The Christian Faith: Ancient and Medieval Christianity



REL241

Religions of the World II: The Newer Traditions

Wofford College, Spring 2013

Dr. Dan Mathewson

Office: Main 207

Phone Extension: 4560

Email: mathewsondb@wofford.edu

Office Hours:

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The phrase “religions of the world” is often taken to designate a handful of extremely old and august religious traditions that have had, and continue to have, a significant number of adherents – traditions like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. These “established” religious traditions, moreover, are often thought to be qualitatively different from those religions and religious groups of more recent vintage, whose founding figures and sacred texts are not shrouded by the passage of millennia, but emerged in recent decades and centuries. Into this latter category fall hundreds of groups – some obscure (e.g., Raelians, Nuwaubians), some well known (e.g, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientologists); some very small (e.g., Heaven’s Gate, Branch Davidians), some very large (e.g., Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists).

Oftentimes, in mainstream society, the newer religious groups are treated dismissively and viewed with suspicion, contempt, and/or derision, while the older groups are treated with respect or at least a grudging tolerance (the recent eruption of Islamophobia in the Western world, notwithstanding). Scholars of religion note, however, that there is very little that distinguishes the older religions qualitatively from the newer ones: one the one hand, every religious tradition has been new at some point in history; on the other hand, most of the so-called newer religious traditions originated from one of the older religious traditions – just as some of the older religious traditions, themselves, originated from yet earlier religious traditions, too (for example, Christianity from Judaism, Islam from Christianity and Judaism, Buddhism from Hinduism, etc.). The ongoing presence throughout history of newer religious traditions illustrates an important historical truth about religious traditions: they are not timeless and changeless entities, but are constantly shifting and developing as they adapt themselves to the needs of individuals and societies in disparate historical and geographical contexts.

This course will emphasize this important feature of religion by focusing on a handful of newer religious traditions – ones that emerged in the 19th Century or later, have undergone significant expansion, and now have a global presence. Specifically, we will focus on four main traditions: Mormonism, Adventism, the Jehovah’s Witnesses tradition, and the Baha’i faith. The first three trace their origins to the the19th Century American frontier and the patterns of Christianity that emerged there; the latter traces its origins to 19th Century Persia and the Twelver (or Ithna ’Ashariyya) branch of Shi’a Islam. All four spread around the globe from their countries of origin; all four have an important presence in the Carolinas; and all four can be found even in Spartanburg.

Before we can properly appreciate these four as rich and full religious traditions, we first need to develop a robust understanding of religion, in general, and religion’s function as a locus of human identity and meaning formation. During the first part of the course, we will focus our attention on developing this robust understanding of religion; we will turn our attention to the four newer traditions explicitly only in the second part of the course after we have given attention to this more basic issue.

Here is what I hope you will come to understand after having taken this course:

1. A broad and full understanding of religion and religion’s place in identity formation and meaning construction;

2. The Mormon, Adventist, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Baha’i traditions as specific and distinct examples of this broad and full understanding of religion;

3. Religious traditions as entities undergoing constant transformation and development;

4. A general grasp of the basic history, doctrines, scriptural traditions, and rituals of Mormonism, Adventism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Baha’i.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS

Richard Lyman Bushman, Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford UP, 2008).

Frederick J. Ruf, Bewildered Travel: The Sacred Quest for Confusion (Charlottesville: U of Virginia P, 2007).

Many other readings are on e-reserve or are to be read online.

REQUIRED SOFTWARE: Moodle

We will use Moodle for the following purposes in this course:

1. For me to post instructions for written assignments (see below)

2. For you to turn in written assignments (no hard copies, please!)

3. For me to return to you graded assignments

4. To communicate and/or disseminate certain assigned readings

COURSEWORK AND GRADES

Attendance and Participation

This grade is made up of two parts:

Class participation: I expect that you will come to class each day prepared to participate in class discussion. The key element of your preparation will involve completing the assigned readings carefully.

Class Attendance: An accumulation of absences from class will affect your grade adversely. You are permitted two unexcused absences to use at your discretion (job interviews, doctor’s appointments, studying, long weekends, sleeping in, etc.). You will not be penalized for excused absences (officially sponsored Wofford events, illness). Each unexcused absence beyond two will result in a deduction of a single point (out of a total of 10) from your attendance and participation grade.

Attendance and participation comprise 12% of your final grade.

In-Class Writing Assignments

During Part One of the course I will ask you to complete several short in-class writing assignments. These assignments will ask you to reflect on elements of the assigned readings. I will collect your writings at the end of class and I will read them and grade them on a pass/half-pass/fail basis. An assignment will receive a passing grade if you demonstrate in your writing that you completed the assigned reading and that you reflected upon it carefully, as directed by the in-class writing assignment. An assignment will receive a failing grade if your writing shows that you did not complete the assigned reading, or if you fail to follow the assignment instructions. An assignment will receive a half-pass if it’s on the borderline between a pass and a fail.

