Comparative Religious Thought I; Jeffrey Wattles, instructor
14218 PHIL 21020-003, Fall 2010; 9:55 MWF, BOW 219
This course introduces the student to beliefs, ideals, and practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as to methods and problems in the study of religion, experience in dialogue informed by current standards for interreligious dialogue, and experiential ways of cultivating—within the framework of one’s own beliefs—sympathy with the spirituality of various traditions. The quizzes require understanding as well as recall.
Diversity element: The course focuses on five religions and employs intellectually diverse methods—scientific, philosophic, and religious. Our approach emphasizes affirming our common humanity, understanding differences, and appreciating the wonderful uniqueness of each personality.
This course is classified as a diversity course-global, a Kent core-humanities, and an LER-humanities. The last day to drop or add is September 12, and the last day to withdraw is November 7.
Texts
1. Pocket Bhagavad Gita (Paperback) translated by Winthrop Sargeant (State University of New York Press; Pocket Edition ISBN-10: 0791420302). If you are unable to find a copy in local bookstores, there are also good translations by Stephen Mitchell, Barbara Stoler Miller, and (good but difficult) Franklin Edgerton.
2. Glenn Wallis: The Dhammapada (Modern Library. ISBN-10: 0812977270).
3. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha News Revised Standard Version, 4th edition, ISBN-13: 978-0-19-528955-8. This study Bible is required because of its academic quality with maps, essays, introductions, and copious notes produced by a diverse group of scholars.
4. The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an A. Yusuf Ali Amana Corporation; 11th edition (2004 ) (ISBN-13: 1-59008-026-2).
Expectations
We are a community of inquiry, and our interaction has a life of its own; so you are expected to attend regularly (unless you are sick), be on time, have the reading done, and be ready to participate. If you must miss more than a couple classes, let me know. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to get notes from someone else, to ask the instructor if you still have questions, and to ask the instructor for whatever may have been handed back during your absence. In case of an epidemic or other emergency, arrangements will be made for computer-based interaction. Finally, in some cases, there are materials to read and print out and bring with you from this website: http://sites.google.com/a/kent.edu/jwattles. The grade is based on participation (5 points); three papers (20 points each for the first two and 10 points for the last one); five quizzes (10 points each, all totalling 105 points).
Papers must be well written to receive a C or above. For a quick introduction to some of the standards, see http://www.personal.kent.edu/~jwattles/papers.htm . Writing—a skill that schools sometimes fail to teach—is important for your career, especially when so much communication is mediated by machines. English is a first or second language in many nations, and to use the language well is a service to our world. If I don’t fuss about writing, you should see what some folks hand in! So I fuss, and I generally get quite decent writing. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the Writing Center (http://dept.kent.edu/english/WritingCent/writngcenter.htm). Speaking of communication, the University obliges you to check your kent.edu e-mail (or whatever address may be used on Flashline). If I have messages to send to the whole class, e.g., to change an assignment, or keep in touch in an emergency, I will use those addresses.
My office hours are MWF 9:40-9:50 and 10:50-11:20, and TR 10:45-10:55 and 12:20-1:50 (Bowman 320H) and by appointment (330-672-0276; e-mail: jwattles@kent.edu).
This course may be used to satisfy a Kent Core requirement. The Kent Core as a whole is intended to broaden intellectual perspectives, foster ethical and humanitarian values, and prepare students for responsible citizenship and productive careers.
This course may be used to satisfy the University Diversity requirement. Diversity courses provide opportunities for students to learn about such matters as the history, culture, values and notable achievements of people other than those of their own national origin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, gender, physical and mental ability, and social class. Diversity courses also provide opportunities to examine problems and issues that may arise from differences, and opportunities to learn how to deal constructively with them.
University policy 3342-3-01.8 deals with the problem of academic dishonesty, cheating, and plagiarism. None of these will be tolerated in this class. The sanctions provided in this policy will be used to deal with any violations. If you have any questions, please read the policy at http://www.kent.edu/policyreg/policydetails.cfm?customel_datapageid_1976529=2037779.
University policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas for more information on registration procedures).
University policy requires all students to be officially registered in each class they are attending. Students who are not officially registered for a course by published deadlines should not be attending classes and will not receive credit or a grade for the course. Each student must confirm enrollment by checking his/her class schedule (using Student Tools in FlashLine) prior to the deadline indicated. Registration errors must be corrected prior to the deadline.
The Philosophy Department Grievance Procedure for handling student grievances is in conformity with the Student Academic Complaint Policy and Procedures set down as University Policy 3342-4-16 in the University Policy Register. For information concerning the details of the grievance procedure, please see the Departmental Chairperson.
Schedule of Activities
I. Hinduism: One goal—liberation—and many paths
Week 1. Monday, August 30. Today’s class is based on two documents from the instructor’s google website (URL listed above): In the Comparative Religious Thought area, go to “Methods in the study of religion” and then to Thoughts on Religion by Mohandas Gandhi. Print this out after class. After today, when the syllabus lists web resources, you are expected to read them before class, print out (or take notes), and bring them to class (unless you use a computer in class). Next, go to the Hinduism cluster and from there to Introduction to Hinduism.
Wednesday, September 1. (1) Read the Bhagavad Gita, chapters 1-3. (2) From the Methods section, study Problems of Comparing Religions and Religious Experience and the Phenomenological Study of Religion. (3) Today comes the assignment for Project 1: Spiritual centering and dutiful action.
Friday 3. Gita, chapters 4-7. Read, etc., in the Hinduism section, the documents on karma (what does it mean to live in a universe of cause and effect?) and The evolution of the God concept. What do the principles of karma yoga imply for the practice of worship?
Week 2. Mon. 6. Classes cancelled for Labor Day.
Wed. 8. Gita, Chapters 8-11—the height of the revelation of the God in the Gita. Prepare also from the Methods section, Concepts of truth in religion and God and the gods in the Bhagavad-Gita.
Fri. 10. Chapters 12-14. In Methods prepare An anthropological approach to religion. What happens if reductionism cannot be refuted with science or philosophy? Deanthropomorphizing and depersonalizing the concept of God. Passages that integrate the Brahmanism of jnana yoga with devotion, bhakti. Why think of the atman as the indwelling presence of a loving God? (6.29-31; 6.47; 9.29; 15.7; 18.61).
Week 3. Mon. 13. Chapters 15-16. Good, evil, and the role of moral disciplines: non- injury;
truthfulness; not stealing; sexual abstinence; and non-possession (to be written out from memory on the quiz).
Wed. 15. Chapters 17-18. What are the different types of faith?
Fri. 17. Writings of Rabindranath Tagore. Quiz 1 on Hinduism. This will cover the text, related materials from the course website, and class discussions. 30 questions, mostly multiple-choice, which may include: What proportion of the reading did you complete?
II. Buddhism: From the quest for enlightenment
to compassion for all beings
Week 4. Mon. 20 Dhammapada, Chapters 1-4. and the notes on pp. 154-56, the note beginning at the bottom of p. 105 and concluding at the top of p. 107, and note 38, pp. 119-20. Study also the website’s Introduction to Buddhism and from the Methods section, What is religion? Note: the four noble truths and the eightfold path are to be learned and written out on the quiz.
Wed. 22. Read chapters 5-8. Study also the web document on a Buddhist technique for dealing with difficult emotions. Today begins a focus on Buddhist aesthetics.
Fri. 24. Chapters 9-13 and the note on p. 186 on dwelling in loving kindness. Study the web document on the Meditation sending forth friendliness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.
Week 5. Mon. 27. Project 1 due. The lecture will address topics in ethics, including self-cultivation in the middle way (with reference to Confucianism) and non-violence to all sentient beings (including plants and animals—chapter 26, #405).
Wed. 29. Chapters 13-19. Discussion of project results. Presentation of the Oxherd paintings ( http://www.shambhala.org/dharma/ctr/oxherding/).
Fri. October 2. Chapters 20-26. The lecture will address teachings from the Dalai Lama.
Week 6. Mon. 4. Web document, The Heart Sutra. The lecture will take up some points in Buddhist philosophy including the distinction between the small truth for little minds and the large truth for great minds.
