Northern Virginia Community College REL 100 001A Introduction to the Study of Religion Spring 2013 SYLLABUS Calendar Week Beginning Date Tue., January 15 Readings/ Chapter 1 What Is Religion? Introduction and Course orientation overview Chapter 1: What Is Religion? Describe what religion means to you. In this context how would you have defined religion prior to reading this chapter? What factors do you think influenced your choice of this definition? Summarize the five reasons that the author gives for studying religion: Can you think of other reasons? (Due: Monday, Jan. 28, 11:59 p.m.) Tue., January 22 Chapter 2 Ways of Studying Religion Review of chapter 1 key words Comments on chapter 1 Discussion Board Chapter 2: Ways of Studying Religion "Religion and culture are like soul and body, a psychosomatic unity. Religions have been, and are today, not only the instruments of transcendent insight and supreme good but also of horrendous evil. They liberate our souls, raise us to heights of moral and spiritual wisdom and sanctity--but they are also capable of enslaving the human spirit, and legitimizing and sanctifying racial, ethnic, and sexual prejudice, hatred, and repression." Summarize your thesis on the above statement. Be specific to give examples. (Due: Monday, Feb. 4, 11:59 p.m.) 1
(Ways of Studying Religion) (Computer or mobile device) Describe some of the features of Freud s psychological interpretation of religious belief. Summarize the conclusions of Gordon Allport s empirical study of religion with regard to ethnic and racial prejudice. (Due: Monday, Feb. 4, 11:59 p.m.) Tue., January 29 Tue., February 5 Chapter 3 The Sacred and the Holy Review of chapter 2 key words Comments on chapter 2 Discussion Board and Chapter 3: The Sacred and the Holy What are some of the important characteristics associated with the experience of sacred power and what Rudolf Otto calls the numinuous and the mysterium and fascians? (Due: Monday, Feb. 4, 11:59 p.m.) (Computer or mobile device) In Mircea Eliade s discussion of sacred space, what does he mean by a hierophany, an axis mundi, and an imago mundi? Given an example of each of these forms of sacred space? (Due: Monday, Feb. 4, 11:59 p.m.) Chapter 4 Sacred Symbols, Myth and Doctrine Review of chapter 3 key words Comments on chapter 3 Discussion Board and Chapter 4: Sacred Symbols, Myth and Doctrine If religious discourse (parable, myth, and so forth) is fundamentally symbolic and analogical and cannot be tested by scientific modes of verification, by what criteria, if any, can religious claims be tested for their truth or adequacy? Make a scholarly analysis of the question with supporting references. (Due: Monday, Feb. 11, 11:59 p.m.) 2
Tue., February 12 Tue., February 19 (Sacred Symbols, Myth and Doctrine) (Computer or mobile device) What are some of the characteristics of myth as a form of religious expression and communication? What is the difference between the functionalist, psychotherapeutic and phenomenological interpretations of myth? (Due: Monday, Feb. 11, 11:59 p.m.) Chapter 5 Sacred Ritual Review of chapter 4 key words Comments on chapter 4 Discussion Board and Chapter 5: Sacred Ritual Define a religious ritual. Why are rituals so common and important? What are some similarities between religious ritual and human play? (Due: Monday, Feb. 18, 11:59 p.m.) (Computer or mobile device) Describe the symbolic meanings of some of the religious rituals still present in our society, such as baptisms, bar mitzvahs, ordinations, weddings, and funerals. What is a sacrament and what are some of the characteristics of the sacramental rituals? (Due: Monday, Feb. 18, 11:59 p.m.) Chapter 6 Sacred Scripture Review of chapter 5 keywords Comments on chapter 5 Discussion Board and Final review for quiz 1 QUIZ 1 (administered during the second half of the class) Chapter 6: Sacred Scripture What are some common characteristics of sacred scripture? What is meant by a canon? What are some reasons why religious communities develop a canon of sacred scripture? What are some of the common features of canonical texts? (Due: Monday, Feb. 25, 11:59 p.m.) 3
Tue., February 26 Tue., March 5 March11-17 (Sacred Scripture) (Computer or mobile device) Outline the basic interpretive rules that Buddhists use in the interpretation of their rich and varied body of sacred scripture. Describe the interpretive principles that were used in the Middle Ages to interpret the Christian Bible. What principle guided the Protestant Reformers Luther and Calvin in their use of the Bible? (Due: Monday, Feb. 25, 11:59 p.m.) Chapter 7: Society and the Sacred Go over quiz 1 in class Review of chapter 6 Key Terms and Names Comments on chapter 6 Discussion Board and Final review for exam 1 EXAM 1 (administered during the second half of the class) Chapter 7: Society and the Sacred Chapter 7 Society and the Sacred (contd.) Go over Exam 1 in class Review of chapter 7 Key Terms and Names Chapter 7: Society and the Sacred (contd.) What are the differences between natural and voluntary religious communities? Give examples of each type. What special problems does the founded religion face? How does it deal with these problems? (Due: Monday, Mar. 18, 11:59 p.m.) (Computer or mobile device) Describe the chief characteristics of the sect-type religious group. What are the distinctive features of the conversionist type sect, the revolutionist sect, the gnostic sect, and the utopian sect? (Due: Monday, Mar. 18, 11:59 p.m.) SPRING BREAK 4
