Religion in Global Context

Transcription

1 REL 100 Dr. J. L. Richey Fall 2017 Berea College MW 12:40 2:30 p.m. Knapp Religion in Global Context Paul Gauguin, D'où Venons Nous / Que Sommes Nous / Où Allons Nous, 1897 (Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?) COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is intended to introduce students to the academic study of religion as a core element in human culture and personal experience. Through studies of selected religious material of primarily non Western origins, REL 100 examines influential definitions of and approaches to the study of religion, as well as key aspects of religiosity, such as sacred space and time, ritual and worship, sacred narratives and teachings, moral practices and codes, and the relationship between social structures and worldviews. No prior study of, or participation in, religion is assumed. Fulfills: International (Non Western) and Religion Perspective requirements for General Education Required text: Shūsaku Endō, Deep River (New York: New Directions, 1995) ISBN All other course materials will be provided via moodle.berea.edu or as in class handouts. NOTE: If the structure of this course results in any barriers to your full participation in it, please meet with me to discuss ways to ensure your full participation. Together with Disability & Accessibility Services (111 Lincoln Hall, tel. ext. 3237, lisa.ladanyi@berea.edu), we can determine how to best achieve this goal. I am open to creative solutions as long as they do not compromise the course s core content and learning goals. 1

2 COURSE OUTCOMES & ASSESSMENT Students who complete this course successfully should be able to demonstrate: the ability to identify fundamental issues, questions, and concerns expressed in religion the ability to communicate critically and constructively about the religiosity of other peoples, eras, and cultures, and the ability to articulate theoretical approaches to the academic study of religion. Students progress toward achieving these learning outcomes will be assessed using the following instruments: Prepared, present, and engaged participation in class sessions ( = 20% of course grade). Preparation consists not only of completing all reading and writing assignments prior to specific deadlines, but also re reading, re watching, and reflecting on what one has read and watched, including keeping an electronic or written (private) record of your thoughts as you read or watch to keep handy during class sessions. Being present begins, but does not end, with merely showing up for class. Don t just show up; arrive on time, remain throughout the class period, and bring assigned materials with you. If you can t be in class for what you consider to be a good reason, communicate that reason to the instructor in advance, if possible, or after the fact, if not. Excuses may be sought, but will not necessarily be granted. Engagement is a difficult quality to describe, but it entails playing an active role (including active listening as well as active speaking) in class sessions, trying one s best, seeking help when necessary, and not giving up in the face of challenges. Submission of 8 reading responses (= 20% of course grade). These should consist of your comments and questions (not summaries) related to a particular week s readings (and/or, on occasion, in class videos), ed directly to the instructor by 8 a.m. on the Wednesdays indicated in the calendar. They must be at least 250 words in length and be written in clear, error free English prose. All sources, whether quoted or paraphrased, should be cited using a recognized system of documentation of your choice (e.g., APA, Chicago, MLA). Reading responses will be graded pass/fail. You may decide the weeks in which you submit responses. Responses cannot be made up or submitted multiply (i.e., more than one per week). Submission of 2 application exercises (each = 20% of course grade). By 8 a.m. on October 11 and November 27, you must complete EITHER a scholarly essay (8 10 double spaced, 12 point font, stapled pages) OR a media presentation (10 to 15 minute podcast or video), submitted as an attached, ed document (or URL) sent to the instructor, which answers one of the following sets of questions: 1. Choose two assigned case studies and at least one assigned theoretical text. Using these as a basis, interpret a well known, secular (i.e., not explicitly related to religion) work of art (i.e., choreography, film/video, multimedia installation, musical composition, novel, painting, play, poem, or short story) in terms of the ideas, images, narratives, institutions, and/or practices found in those case studies and that theoretical approach. To what extent can this work of art be said to 2