Wed 6. Study the web document, The religious philosophy of Tanabe Hajime.
Fri. 8. Quiz 2
III. Judaism: Righteousness and joy
through faith in, and obedience to, the one God,
the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the Lord of history
Week 7. Mon. 11. Genesis chapters 1-4 and 11-15 and Exodus 1-5. Consult the maps at the back of our text, and read the Introductions to the Pentateuch, Genesis, and Exodus. Study the Jewish history document. Introduction to the concept of God: Provable? The “four Gods” of American society.
Wed. 13 Discussion continued. Leviticus, introduction and chapter 19 (p. 142ff) and Deuteronomy introduction, chapters 5, 6, and 32.1-8. The project of demythologization. Handout on Project 2.
Fri. 15. Study the web documents on Moses’ concept of God and the Methods document on Feminist philosophy of religious language.
Week 8. Mon. 18. Isaiah, introduction and 40-55, plus the web document on The prophets. (What prophetic message would you write to the Kent State (or other) community?)
Wed. 20. Introduction to Psalms and Psalms 1, 8, 19, 22, 23, 42, and 113. (What psalm would you write?)
Fri. 22. Introduction to Proverbs and Proverbs 1-8. Read a short chapter on the golden rule http://www.personal.kent.edu/~jwattles/grjew.htm.
Week 9. Mon. 25. Job, Introduction and chapters 1-7, 31, and 38-42. The lecture will consider writings by Viktor Frankl and Elie Wiesel.
Wed. 27. How do you react and respond to evil or unwelcome events of different kinds, remote or close to home, big or small? Today we look at theodicy: God, suffering, meaning, and the limits of human understanding. Study the Methods document on The problem of evil.
Fri. 29. What are some features of Judaism today? The Quiz includes space for you to write out the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5.6-21).
V. Christianity: A gospel of love in the life and teachings
of Jesus of Nazareth . . . and its unfinished outworking in history
Week 10 (last week to withdraw). Mon. November 1. Review the maps at the end of our text, and read the Introductions to the Gospels and also to Luke and Acts, and read also Luke 1-2, 10:25-37, and 15, and Acts 1-2. Read the web document in the Christianity section, Profiles of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Wed. 3. Read the web documents, Jesus’ gospel in Mark, and What is Jesus’ gospel?
Fri. 5. Read Matthew (introduction and) chapters 4-7, 13:1-48, 16:13-20, and 18:12-35. Study question: How would you interpret the beatitudes (Mt. 5.3-12)?
Week 11. Mon. 8. Read a chapter on the New Testament golden rule and its levels of meaning: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~jwattles/gr%20NT.htm. Religious ethics: objections (it’s basically carrot-and-stick; it’s either arbitrary and dangerous or reasonable and unnecessary; the will of God is hard to find)—and replies.
Wed. 10. Study John 2.23-4.42, 7.14-10.18, and chapters 13-17. Read the web documents, The meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross and life after death.
Fri. 12. . . . continued discussion.
Week 12. Mon. 15. Project 2 due. Lecture on highlights of the history of Christianity.
Wed. 17. Romans 1-8. 1 Corinthians 13. Galatians 5.22-23.
Fri. 19. Current debates in science and religion. Quiz with space to write out the beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-12.
V. Islam: Dynamism through living the will of God
Week 13. Mon. 22. Qur’an, Surahs 1 and 92-114. Web documents on Introduction to Islam, and Dialogue (from the Methods section). Project 3 handout.
24 Surah 2.1-112.
26. Thanksgiving
Week 14. Mon. 29. Sura 2, 113-end.
Wed. December 1. Sufi poetry. The instructor will send you material for this class.
Fri. 3. Gazali and other Muslim philosophers.
Week 15. Mon. 6. Web document on Ali Shari’ati. Courage, death, and the will of God.
Wed. 8. Surah 8, evolving the concept of jihad and just war theory in the West.
Fri. 10. Beyond the “clash of civilizations.” Project 3 due.
Final Examination: Thursday, December 16, 10:15-12:30.