Tue., March 19 Chapter 8 Deity: Concepts of the Divine and Ultimate Reality Review of chapter 7 Comments on chapter 7 Discussion Board and Chapter 8: Deity: Concepts of the Divine and Ultimate Reality What is cosmic dualism in the conception of deity or ultimate reality? Contrast the dualism of Chinese yin-yang with forms of dualism in late Zoroastrianism and in Gnosticism. (Due: Monday, Mar. 25, 11:59 p.m.) (Computer or mobile device) What are some of the attributes of God assumed by monotheistic religions? How do some of these attributes, taken together, pose theological problems for monotheistic religion? (Due: Monday, Mar. 25, 11:59 p.m.) Tue., March 26 Chapter 9 Origins of the Natural and the Social Order Review of chapter 8 Comments on chapter 8 Discussion Board and Chapter 9: Origins of the Natural and the Social Order How might the cosmogonic myths in the Japnese Kojiki and Nihongi have affected later Japanese society? (Due: Monday, Apr. 1, 11:59 p.m.) (Computer or mobile device) Is creation by a divine craftsman the same as creation by decree or creation from nothing? How, if at all, do they differ? What significant features of the natural world, human life, and God are reflected in the Genesis account of creation? (Due: Monday, Apr. 1, 11:59 p.m.) 5
Tue., April 2 Chapter 10 Views of the Human Problem Review of chapter 9 Comments on chapter 9 Discussion Board and Final review for quiz 2 QUIZ 2 (administered during the second half of the class) Chapter 10: Views of the Human Problem What is the root of the human problem according to Christianity? How do the Roman Catholic and the Protestant views of the imago Dei and the Fall differ? What are some of the ways that sin is described in Christianity? What does original sin mean? (Due: Monday, Apr. 8, 11:59 p.m.) (Computer or mobile device) According to Confucianism, what is the root of the human problem? How does the appreciation of such means as li, the rectification of names, the five great relationships, and filial piety lead to a cure of the human problem? (Due: Monday, Apr. 8, 11:59 p.m.) Tue., April 9 Chapter 11 Theodicy: Encountering Evil Review of chapter 10 Comments on chapter 10 Discussion Board and Final review for exam 2 EXAM 2 (administered during the second half of the class) Chapter 11: Theodicy: Encountering Evil Explain the Hindu theodicy in terms of the karma-samsara-dharma complex of doctrines. Why is this theodicy called the most rational? (Due: Monday, Apr. 15, 11:59 p.m.) (Computer or mobile device) Explain why the monotheistic conception of deity presents problems for the monotheistic faiths with regard to the problem of evil. How does Process theology attempt to address these problems? (Due: Monday, Apr. 15, 11:59 p.m.) 6
Tue., April 16 Tue., April 23 Chapter 11 Theodicy: Encountering Evil (contd.) & Chapter 12 Ethics: Pattern of Moral Action Go over Exam 2 in class Review of chapter 11 Key Terms and Names Comments on chapter 11 Discussion Board and Chapter 11: Theodicy: Encountering Evil Chapter 11 Chapter 12: Ethics: Pattern of Moral Action Chapter 12 Describe the several sources and features that are components of the Jewish tradition of halakhah that serves as the foundation of Jewish ethics. (Due: Monday, Apr. 22, 11:59 p.m.) (Computer or mobile device) Describe the sources of the Islamic shari a or Divine Law. Explain how, through an appeal to these sources, various Islamic legal interpreters might arrive at different judgments regarding a moral obligation such as jihad. (Due: Monday, Apr. 22, 11:59 p.m.) Chapter 13 Soteriology: Ways and Goals of Salvation Review of chapter 11 & 12 Key Terms and Names Comments on chapter 12 Discussion Board and Chapter 13 Soteriology: Ways and Goals of Salvation Chapter 13 Key Words and names Discussion Board (Shintoism) (Computer or mobile device) Describe the major features of Luther s experience of being liberated and made righteous by grace through faith. Include his understanding of the role of the law that is, good works that are commanded of grace, and of the true motivation for doing good works. (Due: Monday, Apr. 29, 11:59 p.m.) (Computer or mobile device) How does eschatology relate to soteriology? What is Nirvana? How is the term extinction to be understood in Theravada Buddhism? (Due: Monday, April 29, 11:59 p.m.) 7
Tue., April 30 Chapter 14 Secularization New Religious Revitalization Movements Contemporary Religious Fundamentalism & Chapter 15 Contemporary Challenges to Traditional Religion: The Status and the Roles of Women Relations Between Religion and the State Review of chapter 13 Key Terms and Names Comments on chapter 13 Discussion Board and QUIZ 3 (administered during the second half of the class) CASE STUDY DUE Review for exam 3 Chapter 14 Secularization..... Chapter 15 Contemporary Challenges...... Chapters14 & 15 Key Words and names Tue., May 7 EXAM 3 8