Northern Virginia Community College
REL 100 001A Introduction to the Study of Religion
Spring 2013
SYLLABUS
Calendar Week
Beginning Date
Tue., January 15
Activities
Lecture
Blackboard
Tue., January 22
Activities
Lecture
Blackboard
Readings/Activities
Chapter 1 What Is Religion?
Introduction and Course orientation
Blackboard overview
Chapter 1: What Is Religion?
Key Words and Names
Discussion Board (Computer or mobile device)
Describe what religion means to you. In this context how would
you have defined religion prior to reading this chapter? What
factors do you think influenced your choice of this definition?
Summarize the five reasons that the author gives for studying
religion: Can you think of other reasons? (Due: Monday, Jan. 28,
11:59 p.m.)
Chapter 2 Ways of Studying Religion
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 1 key words
Comments on chapter 1 Discussion Board
Chapter 2: Ways of Studying Religion
Key Words and Names
Discussion Board (Computer or mobile device)
"Religion and culture are like soul and body, a psychosomatic
unity. Religions have been, and are today, not only the
instruments of transcendent insight and supreme good but also of
horrendous evil. They liberate our souls, raise us to heights of
moral and spiritual wisdom and sanctity--but they are also capable
of enslaving the human spirit, and legitimizing and sanctifying
racial, ethnic, and sexual prejudice, hatred, and repression."
Summarize your thesis on the above statement. Be specific to give
examples. (Due: Monday, Feb. 4, 11:59 p.m.)
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Journal
Journal (Ways of Studying Religion) (Computer or mobile device)
Describe some of the features of Freud’s psychological
interpretation of religious belief. Summarize the conclusions of
Gordon Allport’s empirical study of religion with regard to ethnic
and racial prejudice. (Due: Monday, Feb. 4, 11:59 p.m.)
Tue., January 29
Activities
Chapter 3 The Sacred and the Holy
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 2 key words
Comments on chapter 2 Discussion Board and Journal
Lecture
Chapter 3: The Sacred and the Holy
Key Words and Names
Blackboard
Discussion Board (Computer or mobile device)
What are some of the important characteristics associated with the
experience of sacred power and what Rudolf Otto calls the
“numinuous” and the “mysterium and fascians”? (Due: Monday,
Feb. 4, 11:59 p.m.)
Journal
Journal (Computer or mobile device)
In Mircea Eliade’s discussion of sacred space, what does he mean
by a hierophany, an axis mundi, and an imago mundi? Given an
example of each of these forms of sacred space? (Due: Monday,
Feb. 4, 11:59 p.m.)
Tue., February 5
Activities
Chapter 4 Sacred Symbols, Myth and Doctrine
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 3 key words
Comments on chapter 3 Discussion Board and Journal
Lecture
Blackboard
Chapter 4: Sacred Symbols, Myth and Doctrine
Key Words and Names
Discussion Board (Computer or mobile device)
If religious discourse (parable, myth, and so forth) is fundamentally
symbolic and analogical and cannot be tested by scientific modes
of verification, by what criteria, if any, can religious claims be
tested for their truth or adequacy? Make a scholarly analysis of the
question with supporting references. (Due: Monday, Feb. 11,
11:59 p.m.)
2
Journal
Journal (Sacred Symbols, Myth and Doctrine) (Computer or mobile
device)
What are some of the characteristics of myth as a form of religious
expression and communication? What is the difference between
the functionalist, psychotherapeutic and phenomenological
interpretations of myth? (Due: Monday, Feb. 11, 11:59 p.m.)
Tue., February 12
Activities
Chapter 5 Sacred Ritual
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 4 key words
Comments on chapter 4 Discussion Board and Journal
Lecture
Chapter 5: Sacred Ritual
Key Words and Names
Blackboard
Discussion (Computer or mobile device)
Define a religious ritual. Why are rituals so common and
important? What are some similarities between religious ritual
and human play? (Due: Monday, Feb. 18, 11:59 p.m.)
Journal
Journal (Computer or mobile device)
Describe the symbolic meanings of some of the religious rituals still
present in our society, such as baptisms, bar mitzvahs, ordinations,
weddings, and funerals. What is a sacrament and what are some of
the characteristics of the sacramental rituals? (Due: Monday, Feb.
