Western Religions syllabus

From Silvers

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RE 211 Western Religions

Spring 2006 Course Hours: T/Th 2:20-3:30

Spring 2006 Office Hours: W 12-3

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IMPORTANT and TIMELY NOTICES FROM YOUR PROFESSOR

Revised Class Schedule:

4/20: Evaluations and Film

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Monotheism

4/25: Reading due today: JCM 139-151; Readings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam', 133-139

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Authority

4/27: Reading due today: JCM, 195-209; Readings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, 198-202

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Worship and Ritual

5/2: Reading due today: JCM, 256-273

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Class Description

This course is a survey of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It will focus on important historical movements, influences, doctrines, rituals, and founding myths. We will treat each religion individually but through common themes so that we will have a frame of reference for differences and similarities between them. As a survey course, it will emphasize the acquisition of knowledge that will serve you in your work as a student and in your intellectual life outside the college. In other words, as a result of this course you should be able to recognize and respond to references to some major aspects of the three religions and have a ground from which to draw further questions, research and conversation.

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Requried Reading

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In the Bookstore

Jews, Christians, and Muslims: A Comparative Introduction to Monotheistic Religions, ed., John Corrigan

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Readings on the wiki site

Please see "Important and Timely notices from your Professor" above for the latest bad news about your reading on Thursday.

Selections from Readings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, ed., John Corrigan

Click on the title and you will be redirected to a pdf containing all the selected readings

Selections from The Zohar, translated by Gershom Scholem

“Gnosticism”

F. Flannery-Dailey and R. Wagner, “Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in The Matrix”

Selections from the Qur’an, and "The Hadith of Gabriel”

Supplementary Sources:

The Civil Rights Movement and Jewish Life

Jewish Coolness

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Course Requirements

Class Participation 15%

Visitation Project 20 %

2 Mid-term take home exams 40%

Take Home Final 25%

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class participation

Students are expected to have completed the reading for that day and be prepared to ask any questions needed to clarify the reading or discuss any matter of interest. The lectures will expand on and clarify the themes in the reading, they will not be a outline of the reading.

Five Minute Writing

To help students organize their thoughts for the discussion, for the first five minutes of every class students will write on a “think about” question for the day’s reading. The samples will help me keep track of attendance, reading habits, and comprehension. I will read a random number of writing samples for each class. They will not be graded, returned to you, nor saved by me. I will give you a class participation grade for each section of the class at the same time I give back your papers or exams.

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visitation project

Students must attend the worship service of one religion that is not your own or with which you are least familiar. In other words, if you are a Reform Jew you may attend a Christian, Muslim, Conservative Jewish, or Orthodox Jewish service. I will provide you with a list of local places of worship. Unfortunately, the only nearby mosque is in Troy. If students wish to make a trip to visit the Troy mosque for Friday prayers, let me know and I will help you arrange it.

You should write up an observation report of 3 pages that integrates the knowledge gained in the class and what you experiences and learned at the service. You may fulfill this part of the course at any time during the semester. I simply need to have your observation report by the last day of class.

All writing for this course will be graded on three criteria. The overall grade of the paper will be an average of these three grades:

Definition of terms and concepts: You must use and define technical terms in the course of your report. This grade will be based on how well you understand these terms and are able to explain them clearly them in context.

Execution: This grade will be based on how well the report is structured, how well you use the English language, and how well you use the proper forms of style in writing academic papers. For the observation report, parenthetical citations are sufficient should you cite any texts: (Corrigan, JCM, 91)

Insight: This grade will be based on how well you move beyond the basic concepts introduced in class and discover and express your own ideas and observations in your work. With respect to the observation report I am specifically looking for how well you integrate your knowledge from the class and your experience at the service. If the answer is a restatement of what we have discussed in class (i.e., a prose version of your class notes, no matter how well done) you cannot receive higher than a “C” in this section. A “C” in this section means that even if you get an “A” for sections one and two, you cannot receive higher than a “B+” for your final grade on the answer.

