FLORIDA
INTERNATIONAL
UNIVERSITY
Department of Religious Studies
REL 2011 Religion:
Analysis and Interpretation
______________________________________________________________________________
Instructor: Mr. Daniel Alvarez Class Hours: MW,
8:00 – 9:15 p.m.
Office Hours: TBA
.
Class Room: PCA 135
Office: DM 458A Spring 2008
E-Mail Address: Alvarezd@fiu.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an introduction to the study of religion. It will analyze various elements common
to world religions and their expressions.
In addition, it will examine the search for the transcendent and its
implications at both the personal and the social level.
TEXTBOOKS
Franklin Edgerton, Bhagavad Gita,
Harvard
University Press, 1972.
Thomas J. Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition (Wadsworth, 1971)
Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught (Grove Press, 1974)
Lavinia and Dan Cohn-Sherbok, A Short
History of Judaism (One World, 1994)
John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (Harper
Collins, 1994)
Annemarie Schimmel, Islam: An
Introduction
(SUNY, 1992)
COURSE STRUCTURE
In
this course the student will "immerse" him/herself in five
(5) of the major world religions, as introduced and interpreted by Hopkins,
Rahula, Fishbane, Schimmel, and Alvarez, which will provide the raw data for
analysis, comparison, and the application of the conceptual tools and categories
of the study of religion (for this course, the categories proffered by Smart in
the first chapter of his book).
To further enhance the appreciation of the religious dimension of the
human, the student will select two (2) religious traditions
outside his/her own for personal observation through visits to places of worship
(from the list provided by instructor).
The format of the field reports will also be provided by the instructor
(see end of syllabus)-. Films/videos
giving the student a unique audio-visual perspective into the rituals, symbols,
practices, sensibilities, "look and feel" of religious traditions selected for
study in this course will complement the lectures and discussions.
Last but not least, the reading of the Bhagavad Gita will afford the
student the opportunity to engage at a serious and sustained level one of the
major non-Christian Scriptures.
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
1. To provide the student with the "raw
materials" for the study of religion by immersing the student in the beliefs,
doctrines, rituals, symbols, (select) scriptures, and experiences (through site
visits) of five of the major world religions.
2. To facilitate the informed cross-cultural
comparison and evaluation of ways of being religious by focused study of select
world religions.
3. To introduce the student to the
interpretive categories for the study of religion as proffered by a renowned
religious scholar, Ninian Smart, and through the focused study and site visits
of select world religions assess/test their applicability to actual religious
phenomena.
4. To widen, enhance and enrich the
intellectual and spiritual horizons of the student by exposure to the spiritual
beauty, vitality, coherence, plausibility and richness of non-Christian,
non-Western approaches to the transcendent or ultimate reality.
5. To challenge the student to situate
him/herself if only for the duration of a term in the "shoes" of a practitioner
of at least one of the great world religions and to "see" the world as the
practitioner sees it, to adopt the practitioner's "perspective," to enter
sympathetically and creatively into the worldview of Buddhism, Hinduism,
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
6. To equip the student with the conceptual
tools and to provide the context for dialogue and discussion that will enable
him or her to live in an enormously complex, interdependent, and religious
plural world with patience, understanding, and appreciation for that which is
different, and in some cases irreconcilably different, from his or her own
"worldview."
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
As
a Gordon Rule course, written assignments are required of all
students in order to fulfill the State-mandated standards for this course. The Gordon Rule requirement will be met
by:
1. An 6-8 page Mid-Term Take Home Exam
(Essay format) (40%)
2. An 6-8 page Final Take Home Exam (Essay
format) (40%)
3. One (1) Site Visit Report, 4-5 pages,
based on visits to places of worship of select world religions represented in
the South Florida area.
The Site Visits must be written in
essay
form (20%)
All
written work must be typed, double-spaced, and in a "normal" size font (written
work submitted in large
font will not be acceptable); and any quotations should follow the manual of
style or the standard style recommended by FIU. Late work will result in the reduction of one half letter grade
(papers will not be accepted after one week late from date due and will receive 0
points).
This course may also fulfill the Critical Inquiry requirement of
the FIU core curriculum if the student earns a grade of "C" or higher.
A "C-" or lower grade will not
satisfy the Critical Inquiry requirement.
COURSE GRADES
Mid-Term Exam: 40% of final grade.
Final Exam: 40% of final grade.
Site Visit Report: 20% of final
grade.
GRADE CRITERIA
A-A- = Outstanding/Exceptional in terms of content
(grasp of concepts, depth of analysis and comprehension) and expression
(grammar, diction, syntax, style, organization/structure)
B+-B = Above average to Very Good
B--C+ = Good to above average
C= Achieving minimum standards
C-= Passing but barely meeting minimum standards
F=Not meeting minimum or acceptable standards
PLAGIARISM POLICY
Since this is a writing-intensive course, the student might feel tempted to
"borrow" materials from written sources or another person's work (such as
classmate) for the sake of fulfilling the Gordon Rule requirement, whether by
directly quoting a source or by paraphrasing it. Regardless of the best intentions, this
is known as "plagiarism" and will not be acceptable. According to Professor Christine Gudorf's
comprehensive characterization,
Plagiarism
is defined as "literary theft" and consists of the unattributed quotation of the
exact words of a published text, or the unattributed borrowing of original ideas
by paraphrase from a published text. On written papers for which the student
employs information gathered from books, articles or oral sources, each direct
quotation, as well as ideas and facts that are not generally known to the public
at large, or the form, structure or style of a secondary source must be
attributed to its author by means of the appropriate citation procedure [in our
course, the standard manual of style recommended by FIU]. Only widely known facts and thoughts and
observations original to the student do not require citations. (From Christine
Gudorf, Spring 1999, Religion 2011 Syllabus, 4, emphasis hers.)
However, extensive quotations from textbooks or other sources mechanically
inserted into paper for the sake of padding or bulk will not be accepted either. Your quotations should be selective and
should not be strewn throughout the essays overshadowing or disproportional to
your own original writing.
Turnitin.com Information
Class ID: 2158583
Password: 3nt3r
COURSE OUTLINE
Week 1
T
Introduction:
Syllabus, Requirements, Overview of course
R
The Study of Religion in the 19th century:
Historical vs. Dogmatic Method in the Study of Religion
Recommended Reading:
Ernst Troeltsch, “Historical and Dogmatic Method in Theology,”
(Right Click and choose Save As to Download) in Religion
in History (Fortress Press, 1991), 11-32.
Week 2
T
The Study of Religion in the 19th century (II)
Required Reading:
Alvarez, “Study of Religion in the West: 1900-1960” (link).
R
History, Relativism, and the Question of Truth
Week 3
T
The Question of Religious Truth and the Dimensions of Religion: One Truth, Pluralism, Relativism
Recommended Reading:
Ernst Troeltsch, “The Place of Christianity Among the World Religions,”
in Christian Thought: Its History and Application
(University of London Press, 1923).
R
Film: Indus Valley Civilization before the
Aryans
Week 4
T
The Hindu Religious Experience (I): Vedic Religion
Required
Reading: Hopkins,
Hindu Religious Tradition, 3-35; Edgerton, Bhagavad Gita, 111-119;
3-31 (to be read in that order).
R
The Upanishads
Required
Reading: Hopkins,
Hindu Religious Tradition, 35-51; Edgerton, Bhagavad Gita, 120-135;
32-61.
Week 5
T
SITE VISIT REPORT DUE (A-M LAST NAMES)
The Hindu Religious Experience (II): On the Threshold of Classical
Hinduism: Karma, Jñana, Bhakti
Required Reading: Hopkins, Hindu
Religious Tradition, 52-86; Edgerton, Bhagavad
Gita, 139-163; 62-91 (again, in that order).
R
The Hindu Religious Experience (III):
Classical Hinduism, Theism, and Devotional Piety
Required Reading: Hopkins, Hindu
Religious Tradition, 87-140; Edgerton, Bhagavad Gita,
164-178.
Week 6
SITE VISIT REPORT DUE (N-Z LAST NAMES)
T
Film: "330 Million Gods"
R
The Buddhist Religious Experience (I): Theravada Buddhism, The Four
Noble Truths
Required
Reading: Walpola
Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, 1-28.
Recommended: Film: "Siddhartha," or the novel by Hermann
Hesse
Week 7
T
Nirvana, Anatta, Pratitya Samutpada
Required
Reading: Rahula,
What the Buddha Taught, 29-50.
Recommended Reading: I.
B. Horner, “Buddhism: The
Theravada,” in R. C. Zaehner,
editor, The Concise Encyclopedia of Living Faiths (handout).
R
Film:
"Footprint of the Buddha"
Required Reading: Rahula, What the Buddha
Taught, 51-89.
