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RGS 200

I.  TITLE: Introduction to Religious Phenomena

II.  CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
An exploration of some important and typical ways of being religious, together with an introduction to basic issues in the study of religious life and thought.

III.  PURPOSE:
To survey several important religious traditions with a focus both on what is distinctive to each tradition and on frequently-found ways in which humans are and have been religious. (Religiosity is viewed as a world-historical phenomenon.  The approach is non-partisan, scholarly, and comparative. The course also takes a close look at current global religious trends and issues.)
A.  encourages mature, independent thought and expression through effective oral and written communication

1. Students are prepared to write essays on examinations and a 5-7 page term Worship Paper which are evaluated for the maturity and effectiveness of written communication;
2. Student contributions to a wide-ranging, multi-thread class online Conference are evaluated for maturity and independence;
3. Student oral contributions to class discussions are evaluated for maturity and independence.

1. Students are taught about different religious traditions using the methods of history, art history, stoical linguistics, sociology, anthropology and comparative religion.
2. In discussion, students are provided real-time feedback on their mastery of the descriptive-comparative method of religious studies, and are asked to demonstrate this method in writing in papers and examinations.

1. Students engage in a multi-thread computer-based discussion;
2. Students seek out religion on religion’s new frontier, the WWW.

1. Students read and hear about and discuss and are examined over the historical, and aspects of the philosophical artistic elements of major and minor religious traditions presented as key elements of the civilizations which bear them/ of which they are vectors.
2. Reading, the Instructor, and the various modalities of class discussion promote a questioning and reflective understanding of these elements.

1. The course specifically elicits from the traditions under study elements that bear on the formation of individual and corporate identity and organization (in political and economic terms), and the collisions among cultures and civilizations.
2. Students are asked to consider and are examined over the ways in which different religious traditions find themselves confronted by religious pluralism in different national contexts.
3. Students discuss the effects of religious pluralism and secularism on the traditions with which they are familiar in the U.S.
4. Students discuss and are asked to write about the collision of values among the Abrahamic traditions in the Near East, and among Eastern and Western Christianity and Islam in Bosnia.

1. the consequences of religious radicalisms;
2. religious intolerance practiced by religious majorities;
3. impediments to the exercise of religious liberty.

1. by the modeling of the descriptive and comparative approach to religious traditions by the Instructor -- in class, in live and online discussion -- and by the authors of the texts for the course.
2. by asking students to exhibit this approach in essays and papers, and to show their appropriate use of key technical terms.

1. by reminding students of religious persons who live -- whether as members of a religious majority or minority -- increasingly in the presence of people of other religious persuasions;
2. by comparing the historical and changing socio-political roles of different religious traditions;
3. by examining the strategies different religious peoples have adopted in the face of the  new realities.

1. by examining traditions whose scope and hope are global;
2. by focusing on religious phenomena in particular national areas;
3. by elevating religious aspects of current international events.

VI.  INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES:
A.  demands learning that is necessarily partly active and partly passive:  lecture with     discussion, monitored class discussion, videotape viewing and evaluative discussion, computer discussion, reading, web-browsing, writing (writing I take to be an active form of learning) are the appropriate planned activities.

Over twenty years’ experience shows that students bring to this course a wide variety of preparation by way of knowledge, experience and opinions about their own and/or others’ religious traditions.  This knowledge is widely various in its accuracy, and opinions are held with varying degrees of certitude or passion.  The introductory course requires a fluid interplay of a variety of learning modes -- partly the mastery of basis information, partly learning what one thinks through discussions and writing.  Most discussion will involve the entire class in order that no student misses a crucial exchange.

Most scheduled class time is used in lecture and discussion in connection with the assigned readings.  Lecture is designed to supplement and clarify the assigned readings.   Discussion sometimes arises from the assigned readings, more often from students’ and the instructor’s concerns and from some current event of national or global religious significance.

Sometimes -- and especially early in the investigation of a particular subject, when it may be useful for students to share uninformed opinions -- smaller groups may be more appropriate.

B. requires a significant amount and variety of reading (textbooks, articles on reserve, class   conference on the mainframe, web material), writing (reading probes, examinations,    short papers, worship paper), and critical thinking (analyses of others’ religious     commitments and conduct required, of one’s own optional but inevitable; comparisons and contrasts of various cultures, including one’s own; evaluations of knowledge claims in religious studies, of competing modes of authority).

C.  both requires and encourages computer-supported resources.
Students are required to participate in a computer-based discussion which requires they

1. learn and demonstrate basic computer and Internet-use skills;
2. use the local mainframe for computer-enabled discussion and course materials.
Students are also afforded opportunity to
3. access course-related materials by web-browser.
4. discover religion’s latest frontier on the WWW.

