Philosophy of Religion
PHIL 201-F1
Study Helps & Philosophy Links
Spring 2025
10:20-11:20 Monday-Wednesday-Friday
John R. Howard Hall, Room 253
Email: fritzman@lclark.edu
Class Email: 25sp-phil-201-f1@lclark.edu
Office: John R. Howard Hall, Room 223
Office meetings, no appointment needed:
9:00-10:00, 11:30-12:30, 2:00-3:00
Monday-Wednesday-Friday
3:00-4:00
Monday-Wednesday
Zoom meetings, by appointment:
Tuesday-Thursday at
https://zoom.us/j/3469350737
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Friedrich Hölderlin: "Only those who are themselves godlike believe in the gods."
Thomas Jefferson: "We shall have our follies without doubt. Some one or more of them will always be afloat. But ours shall be the follies of enthusiasm, not of bigotry.... Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both.... I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."
Peter Schjeldahl: "God creeps in. Human minds are the universe's only instruments for reflecting on itself. The fact of our existence suggests a cosmic approval of it. (Do we behave badly? We are gifted with the capacity to think so.) We may be accidents of matter and energy, but we can't help circling back to the sense of a meaning that is unaccountable by the application of what we know. If God is a human invention, good for us! We had to come up with something."
Oscar Wilde: "Religion is like a blind man looking in a black room for a black cat that isn't there, and finding it."
This is an introductory course in philosophy of religion. There is one required text:
Readings in the Philosophy of Religion: East Meets West
Edited by Andrew Eshleman
Wiley-Blackwell, 2008
ISBN-10: 1405147172
ISBN-13: 978-1405147170
Readings in the Philosophy of Religion is available through the College Bookstore, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or Course Reserves at Watzek Library.
Download a free copy of Microsoft's Office 365 Education— which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Teams—at https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education.
In this course, we will study the Philosophy of Religion. We will examine the various concepts of God (or of the gods) that philosophers from different cultural, historical, and religious traditions have articulated, and the reasons those philosophers have offered to support their articulations.
You will engage meaningfully with, and demonstrate knowledge about regions of the world other than the United States of America (through reading, writing, conversation, and presentation). Topics of study include historical experience, cultural traditions, past and current social and economic realities, or transnational issues.
In this course, you will articulate or investigate a research question that engages with the scholarship of the field; identify relevant literature of the discipline or scholarship area and document your research process; use sources appropriately by considering the information creation process, authority in context, diversity in perspective, and the relationship of the sources to one another; and develop a polished written product whose final version incorporates revisions based on detailed faculty feedback.
There are also learning outcomes for students who major in Philosophy.
Presenting your Assessment (which is a draft of your Argumentative Research Paper) in class and then responding to questions are learning outcomes of this course.
In preparation for each class meeting, you should have read the assigned material. You should arrive in class with prepared questions or comments about the assigned reading.
In addition to the learning objectives stated above, another major goal of this course is to cultivate intellectual abilities which have general application. This course aims to provide the resources which will enable you to develop intellectual survival skills, question what passes as common knowledge and accepted wisdom, evaluate your own and others' positions, and formulate new ideas. Such skills consist in the ability to summarize the assigned material, and to write pieces in which ideas and arguments are articulated, criticized, defended. Such skills also involve developing the ability to think critically about the views of ourselves and others. Critical thinking consists in understanding several sides of a debate, and seeing both the advantages and limitations of an opinion. Learning to question your opinions is as crucial as arguing for them. If you only learn to give reasons for opinions already held, you merely are giving rationalizations for prejudices. You need to learn to think for yourself, developing, defending, and criticizing your beliefs.
In this connection, I am especially concerned that you develop the ability to discuss issues cogently and to write intelligent, reflective pieces in clear, grammatical English. It is important that you learn to think, in a disciplined way, about the books and issues they raise. Part of that discipline consists in being able to analyze, evaluate, and formulate arguments. This involves knowing how to identify basic assumptions, develop a line of reasoning, recognize the steps that lead to a conclusion, and determine whether an argument is sound. In this way, hopefully, you will develop intellectual curiosity and the competencies to reason logically, evaluate critically, communicate effectively, imagine creatively, and appreciate aesthetic and creative expressions of humanity.