In-Class Writing Assignments will comprise 5% of your final grade. If you pass all of the writing assignments, you will receive the full 5%. If you fail one assignment total, you will receive 4%. If you two assignments total, you will receive 3%, etc.

Two half-passes are the equivalent of one fail. Thus, if you half-pass two assignments and pass all of the others, you will receive 4%.

Pop-Quizzes:

There will be an un-predetermined number of pop-quizzes during the second part of the course, when we turn our attention to our main religious traditions. The quizzes will contain a few questions that will gauge whether or not you completed the readings that were assigned.

I will drop your lowest pop-quiz grade at the end of the semester if you have completed four or more quizzes.  Missed quizzes cannot be made up.  If we have more than four quizzes but you miss enough quizzes such that you only have three on record, your lowest quiz grade will not be dropped.

Pop-quizzes will be worth 8% of your final grade.

Terms Quizzes:

There will be a total of three Terms Quizzes during the semester, one each for the Mormon, Adventist-Jehovah’s Witnesses tradition, and Baha’i traditions. The quizzes will have (likely) a fill-in-the-blank format. The three quizzes will not all be of the same length and they will count proportionally toward your Terms Quiz grade.

Terms Quizzes will be worth 10% of your final grade.

Short Papers:

You will be required to write a total of two short papers, which will be between 2.5-3.5 pages long, unless you are instructed otherwise. I will post to Moodle specific instructions about each paper, including grading rubrics, closer to their due dates. All short papers must be posted to Moodle before the beginning of the class on which they are due. If you fail to turn your paper in on time, I will deduct a half letter grade for each 24-hour period your paper is late.

The short papers will be worth 20% of your final grade.

Exams

There will be two exams, a midterm and a final, which will be cumulative.

• Midterm Exam:

The midterm will be a take home essay-exam and will focus on the first textbook we read, Ruf’s Bewildered Travel. You will have 48 hours to complete the exam and to post it to Moodle. If you turn in your exam late, your grade will be reduced a half-letter per hour late (e.g., a two-hour late B+ quality exam will receive a B-). You must work on this exam on your own; you may not consult with anyone else, classmate or not. I will post more specific instructions about this exam on Moodle closer to the exam date. The Midterm will be worth 15% of your final grade.

• Final Exam:

The final exam will be an in-class exam at the scheduled exam timeslot during exam week. This exam will have an objective section (term identifications, short paragraph answers) and an essay. I will provide you a study guide for this exam. The final exam will be worth 20% of your final grade.

Site Visit Report:

An introduction to world religions would not be complete without the firsthand experience of worship in different religious traditions. To this end, you must attend worship services in two of the religious traditions we will examine this semester. These site visits will culminate in a 4-5 page (double-spaced) discussion of your experience of worship in the two traditions.

At the beginning of Part Two of the course, I will post to Moodle more specific instructions about the Site Visit Reports.

The site visit report is worth 10% of the final grade. Essays handed in late will result in a reduction of your grade: one day late will reduce an ‘A’ paper to an ‘A-’; two days late will reduce the same paper to a ‘B+’; etc. (A 24-hour “day” will be calculated the same way as for the portfolios.)

If you fail to attend worship services at the two places, you will receive an F on this assignment.

DUE DATE:

All site visit reports are due on the last day of class, May 10. You are free, however, to do your site visits at any point during the semester. If you plan to visit an unfamiliar place of worship that we have not yet covered in class, you should discuss this with me before you go.

Grading Breakdown:

Attendance/Participation 12%

In-Class Writing 5%

Readings Pop Quizzes 8%

Terms Quizzes 10%

Short Papers 20%

Site Visit Report 10%

Midterm Exam 15%

Final Exam 20%

HONOR CODE: I expect you to abide by Wofford's Honor Code. See the link "Avoiding Plagiarism" on Wofford's library page at .

PART 1: UNDERSTANDING RELIGION

Feb 4

Course Introduction

Feb 6

Religion in Contemporary America

Reading: Diana Eck, A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously diverse Nation, 1-25 (on e-reserve)

Feb 8

“Strange” Religions

Reading:

•Stephen J. Stein, Communities of Dissent: A History of Alternative Religions in America, 2-12 (on e-reserve)

•Barbara Bradley Hagerty, “Is the End Nigh? We’ll Know Soon Enough,” NPR (you can either listen to the story or read the article)

•Barbara Bradley Hagerty, “Doomsday Believers Cope with an Intact World, NPR (you can either listen to the story or read the article)

Feb 11

What Religion Does: Orientations and Surfaces

Reading: Ruf, 1-22

Feb 13

Ruptures and Religion

Reading: Ruf, 22-33

Feb 15

Arnoldian Travel and Self-Improvement

Reading: Ruf, 34-54

Feb 18

Religious Tourist vs. Religious Traveler

No Class (I need to attend the Board of Trustees’ meeting)

Reading: Ruf, 55-65 + assignment on Moodle

Feb 20

Religious Tourist vs. Religious Traveler

Reading: Ruf, 65-71

Feb 22

The Post-Colonial “Other”

