Religion 260 – Spring, 2000

Religions of the World

Instructor: Dr. Pamela J. Owens

Tuesday/Thursday

9:10 a.m. - 10:25 a.m.

K-H Information Center Room 202

Classes will start and end on time.

Office: van den Eynden Hall 305

Office telephone: (330) 823-2469

e-mail: owenspaj@muc.edu

Mail box for dropping papers or notes: department office in VDEH 205

I am happy to accept papers in my hand-in box on the MUC network or by e-mail attachment as a Microsoft Word file. Please e-mail me at the same time, so I will be sure to look for your paper.

I do not guarantee that I can open electronic files in formats other than Microsoft Word, unless they are saved as RTF (Rich Text Files). Always keep a copy of your work, no matter how you turn it in. Do not discard your papers until you receive your final grade in May.

Web page: www.muc.edu/~owenspaj

Syllabus available from web page, but handouts and assignments generally are accessible only from network electronic handout folder or in person.

Home address and phone number available to enrolled students

Voice mail always available in office, answering machine at home.

Office Hours: Usually will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2:15 - 4:00 p.m., plus by appointment, and whenever I'm in the office. If you can see that I am in, feel free to knock.

I teach almost all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so my office time on those days is very limited. I almost always answer e-mail as soon as it is received, so if you do not get a prompt answer, I probably have not been to my office yet that day.

Required Texts:

• Ellwood and McGraw, Many Peoples, Many Faiths
• Fisher and Bailey, Anthology of Living Religions
• There will be some additional handouts, including ones available only on electronic reserve through my hand-out folder.
• Supplementary books may be necessary or helpful, depending on what religion you represent or what project topic you choose. Details will follow.

Description and Purpose of Course:

This course will be organized as a model of the Parliament of World Religions, with each student serving as a representative delegate from one of the living religions of the world. The commonly recognized "Great Religious Traditions" will be studied, including their histories and some of their branches, but the living traditional religions of Native America, Africa, and the Black Atlantic will also be included. At the end of the semester students should be well-informed about the religion of most of the people they will encounter in life and will have a methodology for appreciating any new religions they encounter.

Course Requirements:

1. Attendance and participation in class activities
2. Notebook - to be reviewed by instructor during or following each vocabulary quiz
3. Several vocabulary quizzes. The lowest grade will be dropped. These cannot be made up.
4. A group presentation on "your" religion
5. Major project, done in pairs: web page or course syllabus (details to follow)
6. 2 or more Field Trips to services of worship or worship sites of world religions found near Alliance.
7. "Devotional reading" from "your" religion once during the semester
8. Participation in listserve
9. Religion in the news contribution to class
10. Final comprehensive essay exam

1. Attendance and participation in class activities:

You are young adults and will be treated as such in this class. I will keep a record of attendance not for grading purposes but for general reference if needed. You will not be successful in completing assignments or doing well on tests if you do not come to class and take notes. You will not receive credit for the in-class activities if you are not in class to participate.
Thus, you can see that regular attendance will result in higher grades. I will presume that those students who frequently miss class without notifying me in advance are less interested in a good grade. Missing or leaving my class early because of a need in another professor's class is not making a good impression on me. Let the other professor know you already have class if they ask you to meet at this time.
When you are ill or under great stress, or when you have a legitimate need to be absent (religious holiday, official college activity, family emergency, etc.), please communicate with me by telephone or e-mail (in advance, if possible, or after the fact, if necessary).
I frequently will communicate with the class through e-mail. It is imperative that you read messages from me promptly, especially if you have missed a class. If class is cancelled unexpectedly for some reason, such as illness on my part or some other unforeseen emergency, you must check your e-mail for a possible alternate assignment to substitute for the missed class.

2. Notebook: You are to keep a notebook for this class alone, containing the following sections

• Class notes
• Record of readings completed and brief (1-2) paragraph responses to each
• Answers to questions at end of chapters in text, when assigned
• A section for vocabulary to be looked up and remembered
• Handouts from me
• Clippings of current events in World Religion which you come across, or notes of stories you heard in the media. Be sure to date these.
• Notes and reflections from field trips or other experiences you have
• This syllabus, which should always be available to you both in class and when you are preparing for class.

