Fred Glennon, Ph.D. (Courses) Professor  (RH 216) Department of Religious Studies Le Moyne College Syracuse, New York 13214 (315) 445-4343

COR-100NA-01

Tentative Reading and Assignment Schedule

Date/Class Topics	Questions and Reading Assignments
Module 1	The Learning Covenant
8/26 Welcome and Overview	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? Fred Glennon, "Promoting Freedom, Responsibility, and Learning in a Religious Studies Course: The Learning Covenant a Decade Later” (on Canvas under Module 1: The Learning Covenant) Read Syllabus and Learning Covenant materials on Canvas.
Module 2	Global Terror, Violence, and the Problem of Religion
8/28 Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero	Questions: Did the hijackers justify their actions on the basis of their religious faith or was something else involved? What impact did the events of 9/11 have on people’s faith? · Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (watch online video, chapter 1-5) · Interactive Timeline of 9/11
9/2 Terrorism’s Many Faces	Questions: What do we think of when we think of terrorism? Is it one thing or many? · Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God, chap. 1 (on Canvas)
9/4 Religion’s Role in Violence and Terror	Questions: Is violence at the heart of some religious traditions as some contend? How and why does religion endorse and support violence? · Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil, pp. 26-40 (on Canvas)
9/9 The Making of a Radical	Questions: How does one become radicalized enough to engage in violence? What are the motivations (psychological, political, religious)? · John Esposito, “What Makes a Radical?” Who Speaks for Islam?, chapter 3 (on Canvas)
9/11 Information Literacy: Understanding Frederick Douglass	Questions: Why do I have to learn to be discerning about the information available to me? Isn’t “googling” a subject sufficient for me to understand it? What is a personal librarian and why do I need one? · Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, 17-53 (Chapters I-VIII) Class will take place in the library
9/16 The Violence of Slavery	Questions: How does a society endorse the practice of slavery? How did Douglass learn to see it as a problem? What were some of the experiences he had to endure? Why would his narrative be so important for others, even today? · Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, 54-99 (Chapters IX-XI)
9/18 Christianity’s Role in Perpetuating Slavery	Questions: Why does Douglass have such problems with Christianity as it was practiced during the time of slavery? What contrasts does he make between the Christianity of the slaveholder and the true nature of Christian religion? · Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, 1-11, 100-106 (Preface and Appendix)
9/23 The End of Faith?	Questions: Are atheists right when they suggest that the existence of religious terrorism and the rise of modern science mean that faith and belief are no longer tenable? Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, pp. 16-36 (on Canvas)
Module 3	The Dynamics of Faith
9/25 Misunderstanding Faith	Questions: Is faith merely a form of knowledge that has a low degree of evidence supporting it? Is it the same as belief? Tilley, Faith: What It Is and What It Isn’t, 1-25
9/30 Defining Faith	Questions: What does it mean to say that faith encompasses the whole of human personality? What is this notion of being grasped by an ultimate concern? Tilley, Faith: What It Is and What It Isn’t, 26-56
10/2 Faith in Human Development	Questions:  Does faith develop over the lifespan?  Do post adolescents have a different experience of faith than adolescents?  What is mature faith? Fowler, Stages of Faith Theory 34-42 (on Canvas)
10/7 Expressing Faith	Questions: What do creeds and beliefs have to do with faith? Why do religious communities express their faith in these ways? · Tilley, Faith: What It Is and What It Isn’t, 57-73
10/9 Living Faith	Questions: How do religious communities live out their faith commitments? What do they have to do with stories, myths, and ritual practices? · Tilley, Faith: What It Is and What It Isn’t, 74-101
10/14 Fall Break	No Class
10/16	Catch-up Day
Module 4	Justice in an Unjust World
10/21 Faces of Injustice	Questions: What is injustice? Is it a simple denial of fairness? Or is it more complex and does it have many faces? Were the actions of Al Qaeda or the Occupy Wall Street Movement protests against injustice or are they decisions to operate outside of normal channels of authority and law? · Osama bin Laden, “Letter to the American People” (also on Canvas) · Karen Lebacqz, “Rupture: The Reign of Injustice,” from Justice in an Unjust World, 10-37 (on Canvas)
10/23 Defining Justice	Questions: What is justice? What is the relationship between religious conceptions of justice and those expressed in our secular society? · Stephen Mott, “God’s Justice and Ours,” in Biblical Ethics and Social Change (on Canvas) · Shahul Ameed, “Concept of Justice in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,” OnIslam.Net, Feb. 6, 2011 (on Canvas)
10/28 Justice and Human Rights	Questions: What are human rights? How do they differ from the rights granted by nation-states? What is the relationship between justice and human rights? · United Nations, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
10/30 Torture	Questions: Is torture ever justified? What is the myth of redemptive violence? How did it contribute to the U.S. involvement in torture? · Karen Greenberg, “Torture after 9/11: The Road to Abu Ghraib,” in Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul (on Canvas) · Sister Dianna Ortiz, “What Torture Does to Human Beings,” in Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul (on Canvas)
11/1	Field Trip to Ground Zero
11/4 War on Terror	Questions: What is a just war in this day and age? Are the wars against terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan just? · Laurie Johnston, “The Catholic Conversation since 9/11: A Moral Challenge,” (on Canvas) · Bell, Daniel, “Discriminating Force,” Christian Century, Aug. 7, 2013 (on Canvas)
11/6 Use of Drones	Questions: What does just-war theory suggest about our use of unmanned drones if anything? · Fawaz Gerges, “Why drone strikes are ‘real’ enemy in war on terror,” CNN, June 21, 2013 (on Canvas) · “Faith-based organizations oppose use of drones,” Fellowship of Reconciliation (on Canvas) · “Remote Control Warfare,” Editorial, Christian Century May 18, 2010.
11/11-11/13 Video Presentation	Questions: What does Scahill mean by “dirty wars”? What is the implication for issues of human rights and the justice of war? · Documentary: Dirty Wars
11/18-11/20 A Faith that Does Justice	Questions: How do people of faith promote social justice in the face of violence and terror? What resources do they draw upon? Karen Armstrong, “Faith after 9/11” (read) Parliament of World Religions, “Toward a Global Ethic” (on Canvas) (read) Karen Armstrong, “The Charter for Compassion” (watch) Karen Armstrong, “Let’s Revive the Golden Rule” (watch)
11/25	Catch-up Day: Individual Projects
12/2	Questions: What is the responsibility of Jesuit higher education in promoting human faith and social justice? Kolvenbach, SJ, “The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education” (on Canvas)
12/4 Last Day of Class	Review and Summary
12/10	Final Exam 9-11:30 am