Corrected 3-27-17
Religion 242-01: World Religions
Professor: E. Derek Taylor
Spring 2017
Office: Grainger 306
Office Hours: MWF 3:00-4:00; T 12:30-1:30 (and by appointment)
Phone: 395-2748
e-mail: taylored@longwood.edu
website: www.ederektaylor.weebly.com
Course Description: RELI 242. World Religions. RELI 242. An investigation of the nature and development of religious practices and traditions in other cultures, their teachings, rituals, institutions and ethics. The course includes prehistoric religion, the major traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and some other traditions which have contributed to their development. This course is recommended for students in the sophomore level and above. 3 credits. *Fulfills General Education Goal 9.
This course fulfills General Education Goal 9: An understanding of the diversity of other cultures and societies (three credits).
NOTE: Students who complete an approved international experience are exempted from this goal.
Outcomes: Students in this course will:
The course meets the following criteria. It will
1. teach a disciplinary mode of inquiry (e.g., literary analysis, statistical analysis, historical interpretation, philosophical reasoning, aesthetic judgment, the scientific method) and provide students with practice in applying their disciplinary mode of inquiry, critical thinking, or problem solving strategies.
2. provide examples of how disciplinary knowledge changes through creative applications of the chosen mode of inquiry.
3. consider questions of ethical values.
4. explore past, current, and future implications (e.g., social, political, economic, psychological or philosophical) of disciplinary knowledge.
5. encourage consideration of course content from diverse perspectives.
6. provide opportunities for students to increase information literacy through contemporary techniques of gathering, manipulating, and analyzing information and data.
7. require at least one substantive written paper, oral report, or course journal and also require students to articulate information or ideas in their own words on tests and exams.
8. foster awareness of the common elements among disciplines and the interconnectedness of disciplines.
9. provide a rationale as to why knowledge of this discipline is important to the development of an educated citizen.
Texts:
-- The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Vols. 1 and 2. Ed. Jack Miles. New York: Norton, 2014.
Grading (ten-point scale):
--Daily Quizzes: 30 %
--Five short essays (10% each, but I drop one, so 40%)
--Final Examination (4-27): 30 %
--Participation: + or -
Attendance, Tardiness, Late Papers:
Students are expected to attend classes regularly and to arrive in a timely manner. Consistently tardy students will be remembered as such when class participation grades are calculated. Furthermore, quizzes will be given at the beginning of class and may not be made up for any reason. ONLY illness, official college business, and emergencies permit the make-up of any other work missed, and all such absences must be documented. Unexcused absences totaling 10% or more of class meetings will result in a one-letter-grade penalty; absences totaling 25% or more, excused or otherwise, will result in an F for the course.
Essays are due at the beginning of the class period; a late essay will serve adequately as its own punishment. Quizzes may not be made up for any reason.
Classroom Decorum:
All students are expected to behave civilly both to each other and to the instructor and to conduct themselves in a manner that encourages learning in the classroom. Email and voice mail will be considered as part of the participation grade, so students should think carefully about the tone and content of such messages.
Honor Code:
All work is governed by the Longwood College Honor Code. Written work must contain the pledge in writing and be signed. Students should read closely the section on plagiarism in the Longwood Style Manual.
Class Schedule:
NB—I reserve the right to change the following schedule by giving oral notification in class. Unless otherwise notified, all reading and writing assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day indicated by this schedule. Absence from one class is never an excuse for being unprepared for any subsequent class.
Week 1
W. 1-18. Introduction to course
F. 1-20. Introduction to Hinduism: The Zen Diagram of Hinduism (55-68); Hinduism in Sanskrit and Ancient Texts (77-82)
Week 2
M. 1-23. Humans, Animals, and Gods in the Rig Veda (pgs. 83-102)
W. 1-25. Sacrifice in the Brahmanas (103-114) and excerpts from Renunciation in the Upanishads (115-131)
F. 1-27. The Discipline of the Mind and Body in the Yoga Sutra (pgs. 132-135); Duty and Disaster in the Mahabharata of Vyasa (140-144) and Obligation, Liberation, and Devotion in the Bhagavad Gita (pgs. 176-195)
