Religion 1006, Introduction to the Major Religions of the World; Dr. Godlas    

Class time: 1:25-2:15 MW Brooks Hall room 145.   Course Webpage: webct.uga.edu (up by Thursday of 2nd week of classes)

Email: godlas@uga.edu ; Office: Peabody Rm. 217; office hrs., W 4:30-5:30, or by appt.

Office phone 2-1486; My website: www.uga.edu/islam  ; TA names and info will be posted on WebCT and in syllabi of your discussion sections.

 

Course Objectives: To gain a comparative and thematic understanding of the religious experience of the human community as expressed in the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism , Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the primal religions (of the indigenous peoples of Africa, Australia, and the Americas).  Also emphasis will be placed on learning an analytical method for studying religions, a method (that I call religiology) focusing on the following categories of belief:

(a) Beliefs concerning the basis of knowledge (What should we rely on in order to gain knowledge? What should we rely on in order to understand and properly interpret that basis of knowledge?) -- Epistemology

(b) Beliefs concerning the nature of ultimate reality (What is truly real? What are some of the characteristics of ultimate reality? What is more real, less real? What degrees of reality are there, if any? How is what is more real related to what is less real? What will be the nature of reality if and when the world as we know it ends? ) -- Ontology (with subcategories of Theology [re. God], Cosmology [re. nature of created existence], and Eschatology [re. afterlife])

(c) Beliefs concerning the character of human nature as understood in the light of or in relation to that reality  (Who are we?  How do we identify ourselves? What are our identities?)-- Anthropology

(d) Beliefs concerning the nature of human psychology (What does our consciousness consist of? Namely, what are our faculties of consciousness? –e.g. mind, conscience, soul, etc.; and What are our states or contents of consciousness? –some contemporary answers are electro-chemical impulses, thoughts, and emotions such as love, grief, happiness, depression, anger, ecstasy, etc. ) -- Psychology

(e) Beliefs concerning the purpose of life  (What is/are the purpose(s) of life?)-- Teleology

(f) Beliefs concerning the way of life that leads to that attainment (How can we achieve the purpose? What are some of the major aspects of the method or way of life that leads to that attainment?-- Methodology, with subcategories such as the following: social, political, legal, economic, religio-spiritual (e.g. forms of worship).

 

Books:

Huston Smith, The WorldÕs Religions WR

Philip Novak,  The WorldÕs Wisdom  WW

WebCT  RELI 1006, accessible through the WebCT page

Tapes or CDs of music will be on reserve in the reserve media room of the main library.

 

Requirements:

            A UGA/MYID ACCOUNT, you must try to logon to WebCT after Thursday 7 pm of the 2nd week of classes.  If you are unsuccessful, email your TA.  The only valid email address you can use for WebCT is your UGA MyID. You will automatically be added to WebCT by Thursday Aug. 21, 7 pm.  If you canÕt log on to WebCT by Friday morning Aug. 22, email your TA and let him/her know.

            WEEKLY READING ASSIGNMENTS: Do the assigned reading in the texts and (occasionally on) Web pages on the days listed in the schedule.

            TESTS:  Closed book exams. No use of notes, books, or other written material will be permitted.

                  Format:  Mostly essay, short answer, and definition.  Some students mistakenly assume that because there is a lot of weight given to essay questions on the exam, that they need not memorize important concepts, foreign words, and facts of major importance.  This is an incorrect understanding for this class, because in order to write the essays and short answer questions you will in fact need to have memorized concepts, foreign words, and facts and use them in your essays. There is only a slight chance that there will be any multiple choice, true-false, or matching questions—if there are any such questions, they will only be worth a small number of points. Hence, tests require a command of the material, not merely familiarity with it.  

            MIDTERM:  One midterm given on Monday, October 8.   No makeup will be given without a dean's or doctor's excuse.  If you do obtain such an excuse, you have three days after you return to make up the exam.  All the exams will cover the lectures, films, music, and the required reading in WR (Smith's The World's Religions), but NOT the WW (Novak's The World's Wisdom). 

            FINAL:  The final exam will be on Fri, Dec 14, 12:00 - 3:00 pm,  in the regular class room.  If you do not show up for the final exam you will receive an F for the exam.  Make up final exams or incompletes can only be given if you have a dean's excuse. 

            ATTENDANCE:  Attendance will only be taken for the Breakout Sessions.  This will help your TA determine your discussion participation grade.

            WEEKLY JOURNALS & MISC. ASSIGNMENTS

A) WEEKLY JOURNALS You will prepare with a word processor  2 journal entries, roughly one-half page each, per the weekly assigned reading in the World's Wisdom (WW).   You will then post them in WebCT discussion forums (one per forum; totaling two per week).  I will set up WebCT discussion forums by Aug. 21, 7 pm.  The  page numbers that you will read for each forum and concerning which you will post will be noted there.  So once you see the forums, the assignment will be clear.  The form of the entry will be as follows:

At the top of the half-page type

1a) number and date the entry

b) name the article, chapter, or url

Then in the body  of the entry

1) on the first line above your quote,  indicate the page  number of the quote.