18, 11:59 p.m.)
Tue., February 19
Activities
Chapter 6 Sacred Scripture
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 5 keywords
Comments on chapter 5 Discussion Board and Journal
Final review for quiz 1
QUIZ 1 (administered during the second half of the class)
Lecture
Blackboard
Chapter 6: Sacred Scripture
Key Words and Names
Discussion (Computer or mobile device)
What are some common characteristics of sacred scripture? What
is meant by a canon? What are some reasons why religious
communities develop a canon of sacred scripture? What are some
of the common features of canonical texts? (Due: Monday, Feb.
25, 11:59 p.m.)
3
Journal
Journal (Sacred Scripture) (Computer or mobile device)
Outline the basic interpretive rules that Buddhists use in the
interpretation of their rich and varied body of sacred scripture.
Describe the interpretive principles that were used in the Middle
Ages to interpret the Christian Bible. What principle guided the
Protestant Reformers Luther and Calvin in their use of the Bible?
(Due: Monday, Feb. 25, 11:59 p.m.)
Tue., February 26
Activities
Chapter 7: Society and the Sacred
Go over quiz 1 in class
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 6 Key Terms and Names
Comments on chapter 6 Discussion Board and Journal
Final review for exam 1
EXAM 1 (administered during the second half of the class)
Lecture
Chapter 7: Society and the Sacred
Key Words and Names
Tue., March 5
Activities
Lecture
Chapter 7 Society and the Sacred (contd.)
Go over Exam 1 in class
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 7 Key Terms and Names
Chapter 7: Society and the Sacred (contd.)
Key Words and Names
Blackboard
Discussion (Computer or mobile device)
What are the differences between natural and voluntary religious
communities? Give examples of each type. What special problems
does the founded religion face? How does it deal with these
problems? (Due: Monday, Mar. 18, 11:59 p.m.)
Journal
Journal (Computer or mobile device)
Describe the chief characteristics of the sect-type religious group.
What are the distinctive features of the conversionist type sect, the
revolutionist sect, the gnostic sect, and the utopian sect? (Due:
Monday, Mar. 18, 11:59 p.m.)
March11-17
SPRING BREAK
4
Tue., March 19
Activities
Lecture
Chapter 8 Deity: Concepts of the Divine and Ultimate
Reality
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 7 Key Words and Names
Comments on chapter 7 Discussion Board and Journal
Chapter 8: Deity: Concepts of the Divine and Ultimate Reality
Key Words and Names
Blackboard
Discussion (Computer or mobile device)
What is cosmic dualism in the conception of deity or ultimate reality?
Contrast the dualism of Chinese yin-yang with forms of dualism in late
Zoroastrianism and in Gnosticism. (Due: Monday, Mar. 25, 11:59
p.m.)
Journal
Journal (Computer or mobile device)
What are some of the attributes of God assumed by monotheistic
religions? How do some of these attributes, taken together, pose
theological problems for monotheistic religion? (Due: Monday, Mar.
25, 11:59 p.m.)
Tue., March 26
Activities
Chapter 9 Origins of the Natural and the Social Order
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 8 Key Words and Names
Comments on chapter 8 Discussion Board and Journal
Lecture
Chapter 9: Origins of the Natural and the Social Order
Key Words and Names
Blackboard
Discussion (Computer or mobile device)
How might the cosmogonic myths in the Japnese Kojiki and Nihongi
have affected later Japanese society? (Due: Monday, Apr. 1, 11:59
p.m.)
Journal
Journal (Computer or mobile device)
Is creation by a divine craftsman the same as creation by decree or
creation from nothing? How, if at all, do they differ? What significant
features of the natural world, human life, and God are reflected in the
Genesis account of creation? (Due: Monday, Apr. 1, 11:59 p.m.)
