| Ira Chernus PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER |
RLST 2400 PROF. IRA CHERNUS
RELIGION AND
FALL 2006
CONTEMPORARY
Lecture
(Section 010): Monday and Wednesday 12:00
- 12:50, Hellems 201
Recitations:
Section R011: Eric Schuck, Wednesday 2:00 –
2:50, Clare 302
Section R012: Ira
Chernus, Wednesday 3:00 – 3:50, Humanities
1B90
Section R013: Eric Schuck, Wednesday 10:00 – 10:50, McKenna 112
Please
be sure that you are registered for both the lecture and a recitation.
In this course we will look at
contemporary
The ideas in this course are
meant to be complex, difficult, and challenging. You are not expected to understand them all
perfectly or in complete detail. But you
should be able to grasp the main themes clearly, understand at least some of
them in good detail, and put some of them together to develop new ideas of your
own. Most importantly, by the end of the
course you should be seeing "contemporary society"—which means the
everyday world around you—in new, more complex, and more interesting ways.
The lecture sessions will be
principally for reviewing and discussing the main ideas in the assigned
readings, to make sure we understand them as clearly as possible. It would be best to read each assignment twice—once
before we go over it and once after. The
recitation sessions will be for questions, analysis, criticism, and more
discussion. (Be sure that you are
registered for a recitation section as well as for the lecture.)
The success of the course depends
heavily on your cooperation in doing the work, participating in class, and
thinking hard about the course material.
Your comments throughout the course, no matter how critical, and
suggestions for improvements will be most welcome.
I. How Social Scientists Interpret Religion
II. The Traditional Public Religion
III.
Postmodernism: The New Public Religion?
IV.
Challenges to the Public Religion
1. Liberation Theology
2. The Spirituality of Nature / Body / Place
V. A Postmodern Myth: The
Matrix
These
books are available for purchase in the Bookstore and on reserve in Norlin
Library:
Peter Berger,
The Sacred Canopy
Leonardo BOFF and Clodovis Boff,
Introducing Liberation Theology
Charlene SPRETNAK, The Resurgence of the Real
Other
required readings, as well as this syllabus and other materials pertinent to
the course, are at http://www.colorado.edu/ReligiousStudies/chernus/2400/index.html
You can access the web-based readings
easily from the syllabus on the website.
They are marked “WEB” in the syllabus.
AUG.
30: What Is Religion?
WEB "Religion
as a Cultural System: The Theory of Clifford Geertz"
SEPT.
6: RELIGION AND THE NOMOS
BERGER,
Chapter 1; WEB: Summary
of Sacred Canopy, chapter 1. The Vocabulary
List on the WEB should help you get through Sacred
Canopy.
SEPT.
11: Religion And Freedom
BERGER,
Chapter 2; WEB: Summary
of Sacred Canopy, chapters 2- 3
SEPT.
13: religion and alienation
BERGER,
Chapter 4
SEPT.
18: the meaning of Secular Society: Public and Private ReligIon
WEB: Summary
of Sacred Canopy, Chapter 5; BERGER, Chapter 6 (read at least 128
- middle of 139 and middle of 145 – 147)
SEPT.
20: THE foundations of modernity
SPRETNAK,
38 - top of 44, middle of 56 - top of 63, 217 - top of 222 (44 - 56 optional)
WEB: Study
Aids: Modernity
SEPT.
25: THE WORLDVIEW OF MODERNITY
WEB: "The
Myth of Objective Consciousness" (from Theodore Roszak, The Making of a Counterculture) pp. 210-229
EXAM # 1 DUE
SEPT.
27: Classical Liberalism
WEB: “The Cultural
Milieu: Liberalism” (from Edward S. Greenberg, The American Political System), 36-50
OCT.
2: Religion and the Meaning of the
Nation
WEB: "The
Shape of the National Covenant" (from John F. Wilson,
Public Religion in American Culture), 23-40
OCT.
