Schedule of Classes:
Religion 263 will meet from 3:10 -
4:10 in Patterson Hall 132.
The schedule of assignments, quizzes, etc.
remains negotiable until Friday of week 9. Changes must be made before this
date.
Office Hours:
I will be available in my office in Patterson 127 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 to 1:00, and by arrangement.
Classes:
| Date: 8/27 | 9/1 | 9/8 | 9/15 | 9/22 | 9/29 | 10/6 | 10/15 | 10/20 | 10/27 | 11/3 | 11/10 | 11/17 | 12/1 |12/8 |
Week 1 - Introduction: Who are the Chinese and what is Religon?
Wed. 8/27
Introduction to the course: the
class description, the webpage, textbooks, and additional readings. The Problem of defining
religion - especially Chinese religion. Consider Sommer's Chinese
Religion page vii and Thompson's Chinese Religion
"introduction" and pages 80 and 124.
Make sure that you know the location of China.
See these maps
(1)
&
(2).
Week 2 - Our Study of Chinese Religion, continued.
Mon. 9/1 An introduction to the idea of dimensional models of religion and their application to the Chinese context.
Wed. 9/3 Can we really understand another religion, especially from a
foreign culture? The “phenomenology” and “heterophenomenology” of religion.
Herbert Fingarette, Confucius-The Secular as Sacred as an example of
heterophenomenology; Chris Arthur, "Phenomenology and the Art of Story-telling,"
and “Notes from Fingarette.doc” on the class R: drive.
Fri. 9/5 Laurence G. Thompson's application of Frederick Streng's understanding of religion as a means of “ultimate transformation” (see Thompson's Chinese Religions p. 80).
Week 3 - An Introduction to the Historical Background: from pre-history to the end of the Former Han. See Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe (based mainly on the Annals of the Historian by Sima Qian).
Mon. 9/8 Gonick, pages 53-80. Prehistory to Confucius. For primary sources from this period, see Sommer 3 - 39.
Wed. 9/10 Gonick, pages 80-110. Confucius to the advent of the First Emperor. See Sommer 41 - 48.
Fri. 9/12 Gonick, pages 110-150. The rise of the Han to the writing of Sima
Qian's (Ssu-Ma Chien's) History.
See also Sommer 101 - 116.
Week 4 - Archaic Chinese Religion.
Mon. 9/15 Archaic Chinese Religion:
As well as Sommer 3- 39, see also
Sommer 49 - 70.
“The Early Chinese Worldview” (Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapter
one).
The
Classical Chinese Scriptures.
Wed. 9/17 Reading and discussion of some primary texts, including excerpts from Sima Qian's (Ssu-Ma Chien's) Shi-ji (Historical Records).
Fri. 9/19 Video: The Silk Road
Week 5 - Archaic Chinese Religion: continued.
Mon. 9/22 “Prescientific Theory and Religious Practice” (Thompson's
Chinese Religions, chapter two).
Wed. 9/24 QUIZ #1, see also the
recommended vocabularly for the course.
These links are available only to registered students and work only in Internet Explorer.
Fri. 9/26 “The Family: Kindred and Ancestors" (Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapter three).
Mon. 9/29 “The
Community: Gods and Temples” (Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapter
four).
These links are available only to registered students and work only in Internet Explorer.
Wed. 10/1 “The State: Emperor and Officials” (Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapter five).
Week 7 - Taoism (Daoism). See Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapter six and Sommer 71 - 83.
Mon. 10/6 “The Taoist
tradition” (Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapter six).
These links are available only to registered students and work only in Internet Explorer.
Wed. 10/8 Video: Taoism: A Question of Balance.
Fri. 10/10 Review. The topic and thesis of your paper should be determined by this time. Please submit a title and a brief (c. 50 words) outline of the thesis of your proposed paper.
Week 8 - Buddhism:
Wed. 10/15 Basic
Buddhism and its appeal in China.
These links are available only to registered students and work only in Internet Explorer.
Fri. 10/17 Ch'an, T'ien-t'ai, Hua-yen, and Ching-t'u (Pure Land) Buddhism.
Mon. 10/20
Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapter seven.
Wed. 10/22
Video: Confucius-Words of Wisdom.
Fri. 10/24 Video: The Last Emperor, part One and discussion.
Week 10 - Video, Review, and Quiz.
Mon. 10/27 Video: The Last Emperor, part Two and discussion.
Wed. 10/29 - Review.
Fri. 10/31 - QUIZ #2, see
also the recommended
vocabularly for the course.
These links are available only to registered students and work only in Internet Explorer.
Week 11 - Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapters nine and ten.
See this
map from the Perry-Castaneda Library map collection at the University of
Texas at Austin.
Mon. 11/3 - Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapters nine and ten: Cults and Sects and the Festival Year.