2)  type a quote  that was of interest  to you in that week's reading

3)  explain or put in your own words the meaning of the quote; and

4) explain why it interested you and explain its religiological significance, if any. 

 

N.B. (nota bene, i.e. Note Well!): These journals must be posted before your Friday breakout session so that you have done them by the time of your breakout session, which will prepare you for your breakout session in which you will discuss the readings in WW.  So YOU MUST hand them in to your TA at the end of each breakout session.  If an emergency comes up making it impossible for you to hand them in at your breakout session, email them to your TA, NOT to Dr. Godlas.

 If the passage is longer than a paragraph, either summarize it or choose a particular portion to respond to.

 You will also hand these journals in to your TA at the final breakout session.  Note, print them from a word processing program, NOT from copies made off WebCT, which will not be accepted.

 

B) SACRED SCRIPTURE SEARCH: In addition, you will be required to search  a topic or person of interest to you in online versions of the sacred scriptures we will be touching upon.  The urls of these has been supplied by Dr. Godlas on WebCT.  You can search the same topic or choose a different one in each of these sacred texts.  Prepare a journal entry for each of these along the lines of a normal journal entry, except pick a few of the results of the search, summarize them, and note why they interested you.

 Note that your journal entries for these searches (but not any downloaded documents) must be handed in to your TA on Nov. 16.

 

C) ONLINE DISCUSSION: Using the WebCT Bulletin Board

For the assigned readings in the WorldÕs Wisdom  you are required to do the following:

1) to post (by the Friday when the reading will be discussed) your journal entries, at least ONE ENTRY PER FORUM  (which will USUALLY amount to two journal entries of your own per week, since there will generally be two forums per week);  and

2) respond to at least One entrY of other students per forum. (You can post your responses to your fellow students until the Friday of the following week.)  Feel free to post and respond to more entries than are required, but NOTE WELL: if three other students have already posted their responses to one student, please respond to some other student's posting.

 Note also that your grade will be lowered if you wait until after your Friday breakout session to post your own journals or if you wait longer than a week afterwards to respond to your fellow students' postings.

 

D) LIBRARY PROJECT: After the librarian has introduced you to the online Religion Index and to the Encyclopedia of Religion, you will  find two periodical articles in journals held in our library (NOT ONLINE) using the Religion index (one dealing with either Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; and one for any one of the other religions noted below)  and one Encyclopedia article for each of the religions covered in class: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and either Australian Aboriginal or Native American religion.  You will take at least one aspect from each of these articles that interested you and write one-half page about it. (You must indicate the category in the Religion Index where you found the article and the library call number of the journal in our library where you actually located the article.) In total, you will be handing in five pages.  You do not hand in the articles themselves, just your own writing about them.  This must be handed in to your TA on Nov. 30, Friday.

 

E) RELIGIOLOGICAL INTERVIEWS:  Using the religiological method, you will do four religiological analyses based on four interviews: analyze yourself on your own beliefs, and interview one male and female your own age and also one person of an older generation.   The format of these should follow the religiological format, giving answers per each category.  Each category should be LABELED.  Keep your interviews separate from one another; in other words, DO NOT combine all of the epistemologies together, all of ontologies together, etc.   The self analysis will be discussed on Friday, Aug. 24.  The others will be discussed and due on Friday, Aug 31.  All should also be posted on WebCT by Aug 31.   You must also respond to at least ONE other student's posting per forum. (This is different from the normal amount of  WebCT posting, which is one forum per week.)

 

Note on grading criteria for A thru E: As long as you fulfill the requirements (especially doing them on time and clearly indicating that you have put some effort and thought into the assignment), you will receive an "A" (95%).  To the degree that the instructions are not followed and to the extent that it is obvious that not much effort and thought has been put into the assignment, your grade will decrease.

 

Grading:

30% Journals (comprised of 15% weekly written journals;  including Religiological interviews, 12% for posting and response; and 3% sacred scripture searches) and WebCT discussion; the written journals and WebCT discussion postings are based on NovakÕs WorldÕs Wisdom

7% Library project

25% Midterm

25% Final (not cumulative, except for Religiology)

13% Discussion/Breakout section participation

 

Topical Outline:

   Read the chapters in Smith's The WorldÕs Religions (WR), and Novak's The WorldÕs Wisdom (WW) that pertain to each religion for the days we will cover those religions.)

Week 1 Aug 20-22;   Intro and Religiology: WR 1-11

Aug 20,  Hermeneutical Understanding and Religiology; homework due for Friday is your religiological analysis of your own beliefs;

Aug 22 Religiological Analysis

Aug 24 Discussion of your religiological self-analysis  

 

Week 2 WR, Judaism, ch. VII;  WW 175-190 The Teaching; and WW 190-200 The Prophets [see instructions above for posting on WebCT]* ; complete religiological interviews for breakout sessions; also post these on WebCT, and respond to one other student's posting per forum.