Week 8
T
The Buddhist Religious Experience (II): Mahayana Buddhism: India, Tibet,
China, Japan
Required
Reading: Edward
Conze, “Buddhism: The Mahayana”;
“Buddhism: In China and Japan,” both in
R. C. Zaehner, editor, The Concise Encyclopedia of Living Faiths, 293-341
(handout).
Recommended: Film: "Little Buddha."
R
Buddhism in Japan
Video:
"Land of the Disappearing Buddha"
Week 9
T
MIDTERM EXAM DUE
Sunday 11:00 PM
The
Jewish Religious Experience: Israel, the
Pre-History of Judaism
Required Reading: Cohn-Sherbok, History
of Judaism, 1-40; Psalm 2, Isaiah 58, 61;
Jeremiah 7.
R
The Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism
Required Reading: Cohn-Sherbok, History
of Judaism, 41-71.
Guest Lecturer: Russ Shulkes
Week 10
T
Judaism from the Middle Ages to the Present
Required Reading:
Cohn-Sherbok, History of Judaism, 72-135.
R
The Christian Religious Experience: Early Christianity: Christianity in
the first two centuries and "Early Catholicism"
Required
Reading: Crossan, Jesus:
A Revolutionary Biography, 1-74.
Week 11
SPRING BREAK (March 19-24)
Week 12
T
Crossan,
Jesus, 75-201.
R
From the Reformation to the Rise of Historical Criticism in the 19th Century:
Required Reading:: Alvarez, “The Study of
Religion in the West: 1800-1960s.”
(handout).
Week 13
T
The Muslim Religious Experience:
"There is no God but Allah and Muhammed is His Messenger"
Required
Reading: Schimmel,
Islam, 1-57.
R
Film: "There is no God but God"
Week 14
T
The evolution of Muslim Law and Theology in the Middle Ages to the Reform
Movements in the 18th and 19th centuries
Required Reading: Schimmel, Islam,
59-100.
R
The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism: The Struggle for Islam
Required Reading:
Schimmel, Islam, 101-144.
Week 15
T
Film:
"The Message" (Part I)
R
Film:
"The Message" (Part II)
Week 16
TBA
FINAL EXAM DUE
RELIGIOUS SITES OF SOUTH FLORIDA
A
REMINDER TO ALL STUDENTS THAT THE SITE VISIT AND REPORT MUST BE DONE FOR A
RELIGIOUS TRADITION THAT IS NOT THE
STUDENT'S OWN. If a a phone
number is no longer valid, call information and please let the instructor know
that the number(s) has been changed so that the directory can be updated. If you learn about other sites not
included below, please let the instructor know also.
I strongly recommend that you
visit the site first to familiarize yourself with location and the times
officially given by the personnel at the site.
Any information concerning service times given below are tentative.
ISLAMIC: the times to go are Fridays and Sundays
at 1:30 p.m. Female students can bring a scarf with
them if they don’t want to stand out, but it is not required.
Miami Gardens Mosque (Sunni)
4305 N.W. 183 street
Miami, Florida 33055
Mosque of Miami
(Sunni)
7350 N.W. 3rd Street
Miami, Florida 33126
305-261-7622
Masjid Al-Ansar (Sunni)
5245 N.W. 7th Avenue
Miami, Florida 33127
305-757-8741
Islamic
School of Miami
Masjid al-Noor (Sunni)
11699 SW 147 Ave
Miami, FL 33196
(305) 408-0400
Tasnim Uddin, Principal of School
Friday:
1:30 pm, Islam School
on Sundays: 10am-12pm
(behind the Exxon gas station)
Islamic Jafferia Association Imambara (Shia)
10554 N.W. 132nd Street
Hialeah Gardens, Florida 33016
(305) 557-6835
http://www.ijamiami.org/
Muhammad's Mosque # 29 (Nation of Islam)
5660 N.W. 7th Ave.
Miami, Florida
305‑756‑9136
BAHAI
FIU
Bahai Club
305-436-2490
Bahai Faith (South)
9300 S. Dixie Hwy.
Miami, Florida
305‑570‑8886
Bahai Faith (North)
4365 Rock Island Rd.
Ft. Lauderdale
(North of Commercial)
954‑524‑4084
BUDDHIST
(Nichiren
Buddhist)