Week 3
M. 1-30. The Synthesis of Hinduism (231-232) and excerpts from The Puranas (233-252 and 257-265).
W. 2-1. Tukaram of Maharashtra Says No! (459-485)
F. 2-3. Rommohun Roy, The Practice of Burning Widows Alive (548-555); Dalit Hinduism (606-624).
Week 4
M. 2-6. The Hindu Authors of Modernity 1900 and After (563-565; 569-570); Hindu Gods and Us (708-719); Mohanda Karamchand Gandhi, The Gospel of Selfless Action (640-647)
W. 2-8. Essay 1 Due (Hinduism)
F. 2-10. Class Canceled (Conference at UGA)
Week 5
M. 2-13. Introduction: In the World of the Buddha (727-749)
W. 2-15. The Noble Search (801-813); excerpts from Account of the Beginning (813-14; 824-40)
F. 2-17. Great Discourse on the Final Nirvana (840-859); Setting the Wheel of Dharma in Motion (859-863); excerpts from The Chapter on the Goal (894-898).
Week 6
M. 2-20. The Lotus Sutra (960-986).
W. 2-22. Excerpts from Introduction to the Practice of the Bodhisattva Path (1077-78; 1084-1094); excerpts from Lives of the Eight-Four Siddhas (1160-71)
F. 2-24. Class Canceled (AACU Conference).
Week 7
M. 2-27. Modern Buddhism (1417-1420), The World’s Debt to Buddha (1421-38), Smokey the Bear Sutra (1459-1462), The Nobel Evening Address (1463-1469)
W. 3-1. Essay 2 Due (Buddhism)
F. 3-3. Introduction to Judaism: Israel Among the Nations (55-66) and The Bible and Before (69-74)
Week 8
Classes Canceled for Spring Break
Week 9
M. 3-13. The Bible: Torah (82-106)
W. 3-15. Prophets (113-129), The Bible and After (131-34), and excerpts from Job (139-43).
F. 3-17. World of the Rabbis (203-206), The Oral Torah (209-220), excerpts from Law and Legend (224-25; 231-34; 236-41).
Week 10
M. 3-20. Nineteenth-Century Religious Movements: Reform (541-68)
W. 3-22. Feminist Thinkers Confront the Tradition (615-40)
F. 3-24. Shoah (641-66, and poem on 672).
Week 11
M. 3-27. Class Canceled (illness)
W. 3-29. Essay 3 Due (Judaism). Excerpts from Introduction: The Words and the Word Made Flesh (737-47; 751-63)
F. 3-31. Excerpts from The Old Testament (775-776, 793-97) and The New Testament (802-17)
Week 12
M. 4-3. Excerpts from Mark (819-28) and from Paul’s Letters (832-50)
W. 4-5. The Patristic Era (855-56); Early Christian Worship (859-63); The Roman Persecutions (878-85); Articulations of Christian Belief (899-909)
F. 4-7. Excerpts from James (850); Reformations and the Wars of Religion (1081-1107)
Week 13
M. 4-10. Excerpts from Scandal and Paradox, Fear and Faith (1217-23) and from The Twentieth Century (1255-58; 1268-71; 1275-87; 1324-29)
W. 4-12. Essay 4 Due (Christianity)
F. 4-14. Excerpts from Introduction to Islam: Submission to God as the Wellspring of a Civilization (1377-86 and 1401-06) and The Qur’an and the Early Muslim Community (1409-1413)
Week 14
M. 4-17. Sira: The Life Story of the Prophet (1463-73, 1478-79); Qur’an: God’s Culminating Gift to Humankind (1418-32)
W. 4-19. Excerpts from The Classical Synthesis (1481-1511)
F. 4-21. Intellectual Elaboration (1552); Abu Hanifa (1552-58); Al-Ash Ari (1559-63); Ibn Babawayh (1564-68); Shah Wali Allah (1576-81)
Week 15
M. 4-24. Shari‘a and Fiqh: Divine Will and Human Interpretation (1527); Al-Safi’i (1527-35); Philosophy (1588); Ibn Sina (1597-1608); Ibn Rushd (1609-16)
W. 4-26. Class Canceled for Longwood Research Day
F. 4-28. The Emergence of Women’s Voices (1929; 1950-58); Negotiating Religious Pluralism (1962-77)
Week 16
M. 5-1. Essay 5 Due (Islam) (place a hard copy of your essay in my mailbox or under my office door by noon).
Week 17
T. 5-9. Final Examination (8:00-10:30).
Religion 242-01: World Religions
Professor: E. Derek Taylor
Spring 2017
Office: Grainger 306
Office Hours: MWF 3:00-4:00; T 12:30-1:30 (and by appointment)
Phone: 395-2748
e-mail: taylored@longwood.edu
website: www.ederektaylor.weebly.com
Course Description: RELI 242. World Religions. RELI 242. An investigation of the nature and development of religious practices and traditions in other cultures, their teachings, rituals, institutions and ethics. The course includes prehistoric religion, the major traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and some other traditions which have contributed to their development. This course is recommended for students in the sophomore level and above. 3 credits. *Fulfills General Education Goal 9.