Aug 27-Aug 29) Judaism

 

Week 3 WR, Judaism, ch. VII (cont.); WW 201-226 Other Writings, Talmud, Grace Notes

http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/The_Soul.asp  (by A. Kaplan), required for lecture

Sept 3- Labor Day Holiday     

Sept 5 – Judaism

http://tinyurl.com/8tf8u  Interview with Kabbalah scholar Daniel Matt on the Zohar (recommended)

 

Week 4  WR, Christianity, ch. VIII;  WW 227-253 Life of Jesus, Sayings of Jesus

Sept. 10 Judaism, film, Long Search

Sept. 12 Lecture Christianity 

 

Week 5 WR, Christianity, ch. VIII  (cont.); WW 253-279 The Life of the Early Church, Grace Notes

Recommended for lecture: ÒThe Soul in Christian Thought,Ó from ÒThe SoulÓ in Catholic Encyclopedia http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14153a.htm 

Sept. 17-Sept. 19   Christianity

 

Week 6 WR, Islam, ch. VI;  WW QurÕan: Mecca and Medina Suras 281-287; QurÕan: Selections Thematically Arranged 287-312

Required for lecture and journal: Terrorism is at Odds with Muslim Tradition by al Fadl,

http://www.muslim-lawyers.net/news/index.php3?aktion=show&number=78

Sept. 24-Islam

Sept. 26- Islam: Film Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet

Recommended: familiarize yourselves with Dr. GodlasÕ website ÒIslam and Islamic Studies Resources,Ó http://www.uga.edu/islam

 

Week 7 WR, Islam, ch. VI  (cont.); Hadith: Sayings and Traditional Accounts and Grace Notes 312-332

Required for journal: Read one Òposition paperÓ or ÒessayÓ on the website of the Muslim WomenÕs League   http://www.mwlusa.org/welcome.html

Oct 1-Oct 3  Islam

From Dr. GodlasÕ website: The Events of Sept. 11 and Islam:

http://www.uga.edu/islam/nineeleven.html  (recommended)

 

Week 8   WR, Hinduism, ch. II; WW Early Vedas, Upanishads 1-24

Oct 8 Midterm  Exam

Oct 10  Hinduism

Oct 12  Withdrawal Deadline

 

Week 9  WR, Hinduism, ch. II (cont.); WW The Bhagavad-Gita, Grace Notes 24-48

Oct 15-Hinduism

Oct 17- Hinduism

 

Week 10 WR, Buddhism, ch. III;   WW BuddhaÕs Life, Rebel Saint, Core Doctrines 49-77

Oct 22-  Film India the Infinite

Oct 24   Buddhism

Oct 26 Fall Break

 

Week 11 WR, Buddhism, ch. III (cont.); WW Mahayana Buddhism: Tibetan and Zen Buddhism, Grace Notes 77-109

Oct 29  Librarian for Library project

Oct 31 Buddhism;  

 

Week 12 WR, Buddhism, ch. III (cont.); Confucianism, ch. IV;  WW Confucianism: Confucius the Man 111-118; Mencius 134-138

Nov 5  Buddhism

Nov 7   Confucianism

 

Week 13  WR, Confucianism, ch. IV (cont.); WW Confucianism:  The Confucian Project and The Great Learning 119-134

Nov 12-14   Confucianism

Nov 16  Sacred Scripture Search due.

 

Week 14  WR, Taoism, ch. V; WW Taoism: Tao Te ching  145-164

Nov 19-   Taoism

Nov. 21-23  Thanksgiving Holiday

 

Week 15  WR, Taoism, ch. V (cont.) and WR, ch. IX; WW Taoism:  Chuang Tzu and Grace Nts 164-174; WW Primal Religions: Beginnings, Returning to the Sacred 333-54

Nov 26-28   Taoism

Nov 30 Library Project Due, Final Breakout Session

 

Week 16 Primal Religions (Australian, Native American, African) WW Primal Religions: Spirit-filled World, Shaman, Sacred Earth, Grace Nts 354-379, readings in African Relig.

Dec 3-4  Primal Religions (Note there is class on Monday, Tuesday, and Wed.)

Dec 5  African Religions and Concluding Remarks

 

Final Exam Fri, Dec 14, 12:00 - 3:00 pm, location: regular classroom.

 

Honesty Policy

The UGA Academic Honesty Policy will be followed.  In other words, all academic work must meet the standards contained in "A Culture of Honesty."  Students are responsible for informing themselves about those standards before performing any academic work.  The link to more detailed information about academic honesty can be found at  http://www.uga.edu/ovpi/honesty/acadhon.htm

 

Changes to this Syllabus

The instructor reserves the right to make any changes to this syllabus.  The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary. Changes will be posted on WebCT.