I.
Basic concepts
|
| For this date |
Reading to do |
Things to do |
Submit deadline |
| Thurs. 8/25 |
Machina, "Big Questions", packet, 1-4. |
Write brief answers to the study
questions found at the start of the Smart reading. (Often answers that
are just a couple of sentences long will be fine for a study question in
this course.) |
Tue. 8/30 |
| Smart, "Worldviews", packet, 119-122. |
| Smith, "Is the Concept of Religion Adequate?"
packet, 123-132. |
Follow the study guide found with the reading
and write answers to the questions in the guide. |
Tue. 8/30 |
| II.
Christianity and modernity |
| For this date |
Reading to do |
Things to do |
Submit deadline |
| Tue. 8/30 |
Machina, "Christianity in Brief", 5-19. |
Make a note of objections, criticisms, questions
and bring to class. There will be a brief quiz on this reading. |
-- |
| Thurs. 9/1 |
Machina, "Modern Culture", 20-34 |
Write a list of all the more or less
obvious ways that modernity as described in the reading might
conflict with the Christian tradition. |
Thurs. 9/1 |
| Tue. 9/6 |
Shapere, "Unity and Method in Contemporary
Science", 133-134. |
Look for general themes that contrast with
religious ways of understanding the world. You are not expected to
memorize the details. |
-- |
| 3 sample short essays by former students, found
here. |
Adobe Acrobat Reader must be installed to be able
to open this file. If you don't have it, get it from the Web.
(It's free.) There are 2 little yellow sticky notes on this file that
explain what to do. If you don't see them, look for yellow sticky note
icons to click in the document. We will go over the essays in class, so be sure to bring copies with you,
along with your written evaluations of the papers. Turn in the
evaluations.
Start planning for Essay 1, due Tue. 9/13.
Here are the instructions and the topic
choices. Here is some advice
about doing this kind of writing. |
Turn in your eval's Tue. 9/6 |
| Thurs. 9/8 |
Spong, "The Path to Secularism", 135 - 140. |
List four or five main ways in which modernity
has challenged the traditional Christian worldview, according to Spong. |
Thurs. 9/8 |
| Russell, "Faith of a Rationalist", 141 - 144. |
Write brief answers to the following questions:
1) What is the guiding principle Russell suggests we live by? 2) Why
is Russell's view referred to as "secular humanism"? 3) Does
Russell's worldview seem thoroughly modern? |
Thurs. 9/8 |
| Genesis, 1 through 3, 145 -149 |
Even if you have heard of these stories before,
try to read them carefully. Note that there are two different creation
stories told in these chapters. Think about the worldview based on
these Chapters, and how it is challenged by modernity in several ways that
Spong mentions. |
-- |
| Tue. 9/13 |
Christian Information Foundation, "How the Bible and
Evolution Conflict", 153 -158. |
Essay 1 is due today. |
Tue. 9/13 |
| US Catholic Bishops, "Science and the Catholic
Church", 159 -161. |
Look for the big difference between the positions
taken by the Bishops and the Christian Information Center. But there
is also a similarity -- look for that as well. |
-- |
| Thurs. 9/15 |
Borg "Reading the Creation Stories Again", 163
-174. |
1) What is the difference between Borg's view and
that of the Christian Information Foundation? 2) Does one think the
Genesis stories are really true and the other one does not? 3)
What attitudes toward science are revealed by the arguments of each? |
Thurs. 9/15 |
| Tue. 9/20 |
Falwell, "Listen, America!", 175 - 192. |
Look for the ways that Falwell argues for his
positions. This is crucial for understanding his worldview. It
is not enough to merely be able to list his positions. Notice, too,
that Falwell is not so concerned about scientific theories. |
-- |
| Psalm 139, from the Hebrew Bible, 193-914. |
Falwell's abortion argument depends on this
Psalm. Figure out how that is supposed to work and summarize
Falwell's argument that abortion is (generally?) immoral, including in your
summary his way of reading this Psalm. (This will be an
excellent illustration of the way the Bible is used by Christian
fundamentalists.) |
Tue. 9/20 |
| Robertson and Falwell on 9/11 attacks, 195-96. |
Please recognize that this material represents a
reasonable conclusion from the perspective of Robertson and Falwell. |
-- |
| Thurs. 9/22 |
Marty and Appleby, The Glory and the Power,
pp. 37 - 63. |
Use this
study guide and answer the questions included in it. During the
class session we will hear from some "separatist" fundamentalists. |
Thurs. 9/22 |
| Tue. 9/27 |
Marty and Appleby, The Glory and the Power,
pp. 64 - 87. |
Make a readable list of the chief
characteristics of Christian fundamentalism that make it count as
fundamentalism. Bring to class, to be shared. |
-- |
| Thurs. 9/29 |
Wallis, "Who Speaks for God?", pp. 197 - 204. |
Think: a) What is Wallis objecting to? Is
it fundamentalism? The agenda of the Christian Right? Or what?
b) What direction does Wallis want Christianity to go? |
Thurs. 9/29 |
| Bultmann, "New Testament and Mythology", 205 -
210. |
Think: How is Bultmann responding to modern
pressures on Christianity? |
-- |
| Troeger handouts |
By connecting the notes from his lecture with the
two poems, you should be able to figure out how Troeger thinks Christianity
should respond to modern pressures. |
-- |
| Tues. 10/4 |
Gracia, "How Can We Know What God
Means?", 211-217 |
Gracia's essay represents an application of
modern approaches to understanding the interpretation of sacred texts. This
reading should help with writing the next essay. Although Gracia uses
Christian examples, his point can be extended to the sacred texts of any
religious tradition. So, this reading serves as a bridge to our
discussion of Judaism. |
-- |
| You will want to get started on writing Essay 2.
Here are the instructions. |
Essay due 10/6 |
|
III. Judaism and Modernity |
| Thurs. 10/6 |
Neusner, "Defining Judaism", 218-225 |
Be sure to do the reading, even though the essay
is due. The reading is not difficult. Class will introduce
Judaism, based on the reading. |
Essay due. |
| Tues. 10/11 |
Solomon, "Judaism", 225-238. |
Write a paragraph: In what ways do the various
versions of Judaism listed by Solomon represent differing responses to
modernity? |
Tues. 10/8 |
| Machina, "Conflict in Palestine", 54 -57 |
Come to class with any objections or questions
about this reading. |
-- |
| "Genesis" Ch. 12 - 21, from Tanakh.
pp. 149 - 152. |
Figure out the religious connection between this
reading and the current conflict in Palestine. |
-- |
| Thurs. 10/13 |
Glory and Power, Ch. 3 |
Write a paragraph describing underlying
similarities between the agenda of the Gush Emunim and the Christian
activist fundamentalists in the US, and the agenda of the haredim in Israel
and the separatist Christian fundamentalists in the US. |
Thurs. 10/13 |
| Tue. 10/18 |
Cantarow, "Twilight of Zionism" 239 - 244 |
Write on three questions: 1) Why is Cantarow
personally conflicted over the activities of the Gush Emunim? 2)
In the end why does she reject their approach? 3) How are her
arguments against the Gush Emunim's viewpoint different from those of the
Haredim? |
Tue. 10/15 |
| Thurs. 10/20 |
Machina, "Ways
that Religion Interacts with Modernity" 35 - 48. |
Look for ways that this reading applies to the
Gush Emunim, and the haredi Jews in Israel. |
-- |
| |
|
Here
are the instructions and the questions for the midterm exam. Due Tue.
10/25. |
Exam 10/25 |
| The class schedule for the 2nd
half
of the semester is found on the "Schedule
2nd half" page. |