You are encouraged to share your questions and observations with the rest of the class, and to engage critically with the material, myself, and each other. By participating in class discussions, you will encounter directly differing interpretations of the material, become aware of the history of these views, and be encouraged to develop your own critical perspectives. In interacting with the material and each other, you will acquire a knowledge and appreciation of self, society, human cultures, and the natural world. I intend that you discover what has been written and said concerning, in the words of Socrates, "the most important things"—questions about human character and the conduct of life. Such skills will enable you to succeed in subsequent courses and in endeavors outside of the classroom. Those abilities also will contribute to your development as educated citizens in a democratic society.
You will write a Précis for almost every reading assignment and a Research Exercise that teaches research skills. There will be one Argumentative Research Project that includes a Prospectus, an Assessment (a draft that is presented in class, and a Final Rewrite.
The Précis, Research Exercises, and Class Participation will be weighted together and will count for 20% of your final grade, the Prospectus will count for 5%, the Assessment will count for 20%, and the Final Rewrite will count for 55%.
The grading scale is:
A = 93%-100%
A- = 90%-92%
B+ = 86%-89%
B = 83% 85%
B- = 80%-82%
C+ = 76%-79%
C = 73%-75%
C- = 70%-72%
D+ = 66%-69%
D = 60%-65%
F = 0%-59%.
A Précis will be due almost every class session. Each précis will be one side of one typed page—never longer—double-spaced, with 1 inch margins on the right & left sides and the top & bottom. It must be at least 3/4 of a page in length. Use a 12-point Times or Times Roman font. There will be no spelling or grammatical errors in your précis. Your name will be typed in the upper right-hand corner. In each précis, you will summarize—in your own words, without using any quotes—the assigned reading's main claims, as well as the reasons which are given to support those claims. You will not include any opinion, evaluation, or commentary. At the bottom of each précis, or on the back, you will type one question that you have about the reading. This question must written prior to, not during, class.
The Assessment is a draft of the Argumentative Research Paper that is presented in classs.
The Argumentative Research Paper must be approximately 2000 words, typed, double-spaced.
To receive credit, the Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper must each be at least 1900 words and no more than 2100 words.
It is crucial that you critically engage with the material. You might argue that a claim that an author makes is incorrect, for example, or that a criticism in the secondary literature is incorrect. Alternatively, you might argue that an interpretation advanced in the secondary literature is incorrect. Your paper must reflect an acquaintance with the secondary literature.
Watzek Library is an essential resource for the work you will do in this couse. Jim Bunnelle, the librarian for Philosophy, can help you throughout your research process. You can arrange a one-on-one appointment with Jim by emailing him at bunnelle@lclark.edu. You may also want to explore the Datebase and Reference Resources on the Philosophy subject guide for https://library.lclark.edu/philosophy.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy will be useful.
Google Scholar and the Philosopher's Index will be vital for the Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper.
The Chicago Manual of Style's Citation Quick Guide is online.
There will be an Argumentative Research Paper, 2000 words, typed, double-spaced. It will be on the same topic as your assessment.
You're welcome to consult the Writing Center, located on the main floor of Watzek Library.
Also useful is the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University.
If you would find it useful to create concept maps, to help write your assessment or argumentative research papers, you can download the software to create them from IHMC Cmap Tools.
All work must be submitted when it is due. Late work will not be accepted and will receive no credit.
I will not accept late précis. You may be excuse from three précis.
However, your final grade for the course will be lowered by a full-letter grade if you do not submit four précis when they are due, the final grade will be lowered by two full-letter grades if you do not submit five précis when they are due, and you will be fail the course if you do not submit six précis when they are due.
This class will be successful only if there is a high degree of participation and attendance. Further, you will partially transition from being a studentwho only consumes knowledge to a scholar who also produces knowledge. So, you must be in class participating.
Your final grade for the course will be lowered by a full-letter grade if you have three unexcused absences, the final grade will be lowered by two full-letter grades if you have four unexcused absences, and you will receive an F for the course from the course if you have five unexcused absences.
