REL150 Western Religious Traditions

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course explores the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as they have developed individually and in relation to each other.  Particular emphasis will be placed on the manner in which they have influence each other and how they have shaped Western civilization.  By the end of the course, students should have a basic understanding of the beliefs and practices of the three religions, how these beliefs and practices have developed,  how the three religions have interacted over the course of history, and how they have contributed to the way we think.

REQUIRED TEXTS

The following materials are required reading for the course.  Texts are available in the bookstore.
  • Amanullah de Sondy, Michelle A. Gonzalez, and William S. Green, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: An Introduction to Monotheism (Bloomsbury, 2021)
  • Maria Rosa Menocal, Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain (Back Bay, 2002)
**Other electronic sources, reserve materials, and biblical and Qur’anic passages; you will be responsible for procuring a bible and a Qur’an.

EXPECTATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Participation and attendance: My basic assumption is that we are mutually dedicated to the common cause of education conceived as the advancement of critical thinking.  Because of this basic assumption, I assume that you will come to class prepared and ready to participate in class discussion.  This means, first, that you will have completed assigned readings prior to the class meeting.  (Many of the readings are difficult and I do not expect you to understand them completely; I do, however, expect you to engage the material seriously and to ask about anything you do not understand.)  Second, I expect that you will be ready and willing to discuss the material, i.e., to raise questions, criticisms, thoughts, etc.  Class participation is worth 50 points toward your final grade.  I also assume that you will be in attendance and on time to all class sessions, barring unforeseen circumstances.  Each unexcused absence will result in subtraction of 5 points from your final general participation grade.
 Take-home assignments: You will be given two take-home essay assignments.  They will be open book, open note, and I will expect well written, i.e., cogent and grammatically correct, essays.  The assignments must be type-written, double spaced.  Spelling and grammar count, so proof-read carefully.  The take-home assignment will be worth 100 points each.
Examinations: There will be three in-class exams that will be composed of identification, short answer, and essay questions.  The exams will be closed book, closed note and will be worth 75 points each.
Final class activity: worth 25 points.

GRADING

A total of 500 points is possible for the class.  The point breakdown is as follows: class participation = 50 points; take-home assignments = 200 points (100 points each); exams = 225 (75 points each), final class activity = 25 points.  The grading scale is as follows:
460-500 points: A
450-459 points: A-
440-449 points: B+
410-439 points: B
400-409 points: B-
390-399 points: C+
360-389 points: C
350-359 points: C-
300-349 points: D
below 300 points: U
**A NOTE ABOUT GRADING: A grade is an assessment of your effort and your abilities; therefore, simply fulfilling the course requirements does not constitute an A!  Exceptional work will warrant an A; good work will win you a B; adequate work will get you a C; below adequate work gets you a D; a final grade of U means that your work has been unsatisfactory.  (A word of warning: I am a difficult, but fair grader, and I am always willing to discuss a grade with a student.)

ACADEMIC HONESTY

With regard to academic honesty, the Centre College Student Handbook states:
“A high standard of academic honesty is expected of students in all phases of academic work and college life. Academic dishonesty in any form is a fundamental offense against the integrity of the entire academic community and is always a threat to the standards of the College and to the standing of every student. In taking tests and examinations, doing homework or laboratory work, and writing papers, students are expected to perform with honor. In written and oral work for college courses, students will be held responsible for knowing the difference between proper and improper use of source materials. The improper use of source materials is plagiarism and, along with other breaches of academic integrity, is subject to disciplinary action. . . . If the instructor has a concern about a student’s academic honesty, the Associate Dean of the College must be notified” (Academic Honesty/Dishonesty).
The Academic Honesty policy will be strictly upheld.  We will use the services provided by “Turnitin.com” to aid us in this endeavor.

IN-CLASS COMPUTER USE POLICY

Unless you can produce valid documentation indicating that you must use a computer to take class notes, laptops and notebook computers may not be used in class.  This is for two principle reasons:
1) Hand-writing your class notes is a more active and engaged process, and hence is a more effective means of organizing class discussions than typing them.  2) The tendency toward multi-tasking during class, i.e., checking email, updating Facebook, etc., inevitably causes students to miss important material.  Unless informed otherwise, computers must remain stowed in the off-position until the class has come to a safe stop at the conclusion of the period.

