RLGN 208: Western Religions
Fall, 2002
| DATE | TOPIC | READING ASSIGNMENT |
| Aug 26 | Intro to the Course | . |
| Aug 28 | Abraham and the Western Monotheism | . |
| Aug30 | The Legacy of Biblical Israel | . |
|
CHRISTIANITY |
. | |
| Sept 2 | Jesus | Carmody 2 |
| Sept 4 | Early Church | Carmody 3 |
| Sept 6 | How the New Testament Came to be | Carmody 4 |
| Sept 9 | Augustine and the Creation of Christian Theology | Carmody 7 |
| Sept 11 | Monasticism and the Church | Carmody 8 |
| Sept 14 | Thomas Aquinas and Medieval Christianity | Carmody 9 |
| Sept 16 | No Class | . |
| Sept 18 | The Protestant Reformation | Carmody 5 |
| Sept 20 | Protestants and Protestantisms | Carmody 6 |
| Sept 23 | Christianity in Modern Times | Carmody 10 |
| Sept 25 | Modern Protestant Thought | Carmody 11 |
| Sept 27 | Roman Catholicism Today | Carmody 16 |
|
ISLAM |
. | |
| Sept 30 | Mohammed and the Founding of Islam | Ahmed 1 |
| Oct 2 | The Early Community and the 4 Righteous Caliphs | Ahmed 2 |
| Oct 4 | The Quran; the Hadiths | . |
| Oct 7 | The Islamic Empire Invented: Umayyads and Abbasids | Ahmed 3 |
| Oct 9 | The Sunni Tradition and the Shiite Opposition | . |
| Oct 11 | Islamic Rule from the Mongols to the Present | Ahmed 4 |
| Oct 14 | Islamic Theology and Jurisprudence | . |
| Oct 16 | Islamic Law: The Sharia' | . |
| Oct 18 | The Crusades | Ahmed 5 |
| Oct 21 | Fall Break | . |
| Oct 23 | Western Colonialism in the East | . |
| Oct 25 | Reform - Wahabbi and Mahdi-ism | . |
|
JUDAISM |
. | |
| Oct 28 | The Religion of Biblical Israel | Trepp 2 |
| Oct 30 | The Creation of "Judaism" under the Romans | Trepp 3 |
| Nov 1 | Pharisees, Saducees, Essenes | . |
| Nov 4 | The Talmud and its Religion | Trepp 13 |
| Nov 6 | Rabbis - students, scholars, saints | Trepp 14 |
| Nov 8 | Medieval Jewish Life | Trepp 18,19 |
| Nov 11 | Jewish Law; The Halakhah | Trepp 20,21 |
| Nov 13 | The end of the Ghetto and the Start of Jewish Emancipation | Trepp 6 |
| Nov 15 | Modern Judaisms | Trepp 22 |
| Nov 18 | the Holocaust and its Impact | Trepp 9, 16 |
| Nov 20 | Zionism | Trepp 8 |
| Nov 22 | The Founding of the State of Israel | . |
|
THE CURRENT STRUGGLE |
. | |
| Nov 25 | Radical Islam and the Struggle with the West | Ahmed 6 |
| Nov 27 | Jews and Muslims in America | Trepp 7 |
| Nov 29 | Thanksgiving Break | . |
| Dec 2 | The Middle East since 1967 | . |
| Dec 4 | The PLO and the Palestinian Situation | . |
| Dec 6 | Oslo Accords and what went wrong | . |
1. There will be three brief "take-home exams", one in the middle of each religious section to test your comprehension of the reading material. The question will be handed out a few days before the answers are due, according to the following schedule. Answers should be about 2 typed-pages in length.
|
Question Handed Out
|
Answer Due
|
Topic
|
| Sept 14 | Sept 18 | Christianity |
| Oct 14 | Oct 18 | Islam |
| Nov 11 | Nov 15 | Judaism |
2. In addition you are to write four 5-page papers, one at the end of each section of the course. All three papers should deal with a single theme, which you will look at in Christianity, Judaism and Islam and the role of religion in the current Middle Eastern conflict. YOU MUST CLEAR YOUR THEME WITH ME BEFORE THE FIRST PAPER. Themes you might want to consider include:
You are free to propose other topics
The papers are due according to the following schedule:
|
TOPIC
|
DUE DATE
|
|
| Christianity | September 30 | |
| Islam |
October 28 |
|
| Judaism |
November 27 |
|
| Current Situation | December 13; 8:30am |
Sept 18 -- First Take-Home (8%)
Sept 30 -- Christianity Paper (17%)
Oct 18 -- Second Take-Home (10%)
Oct 28 -- Islam Paper (20%)
Nov 15 -- Third Take-Home (10%)
Nov 27 -- JudaismPaper (20%)
Dec 13 -- Current Situation (15%)