Introduction to Religious Studies



RELG 201-001: Introduction to Religious Studies (Rev. 1/6/10)

Spring 2010, 3 credit hours

T/Th 2 pm, Kinard 211

Dr. Kristin Beise Kiblinger

Office: Kinard 324, (803) 323-4650, kiblingerk@winthrop.edu (e-mail preferred)

Office Hours: M, W 9-11; by appointment if these times don’t work for you.

Occasionally an obligation conflicts with office hours, so it’s best to call first or confirm by e-mail in advance.

Required Texts: 1) Cunningham and Kelsay, The Sacred Quest; 2) Mircea Eliade, The Sacred & the Profane: The Nature of Relgion; 3) John D. Caputo, On Religion; 4) additional readings on electronic reserve through Dacus Library course reserves

Required Technology: 1) Web CT (Web Course Tools). 2) Winthrop e-mail, and 3) . Information on Turnitin will be provided with the paper assignment.

Web CT instructions:

1. The Web CT administrator loads you into the Web CT course automatically just prior to the first day of class, so all you should need to do is log in. (Do NOT try to create an account or add yourself to a course.) In order to log in, go to .

2. When it asks for your Web CT id, type wu_ followed by your Winthrop e-mail address before the @ symbol. (For ex., wu_smithj2.)

3. When it asks for a password, if you have not used Web CT previously or if you have not used it since passwords were reset, again type wu_ followed by your Winthrop e-mail address before the @ symbol (for ex., wu_smithj2).

4. Click “Log in.” You should now be able to see any courses for which you have registered that are using Web CT. Web CT allows you to choose your own password once you have logged in this way.

5. Troubleshooting (don’t worry; the vast majority have no problem):

• Any student without a working Winthrop e-mail account must go to 15 Tillman and request one.

• Check with a peer who has used Web CT before or ask a tech at the computer lab. Check with K. Kiblinger. If you added the course late, she may need to have you enrolled in the Web CT course.

• Check for required browser settings and more information.

• As a last resort, contact the Web CT administrator, Suzanne Sprouse, at sprouses@winthrop.edu for help.

Goals and Outcomes:

1) This course will expose students to a sampling of representative works and topics in the scholarly study of religion, raising questions about the nature and function of religion—especially myth, symbol, scripture, and ritual. The class will also familiarize the students with terminology useful in the academic study of religion and develop in them an awareness of various issues in and approaches to scholarship in the field.

2) Touchstone Goal 7.0 (Humanities and Arts): Students will examine values, attitudes, beliefs, and habits that define the nature and quality of life.

3) Touchstone Objectives (Humanities and Arts). Students will

1. demonstrate knowledge of and appreciation for diverse intellectual and/or cultural viewpoints.

2. critically evaluate diverse intellectual and/or cultural viewpoints.

7. demonstrate understanding of the relationships among various art forms within their sociohistorical contexts.

8. demonstrate knowledge of and appreciation for diverse values and beliefs.

9. critically evaluate those values and beliefs.

10. examine their own values and beliefs.

This course is on the approved list to count in the Touchstone program in the Humanities and Arts category.

Students with Disabilities: Winthrop University is dedicated to providing access to education. If you have a disability and need classroom accommodations, please contact Gena Smith, Coordinator, Services for Students with Disabilities, at 323-3290, as soon as possible. Once you have your professor notification letter, please notify me immediately so that I am aware of your accommodations. If your accommodations affect every test/assignment, please remind me prior to each test/assignment.

Safe Zones statement and student conduct code: The instructor intends for this classroom to be a Safe Zone. Regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, age, or ability you will be treated and respected as a human being. Further information about student conduct is available at (.

Requirements and Evaluation:

Participation (See criteria below.) 100

Average of unannounced reading quizzes 200

Test 225

Paper and peer editing 225

Final exam 250

Total 1000 total

|Scale: |867-899 B+ |767-799 C+ |667-699 D+ | |

|934-1000 A |834-866 B |734-766 C |634-666 D |0-599 F |

|900-933 A- |800-833 B- |700-733 C- |600-633 D- | |

• All grades will be posted to Web CT.

• No late work will be accepted after the last day of class. Late work will not be accepted on study day or during the exam period, because I would be unable to get grading done in order to meet my own deadlines for submitting grades.

• Grades are based on performance on the relevant items listed above and will not be adjusted for other reasons, such as the need to maintain a specific GPA for scholarships, financial aid, athletic eligibility, or parental approval. In the interest of fairness, there will be no exceptions.

