ISSS 4357: Religions
Murray J Leaf, Spring 2006
Section 501: Wednesday, 7-9:45 Office: GR 3.128
Room: SOM 2.112 mjleaf@utdallas.edu
CRN 12900 ,
Office hours are 5:30-6:30 Wed and by appointment. Office tel: (972) 883-2732
This course provides a comparative overview of the world's major religious traditions from a factual perspective. We do not begin from any definition of what religion is. We begin only from the common recognition of what these major traditions are: the South Asian traditions centering on Vedanta which include Hinduism and Buddhism, then Confucianism and Taoism, Shinto, Zoroastrianism and the Judeo-Christian traditions. As will be shown, each of these traditions has a very different definition of what "religion" itself is--of what they are about, what kinds of "truth" they involve, and what they do for people. It follows that imposing an idea of religion drawn from any one of these traditions onto any or all of the others is the first and surest step toward misunderstanding. Instead, we have to try to see each it its own terms and in terms of the concerns of those who support it. The purposes of the course are (1) to provide an understanding of the great differences among religions and among concepts of what religion is, and (2) to provide a sense of the way these differences are maintained or lost in sects that represent these world traditions in the United States, in order to (3) arrive at an understanding of the place of religion among human institutions generally and the impact of religion on the course of human history.
Texts:
Leaf, Murray J. (2005) The World Religions, a Cultural Account.
Copies printed by XanEdu are in the UTD bookstore.
Duplicated copies that will look different but have the same text will
be available at Off Campus Books. (Near Braum's on Campbell.)
Other readings are on the web, as indicated in the syllabus.
Grade: The grade will be based on two in-class mid-terms
(30% each) and a
research paper (40%).
Exams:
The examinations will be one-hour, in class, in a short answer format.
They are designed to test the breadth of your grasp of basic concepts,
terms, and sequences of developments from the text and lectures.
The first will be on the South-Asian and Asian traditions, the second
on
the rest of the material. Sample questions are on on the web (use
the links at the bottom of the web syllabus).
Paper:
The paper assignment is to describe relations
between major ideas, major ceremonies, organization, and the relation
of
religious concerns to non-religious concerns of a specific and clearly
described set of followers of one of the great traditions. Use the
opportunity to check out what we have been saying in class and in the
assigned readings. It may be past or present, large or small. You
need not describe all the ideas, and probably had better not. Just some
important ones. Similarly for ceremonies, organization, or the concerns
of the followers. But whatever you focus on, it is important that
you do not look only at the ideas but also at the appeal they have to
those who hold them and what those people do in turn that preserves the
ideas. Usually, this will involve building upon a study that somebody
else has already made and published, and evaluating that study.
Keep the four elements of the subject in mind (ideas, ceremonies,
organization, and followers’ concerns) as you organize your discussion
and designate them clearly in the paper.
It is a good idea, but not necessary, to focus on a
religion or a religious idea or organization that you can
actually
find represented in the Dallas area, preferably one new to you, so you
can check what you read with your own experience. Practically every one
of the major modern traditions is represented in the metroplex
somewhere. You can include first-hand observations and conversations
you may have with representatives of the group, in which case you are
reporting your observations (what you observed them telling or showing
you). The paper can be based entirely on library materials if you wish
and if that is appropriate for the subject you have chosen. It
should not be based on prejudice, meaning opinions you may have formed
on the basis of what may have heard from sources outside or apart from
the group but that you cannot actually pin down and evaluate
factually. On the other hand, you should not be gullible. If
people believe something that seems to you to be patently ridiculous,
don’t be afraid to say so and wonder why – or even ask them why. The
reasons people give for holding ideas often make more sense than the
ideas themselves. Do not assume all religious ideas are good, or that
all are equally sound just because someone believes them. Some ideas
have lasted for centuries and command the respect of thoughtful people
almost everywhere. Others are the intellectual counterpart of the
cabbage patch doll. It is worth-while trying to understand
the difference.
Under no circumstances are you to write
in the manner of an apologetic -- that is, a doctrinal defense
of
a specific set of religious ideas. This is a course about
religion, but it is not a religious course. Nor, by the
same token, is there any point in a doctrinal attack on any specific
religion. Your manner of argument must be factual. Factual means
that you bring in evidence; critical means that you should be careful
to argue that the evidence shows what you say it does, and not
something else.
The problem is to describe a set of ideas and describe their
significance to those that hold them and/or reject them. Whether you
share them or not should be a side issue. What are the ideas? How are
they symbolized or otherwise represented? How are they used by those
who hold them in establishing their relationships to each other?
What do they mean to those who hold them? Why is that important? How
does it fit with other concerns they might have in other aspects of
their lives? The main danger in selecting a religion that you
personally identify with is that you will not pay enough attention to
this need to prove what you say factually – not only what the main
ideas are, for example, but how one comes to know them.