3. Vocabulary quizzes: brief quizzes, approximately at the end of each section of the course

4. Group presentation introducing "your" religion to the rest of the class. You may use any method you choose and may focus on any aspect of your religion you feel is most important to present.

5. Major project, done in pairs: web page or course syllabus. You will work in pairs to develop either a web page or a syllabus for a course you (or someone) might teach. Many more details will follow.

6. Two or more Field Trips to services of worship or worship sites of world religions found near Alliance. I will supply a list of possible places and we will try to arrange group trips to the more "exotic" locations and/or events.

7. "Devotional reading" from "your" religion once during the semester. Each class will open with a brief reading from one of the religions of the world. Each of you should take a turn. It does not necessarily have to be during the time we are focusing on "your" religion. There will have to be some days with two, to get everyone in. A sign-up sheet will be available.

8. Participation in Religion 260 listserve: A listserve is set up for this class. You are required to "subscribe" to the listserve and to post to it at least 5 times during the semester. You must both reply to others and initiate a conversation at least once. Details for accessing the listserve will be supplied in a separate handout. Helpful hint: GroupWise 5 moves much faster than GroupWise Web Access.
A listserve can be subscribed to from a non-muc account just as easy as a muc one, or easier, so use whichever account you access more, or use both.

9. Religion in the News: Each of you should find an occasion of religion in the news at least once this semester. Bring that in to share at the beginning or middle of class. Keep clippings or notes of media stories in your notebook, even if you do not get a chance to share all of them.

10. Comprehensive Final Exam

Week 1: Tues - Thurs, Jan 11 - 13

• Introduction to course. Making choices of religions and groups.
• History of the Parliament of World Religions
• Ways of looking at religions.

Read: MPMF (Many Peoples, Many Faiths) chapter 1.
Answer review questions 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15 in your notebook.
Note: I will tell you what review questions to answer in later chapters in e-mail messages to the listserve. Other details of readings will follow in that way also. In addition, this on-line syllabus will be updated with the same details.

Monday, Jan 17 - MLK Day activities

You will receive credit for attending the panel discussion and at least one of the afternoon workshops. You should be sure your name gets on the attendance sheet at the workshop(s). Keep the issues of Religious diversity in mind during your participation and then reflect on the day (briefly) in your notebook.
If you are not able to attend the MLK day activities, see me for an alternate assignment.

Week 2: Tues - Thurs, Jan 18 - 20

• Continue discussion of methods of looking at religions. Picture day.
• Idea of "primitive" religions discussed (and dismissed)

Read: MPMF chap. 2, questions 7 & 8

Read Fisher, ch. 1; consider questions 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13

• Lecture on background to the religions of India

Read: MPMF chap. 3 (continues into next week), review questions 1-18, 21-23.

Week 3: Tues - Thurs, Jan 25 -27

• Hinduism - group presentation, Tuesday

Read Fisher chap. 3, review questions 3-5, 7-8, 10-11,13-15, 17-19.

Week 4: Tues - Thurs, Feb 1 - 3

Deadline to be subscribed to listserve (points off for not being)

• Jainism and Sikhism - both groups present on Tuesday
• Fisher, chap. 4, review questions 3 & 4; and chap. 11, questions 2, 3, 5, 6.
• Thursday: Wrap up Religions of India
• Begin background to Buddhism

Begin MPMF chap. 4, Fisher chapter 5 (continues into next week).

