Untitled Document
      
Ira Chernus  
PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

 

SYLLABUS

 

RLST 2400                                                                                                  PROF. IRA CHERNUS

RELIGION AND                                                                                        SUMMER 2010

CONTEMPORARY U.S. SOCIETY                              

 

ABOUT THE COURSE

 

                 In this course we will look at contemporary U.S. society, using the concepts and methods of academic religious studies as our basic tools.  The course will not focus on organized religion (Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, etc.).  Rather, we will give most of our attention to the values and cultural patterns that people in the U.S. tend to share in common—what we often call secular life.  We will see how religious studies can shed new light upon our everyday secular life. 

                 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 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.

  

COURSE OUTLINE

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

 

REQUIRED READING

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.

 

LECTURE TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

I. SOCIAL SCIENTISTS INTERPRET RELIGION

July 7:  What Is Religion? 

WEB  "Religion as a Cultural System:  The Theory of Clifford Geertz"; BERGER, Chapter 1;  WEB: Summary of Sacred Canopy, chapter 1.  The Vocabulary List on the WEB should help you get through Sacred Canopy.

July 8:  Religion, Freedom, and alienation

BERGER, Chapter 2; WEB: Summary of Sacred Canopy, chapters 2- 3; BERGER, Chapter 4

July 13:  modernity and 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); SPRETNAK, 38 - top of 44, middle of 56 - top of 63, 217 - top of 222 (44 - 56 optional); WEB:  Study Aids:  Modernity 

 

II. TRADITIONAL U.S. SOCIETY:  THE PUBLIC RELIGION

July14:  THE WORLDVIEW OF MODERNITY

WEB: "The Myth of Objective Consciousness" (from Theodore Roszak, The  Making of a Counterculture) pp. 210-229;  

WEB:  “The Cultural Milieu:  Liberalism” (from Edward S. Greenberg, The American Political System), 36-50

July 15:  Religion and the Meaning of the Nation

 WEB: "The Shape of the National Covenant" and "Religious Meanings of the Community" (from John F. Wilson, Public  Religion in American Culture)

 

III. POSTMODERNISM:  THE NEW PUBLIC RELIGION ?

July 20   From Modernism to Postmodernism

WEB: Ira Chernus, "Modernity, Modernism, Postmodernism";  Study Aids:  Modernism;  SPRETNAK, middle of 167 - 180;  WEB: Todd Gitlin, "The Postmodern Predicament";    WEB: "Fredric Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part 1; Study Aids: Postmodernism 

July 21: Exploring Postmodernism

WEB: "Fredric Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part 2

(MID-TERM EXAM DUE)

July 22:  Postmodernism, religion, and social change

WEB: "Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Parts 3 and 4

 

July 27: The Postmodern ConservativeS

WEB: Terry Eastland, “In Defense of Religious America” (from Commentary Magazine), 41-45; WEB: Gary Wills, “Original Sinlessness” (from Reagan’s America);  

WEB: Robert Wuthnow, The Restructuring of American Religion, 244-251, 254-259, 266-267, 292-295

 

IV.  CHALLENGES TO THE PUBLIC RELIGION

July 28:  Liberation theology 

BOFF & BOFF, 1 - 65

July 29: Liberation and Feminist theology

BOFF & BOFF, 66-95; WEB:  Carol Christ, "Rethinking Theology and Nature"

August 3:  THE  SPIRITUALITY OF NATURE/BODY/PLACE

SPRETNAK, 11 - 36, 64 - 129

August 4: A VISION OF AN ALTERNATIVE SOCIETY

SPRETNAK, 181 - 215

August 5: "watching television" ---  and review for final exam

August 6:  final exam due (in my mailbox in humn 273 by 3:00 PM)

 

EVALUATION:

Your grade in this course will be based primarily on two take-home essay exams. They will be due on July 20 and August 6.  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. 

                

OFFICE HOURS

I will have office hours in my office, Humanities 284, before class each day.  Or you can schedule an appointment by email:  chernus@colorado.edu;

 

If you need any special accommodations to enhance your learning in this course, I will be glad to discuss that with you.