The
length should be 12 pages of text double spaced, plus
bibliography. I have no objection to more if it is not padded. If
you write less, you are probably leaving out something. If your
first question to yourself is "How will I ever write twelve pages about
X?" you are taking the wrong approach. You should ask "What can I learn about X,
how can I be sure I am right, and how well can I explain it?"
It is important to discuss and evaluate your
sources. This is a big part of what is involved in being
critical. Most religious traditions have their own idea of
what their main ideas are and what they do that must be counted as part
of those ideas themselves, and all religions also have
opponents. If you quote someone, you have to know what they are up
to. Books on religions are written by all sorts of people
for all sorts of reasons. Some are "official" documents of religious
bodies, some are criticisms from their enemies. Some are factual, some
authors wouldn't know what fact was if it bit them. Some books
(and websites) are honest, some deliberately distortions. When you cite
something, you should know which
is which. You should have some sense of the motivation behind it, and
it is not only proper but also necessary to describe what you think
this motivation is. If you cite a person, describe them. If you
are speaking about something you have observed personally, say so and
describe what happened. All sources (written, living, or
electronic) should be clearly indicated; all major points in the
argument should be justified by references that show how those sources
have been used.
Presenting material from sources you do not cite is
plagiarism and plagiarism will be referred to the Dean of Students. If
you have doubts about whether or how to site something, check with
me. It is part of what you should be learning. Be sure the
paper takes into account what we have said in
class. You don’t have to agree but you do need to show that you
were there and that you understood what we went over and can build on
it.
A word about the internet. It
is
convenient and has much good material. It is getting better all
the time. Virtually all major traditions are now represented by one or
more organized groups with good websites that offer clear, honest, and
disciplined explanations of what they stand for. But there is also a
tremendous amount of absolute rubbish out there. One of the most basic
things you should learn in this course is to distinguish one from the
other, to separate factual description from apologetic and
reasoned and authoritative apologetic from ignorance and bigotry.
If you quote a loony source and do not recognize that it is loony, it
will be your problem. Books in the university library and
journals in the library are certified as probably legitimate by the
fact they are there. Generally, it means they have gone through a
process of scholarly review designed to weed out what is patently wrong
or irrational (although sometimes it only weeds out what is
unprofitable
or unfashionable). There is no such process on the web.
Anyone can say anything and more and more people do. Don’t waste my
time
with such stuff. Being critical does not mean being nasty or
hostile to someone or something. It means evaluating your data
carefully and using it appropriately.
The paper is due at the time of the final
examination. Submit the paper in hard copy and on disk. I will be happy
to look over outlines or drafts and comment before you do your final
version.
Order of readings:
We will read all of the chapters of Anthropology of World Religions in order, at about the rate of one chapter per class session. These will be accompanied by corresponding readings in the Eastman reader and the small photoduplicated set. Remember that since this is a weekly class, one day is (usually) two class sessions. Also, we will have one important movie, Passolini’s the Gospel According to St Matthew. This gives an almost straightforward rendering of the life of Christ as in that Gospel and also indicates the continuing social and political importance of the issues it raises.
Always bring the text and/or readings for the day to
class. Although the class is usually large, the format will be
more discussion than lecture.
A lot of the material is poetry and does not bear a rushed reading.
Keep reading it until you think you might understand it. Then we will
talk about it, and you will probably change your understanding. Then if
you read it a few more times, you will probably think you really are
beginning to get it.
Attendance: Attendance is important and will be recorded. Barring weather emergencies and the like, we will generally stay the full allotted time.
Recordings: I will try to post recordings of the classes that you can download and play. This is no substitute for attendance, and should not be relied on. Just an additional help. The recordings are in msv or dvf format. I don't know what the first means but the second is Sony's format. You should be able to play them after you download them with Microsoft Media Player. But MMP might be unable to play them without a patch. The first time you try, if it needs the patch it should say so and prompt you to find and download it. If not, let me know by email and I will try to help. If you have the Sony digital voice editing software, this will work also.
This appears to be a site that lets you download the Sony plugin
for the WMP: http://www.sony.jp/products/overseas/contents/support/download/dl-ic128-01.html
For Notices Concerning the Course as we Proceed, click here.
Weekly Topics and Readings
(This should give us one extra day for the Passolini film, which will
probably be after session 10).
March 8 is during spring break.
Mar
15 9. Judaism
Leaf Chapter 9. Recording
Mar
22 10. Early Christianity Leaf
Chapter 10. Recording
Mar
29 11. Islam Leaf
Chapter 11. Recording of second
half.
Apr 5 12 Later
Christianity: Leaf Chapter 12. no recording.
Apr 12
14. Review and general discussion. Leaf 13.
Apr 19 Movie: Passolini's
Gospel According to St. Matthew.
Bobby Alexander will lead the
discussion. ( I have to be out of the country.)
Apr 26 Final
exam. In class, one hour, same format as midterm.
Additional material on the Web: