| Aug
24 |
Welcome to the Senior Seminar
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Click here to reach the Blackboard site.
|
Part One
The Prehistory of the Study of Religion: Responses to an
Expanding World
|
| Aug 26 |
Natural Religion
Reading: TAR 1-18
Supplemental Reading: TARR 1-8
Supplemental readings are not
required readings. They provide the opportunity to read more
primary or secondary sources on subjects that are particularly
interesting to you.
|
| Aug 28 |
Natural Religion
Reading: TAR 18-32
Supplemental Reading: TARR 8-22
|
| Aug 31 |
The Critique of Religion and the Rise of Biblical Criticism
Reading: TAR 33-46
Supplemental Reading: TARR 23-31
|
| Sept
2 |
The Critique of Religion and the Rise of Biblical Criticism
Reading: TAR 46-60
Supplemental Reading: TARR 31-34
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Part Two
Classic Nineteenth-Century Theorists of the Study of Religion: The Quest for
the Origins of Religion in History
|
| Sept
4 |
Friedrich Max Müller
Reading: TAR 63-77
Supplemental Reading: TARR 49-57
|
| Sept
7 |
Labor Day Holiday |
| Sept
9 |
Friedrich Max Müller
Reading: TAR 77-90
Facilitator: Travis C.
Supplemental Reading: TARR 57-64
|
| Sept 11 |
Edward Burnett Tylor
Reading: 91-116
Facilitator: Mary E.
Supplemental Reading:
TARR 65-82
|
| Sept
14 |
William Robertson Smith
Reading: 117-135
Facilitator: Meghan M.
Supplemental Reading:
TARR 83-96
|
| Sept 16 |
James Frazer
Reading: TAR 136-160
Facilitator: Dr. G
Supplemental Reading:
TARR 97-114
|
| Sept 18 |
Excerpts of Müller, Tylor, and Frazer
Reading: TARR 49-61, 68-74, 97-106
Facilitator: Monica P.
Supplemental Reading:
TARR 97-114
|
| Sept 21 |
Marx
Reading: On Blackboard
Facilitator: Austra R.
|
Part Three
Classic Twentieth-Century Theorists of the Study of Religion: Defending the
Inner Sanctum of Religious Experience or Storming It
|
| Sept 23 |
Phenomenologists of Religion
Reading: TAR 163-181
Facilitator: Dr. G
|
| Sept 25 |
Phenomenologists of Religion
Reading: TAR 181-197
Facilitator: David H.
|
Sept
28
Paper Due |
Excerpts of
Phenomenologists of Religion
Reading: TARR 115-134
Facilitator: Kristofer B.
Critical Essay #1 Due (Facilitator's essay not due until next class
period.)
|
| Sept 30 |
Weber
Reading: TAR 198-214
Facilitator: Dr. G
Supplemental Reading: TARR 144-54
|
|
Oct 2
|
Weber
Reading: TAR 214-32
Facilitator: Heidi M.
Supplemental Reading: TARR 144-54
|
| Oct
5 |
Excerpts of Marx and Weber
Reading: Marx,
“Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of
Right” (1843), TARR 135-43
Facilitator: Dustin M.
|
| Oct 7 |
Freud
Reading: TAR 233-45
Facilitator: Matthew S.
Supplemental Reading: TARR 163-68
|
| Oct
9 |
Freud
Reading: TAR 246-59
Facilitator: Carol N.
Supplemental Reading: TARR 163-68
|
| Oct
12
|
Excerpts of/on Freud
Reading: TARR 155-63; 168-76
Facilitator: Dr. G
Supplemental Reading: TAR 260-82 (Malinowski), TARR 177-94
|
| Oct 14 |
Durkheim
Reading: TAR 282-99
Facilitator: Steven K.
Supplemental Reading: TARR 217-22
|
| Oct
16 |
Fall Break
This would be a great time to think seriously about your seminar paper
project if you haven't already. You might want to look ahead and
skim some of the theories we haven't taken up yet. The Oct 30
reading will quickly introduce you to a number the thinkers and
approaches that are very current.
|
| Oct
19
|
Durkheim
Reading: TAR 299-308; TARR 217-22
Facilitator: Justin E.
|
| Oct
21
|
Excerpts of Durkheim
Reading: TARR 195-216
Facilitator: Ryan G.
|
| Oct 23 |
Eliade
Reading: TAR 309-25 (up to "By Way of Preliminary
Critique")
Facilitator: Tori S.