This course fulfills General Education Goal 9: An understanding of the diversity of other cultures and societies (three credits).
NOTE: Students who complete an approved international experience are exempted from this goal.
Outcomes: Students in this course will:
- Understand the culture, society, and history of groups outside of the Western European tradition
- Employ an appropriate vocabulary and rational argument to discuss complex issues involving race, nationality, gender, ethnicity, class, or sexual orientation
- Understand the concept of ethnocentrism
- Differentiate between personal discomfort and intellectual disagreement in situations where cultures may conflict
- Distinguish between facts and cultural assumptions relating to issues of diversity
The course meets the following criteria. It will
1. teach a disciplinary mode of inquiry (e.g., literary analysis, statistical analysis, historical interpretation, philosophical reasoning, aesthetic judgment, the scientific method) and provide students with practice in applying their disciplinary mode of inquiry, critical thinking, or problem solving strategies.
2. provide examples of how disciplinary knowledge changes through creative applications of the chosen mode of inquiry.
3. consider questions of ethical values.
4. explore past, current, and future implications (e.g., social, political, economic, psychological or philosophical) of disciplinary knowledge.
5. encourage consideration of course content from diverse perspectives.
6. provide opportunities for students to increase information literacy through contemporary techniques of gathering, manipulating, and analyzing information and data.
7. require at least one substantive written paper, oral report, or course journal and also require students to articulate information or ideas in their own words on tests and exams.
8. foster awareness of the common elements among disciplines and the interconnectedness of disciplines.
9. provide a rationale as to why knowledge of this discipline is important to the development of an educated citizen.
Texts:
-- The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Vols. 1 and 2. Ed. Jack Miles. New York: Norton, 2014.
Grading (ten-point scale):
--Daily Quizzes: 30 %
--Five short essays (10% each, but I drop one, so 40%)
--Final Examination (4-27): 30 %
--Participation: + or -
Attendance, Tardiness, Late Papers:
Students are expected to attend classes regularly and to arrive in a timely manner. Consistently tardy students will be remembered as such when class participation grades are calculated. Furthermore, quizzes will be given at the beginning of class and may not be made up for any reason. ONLY illness, official college business, and emergencies permit the make-up of any other work missed, and all such absences must be documented. Unexcused absences totaling 10% or more of class meetings will result in a one-letter-grade penalty; absences totaling 25% or more, excused or otherwise, will result in an F for the course.
Essays are due at the beginning of the class period; a late essay will serve adequately as its own punishment. Quizzes may not be made up for any reason.
Classroom Decorum:
All students are expected to behave civilly both to each other and to the instructor and to conduct themselves in a manner that encourages learning in the classroom. Email and voice mail will be considered as part of the participation grade, so students should think carefully about the tone and content of such messages.
Honor Code:
All work is governed by the Longwood College Honor Code. Written work must contain the pledge in writing and be signed. Students should read closely the section on plagiarism in the Longwood Style Manual.
Class Schedule:
NB—I reserve the right to change the following schedule by giving oral notification in class. Unless otherwise notified, all reading and writing assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day indicated by this schedule. Absence from one class is never an excuse for being unprepared for any subsequent class.
Week 1
W. 1-18. Introduction to course
F. 1-20. Introduction to Hinduism: The Zen Diagram of Hinduism (55-68); Hinduism in Sanskrit and Ancient Texts (77-82)
Week 2
M. 1-23. Humans, Animals, and Gods in the Rig Veda (pgs. 83-102)
W. 1-25. Sacrifice in the Brahmanas (103-114) and excerpts from Renunciation in the Upanishads (115-131)
F. 1-27. The Discipline of the Mind and Body in the Yoga Sutra (pgs. 132-135); Duty and Disaster in the Mahabharata of Vyasa (140-144) and Obligation, Liberation, and Devotion in the Bhagavad Gita (pgs. 176-195)
