MANOR COLLEGE

JENKINTOWN, PA 19046

 

RS 103A  WORLD RELIGIONS                                                     03 Credit Hours

FALL 2005

 

Class Meetings:         Tuesday:         1:00pm-1:50 pm

                                    Thursday:       12:00pm-1:50pm

 

Instructor:                  Senior Associate Professor Michael J. Landis

e-mail address:           mlandis@manor.edu

Telephone:                 215-885-2360, ext. 267

Office Hours:             By appointment, Monday through Friday in the Learning Center

 

 

I saw myself on the central mountain of the world, the highest place, and I had a vision because I was seeing In the sacred manner of the world…the central mountain is everywhere…

                                                Black Elk, Lakota Sioux

 

I understand by ‘religion’ a root intention, an ultimate drive.  Religion is the acting out of a vision of personal identity and human community.  Religion is constituted by the most ultimate, least easily surrendered, most comprehensive choices a person of society acts out.  It is the living out of an intention, an option, a selection among life’s possibilities…  The drive which ultimately  gives sense to all my diffuse actions is a unifying, meaning-giving drive.  It is that drive which even in atheists and agnostics, I wish to call the religious drive: it ties one’s life together(L. Re-ligio, to tie, to fasten).  The religious drive works its way out in our actions.  By living we tell a unique personal story.

                                                Michael Novak in Ascent of the Mountain, Flight of the Dove: An Invitation to Religious Studies

 

Without ado then, a religion, is: (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2)establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3)formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4)clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5)the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.

Clifford Geertz in his essay, “Religion as a Cultural System”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION/COURSE PHILOSOPHY

 

 

This class entails an introduction to the study of world religions.  The primary data set for examination through the line of inquiry called World Religions can be identified as Homo religiosus (to borrow a taxonomical classification from comparative religions scholar Mircea Eliade)—the religious hominid—whose interior religio-psychological “orientated-ness” is somewhat quantifiable and measurable through a range of exteriorized manifestations classifiable as religious.  In a sense, Homo sapiens must also be taxonomically classified Homo religiosus based upon the historically and contemporarily quantifiable “product” re-presentative of the abovementioned interior/exterior interface:  an interface most descriptively classifiable as religious (religiosity=the quality of being religious).  Through the World Religions course of inquiry, then, students will examine phenomena classifiable as religious in multiple cultural contexts both in multiple historical epochs and in the contemporary world (what scholars term diachronically—“vertically” throughout history—and synchronically or “horizontally” in the contemporary world, respectively).  Through the course, students will not only examine various genera (general types) and species (specific manifestations within the general types) of religiosity manifested both historically and contemporarily (e.g., Native American traditional religiosity; African traditional religiosity; Hinduism; Taoism; Islam) in a non-reductive way, but students will also develop understanding of and proficiency in the methods/methodology of religious studies as such, including a degree of proficiency in negotiating the primary and secondary source material essential to examining specific phenomena and more general themes.  The fundamental rationale for the aforementioned line of inquiry is that through the examination of world religions, manifested both historically and contemporarily, students will develop a more robust sense of self and of other in relationship to the more local and broader global commons that students inhabit and function in.  Only through a more robust understanding of the religious interface, both in terms of the local and more global fields, can individuals begin to negotiate their life-worlds and the socio-political relationships constitutive of these life worlds in a non-reductive way.  This kind of robust understanding is essential, a necessary prerequisite, for any kind of local and global commons marked by self and other vitalization and empowerment:  true commonweal. 

 

 

 

 

COURSE GOALS

 

1.      To introduce students to religious studies as such, including the various substantive and methodological concerns endemic to this kind of inquiry.

 

2.      To examine the “product” of religious consciousness manifested in multiple cultural contexts both in multiple historical epochs and in the contemporary world.

 

3.      To identify and examine sui generis (specific/idiosyncratic) attributes of historically and contemporarily manifested religious phenomena as well as traceable isomorphic patterns (patterns of similarity).

 

4.      To gain familiarity with a range of primary and secondary source material functional in the developing non-reductive understanding of religious phenomena.

 

5.      To gain information literacy in relationship to critically analyzing religious phenomena towards drawing sound, non-reductive hypotheses about these phenomena.

