Religion 201      Fall Semester 2001 T-Th 1:30    Sci 405	Professor  Marilyn Gottschall Office: Platner 118 Office Hours:  M 2:00-3:00 Th 12:30-1:30 email:  mgottschall@whittier.edu phone:  907-4200 x 4423

Course Description:  The purpose of the course is to survey the three great monotheistic religions of the world -Judaism, Christianity, and Islam- by looking at them as living religions oriented toward a revealed set of scriptures.  The course will focus on the lives of believers or followers of each faith, noting especially the common orientation of monotheists in their reverence for God and observing the plurality of paths within each tradition.  Among other issues and practices, the course will examine the ways in which each of the religions 1) appropriates ancient texts for meaningfulness in the twentieth century, 2) considers the role and status of women within the religion, and 3) understands the conflict between an orthodox religious worldview and life in a modern, secular world. 

Required text:

Corrigan et al.     Jews, Christians, Muslims

Course requirements:

1.  Attendance:  Attendance at all class meetings, guest speakers, and field trips is required.  An excessive number of absences (3+) will result in the lowering of your grade, and perhaps failure of the course.  

2.  Field trips: There will be four field trips, one each to a Friday night synagogue service, to a Sunday morning Orthodox mass, to a Wednesday evening Pentecostal Bible study, and to a Friday noon Muslim prayer service.  Because the field trips are scheduled at times other than the regular class sessions, please put them into your schedule early on.   Field trips are an exceedingly important part of your learning about religious traditions; if you are absolutely unable to attend a field trip, see me in advance to arrange for an alternative assignment. 

WestRel  syllabus, page 2

3.  Work load: 

·         Readings and reading questions: In order to participate effectively in class, you must complete all readings on schedule.   The readings are not onerous; therefore I expect that you will keep current.  To assist you in this process, you will be expected from time to time, to respond in writing to brief discussion questions on the readings or to respond to in-class writing exercises about the readings.

·         Group presentations and paper:  Your group assignment is designed to have the class explore some of the ways in which each of these religions unfolds in a variety of cultural contexts.   For each of the three religions, you will select a particular aspect of religious belief and/or practice and create an activity or presentation which compares this aspect of the religion in two different contexts.  For example, if you were to choose a particular ritual (like Christmas), you would select two different cultures in which the celebrations occur.  Your task is to uncover the ways in which the practices and beliefs are the same in both cultures and how they are different.  You may select any aspect of the religion (dance, food, theology, music, architecture, gender, etc.  Be imaginative and have fun.  In addition each individual student will hand in a 5-6 page paper on your research.  More information to follow. 

4.      Exams and quizzes:

·         There will be two exams, one  immediately before Thanksgiving, and a final exam.  Since this is a class in comparative religions, each test will ask you to compare religion X with other traditions.

·         Quizzes:  There will be three announced vocabulary quizzes.

5.  Grading:

            Exams #1, #2, (100 points each)                                           200 points

            Quizzes  (20 points each)                                                     60 points

  Group presentation and paper                                                160 points   
            Participation, attendance                                                      60 points

   Reading questions                                                               100 points

                                                        COURSE SCHEDULE, READINGS, ASSIGNMENTS