Week 5: Tues - Thurs, Feb 8 - 10

• Tuesday: Vocabulary Quiz #1(Religions of India)
• Complete reading MPMF ch. 4, and Fisher, chap. 5;
  also read the sections referring to Buddhism in MPMF ch. 5 (China and Japan)

Week 6: Tues - Thurs, Feb 15 - 17

• Quiz postponed due to Dr. Owens' illness last week
• Buddhism - group presentation, Tuesday
• Wrap up Buddhism on Thursday
• Confucianism present on Thursday

Week 7: Tues - Thurs, Feb 22 - 25

• Tuesday: Vocab Quiz #2 (Buddhism)
• Read MPMF chap. 5 and corresponding chapters in Fisher for Thursday
• Shinto - group presentation, Thursday

Week 8: Tues - Thurs, Feb 29, March 2

Thursday: Quiz #3 on the rest of the Asian religions covered thus far

Introduction to monotheism.

• Zoroastrianism

Read MPMF chap. 6 and corresponding sections in Fisher.

Week 9: Tues - Thurs, March 14 - 16

• Lecture on backgrounds and history of Judaism through the beginnings of Christianity
• Read MPMF chap. 7.

• Judaism - group presentation, Tuesday

Continue chap 7 and corresponding sections in Fisher.

Week 10: Tues - Thurs, March 21 -23

• Lecture on the history of Christianity
• Christianity: groups have the whole class to present if needed on Thursday

Read MPMF chap 8 and corresponding sections in Fisher.

Week 11: Tues - Thurs, March 28 - 30

Continue discussion of varieties of Christianity

• Thursday, Vocab Quiz #4 (Judaism and Christianity)
• Lecture on the background to Islam

Read MPMF chap 9

Projects due during first week of April (web page or syllabus)

Week 12: Tues - Thurs, April 4 -6

• Islam - group presentation, Tuesday

Continue reading chap 9 and corresponding sections in Fisher

Thursday, Vocab Quiz #5 (Islam)

Week 13: Tues - Thurs, April 11 -13

Native American religions - TBA

Week 14: Tues - Thurs, April 18 -20

Religions of Africa and the Black Atlantic - TBA

Week 15: Tues - Thurs, April 25 -27

• Dialogue among religions and presentation of projects
• The future of religion

Read MPMF chap 10 and remaining sections of Fisher

Final exam will be essay style and comprehensive.

For date, see college exam schedule. If you do not keep up all semester, you will not do well on the exam.

Other important information

• All work must be your own. If you have any questions about what is or is not plagiarism in completing assignments for this class, see me in advance of turning in the assignment. Since this is not a writing based class, this should not present a problem except perhaps with regard to the major project.
• Students for whom English is a Second Language, and others with a Learning Disability or any other special need for extra time should consult with me to determine whether extra time is needed for any aspect of this class.
• I reserve the right to modify this syllabus if necessary. Changes will be announced in advance, except for the cancellation of class for unanticipated emergencies.
• Inclusive language is expected in all written work and class conversations. This applies both to pronouns for human beings and for the divinity.
• Keep all of the work which I have turned back to you in this class until you receive your final grade. I am not responsible for any mistakes you may find in my assigning of your grade if you cannot show me the work you think I recorded or averaged incorrectly.

Typical day in Religion 260:

9 a.m., music begins, images may be projected

9:10 - "devotional reading"

9:15 - Introduction of the day's topic

9:20 - 9:45 - Lecture or other presentation; vocab quizzes come here.

9:45 - Stand up and stretch, maybe change seating arrangements or pass out materials, etc.

9:50 - Current event

9:55 - 10:20 - activity, discussion, or presentation

10:20 - wrap-up and clarification of upcoming assignments if needed.

10:25 - dismiss

This is a preliminary syllabus. Depending on the size of the class and the number of students interested in each religion, there may be slight changes. If we are able to speed up and allow more time for dialogue at the end, that would be great.

I will provide a break-down of how the grades will be calculated as soon as I get a feel for how the class is going.

Prentice Hall has a web site for our text book. We will look at it in class and see how to use it.

We may make use of it for purposes of review. The address is

http://cw.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/ellwood/

You will also be interested in the web sites for the Council for the Parliament of World Religions:

http://www.cpwr.org/index.html

http://www.cpwr.net/