 

6.      To demonstrate critical thinking and communication skills in the context of the line of inquiry called World Religions.

 

7.      To analyze critically a chosen subject matter from the range of religious phenomena correlated with the course and to generate an extended research-based essay composed from hypotheses/assertions derivative from analysis.

 

8.      To develop a non-reductive sense of the value of religious studies for more robust self and other understanding in religious plural local and global fields.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COURSE OUTCOMES

 

1.     Students will exhibit a basic understanding of the deep anthropological, philosophical psychological tensions and/or concerns which evoke religious consciousness

                       

a.      Measure:  Students’ understanding of the deep structural

bases of religious consciousness, as manifested historically

and contemporarily, will be determined via reflection papers,

an extended research paper, and through collaborative

discussions and presentations.

 

 

 

2.     Students will be able to analyze and discuss how the encodings of various religious traditions, examined diachronically and synchronically, stem from and resolve the deep structural tensions and concerns.

                       

a.      Measure:  Students will exhibit competency in examining

the encodings of other religious traditions(both historical and contemporary) through reflection papers, the research paper, and through collaborative discussions and projects.

 

 

3.     Students will be empowered in their understanding of and respect for and sensitivity towards religious consciousness as such and religious conscious as expressed through specific historically and contemporarily religious manifestations

 

a.      Measure: Students will become empowered in their

of and sensitivity to the dynamics which are fundamental

to religious consciousness in general and the gamut of specific responses to the deep structural dynamics, through the reflection papers, the research paper, and via collaborative endeavors

 

 

 

 

REQUIRED TEXTS

 

Hopfe, Lewis and Mark R. Woodward.  Religions of the World. 9^th ed.  Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2004.  ISBN#0131830074

 

 

Each student should purchase a standard three-ring binder notebook as a repository for notes and handouts and as a portfolio for the various drafts of written assignments completed throughout the course.

 

Also remember that the Hopfe and Woodward textbook comes packaged with an invaluable CD-ROM entitled The Sacred World: Encounters with the World’s Religions.  Moreover, the publishers have provided you with a web-based component to your textbook at < www.prenhall.com/hopfe >.  Both electronic sources are invaluable supplements to your text, providing you with access links to a robust domain of informational sources.

 

EXPECTATIONS

 

In order to facilitate an effective learning community or commons, certain obligations constitutive of the instructor/student interface must be fulfilled.  It is the instructor’s role, as also a member of the learning community or commons, to impart information relevant to the primary data set examined through this course, to demonstrate the methods and modes constitutive of religious studies as such, and to generate and facilitate a vital learning context.  It is the student’s responsibility, as also a vital, dynamic member of this “World Religions” learning community or commons, to:

• Attend all classes.  A learning community can only be vital if it is vitalized by attending, interacting, and interchanging members.  Community protocol requires that if a student must miss a class (for some legitimate reason), she/he should contact the instructor in order to let make the instructor aware and in order to establish an “action plan” for getting any missed notes or making up any missed material.  A student is allowed the equivalent of four excused absences; any more than four excused absences will result in the student failing the course for the semester.  This is a non-negotiable mandate.
• Take notes from classroom lectures and discussions.  Since one of the criteria for evaluation in the critical analysis papers that represent significant point values in terms of your final grade involves the integration of key terms and concepts (key vocabulary and ideas) constitutive of the discourse or talk that is religious, studies, students will need to gain familiarity with these essential terminologies and concepts through “making them their own” through class lecture and discussion note-taking.
• Complete all writing assignments on time.  Late assignments will be accepted if and only if a written or verbal indication of extenuating circumstances –e.g., an emergency or other unexpected situation—has been communicated to the instructor prior to the announced assignment due date.
• Participate in classroom discussions and collaborative learning endeavors.
• Maintain rigorous and robust academic integrity

 

 

 

STATEMENT OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

 

 

Plagiarism—the representing of someone else’s intellectual property as one’s own—is a serious academic offense with serious consequences, from failing an assignment with a grade of “0,” to failing the course,  to being expelled from the college.  Students are responsible for making sure that their work is their own and that all cited material is cited properly according to MLA (Modern Language Association) guidelines established in many college level style manuals.  If the instructor determines that a student has breached intellectual property parameters in an assignment—the student has plagiarized—she/he will receive a “0” for this assignment.  If pursuant to being cited for plagiarism, the student is caught plagiarizing again, the student will fail the course and face disciplinary measures from the Dean of Academic Affairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRADING

 

 

                         Chapter Study Question Responses                                            475 Points

                         Two Short Research-type Critical Analysis Papers                     200 Points

                         Research Paper Annotated Bibliography                                  100 Points

                         Research Paper                                                                        200 Points

                         Discussion Contributions                                                              25 Points

 

 

                         Total Points Possible                                                                 1000 Points

 

 

 

                         A=1,000-900 Points

                         B=899-800 Points

                         C=799-700 Points

                         D=699-600 Points

                         F=599-0 Points

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUTLINE OF COURSE CONTENT (INCLUDING READING ASSIGNMENTS AND WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS)

 

 

 

WEEK	TOPIC	READING ASSIGNMENT	DISCUSSION	WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT (FOR SUBMISSION)
WEEK ONE	The “What” of Religious Studies (The “What is religion-ness” question: limning the primary data set that is the subject matter for World Religion) Method/Methodology:  the “How” of Religious Studies	Read Hopfe, “Introduction  Overview,” (1-12)	TBA	Complete and submit questions based upon “Introduction Overview”  reading assignment from the Hopfe and Woodward textbook (questions are found on page 12:  5 points possible for each question)
WEEK TWO	Homo Religiosus—Religious Consciousness—as a function of orientation	Read Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and Profane, 1-65 (Library reserve)	TBA
WEEK THREE	Religious Consciousness: The Axis Mundi, Sacred Space, Sacred Time and Myth, and Tabu	Read Hopfe, “Chapter 1: Characteristics of Basic Religions” (14-28)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter 1 Study Questions in the Hopfe text (28)
WEEK FOUR	AUTOCTHONOUS RELIGIONS:  Introduction to Traditional Native American Religions	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Two: Native American Religions” (29-49)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter 2 Study Questions in the Hopfe text (45)
WEEK FIVE	AUTOCTHONOUS RELIGIONS:  African Traditional Religions	Read Hopfe,  “Chapter Three: African Religions” (50-70)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Three Study Questions (66)   Short Research-Type Critical Analysis Paper #1 Assigned
WEEK SIX	RELIGIONS ORIGINATING IN INDIA: Hinduism	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Four: Hinduism” (72-115	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Four Study Questions (107)
WEEK SEVEN	RELIGIONS ORIGINATING IN INDIA:  Jainism	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Five:  Jainism” (116-126)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Five Study Questions (123)   Short Research-type Critical Analysis Paper #1 Due
WEEK EIGHT	RELIGIONS ORIGINATING IN INDIA:  Buddhism	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Six: Buddhism” (127-155)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Six Study Questions (148-149)   Short Research-type Critical Analysis Paper #2 Assigned
WEEK NINE	RELIGIONS ORIGINATING IN CHINA AND JAPAN:  Chinese Religions	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Eight:  Chinese Religions” (169-202)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Eight Study Questions (194)
WEEK TEN	RELIGIONS ORIGINATING IN CHINA AND JAPAN:  Shinto	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Nine: Shinto” (203-219)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Nine Study Questions (216)   Short Research-type Critical Analysis Paper #2 Due   Annotated Bibliography and Research Paper Assigned
WEEK ELEVEN	RELIGIONS ORIGINATING IN THE MIDDLE EAST:  Zoroastrianism	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Ten: Zoroastrianism” (221-240)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Ten Study Questions (236)   Research paper topic due
WEEK TWELVE	RELIGIONS ORIGINATING IN THE MIDDLE EAST:  Judaism	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Eleven: Judaism (241-279)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Eleven Study Questions (273)    Research paper Annotated Bibliography due
WEEK THIRTEEN	RELIGIONS ORIGINATING IN THE MIDDLE EAST:  Christianity	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Twelve: Christianity” (280-332)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Twelve Study Questions (321)
WEEK FOURTEEN	RELIGIONS ORIGINATING IN THE MIDDLE EAST:  Islam	Read Hopfe, “Chapter Thirteen:  Islam” (333-370)	TBA	Complete and submit Chapter Thirteen Study Questions (361)    Research Paper due