ORIGINS AND BEGINNINGS

2/8: Introduction
2/10: Scripture and interpretation
  • Paul Ricoeur, “Writing as a Problem for Literary Criticism and Philosophical Hermeneutics”
2/12: The Jewish Abraham
  • Judaism, Christianity, Islam, pp. 12-14, 105-12
  • Hebrew Bible
Genesis 12:1-9
Genesis 15-18
Genesis 21-22
Genesis 25:1-6
2/15: The Christian Abraham
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 35-39, 112-14
  • New Testament
Matthew 1
Romans 2-6
Hebrews 3
Hebrews 8-12
2/17: The Muslim Abraham
  • Judaism, Christian, and Islam, pp. 46-48, 118-23
  • Qur’an
2 al-Baqarah: 84-142
6 al-An’am: 73-93
37 al-Saffat: 82-122
2/19: Abrahamic Religions?
  • Aaron Hughes, “Abrahamic Religions: A Genealogy”
2/22: Paper discussion
2/24: What is a religion?
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 1-9
  • Bruce Lincoln, “The Study of Religion in the Current Political Moment”

THE RELIGIONS: ON THEIR OWN AND IN RELATION

Judaism

3/1: Discourse – Exile and return
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 14-19, 23-25
  • Hebrew Bible
Exodus, chapts. 1-3, 32-35
Joshua, chapts. 1-6
3/3: Institution – Rabbinical Judaism
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 25-34
3/5: Practice – Ethical monotheism
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 127-32, 169-76, 193-99
3/8: Modernity – Who are we now?
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 34-35, 148-149
  • Count Clermont-Tonnerre, “Speech on Religious Minorities and Questionable Professions”
  • Proclamation of the Grand Sanhedrin
  • “Pittsburg Platform”
  • “Columbus Platform”
3/12: Modernity – Zionism
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 35, 209-14
  • Theodore Hertzl, “On the Jewish State”
  • “The Balfour Declaration”
3/15: First Exam

Christianity

3/17: Discourse – defining orthodoxy
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 39-44
  • Nicene Creed
  • Chalcedonian Creed
3/19: Practice – sacrificial atonement
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 93-96, 199-203
  • Augustine, “On Nature and Grace” chapts. 1-5
  • Sacraments–United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3/22: Community – defining the Christian
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 155-61
  • Tertullian, “On Idolatry” chapts. 18-19
  • Eusebius, “In Praise of the Emperor Constantine” Prologue, chapts. 1-2
  • Gelasius I, “On Spiritual and Temporal Power”
3/24: Modernity – The Reformation, the 30 Years War, and Westphalian Settlement
  • “The Reformation”
  • “The Thirty Years’ War”
  • Martin Luther, “Concerning Christian Liberty”
3/26: Modernity – Who defines truth?
  • “The Scientific Revolution”
  • “The Enlightenment”
  • “Five Fundamentals of the Faith”
3/29: Second Exam

Islam

3/31: Discourse – No God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 48-53, 72-82
  • Suras 1 and 47
  • “Muhammad’s Last Sermon”
4/2: Community – In all things be mindful of Allah
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 161-67
  • “What is the Sunni-Shia Divide?”
  • Sunnah, Selections
4/5: Institutions – The Qur’an, the 5 pillars, and shari’ah
  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, pp. 53-56, 138-43
  • “Law and Justice”
4/7: Modernity – Colonialism
  • “European Colonialism and the Emergence of Modern Islamic States”
4/9: Modernity – Revivalism and modernism
  • Sayyid Qutb, “Milestones,” Introduction
  • Fazler Rahman, “Islamic Modernism: Its Scope, Method and Alternative”
4/12: Third Exam

ENCOUNTERS, GOOD AND BAD: MEDIEVAL SPAIN

4/19: Beginnings
  • “Religious Coexistence in Medieval Spain”
  • Menocal, pp. 1-49
4/21: The caliphate
  • Menocal, pp. 53-101
4/23: The taifas
  • “Samuel Ibn Naghrela and the Jewish Community of Granada”
  • Menocal, pp. 101-18
4/26: Reconquest
  • Menocal, pp. 130-46, 189-200
4/28: Convivencia
  • Menocal, pp. 229-43
4/30: Christianity in power
  • “Muslims and Jews Under Christian Rule in the 13th Century”
5/3: Inquisition and expulsion
  • “Inquisition and Explusion”
  • Menocal, pp. 244-65
5/5: Conclusion
  • Menocal, pp. 266-83