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Tue., April 2
Activities
Lecture
Blackboard
Journal
Chapter 10 Views of the Human Problem
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 9 Key Words and Names
Comments on chapter 9 Discussion Board and Journal
Final review for quiz 2
QUIZ 2 (administered during the second half of the class)
Chapter 10: Views of the Human Problem
Key Words and Names
Discussion (Computer or mobile device)
What is the root of the human problem according to Christianity?
How do the Roman Catholic and the Protestant views of the imago Dei
and the Fall differ? What are some of the ways that sin is described in
Christianity? What does “original sin” mean? (Due: Monday, Apr. 8,
11:59 p.m.)
Journal (Computer or mobile device)
According to Confucianism, what is the root of the human problem?
How does the appreciation of such means as li, the rectification of
names, the five great relationships, and filial piety lead to a cure of
the human problem? (Due: Monday, Apr. 8, 11:59 p.m.)
Tue., April 9
Activities
Lecture
Chapter 11 Theodicy: Encountering Evil
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 10 Key Words and Names
Comments on chapter 10 Discussion Board and Journal
Final review for exam 2
EXAM 2 (administered during the second half of the class)
Chapter 11: Theodicy: Encountering Evil
Key Words and Names
Blackboard
Journal
Discussion Board (Computer or mobile device)
Explain the Hindu theodicy in terms of the karma-samsara-dharma
complex of doctrines. Why is this theodicy called the most “rational”?
(Due: Monday, Apr. 15, 11:59 p.m.)
Journal (Computer or mobile device)
Explain why the monotheistic conception of deity presents problems
for the monotheistic faiths with regard to the problem of evil. How
does Process theology attempt to address these problems? (Due:
Monday, Apr. 15, 11:59 p.m.)
6
Tue., April 16
Activities
Lecture
Chapter 11 Theodicy: Encountering Evil (contd.) &
Chapter 12 Ethics: Pattern of Moral Action
Go over Exam 2 in class
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 11 Key Terms and Names
Comments on chapter 11 Discussion Board and Journal
Chapter 11: Theodicy: Encountering Evil
Chapter 11 Key Words and Names
Chapter 12: Ethics: Pattern of Moral Action
Chapter 12 Key Words and Names
Blackboard
Discussion Board (Computer or mobile device)
Describe the several sources and features that are components of the
Jewish tradition of halakhah that serves as the foundation of Jewish
ethics. (Due: Monday, Apr. 22, 11:59 p.m.)
Journal
Journal (Computer or mobile device)
Describe the sources of the Islamic shari’a or Divine Law. Explain how,
through an appeal to these sources, various Islamic legal interpreters
might arrive at different judgments regarding a moral obligation such
as jihad. (Due: Monday, Apr. 22, 11:59 p.m.)
Tue., April 23
Activities
Chapter 13 Soteriology: Ways and Goals of Salvation
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 11 & 12 Key Terms and Names
Comments on chapter 12 Discussion Board and Journal
Lecture
Blackboard
Journal
Chapter 13 Soteriology: Ways and Goals of Salvation
Chapter 13 Key Words and names
Discussion Board (Shintoism) (Computer or mobile device)
Describe the major features of Luther’s experience of being liberated
and “made righteous” by grace through faith. Include his
understanding of the role of the law—that is, good works that are
commanded—of grace, and of the true motivation for doing good
works. (Due: Monday, Apr. 29, 11:59 p.m.)
Journal (Computer or mobile device)
How does eschatology relate to soteriology? What is Nirvana? How is
the term extinction to be understood in Theravada Buddhism? (Due:
Monday, April 29, 11:59 p.m.)
7
Tue., April 30
Activities
Chapter 14 Secularization—New Religious
Revitalization Movements—Contemporary Religious
Fundamentalism &
Chapter 15 Contemporary Challenges to Traditional
Religion: The Status and the Roles of Women—
Relations Between Religion and the State
Answers to any questions from last class
Review of chapter 13 Key Terms and Names
Comments on chapter 13 Discussion Board and Journal
QUIZ 3 (administered during the second half of the class)
CASE STUDY DUE
Lecture
Review for exam 3
Chapter 14 Secularization . . . . .
Chapter 15 Contemporary Challenges . . . . . .
Chapters14 & 15 Key Words and names
Tue., May 7
EXAM 3
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