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mid-term take-home exams

The midterm take-home exams will be short answer questions and one essay question requiring you to demonstrate your mastery of the terms and concepts discussed in each section. They will be graded according to the three criteria set out above in the visitation section.

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take-home final exam

The take-home final exam will be a combination of mid-term exam on the Islam section and a final essay question requiring you to discuss a theme covered in class (i.e., scripture, monotheism, or authority) from the perspective of all three religions using salient examples from the readings. You will have a choice between themes. If you want to be prepared for the take home exam, you might consider reflecting on the questions asked at the end of each part in the textbook during the course of the semester. The final exam will be graded according to the three criteria set out above in the visitation section.

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Course Schedule

1/24: Introduction to Course

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Judaism

Image:Jerusalem - Wailing Wall 1 - 1925.JPG

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Introduction

There is no reading due for Thursday 1/26. Please see "important and timely notices" above for an explanation.

1/26: Reading due today: Smith, Judaism

The Smith readings are to give you a broad sense of the tradition as a whole. Use it to orient yourself--get a cognitive map of the tradition--so that you will not feel deluged by the details that will follow!

Introduction to Judaism Web Resources

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Scripture

1/31: Reading due today: JCM, 3-14; Readings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, 1-13

click on the title and you will be redirected to a pdf of all the selections from this reading

Think about: What is the basic organizing structure of the Hebrew Bible. How can we look at it such that we see it telling the story of the Isrealites? Be able to answer, "What is scripture, tradition, and canon?"

Jewish Scripture Web Resources

2/2: Reading due today: JCM, 15-25; Readings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, 13-20

Think about: Look at this example from a page of The Talmud. Roll your cursor of every part of the page to get a description of what each part is. There is a link below the page to get a translation. Try to understand how by placing the various commentaries and texts around each other the Talmud gives the appearance of scholars from all times and places being in conversation with one another, and ultimately with God. Imagine the contemporary person studying Talmud, where does he fit into this conversation? (Yes, I meant "he." We'll talk about "she" fits in during class). How does the way the page is ordered transmit ideas of interpretive authority and community. More broadly, then, in the context of our reading, what is Torah?

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Monotheism

2/7: Reading due today: JCM, 77-86

Think about: Consider the author's diagram of the horizontal axis of revelation and vertical axis of revelation in time. How does it help explain the relationship between God, Torah, Isreal, Mitzvot, and Messiah? What are the names of the God of Isreal? What are some of the ways in which Greek thought was taken up by Jews? I want to talk about scholars of Religion discuss "influence" in this section. Think about the ways in which different cultures are constantly interacting. Focus on the most mundane examples. Think about it right now in your own cultural experience. How can we talk about originality or influence in this messy context? What are some of the social-political factors involved in influence (hint: think about how proximity and exposure to other cultures and ideas is mediated by economic and political power and access to institutions of learning)? Now go back and consider the complexity and originality of Jewish thought in relation to Greek philosophy.

2/9: Reading due today: JCM, 86-92; The Zohar

2/14: Reading due today: JCM, 92-104

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Authority

2/16: Reading due today: JCM, 157-173

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Worship and Ritual

2/21: Reading due today: JCM, 215-234

2/23: Judaism Wrap-up: Reading due: The Civil Rights Movement and Jewish Life

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Take Home Exam

Due Thursday 3/2: Analyze the Freedom Seder using the diagram of the Jews relationship to God, Torah, Mitzvot, and Messiah from the four perspectives we studied in this section: Scripture, Monotheism, Authority, and Ritual. You might think about how the the Freedom Seder use Scripture, what is Torah, how is the relationship between Jews and God imagined, who are the Jews, what authorities are quoted, how the author claims authority for his views, how he builds his argument, how the Freedom Seder fit into Jewish ritual and mitzvot? Make sure and use the resources in the section on the Civil Rights Movement and Jewish Life.

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