Reading: Ruf, 71-80

Viewing: Southpark, “All About Mormons”

Due: Short Paper #1 (instructions will be posted in Moodle)

Feb 25

Religious “Pathology”

Reading: Ruf, 81-106

Feb 27

Religious Strangers

Reading: Ruf, 107-142

Mar 1

Religious Guides

Reading: Ruf, 143-159

Mar 4

Sacred Space

Reading: Ruf, 160-191

Mar 6

Exam #1

PART 2: NEWER WORLD RELIGIOUS

A.NEW RELIGIONS WITH CHRISTIAN ROOTS

Mar 8

Evangelicalism:

The Great Awakenings

Randall Balmer, The Making of Evangelicalism: From Revivalism to Politics and Beyond, 1-25 (on e-reserve)

Mar 11

Evangelicalism:

19th Century Frontier Religion and the Burnt Over District

Reading:

•, “Religious Revivals and Revivalism in 1830s New England”

If you’re interested in the reading more about the wild and crazy camp meetings of the 19th century, see the following:

•Winthrop S. Hudson, “Shouting Methodists”

•Andrew Reed and James Matheson, A Narrative of the Visit to the American Churches, by the deputation from the Congregational Union of England and Wales, 187-197, 203-205

And, because you’re in college, you should read this 1830s account of a small town in Massachusetts where “The drinking habit had been universal.” Let this be a lesson to you…

Mar 13

Mormonism:

Joseph Smith and Mormonism’s Founding Mythology

Reading: Bushman, 8-13; 16-34

Mar 15

Mormonism:

Zion and Missionary Activity

Reading: Bushman, 35-48

Mar 18

Mormonism:

19th Century Development

Reading: Bushman, 81-102

Mar 20

Mormonism:

Priesthood

Reading: Bushman, 49-63

Mar 22

Mormonism:

Cosmology

Reading: Bushman, 64-80

Mormon Terms Quiz

Mar 25

Mormonism:

In-Class Film, “Mormonism” (PBS; we’ll watch a couple parts of the film)

Reading: Bushman, 103-116

Mar 27

No Class! (I’m at a conference in D.C.)

Mar 29

No Class! (I’m at a conference in D.C.)

April 1

Spring Break

April 3

Spring Break

April 5

Spring Break

Apr 8

Mormonism:

Visit to Class by Casey Eichhorn, Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Spartanburg, Second Ward

April 10

Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:

Millerites and Early Adventists

Reading: Paul K. Conkin, American Originals: Homemade Varieties of Christianity, 110-133 (on e-reserve)

Due: Paper #2 (instructions will be posted in Moodle)

April 12

Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:

The Birth of the Jehovah’s Witnesses

Reading: Paul K. Conkin, American Originals: Homemade Varieties of Christianity, 134-159 (on e-reserve)

April 15

Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:

Reading: Andrew Holden, Jehovah’s Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, 58-77 (on e-reserve)

April 17

Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:

Millennial Vision

Reading: Andrew Holden, Jehovah’s Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, 82-97 (on e-reserve)

April 19

Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:

In-Class Film: “Knocking”

B.NEW RELIGION WITH ISLAMIC ROOTS

April 12

Baha’i Faith:

Muslim Background: Prophets and Progressive Revelation

Adventism and Jehovah’s Witnesses Terms Quiz

Reading:

•Willard G. Oxtoby, ed., World Religions: Western Traditions, 348-354 (read the sections entitled, “Prophets and Messengers” and “The Five Major Prophets”)

April 22

Baha’i Faith:

Muslim Background: Muhammad

Reading: John L. Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, 2-14

April 24

Baha’i Faith:

Background: Twelver Shiism and 19th Century Persian Babism

Reading:

•Jamal J. Elias, Islam, 35-43

•Peter Smith, The Baha’i Religion: A Short Introduction to Its History and Teaching, 1-3

April 26

Baha’i Faith:

Progressive Revelation and Messengers

Reading: Peter Smith, An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith, 106-113; 124-132 (on e-reserve)

April 29

Baha’i Faith:

Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, Universal House of Justice

Reading:

•Peter Smith, The Baha’i Religion: A Short Introduction to Its History and Teaching, 3-14 (on e-reserve)

•Peter Smith, An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith, 99-105 (on e-reserve)

•Abdul Baha, “Words Spoken by Abdu’l-Baha in Pastor Wagner’s Church (Foyer de l’Ame) in Paris,” 86-88 (in Smith, Baha’i Religion) (on e-reserve)

May 1

Baha’i Faith:

Millennial Vision

Reading: Peter Smith, An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith, 133-147 (on e-reserve)

May 3

Baha’i Faith:

Spirituality and Community Life

Reading: Peter Smith, An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith, 151-164 (on e-reserve)

May 6

Baha’i Faith:

Visit to Class by Laurie Barnett, Leader of the Henderson County Baha’i Spiritual Assembly

May 8

Baha’i Faith:

Discussion, Questions

Baha’i Terms Quiz

May 10

Course Wrap-Up

Due: Site Visit Report

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