 Final Exam (12:00-2:30pm) (Completed finals are due by 5pm, 12/17) Assessment #5, Reflection on
Learning in REL 200, due (see Blackboard, Assessment Activities for
guidelines for this activity) |
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12/17 |
200-03 Final Exam (9:00-11:30am) (Completed finals are due by 5pm, 12/18) Assessment #5, Reflection on
Learning in REL 200, due (see Blackboard, Assessment Activities for
guidelines for this activity) |