4: Religion and the Meaning of the
Nation
WEB:
"Religious Meanings
of the Community" (from John F. Wilson, Public Religion
in American Culture), 102-117
OCT.
9: Modernism
WEB:
Ira Chernus, "Modernity,
Modernism, Postmodernism"; Study Aids:
Modernism; SPRETNAK, middle
of 167 - 173
OCT.
11: What is Postmodernism?
SPRETNAK,
bottom of 173 - 180; WEB: Todd Gitlin,
"The Postmodern Predicament";
Study Aids: Postmodernism
OCT.
16: Exploring Postmodernism
WEB:
"Fredric Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part
1
OCT.
18: Postmodern culture
WEB:
"Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part
2
OCT.
23: tHE POSTMODERN SUBLIME
WEB:
"Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part
3
OCT.
25: Postmodernism and social change
WEB:
"Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part
4
OCT.
30: The Postmodern ConservativeS
WEB:
Terry Eastland, “In Defense
of Religious America” (from Commentary Magazine), 41-45; Gary Wills, “Original
Sinlessness” (from Reagan’s America)
NOV.
1: CONSERVATIVES VS. LIBERALS
WEB: Robert Wuthnow, The Restructuring
of American Religion, 244-251, 254-259, 266-267, 292-295
IV.
CHALLENGES TO THE PUBLIC RELIGION
NOV.
6: liberation theology: INTERPRETING the world
BOFF
& BOFF, 1-30
EXAM # 2 DUE
NOV.
8: LIBERATION THEOLOGY: INTERPRETING THE WORD OF GOD
BOFF & BOFF, 30-65
NOV.
13: women, nature, and Theology
WEB: Carol
Christ, "Rethinking Theology
and Nature"
NOV.
15: Liberation Theology WORLDWIDE
BOFF
& BOFF, 66-95
NOV.
27: THE
SPIRITUALITY OF NATURE/BODY/PLACE
SPRETNAK,
11 - 36, 64 - 79
NOV.
29: THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
SPRETNAK,
81 - 100
DEC.
4: A CRITIQUE OF pOLITICS AND EDUCATION
SPRETNAK,
101 - 129
DEC.
6: AN ALTERNATIVE WORLD
SPRETNAK,
181 - 215
V. A POSTMODERN
MYTH
DEC.
11: interpreting The Matrix
Even
though you may have seen it too many times before, watch The Matrix
(the first film) again. Think about
how it deals with all the themes we've studied; you may see things in it you
have never noticed before.
DEC.
13: interpreting The Matrix
DEC. 19: FINAL EXAM
DUE IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES DEPARTMENT OFFICE
Your
grade in this course will be based primarily on three take-home essay exams.
They will be due on Sept. 25, Nov. 6, and Dec. 19. Your essay exams will be graded by your
recitation instructor. It will be to
your advantage to discuss the course material as fully as possible with your
instructor, both in class and outside of class.
It makes a lot of sense to discuss the ideas BEFORE you write the
essays, though you are also encouraged to discuss the essays after they are
returned to you with comments. We will
be happy to discuss with you anything related to the course material (which
means just about anything in the world) during office hours or at other times
by appointment.
There will be no
in-class exams and no in-class
final exam.
You
can improve your grade by active participation in recitation discussions,
showing that you have done the reading, attended lecture, and thought about the
material.
Ira
Chernus will have office hours in Humanities 284 on Wednesday 1:00 – 2:00: chernus@colorado.edu;;
303-492-6169; 720-494-9011.
Eric Schuck will have office hours
in Humanities 216 on Monday 1:00 - 2:00 and
Wednesday 3:00 - 4:00:
schuckeric@hotmail.com; 303-527-2930.
If you can't see us
during office hours, we will be glad to make an appointment for another time.
If
you need any special accommodations to enhance your learning in this course, we
will be glad to discuss that with you.
Please talk to Prof. Chernus or Eric Schuck.