Lewis & Clark College is committed to spiritual and religious diversity. You should review important dates on the syllabus to ensure that any potential conflicts between your religious practice and academic obligations will be addressed in advance. Students who will miss class in order to observe a religious holiday must notify me in advance of their absence and arrange to make up any missed work. Here is the Religious Holiday Observance and Student Absence Policy.
You may not arrive late to class. You will not be admitted if you are late and that will count as an absence.
You should be prepared to remain in class for the entire hour. Although there may be an occasion when there is a legitimate need to leave during class, this should happen only rarely. If you have to leave, you must minimize any disruption.
If you experience emergent health issues, mental or physical, communicate with me before class.
Serious illnesses and emergencies will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Prior to class, you must power down your phones and other electronic devises.
You may use a computer during class only for work that is directly related to the course.
Throughout the course you are expected to read carefully the assigned material. It is impossible to do well in this course without reading and studying the books. You should spend a minimum of three hours preparing for each class session. Read the assigned material at least twice and take notes on what you read. You are expected to attend all class sessions, come to class having read thoroughly the assigned material, and to contribute to the discussions.
Gorgias of Leontini maintained that "those who neglect philosophy and spend their time on ordinary studies are like the suitors who desired Penelope but slept with her maids." In philosophy, unlike ordinary studies, there are few right and wrong answers. There are better and worse arguments and ideas, however, usually in direct proportion to thoughtfulness and care. What is important is that you think for yourself, and that you develop and defend your own ideas. It would be an excellent idea to write drafts or outlines of your papers, and to have a comrade read them to check on spelling, grammar, development of arguments, and so forth.
You are strongly encouraged to discuss the class material, your ideas, your puzzles and difficulties with each other. A word to the wise: Find a study partner to discuss things with outside of class.
There's a Bollwood tune for every occasion. Click here.
When it comes to writing, though, do your own. That is the only way you will get the full benefit of your own efforts. I will be happy to discuss ideas with you, read outlines and rough drafts, and so forth. That is partly why I keep office hours.
A final word to the wise. It is not difficult to do well in this class, but it also is easy to do badly. Let me talk about the bad stuff first. You will receive a major grade reduction—or fail this course—if you do not read the material, seldom participate in class discussions, do not write your assessment or argumentative research paper, plagiarize, cheat, and so forth.
About plagiarizing and cheating. You must follow Lewis & Clark College's Academic Integrity Policy. You may never use ChatGPTor any other artificial intelligence or chatbot. If you plagiarize, cheat, or use AI, you will receive an "F" for the entire course (you will not be allowed to drop or withdraw from the course). It is never in your interest to plagiarize or cheat!
Now for the good stuff. With a concerted effort, you will do well in this class. To do well, you must participate in class discussions, read and study the assigned material, write the assessment and argumentative research paper, be in class (almost) all of the time, etc. I do not grade on a curve, and so there is no good reason why you should not get an "A" for the course!
Academic Support and Resources is the one-stop website for academic support offices. It has links to resources for Research and Writing, Advising and Accommodations, the Career Center, and Tutoring.
The Writing Center is available for remote consultations on Zoom all semester. There are two ways to work with the Center:
Drop in Peer Tutoring. Tutoring hours will be 3:00-10:00 PM on Sundays-Thursdays. No appointment is needed—just sign in through the website and you can usually see a tutor right away.
Appointments with the Director. You can book consultation appointments with John Holzwarth throughout the semester. Appointments are often available on short notice.
Course policy on disability accommodation. If you have a disability or learning difference that may impact your academic performance, you should request accommodations by submitting documentation to The Office of Student Accessibility. They will notify me of any accommodations for which you are eligible.
COURSE SCHEDULE
As a high-school student, when I asked my Sanskrit teacher whether it would be permissible to say that the divine Krishna got away with an incomplete and unconvincing argument, he replied: "Maybe you could say that, but you must say it with adequate respect."
—Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian:
Writings on Indian History, Culture
and Identity, (New York: Picador,
2005), page 5.
Week 1
Wednesday, January 22:
Read:
Malcolm Gladwell's "Group Think" in the New Yorker.
Ethan Watters, "We Aren't the World", Pacific Standard.
Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine, and Ara Norenzayan, "The Weirdest People in the World?", Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Volume 33:2-3, June 2010, pages 61-83.
Friday, January 24:
Andrew Eshleman, "What is Philosophy of Religion?", 1-10; précis.
Sign-up for an Assessment on Monday.
Characterizing Ultimate
Sacred Reality
Week 2
Monday, January 27:
Michael Peterson, William Hasker, Bruce Reichenbach, and David Basinger, " The Divine Attributes: What is God Like?", 21-30; précis.
Sign-up for Assessments.
Wednesday, January 29:
Rosemary Radford Ruether, "The Female Nature of God: A Problem in Contemporary Religious Life", 31-35; précis.
Friday, January 31:
Précis on the article that will be the focus of your Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper.
Discussion of (annotated) bibliography, reasons for citations, proper quoting (block or in-line).
Research Exercise for Monday: Find two articles that will be relevant to your Assessment. Provide one block quote and one in-line quote. List the articles in proper format for bibliography.
Week 3
Monday, February 3:
John B. Cobb, Jr and David Ray Griffin, "God as Creative-Responsive Love", 36-42; précis.
Research Exercise: Find two articles that will be relevant to your Assessment. Provide one block quote and one in-line quote. List the articles in proper format for bibliography.
Wednesday, February 5:
Sushanta Sen, "The Vedic-Upaniṣadic Concept of Brahman (The Highest God)", 43-51; précis.
Friday, February 7:
Christopher Ives, "Emptiness in Mahayana Buddhism", 52-58; précis.
Research Exercise for Monday: Find two additional articles that will be relevant to your Assessment. Provide one block quote and one in-line quote. List the articles in proper format for bibliography.
Week 4
Monday, February 10:
Chung-Ying Cheng, "Reality and Divinity in Chinese Philosophy", 59-66; précis.
Research Exercise: Find two additional articles that will be relevant to your Assessment. Provide one block quote and one in-line quote. List the articles in proper format for bibliography.
Wednesday, February 12:
Anselm of Canterbury, "How the Supreme Nature Exists through Itself", 67-68; précis.
Friday, February 14:
Avicenna (Ibn Sina), "Of the Unicity of God", 69; précis.
Exercise for Monday: Submit a 1-3 page Prospectus of your Argumentative Research Paper in which you:
(1) indicate your topic and, if possible, your thesis.
(2) if possible, describe the problem or issue to be treated.
(3) if possible, outline your anticipated procedure and probable conclusion.
(4) include an annotated bibliography of article to be consulted (a minimum of six articles, and a brief description of the relevance of each article to your project).
Week 5
Monday, February 17:
Prospectus of Argumentative Research Paper.
By 10:20 AM, submit your Prospectus as a .docx file, attached to an email.
Title your .docx file this way:
PHIL201_YourLastNameYourFirstName_Prospectus.docx
for example:
PHIL201_ArendtHannah_Prospectus.docx
Tuesday-Thursday, February 18-20:
Middle East and North African Studies Symposium
Wednesday, February 19:
Thomas Aquinas, "The Omnipotence of God", 70-71; précis.
Friday, February 21:
Thomas Aquinas, "Thinking and Speaking about God by Analogy", 72-73; précis.
Week 6
Monday, February 24:
Shankara (Samkara), "Everything Has Its Self in Brahman", 74-75; précis.
Assessment: Chance Hagey.
Wednesday, February 26:
Nagarjuna, "An Analysis of Nirvāṇa", 76-77; précis.
Assessment: Kai Sassa.
Friday, February 28:
Zhou Dunyi (Zhou Lianxi), "Non-Polar and Yet Supreme Polarity!", 78-79; précis.
The Role and Limits of Reason
in Supporting Belief in an
Ultimate Sacred Reality
Week 7
Monday, March 3:
Richard Taylor, "A Cosmological Argument for God’s Existence", 91-96; précis.
Assessment: Helen Mayfield.
Wednesday-Friday, March 5-7:
Wednesday, March 5:
William Lane Craig, "Al-Ghāzāli and the Kalām Cosmological Argument", 97-101; précis.