Supplemental Reading: TARR 241-47
|
| Oct 26 |
Eliade
Reading: TAR 325-36 (starting from "By Way of
Preliminary Critique); TARR 241-47
Facilitator: Dr. G
|
| Oct 28 |
Excerpts of Eliade
Reading: TARR 223-41
Facilitator: Lee E.
|
Part Four
Some
More Theories of Religion
|
| Oct 30 |
Surveying the Field
Reading: Pals, "Conclusion" (on Blackboard)
Facilitator: Eric M.
|
Nov 2
Paper Due |
Religion as Cultural System: Geertz and Cultural
Anthropology
Reading: Pals, "Religion as Cultural System" (On Blackboard)
Facilitator: Rona B.
Critical Essay #2 Due (Facilitator's essay not due until next class
period.)
Supplemental Reading: Geertz, "Religion as a Cultural System"; "Ethos,
Worldview, and the Analysis of Sacred Symbols"
|
| Nov 4 |
Religion as Classifying System:
Douglas and Structural Anthropology
Reading: Douglas, "The System Shattered and
Renewed," in Purity and Danger (On Blackboard)
Facilitator: Jordan A.
Supplemental Reading: Turner, "Liminality and Communitas"
|
| Nov 6 |
Religion as Social Formation and
Discourse/Rhetoric: Lincoln, McCutcheon and Constructionism
Reading: Lincoln, "Theses on Method" (On Blackboard); McCutcheon, "Redescribing 'Religion' as Social Formation: Toward a
Social Theory of Religion," in Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of
Religion, ix–20 (On Blackboard)
Facilitator: Andy M.
|
| Nov 9 |
Religion as Meaning Making: Orsi and "Lived
Religion"
Reading: Orsi, "Everyday Miracles: The Study of
Lived Religion" (On Blackboard)
Facilitator: Shelby H.
|
| Nov 11 |
Religion as Logocentrism: Derrida and Deconstruction
Reading: Given, "Paul and Writing," in
As it is Written: Studying Paul's Use of Scripture. Symposium
50. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2008 (On Blackboard)
Facilitator: Michael B.
|
Part Five
Theories of Religion and Theories of Religious Studies
|
| Nov 13 |
McCutcheon's Sociorhetorical
Challenge
Reading: McCutcheon, "Preface," "Acknowledgments," and "More than a
Shapeless Beast: Lumbering through the Academy with the Study of
Religion," in Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of
Religion, ix–20 (On Blackboard)
Facilitators: Travis W.
Supplemental Reading: Schüssler Fiorenza, Francis.
"Religion: A Contested Site in Theology and the Study of Religion",
The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 93, No. 1 (Jan., 2000), pp.
7-34.
|
| Nov 16 |
In Defense of the Shapeless Beast
Reading: TAR 337-45 (review 3-4); Orsi, "A New Beginning, Again" (On
Blackboard)
Facilitator: Kyle G.
Supplemental Reading: Smith, Jonathan Z. "Religion and Bible,"
Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 128, No. 1 (Spring 2009), pp.
5–27; Roberts, Tyler. "Exposure and Explanation: On
the New Protectionism in the Study of Religion," Journal of the American
Academy of Religion, Vol. 72, No. 1, (March 2004), pp. 143-72; Wiebe, Donald.
"An Eternal Return All Over Again: The Religious Conversation Endures,"
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 74, No. 3, (September
2006), pp. 674-96
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Presentations
|
| Nov 18 |
Grad Student Presentations (3)
Travis C.:
Mary E.:
Meghan M.:
|
Nov
20
Paper Due |
Grad Student Presentation
Class cancelled
Critical Essay #3 Due by Email
|
| Nov 23 |
Course Evaluation (attendance will be taken) |
| Nov 25 |
Thanksgiving Holiday |
| Nov 27 |
Thanksgiving Holiday |
| Nov 30 |
Senior Student Presentations (3)
Monica P.:
David H.:Heidi M.:
Dustin M.:
|
| Dec
2 |
Senior Student Presentations (4)
Austra R.
Matthew S.:Carol N.:
Steven K.:
|
| Dec 4 |
Senior Student Presentations (4)
Justine E.:
Ryan G.:
Tori S.:
Lee E.:
|
| Dec 7 |
Senior Student Presentations (4)
Eric M.:
Rona B.:Jordan A.:
Andy M.:
|
| Dec 9 |
Senior Student Presentations (4)
Shelby H.:
Michael B.
Travis W.:
Kyle G.:
|
| Dec 11 |
Study Day |
| Dec
12 |
Seminar Paper Due |
| Dec
16 |
Final Exam Period Discussion at 1:15 PM |