• No extra credit opportunities will be provided. Students need to demonstrate mastery of the material through performance on the items listed above.

• No rewrites on papers. I have found that when students count on the chance to do a rewrite, they often do not put their full effort into the original paper. Also, allowing rewrites is not fair to other students who did well originally. The proper time for revising is with drafts prior to the due date.

Attendance and other policies to be read very carefully:

1.) I expect you to contact me promptly, if not in advance (e-mail correspondence preferred), every time you miss a class if you have a decent reason for missing, just as you would contact a boss or co-worker if you had to miss work. If you rarely miss class and have been keeping up well, you can be assured that I will excuse absences for good reasons that are communicated to me promptly. I make a judgment about absences at the end of the term in light of your overall behavior and performance.

2.) Attendance will be taken regularly and will affect your participation grade. Only unexcused absences hurt your participation grade. Although also adjusted for variations in the quality of participation (i.e., factors such as the quality of your contributions in class, preparedness, using the writing lab, attentiveness, frequent tardiness, cell phone disruptions, etc.), the following gives you an approximate idea of the correspondence between attendance and your participation grade:

# of unexcused absences participation grade of

0-1 A

2 B

3 C

4 C-

5-6 D

> 7 F

Note: 8 or more absences (no matter whether excused or not) will result in a final grade of F or U for the whole course, in accord with the university’s attendance policy about missing more than 25% of classes. If you add the class after classes have begun, any missed classes do count towards the 25%.

3.) Unless there has been a prior arrangement, in cases of a missed test you are entitled to a make up only with documentation. In cases of a missed reading quiz, if the absence is excused, the missed quiz will not affect your quiz average. If the absence is unexcused, you will receive a zero for the missed quiz. Thus, there will be no make up reading quizzes.

4.) If a due date in my class falls at a bad time for you, talk to me about it well in advance (at least 2-3 weeks before the due date), and I may grant you an extension if you have a good reason for one. Unless there has been a documented emergency or a prior arrangement made, an assignment is considered late when turned in any time after the class in which it is due, even if it is turned in later that same day.

The penalties for a late paper:

in on the due date but after the class in which it is due -.33 letter grade

1 day late -1 letter grade

within 1 week of due date -1.5 letter grades

within 2 weeks of due date -2 letter grades

more than 2 weeks late but by the last day of regular class depends on quality,

but in the F range

Late (but by the last day of class) is better than never; some credit can be awarded even if you are in the F range. 40% or 50% can make a big difference compared to a 0.

5.) Turnitin, a plagiarism detection service, will be used for this class for the paper. Students who do not submit their papers to Turnitin will not receive credit for the paper. It is the students’ responsibility to understand what counts as plagiarism and methods for properly crediting sources of information. When in doubt, ask an English teacher, your instructor in this class, or staff at the writing center. See the English department’s webpage on the correct use of borrowed information: . Significant plagiarism (whether intentional or not) will result in an F on the paper and a report filed with the Dean of Students. If the case is a second offense (even if an earlier offense was from another class), it may result in an F in the course or other sanctions. Duplicate submissions (turning in the same or a very similar paper for two assignments in two different classes) is permissible only with the approval of both instructors in advance. Otherwise, a duplicate submission will be treated as a case of academic dishonesty. See the student conduct code academic misconduct policy in the online Student Handbook: .

Tentative Schedule. Any necessary revisions (at the instructor’s discretion) will be announced and posted to Web CT.

|Class # |Date |Topic |Reading to be done for the day’s class |

|1 |Tues., 1/12 |intro to the course | |

|2 |Thurs., 1/14 |What is religion? |Cunningham and Kelsay, The Sacred Quest, Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2 |

| | |How and why is it studied? | |

| | |Concept: the sacred | |

| |Fri., 1/15 | |Drop/add period ends |

|3 |Tues., 1/19 |phenomenology; concepts: |Eliade’s Sacred and Profane, pp. 11-42 (Begin at “When the Sacred Manifests Itself” in the |

| | |sacred space and time, ritual |Introduction. Stop at “’Our World’ is Always Situated at the Center” in Chapter 1.) |