Friday, March 7:
J. L. Mackie, "Cosmological Arguments", 102-106; précis.
Assessment: Frances Courtemanche.
Week 8
Monday, March 10:
Richard Swinburne, "How the Existence of God Explains the World and Its Order", 107-112; précis.
Assessment: Daniela Dunajska and Allison Ryan.
Wednesday, March 12:
Robin Le Poidevin, "Are We the Outcome of Chance or Design?", 113-120; précis.
Assessment: Ben Naftali.
Friday, March 14:
Ramakrishna Puligandla, "The Message of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad: A Phenomenological Analysis of Mind and Consciousness", 121-125; précis.
Assessment: Willow Dias.
Week 9
Monday, March 17:
Karen L. Carr and Philip J. Ivanhoe, "Antirationalism in Zhuangzi and Kierkegaard", 126-140; précis.
Assessment: Kalin Gordon and Moss Kaiser.
Making Sense of Conflicting
Religious Truth Claims
Wednesday, March 19:
Søren Kierkegaard, "Truth is Subjectivity", 151-154; précis.
Assessment: Jo Franks.
Friday, March 21:
John Hick, "A Religious Understanding of Religion: A Model of the Relationship between Traditions", 364-373; précis.
Assessment: Sabrina Brooks.
Week 10
Monday, March 24:
Spring Break.
Wednesday, March 26:
Spring Break.
Friday, March 28:
Spring Break.
Midsouth Philosophy Conference.
Week 11
Monday, March 31:
Jerome Gellman, "In Defence of a Contented Religious Exclusivism", 374-382; précis.
Assessment: Angie Cummings.
Wednesday, April 2:
Brian Hebblethwaite, "John Hick and the Question of Truth in Religion", 383-389; précis.
Assessment: Jake Batroff.
Friday, April 4:
John B. Cobb, Jr, "A Process Approach to Pluralism", 390-394; précis.
Assessment: Lia Thorpe.
Week 12
Monday - Wednesday, April 7-9:
International Affairs Symposium
Monday, April 7:
Masao Abe, "A Dynamic Unity in Religious Pluralism: A Proposal from the Buddhist Point of View", 395-404; précis.
Assessment: Zoe Dixon.
Questioning the Foundations
of Inquiry and Mapping
New Territory
Wednesday, April 9:
Don Cupitt, "Anti-Realist Faith", 413-419; précis.
Assessment: Miriam Goldstein.
Friday, April 11:
The Festival of Scholars and Artists.
The Festival of Scholars and Artists is a campus-wide celebration of student work. It is an opportunity to discuss research, to exhibit, perform, appreciate art, and cross disciplinary boundaries. Although classes are cancelled, you are required to participate in the Festival, either by presenting your work or attending presentations.
Week 13
Monday, April 14:
Paul Badham, "The Religious Necessity of Realism", 420-425; précis.
Assessment: Nick Dunn.
Wednesday, April 16:
Class cancelled: Pacific APA.
Friday, April 18:
Class cancelled: Pacific APA.
Week 14
Monday, April 21:
Nathan Eric Dickman. 2018. "Feminisms and Challenges to Institutionalized Philosophy of Religion". Religions 9(4): 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9040113; précis.
Assessment: Morrison Northrop.
Wednesday, April 23:
Michael E. Zimmerman, "Heidegger and Buddhism", 465-478; précis.
Assessment: Luke Owen and Ryan Rodriguez.
Friday, April 25:
Roger T. Ames, "Li and the A-Theistic Religiousness of Classical Confucianism," 479-488; précis.
Assessment: Luke Blankinship and Emmett Olson.
Week 15
Monday, April 28:
William James, "The Will to Believe," 162-171; précis.
Assessment: Robert Gilmour and Frasier Shanker.
Wednesday, April 30:
Consultations on Argumentative Research Papers.
Friday, May 2:
Reading Day.
Week 16
Tuesday, May 6, 1:00 PM:
Due: Argumentative Research Papers.
Submit your Final as a .docx file, attached to an email. Title your .docx file this way:
PHIL201_YourLastNameYourFirstName_Final.docx
Update 21 April 2025