Week 3
M. 1-30. The Synthesis of Hinduism (231-232) and excerpts from The Puranas (233-252 and 257-265).
W. 2-1. Tukaram of Maharashtra Says No! (459-485)
F. 2-3. Rommohun Roy, The Practice of Burning Widows Alive (548-555); Dalit Hinduism (606-624).
Week 4
M. 2-6. The Hindu Authors of Modernity 1900 and After (563-565; 569-570); Hindu Gods and Us (708-719); Mohanda Karamchand Gandhi, The Gospel of Selfless Action (640-647)
W. 2-8. Essay 1 Due (Hinduism)
F. 2-10. Class Canceled (Conference at UGA)
Week 5
M. 2-13. Introduction: In the World of the Buddha (727-749)
W. 2-15. The Noble Search (801-813); excerpts from Account of the Beginning (813-14; 824-40)
F. 2-17. Great Discourse on the Final Nirvana (840-859); Setting the Wheel of Dharma in Motion (859-863); excerpts from The Chapter on the Goal (894-898).
Week 6
M. 2-20. The Lotus Sutra (960-986).
W. 2-22. Excerpts from Introduction to the Practice of the Bodhisattva Path (1077-78; 1084-1094); excerpts from Lives of the Eight-Four Siddhas (1160-71)
F. 2-24. Class Canceled (AACU Conference).
Week 7
M. 2-27. Modern Buddhism (1417-1420), The World’s Debt to Buddha (1421-38), Smokey the Bear Sutra (1459-1462), The Nobel Evening Address (1463-1469)
W. 3-1. Essay 2 Due (Buddhism)
F. 3-3. Introduction to Judaism: Israel Among the Nations (55-66) and The Bible and Before (69-74)
Week 8
Classes Canceled for Spring Break
Week 9
M. 3-13. The Bible: Torah (82-106)
W. 3-15. Prophets (113-129), The Bible and After (131-34), and excerpts from Job (139-43).
F. 3-17. World of the Rabbis (203-206), The Oral Torah (209-220), excerpts from Law and Legend (224-25; 231-34; 236-41).
Week 10
M. 3-20. Nineteenth-Century Religious Movements: Reform (541-68)
W. 3-22. Feminist Thinkers Confront the Tradition (615-40)
F. 3-24. Shoah (641-66, and poem on 672).
Week 11
M. 3-27. Class Canceled (illness)
W. 3-29. Essay 3 Due (Judaism). Excerpts from Introduction: The Words and the Word Made Flesh (737-47; 751-63)
F. 3-31. Excerpts from The Old Testament (775-776, 793-97) and The New Testament (802-17)
Week 12
M. 4-3. Excerpts from Mark (819-28) and from Paul’s Letters (832-50)
W. 4-5. The Patristic Era (855-56); Early Christian Worship (859-63); The Roman Persecutions (878-85); Articulations of Christian Belief (899-909)
F. 4-7. Excerpts from James (850); Reformations and the Wars of Religion (1081-1107)
Week 13
M. 4-10. Excerpts from Scandal and Paradox, Fear and Faith (1217-23) and from The Twentieth Century (1255-58; 1268-71; 1275-87; 1324-29)
W. 4-12. Essay 4 Due (Christianity)
F. 4-14. Excerpts from Introduction to Islam: Submission to God as the Wellspring of a Civilization (1377-86 and 1401-06) and The Qur’an and the Early Muslim Community (1409-1413)
Week 14
M. 4-17. Sira: The Life Story of the Prophet (1463-73, 1478-79); Qur’an: God’s Culminating Gift to Humankind (1418-32)
W. 4-19. Excerpts from The Classical Synthesis (1481-1511)
F. 4-21. Intellectual Elaboration (1552); Abu Hanifa (1552-58); Al-Ash Ari (1559-63); Ibn Babawayh (1564-68); Shah Wali Allah (1576-81)
Week 15
M. 4-24. Shari‘a and Fiqh: Divine Will and Human Interpretation (1527); Al-Safi’i (1527-35); Philosophy (1588); Ibn Sina (1597-1608); Ibn Rushd (1609-16)
W. 4-26. Class Canceled for Longwood Research Day
F. 4-28. The Emergence of Women’s Voices (1929; 1950-58); Negotiating Religious Pluralism (1962-77)
Week 16
M. 5-1. Essay 5 Due (Islam) (place a hard copy of your essay in my mailbox or under my office door by noon).
Week 17
T. 5-9. Final Examination (8:00-10:30).