|4 |Thurs., 1/21 | |Eliade, pp. 42-76 |

|5 |Tues., 1/26 | |Eliade, pp. 77-113 |

|6 |Thurs., 1/28 |religious language, myth, |1) Cunningham and Kelsay, Ch 4; |

| | |metaphor |2) an electronic reserve reading (through Dacus Library Course Reserves): Paul Ricoeur’s |

| | | |work on metaphor, “The Metaphorical Use of Language” from Chapter 7 of David Stewart’s |

| | | |Exploring the Philosophy of Religion (5th ed.), pp. 308-319. |

| | | | |

| | | |Test study guide posted to Web CT |

|7 |Tues., 2/2 | |Make up or catch up day, review |

|8 |Thurs., 2/4 | | |

| | | |****TEST**** |

|9 |Tues., 2/9 |Hermeneutics (interpretation |Electronic reserve reading (through Dacus Library Course Reserves) or can be found in the |

| | |issues) and the nature of |HMXP 102 textbook, 5th edition: Winter, David. Excerpt of “But this I can believe” from |

| | |scriptures |Believing the Bible |

|10 |Thurs., 2/11 |a taste of Biblical Studies |Electronic reserve reading (Dacus course reserves): Hauer & Young, excerpt from |

| | | |Introduction to the Bible, “The Proclaimer: Jesus of Nazareth”, pp. 223-228 and 244-259 |

| | | |(You may stop at “Structure of John.”) |

|11 |Tues., 2/16 | |Electronic reserve reading (Dacus course reserves): Marcus Borg’s “Seeing Jesus: Sources, |

| | | |Lenses, and Method” excerpt from The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions by Marcus Borg and N.T. |

| | | |Wright, pp. 3-11 and 179-186 and 129-142 |

|12 |Thurs., 2/18 |film |Film Last Temptation of Christ (view in class) |

|13 |Tues., 2/23 | |Film, continued |

|14 |Thurs., 2/25 | |Discussion of film; paper assignment posted to Web CT |

|15 |Tues., 3/2 |A taste of theology: Black |Electronic reserve (Dacus course reserves): James Cone, “The Gospel of Jesus, Black People,|

| | |liberation theology |and Black Power” from his Black Theology and Black Power |

|16 |Thurs., 3/4 | |John Bird (guest speaker) on critical thinking in Religious Studies, review or catch up |

| | | |time |

|17 |Tues., 3/9 |Peer editing and writing |Complete rough draft due—bring two (typed) copies to class (it’s not necessary to use |

| | |consultation |Turnitin with the draft) |

| |Wed., 3/10 | |course withdrawal deadline |

|18 |Thurs., 3/11 |Paper due |Final paper due—one hard copy to teacher and one identical electronic copy submitted to |

| | | |Turnitin by class time |

| | | |*****spring break******* |

|19 |Tues., 3/23 |A taste of philosophy of |Electronic reserves: “The Falsification Debate” (Flew, Hare, Mitchell) and “Leap of Faith”|

| | |religion: reason and faith |(Kierkegaard)—both are excerpts from David Stewart’s Exploring the Philosophy of Religion, |

| | | |pp.225-233 and 253-260 |

|20 |Thurs., 3/25 |theodicy |Cunningham and Kelsay, Chapter 7 |

|21 |Tues., 3/30 |social dimensions of |1) Cunningham and Kelsay, Chapter 6 and |

| | |religion/sociology of religion|2) electronic reserve: Durkheim, “Elementary Forms of the Religious Life” from Lessa and |

| | | |Vogt’s Reader in Comparative Religion, pp. 27-35 |

|22 |Thurs., 4/1 |Religion and sexuality/ |Film For the Bible Tells Me So (view in class) |

| | |contemporary religious ethics | |

|23 |Tues., 4/6 | |Finish film, discussion |

| | | |Electronic reserve: L. William Countryman, “New Testament Sexual Ethics…” from his Dirt, |

| | | |Greed, and Sex |

|24 |Thurs., 4/8 |Religion and postmodernism |John D. Caputo’s On Religion, Ch 1 |

| | | |reading day |

|25 |Tues., 4/13 | |Caputo, Ch 2 |

|26 |Thurs., 4/15 | |Caputo, Ch 3-4 |

|27 |Tues., 4/20 | |Caputo, Ch 5 |

| |Wed., 4/21 | |exam study guide posted |

|28 |Thurs., 4/22 | |Make up or catch up day, review |

| |Tues., 4/27 | |University Study Day (no classes) |

| |11:30 am, Wed., | |Final exam |

| |4/28 | | |

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