Sokka Gakkai International
Miami Community Center
20000 S.W. 36th St.
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33332
954‑349‑5200
Avalokitesvara Buddhist Study Center (Buddhist)
7550 S.W. 82nd Court
Miami, Florida 33143
305-271-6361
267-8000
International Zen Institute of Florida
(Buddhist)
Dharma House
3860 Crawford Avenue
Miami, Florida 33133
305-448-8969
Wat Buddharangsi
Temple (Thai, Buddhist)
15200 S.W., 240th Street
Homestead, Florida
305-245-2702
Amida Temple ("Pure Land" Buddhist)
c/o
Kuang-Hsi Wu
12815 S.W. 119 Terrace
Miami, Florida 33186
305-385-2866
International Dharma Center (Buddhist)
P.O. Box 141728
Coral Gables, Florida
33114-1728
305-267-8000 (Ileana Davis)
Kagyu Shedrup Chöling (Tibetan Buddhist)
1905 Monroe Street
Hollywood, Florida 33020
954-920-1346
HINDU: Plan to attend Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m.
Shiva Vishnu Temple 5661 Dykes Rd.
(S.W. 160th Ave)
Pembroke Pines (Davie)
954-689-0471
webmaster@shivavishnu.org
(I-75 north, exit at Sheridan,
go west to Dykes Road,
then go north for about a mile, temple on the left)
The
South Florida Hindu Temple
13010 Griffin Road
Davie, Florida
954-438-3675
info@sfht.org
Hare Krishna Temple
3220 Virginia St.
Coconut Grove, Florida
305‑442‑7218
SIKH: Plan to attend Sunday mornings at 10:00
a.m.
Sikh Society of Florida
16000 Sterling Rd.
Pembroke Pines, Florida
954‑680‑0221
(Same directions as to Shiva
Hindu Temple,
but closer to Sheridan
on Dykes Road)
JAIN
Contact Professor Neptune Srimal
Srimal@fiu.edu
AC1-389
305-919-5969
JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN
Synagogues: Friday evenings, near Sundown; and
Saturday mornings, 8:00 a.m.
only.
Christian churches: 11:00 a.m. morning service. Consult Yellow Pages for synagogue or
church nearest where you live.
Students are encouraged to do detective work and find representatives of the
other major world religions in Miami
or the South Florida area: Taoism, Confucianism
(Chinese),
Shinto (Japanese), and Zoroastrianism (Persian/Iranian, and mostly
in Bombay, India)
FORMAT FOR SITE VISIT REPORT
Name of site visited
Site location (complete address)
Sect/branch and/or subsect
Phone number
Contact person (if any) Hours of worship: Days and Times
1. Fundamental beliefs (important if you are
visiting a sectarian group, and note differences in belief and practice from its
parent group), and sources of authority or basis for the religion or sect (such
as inspired scriptures, teachers, direct revelations, and the like). Specify both the religion and the sect or
branch you have visited (e.g., Hindu temple [Shiva, Vishnu, Hare Krishna];
Synagogue [Orthodox, Reformed, Conservative]; Buddhist sect [Pure Land,
Nichiren, Tibetan, Mahayana, Theravada] Islamic sect [Nation of Islam, Sunni,
Shia], etc.).
2. Why is the religion here in
South Florida, whose needs is the religion/sect meeting. Narrate the reasons for the appearance of
sect in South Florida.
*3. Describe
art, symbols, images, cultic objects (including sacred scriptures, if of
artistic or aesthetic merit) of the religion.
4. Distinctive dress, articles of clothing,
of members and/or clergy of the religion you witnessed during visit. Inquire as to whether normally there is a
distinctive dress, etc. in other locations.
Include how much adaptation or concessions to "American" ways of
worshipping you witnessed during your visit (for this you may also have to tap a
knowledgeable person for information).
*5.
Forms of ritual, worship/liturgy, special ceremonies, particular/distinctive
practices that you saw practice during your visit.
6. Major religious festivals or sacred days
(and their dates and days during the year) celebrated in
South Florida (and those elsewhere, such as in the country of origin
of religion or where religion is strongest).
*7. Describe
how what you saw and heard impacted you; did visit enhance your appreciation for
that particular religious faith and/or for religion in general; did you feel you
were "worshipping"?; did anything strike you in a negative way?; what was the
most positive result of your visit?
*
Starred/boldfaced items should constitute the bulk of your report, what you
should give priority to when you write your report.
Also, it is important that you make an effort to enter sympathetically
into the religion you will be visiting.
You do not have to agree with what you see and hear, but you should make
an effort to understand it. After
your visit and as you write your report, you will have the opportunity to
express your opinion about what you witnessed.
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