3 function in ways that connect with religion as exemplified by the case studies and theoretical approach that you have chosen? 2. Choose two assigned case studies and at least one assigned theoretical text. Using these as a basis, analyze a contemporary national or global issue (e.g., discrimination/violence against ethnic/religious/sexual minorities, climate change, ecological degradation, economic inequality, etc.) in terms of the ideas, images, narratives, institutions, and/or practices found in those case studies and that theoretical approach. To what extent can this issue be constructively resolved in ways that connect with religion as exemplified by the case studies and theoretical approach that you have chosen? 3. Choose two assigned case studies and at least one assigned theoretical text. Using these as a basis, critique your culture of origin (i.e., your home ethnic group, geographical region, national identity, religious community, etc.) in terms of the ideas, images, narratives, institutions, and/or practices found in those case studies and that theoretical approach. How might your culture of origin be evaluated (positively and negatively), both in terms of present status and future development, in ways that connect with religion as exemplified by the case studies and theoretical approach that you have chosen? You may complete only one essay/media presentation per option. Thus, if you submit your first essay/media presentation in fulfillment of option #1, you must choose between options #2 and #3 when preparing your second essay/media presentation. Regardless of the form that your application exercises take, they must (a) be free of grammatical and spelling errors, (b) engage primary and secondary sources of evidence assigned in the course, and (3) completely and correctly cite all sources of evidence using a recognized system of documentation of your choice (e.g., APA, Chicago, MLA). Completion of 1 final examination (= 20% of course grade). The final examination will be given from 1 to 2:50 p.m. on December 15. COURSE CALENDAR W 8/23 Orientations 1. Naomi Shihab Nye, Grandfather s Heaven (in class handout) M 8/28 Us and Them (part 1) 1. Stanley, Brian Jay. The Communion of Strangers. The Sun (April 2012): Peck, M. Scott. World Views and Religion. In Peck, The Road Less Traveled, 25 th Anniversary Edition: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002), 185,

4 W 8/30 READING RESPONSE OPTION #1 Us and Them (part 2) 1. Oppenheimer, Mark. Examining the Growth of the Spiritual but Not Religious. New York Times, last modified July 18, growth of the spiritual but not religious.html?_r=0 2. Rothman, Joshua. The Meaning of Culture. The New Yorker, last modified December 26, rothman/meaning culture M 9/4 Sacred and Profane (part 1) 1. Emily Dickinson, Much Madness Is Divinest Sense (in class handout) 2. Eliade, Mircea. From The Sacred and the Profane. In Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, ed. Carl Olson (Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2003), W 9/6 INSTRUCTOR AWAY NO CLASS SESSION READING RESPONSE OPTION #2 M 9/11 Sacred and Profane (part 2) 1. Leviticus ( or other NIV translation) 2. Romans 5 6 ( or other NIV translation) W 9/13 READING RESPONSE OPTION #3 Sacred and Profane (part 3) 1. Frank Morris, In America's Heartland, Building One Home for Three Faiths. National Public Radio, last modified December 17, 2015, americas heartland building one homefor three faiths. 2. Naomi Schaefer Riley, Interfaith Unions: A Mixed Blessing. New York Times, last modified April 5, 2013, marriages amixed blessing.html?_r=0. M 9/18 Heavens and Hells (part 1) 1. Mark Wagenaar, For Whom the Resurrection is the Full Moon Rising (in class handout) 2. Morgan, David. The Look of the Sacred. In The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies, ed. Robert A. Orsi (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012), W 9/20 READING RESPONSE OPTION #4 Heavens and Hells (part 2) 1. Deal, William E. Women and Japanese Buddhism: Tales of Birth in the Pure Land. In Religions of Japan in Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999), Taima Mandala, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Taima Mandala, 14 th century. Scroll, 91.8cm x 72.7cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ofart/ /. 4

5 M 9/25 Heavens and Hells (part 4) 1. Harris, Paul L. "Death and the Afterlife." In Harris, Trusting What You're Told: How Children Learn from Others (Harvard University Press, 2012), Schwarz, Martin. Visions of the Afterlife. Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors 175/598 (May 2012): W 9/27 READING RESPONSE OPTION #5 Heavens and Hells (part 5) 1. Weldon, Kathleen. Paradise Polled: Americans and the Afterlife. The Huffington Post, June 15, 2016, weldon/paradise polledamericans_b_ html Minutes in Hell, YouTube video, 3:08, posted by Drblackinstien, May 24, 2010, (in class video) 3. HEAVEN ENCOUNTERS: Man sees the Book of Life in Heaven, YouTube video, 13:13, posted by culture4christ, February 21, 2015, (in class video) M 10/2 W 10/4 M 10/9 W 10/11 APPLICATION EXERCISE #1 WORKSHOP A (in class as scheduled by instructor) APPLICATION EXERCISE #1 WORKSHOP B (in class as scheduled by instructor) MIDTERM READING PERIOD NO CLASS SESSION APPLICATION EXERCISE #1 DUE NO CLASS SESSION M 10/16 Gods and Monsters (part 1) 1. Brian Doyle, To the United Airlines Signalman Silently Reading the New Testament in an Alcove Under the Extendable Jetway at Gate C 9 in Chicago on a Morning in April (in class handout) 2. Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Monster Culture (Seven Theses). In Monster Theory: Reading Culture, ed. Cohen (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), W 10/18 MOUNTAIN DAY NO CLASS SESSION M 10/23 Gods and Monsters (part 2) 1. Excerpts from the Enuma Elish. In The Global Experience, ed. Philip Riley (New York: PrenticeHall, 1992), Newman, John. Eschatology in the Wheel of Time Tantra. In Buddhism in Practice, ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (Princeton University Press, 2007),