VII. FIELD, CLINICAL, LABORATORY EXPERIENCES:
At least one visit as an observer to a religious worship service from a tradition not the student’s own is required in order to provide a basis for writing the “Worship paper” on what the student has seen. Detailed instructions for this assignment are distributed in a timely fashion.

VIII. RESOURCES:
Adequate classroom; TV-VCR use; ACTS support (training of students, tech support, software support); computer-lab access.

IX. GRADING PROCEDURE:
Grades are based on written work and course participation:

75% - 4 exams and a short written report over specific units (the weight of the exams are  proportionate to the amount of course time they cover).
Written aids are provided to prepare students for exams.  The exams require defining key terms and writing short essays.  The last exam has a cumulative section covering themes and concepts used repeatedly during the semester.

10% -   Worship paper (see VII. Field and Clinical Experiences, above).

10% -   daily written assignments;
There are frequent daily assignments -- most commonly a "Reading Probe" -- questions about the class reading, to which brief written answers are due at the beginning of class.  The two lowest daily scores are dropped.  Missed dailies may not be made up.

5% -  constructive contribution to class discussions, either in session or online or by contributing relevant information from current print-, video-, or online-resources.

Written work is evaluated (graded) on its competency -- how well you a question is answered or a thesis defended -- and not on the point of view that may be adopted.  The competency of written work includes its formal and stylistic excellences -- spelling, grammar, organization, etc.  In case of marginal grades, some consideration is given for consistent improvement of grades.

Work is graded according to the standards of the Undergraduate Bulletin:
  A = exceptionally high quality work (90-100%)
  B = good (80-89%)
  C = satisfactory (70-79%)
  D = poor, unsatisfactory for the college level (60-69%)
  E = failing, not acceptable.
 (Numerical interpretations of graded assignments are adopted for convenience in calculating grades, but the grades will not be altered to produce a normal distribution or 'curve' of grades for the class.)

Anyone below C-level at mid-term is expected to make use of the Learning Center, especially the Open Writing Lab.  Students are individually responsible for keeping track of how well they are doing in the class; but the instructor may be readily consulted in person or by e-mail or phone about strategies for improving the level of performance.

X. ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Regular class attendance is expected of all students:  (1)  Irregular attendance of freshmen and sophomores are be reported to the chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and to the office of Student Affairs; (2)  Missing 10% or more of classes is considered irregular attendance, and reported as a serious attendance problem; (3) missing more than 1/4 of all class sessions for reasons not excused warrant a failing grade.

Exams or papers missed for reasons approved in ad-vance may be made up without penalty within one week of return to class; thereafter, the grade on that assignment will be lowered 1/2 letter grade per week.

Absences are excused for two reasons:  extraordinary circumstances, and participation in university activities.  “Extraordinary circumstances” are defined as a death in the immediate family and other situations to be decided by the instructor in each particular case.  University activities are, for example, band, dance, debate, and sports.

XI. ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY:
Academic honesty is expected.  The students signature on each written assignment represents a pledge of adherence to the College of Humanistic Studies Policy on Academic Integrity (posted in the classroom).  No unsigned written work is accepted in this course.  This statement adopted by the Board of Regents, February 14, 1975, on Academic Integrity is vigorously enforced:

“Cheating, plagiarism (submitting another person’s material as one’s own, or doing work for another person which will receive academic credit) are all impermissible.  This includes the use of unauthorized books, notebooks, or other sources in order to secure or give help during an examination, the unauthorized copying of examinations assignments, reports, or term papers, or the presentation of unacknowledged material as if it were the student’s own work.  Disciplinary action may be taken beyond the academic discipline administered by the faculty member who teaches the course in which the cheating took place.”

1997-1999 Undergraduate Bulletin, p. 51

Note:  Faculty reserve the right to invalidate any examination or other evaluative measures if substantial evidence exists that the integrity of the examination has been compromised.

XII. TEXTS:
Required for purchase are standard brief surveys, e.g.:
       Michael A. Fishbane, Judaism (Harper-SanFrancisco, 1987)
       Sandra S. Frankiel, Christianity (Harper & Row, 1986)
       Frederick M. Denny, Islam (Harper & Row, 1987)
       H. Byron Earhart, Religions of Japan (Harper & Row, 1986)
(Although a decade or more old, these texts are of exceptionally high quality, and all discuss factors that are still prominent in the attempt to cope with the pluralism and multiculturalisms of modernity.)

Other texts:
Other assigned texts -- recent or scholarly serials articles, e.g. -- are on Library Reserve in Waterfield Library.

XIII. PREREQUISITES:
None

Last updated February 14, 2000. Designed and maintained by Kyosung Koo