6 W 10/25 READING RESPONSE OPTION #6 Gods and Monsters (part 3) 1. Barthes, Roland. The World of Wrestling. In Barthes, Mythologies, trans. Annette Lavers (New York: Hill and Wang, 1984), Gordon, Andrew. Star Wars: A Myth for Our Time. In Screening the Sacred: Religion, Myth, and Ideology in Popular American Film, eds. Joel W. Martin and Conrad E. Ostwalt, Jr. (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), M 10/30 Rites of Passage (part 1) 1. Gary Snyder, Axe Handles (in class handout) 2. Turner, Victor. From The Ritual Process. In Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, ed. Caro Olson (Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2003), Maasai Rites of Passage Part 1, YouTube video, posted by Kenya Citizen TV, October 4, 2010, r2cnq (in class video) W 11/1 READING RESPONSE OPTION #7 Rites of Passage (part 2) 1. McNally, Michael D. An Apache Girl s Initiation Feast. In Religions of the United States in Practice, Volume Two, ed. Colleen MacDannell (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001), Apache Girl s Rite of Passage, National Geographic, last modified 2016, apachegirl pp (in class video) M 11/6 Rites of Passage (part 3) 1. Schoenfeld, Stuart. Age and Identity: Reaching Thirteen in the Lives of American Jews. In Age in America: The Colonial Era to the Present, eds. Corinne T. Field and Nicholas L. Syrett (New York: NYU Press, 2015), Davis, Simon. How secular Americans are reshaping funeral rituals. Colorado Springs Gazette, last modified December 17, secular americans arereshaping funeral rituals/article/ Amish Teens Make Choice of Lives, YouTube video, posted by ABC News, September 5, 2009, IBU (in class video) W 11/8 READING RESPONSE OPTION #8 Society and Sanctity (part 1) 1. Joy Harjo, Perhaps the World Ends Here (in class handout) 2. Durkheim, Émile. From Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. In Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, ed. Carl Olson (Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2003), M 11/13 Society and Sanctity (part 2) 1. Schipper, Kristofer. The Taoist Body. History of Religions 17/3 4 (February May 1978): Taoism: A Question of Balance China, YouTube video, 52:09, posted by Sergiy Vusatyi, January 11, 2015, (in class video) 6

7 W 11/15 READING RESPONSE OPTION #9 Society and Sanctity (part 3) 1. Martin, Clancy. The Drunk s Club. Harper s Magazine (January 2011): Tutenges, Sébastien. The Road of Excess. Harvard Divinity Bulletin, last modified spring excess. M 11/20 W 11/22 M 11/27 APPLICATION EXERCISE #2 WORKSHOP (in class) THANKSGIVING VACATION NO CLASS SESSION APPLICATION EXERCISE #2 DUE NO CLASS SESSION W 11/29 READING RESPONSE OPTION #10 Synthesis (part 1) 1. Shūsaku Endō, Deep River, chs. 1 5 (pp ) M 12/4 Synthesis (part 2) 1. Shūsaku Endō, Deep River, chs (pp ) W 12/6 READING RESPONSE OPTION #11 Conclusions 1. Walt Whitman, That Music Always Round Me (in class handout) 2. Daniel, Lillian. You Can t Make This Up: The Limits of Self Made Religion. The Christian Century, last modified September 1, /you can t make. 3. Drescher, Elizabeth. Back to the Future of Religion: Does Demographic Research Create the Religious Reality It Describes? The Bangor Theological Seminary Center, last modified November 6, to the future of religion/. 4. ter Kuile, Casper. Millennials haven t forgotten spirituality, they re just looking for new venues. PBS NewsHour, last modified March 3, havent forgotten spirituality theyre justlooking new venues/ (in class video) F 12/15 FINAL EXAMINATION, 1 2:50 P.M. 7