Wed. 11/5 - Martina Deuchler's “Neo-Confucianism in Action: Agnation and Ancestor Worship in Early Yi Korea.” These links are available only to registered students and work only in Internet Explorer.
Fri. 11/7 - Religion
in the Far East.
These links are available only to registered students and work only in Internet Explorer.
You must submit an initial bibliography for your term paper today. This should contain at least five appropriate sources
with a brief (no more than 50 words) description of the contents of each
source. You must have at least as many print sources as you
have Internet sources!
Mon. 11/10 - Student oral presentations of essay topics and theses.
Students will be asked to grade their fellow students' presentaions.
See here
for criteria useful for grading these presentations.
These links are available only to registered students and work only in Internet Explorer.
Wed. 11/12 - Student oral presentations of essay topics and theses.
Fri. 11/14 - Student oral presentations of essay topics and theses.
Mon. 11/17 - Student oral presentations of essay topics and theses.
Wed. 11/19 - Student oral presentations of essay topics and theses.
Fri. 11/21 No Class: Dr. Rennie will be at the annual national conference of the American Academy of Religion in Atlanta from Fri. 11/21 until Tues. 11/25. Classes will resume after the Thanksgiving break.
Note that this is the last day to submit a rough draft of your essay to be checked.
Week 15 - Conclusions. See Thompson's Chinese Religions, chapters eleven and twelve and Sommer 303 - 348.
Mon. 12/1 - Early Chinese Contact with Western Religion.
Wed. 12/3 - The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. (Sommer 281 - 316.) Communism in China and the contemporary situation. (Readings, Sommer 317 - 348).
Fri. 12/5 QUIZ #3.
Week 16 -
Mon. 12/8 - Ramon Panikkar,
“Is Human Rights a Western Notion?”
Your essays are due in today.
The last class.
I will hand out the take-home final in this
class.
Student Assessments of the course.
Reading Day, Tuesday, December 9th.
The take-home
final is due to be handed in at a time to be arranged.
It may be
turned in before this time but must be given to me personally. No excuses
about missing finals will be accepted.
Finals period December 19th
through 13th
Wednesday through Saturday.
Term ends Saturday,
December 13th.
All students will submit a typewritten or word-processed critical essay of 8-10 pages (double spaced, that is no less than 2,500 words). This paper is due in on Monday, December 8th.
You are required to obtain the approval of the instructor for your paper topic by Friday, October 10th.
You are required to submit an annotated bibliography for your paper by Friday, November 7th. This should contain at least five appropriate sources with a brief (no more than 50 words) description of the contents of each source. You must have at least as many print sources as you have Internet sources!
These are not reports but argumentative essays: that is to say they are editorialism rather than journalism--your own views are as essential as knowledge of your subject material. The standard of your technical writing as well as your accuracy and argument will be taken into consideration. To that end, here is a short list of common avoidable writing errors which should help you to avoid simple mistakes which will otherwise reduce your grade.
Papers cannot be accepted after the due date (Monday, December 8th).
You may submit a rough draft of your paper to be checked anytime up to Friday November 21st, the last class before the Thanksgiving Break.
General requirements of an argumentative essay .
1. Papers must have a title which states the topic of your essay. In order to maintain the focus on Religions from East Asia as the topic of this course your papers should be entitled "Religions from East Asia: . . . " with your topic or focus following the colon. Papers must be typed on standard 81/2 x 11 paper (no folders please!). Papers will be kept by the professor.
2. You must have a thesis, argument, and a conclusion. "Thesis" is defined as "a proposition laid down or stated, especially as a theme to be discussed or proved" (Oxford English Dictionary). You must explain to your reader why you believe that your thesis is correct, and clearly state the conclusion of your thought. This is mainly to help you to focus your thoughts.
3. The arguments and research which support your thesis should make the main body of the essay.
4. Source material (books, but don't forget articles in journals and encyclopedias, even newspapers and personal interviews) should be integrated into your argument as evidence, example, or illustration. You MUST document the sources of all quotations, statistical information, and paraphrased material.
5. Your conclusions must be clearly stated. They can be negative as well as positive. Don't worry if you find that your original thesis is insupportable. As long as your conclusion is based on your research negative results areas valuable as positive ones. Just re-write your introduction to reflect your results.
6. You must give a separate list of sources (entitled "References" or "Bibliography" or "Works Cited") at the end of your paper. In alphabetical order give the full name of each author, surname first, then first name, followed by the title of the work. Book and journal titles should be italicized (underlining should be avoided and used only if italics are not available, as in hand- or typewritten manuscripts). Article titles should be in quotation marks. Details of publication must be included. For example:
Batson, C. Daniel and W. Larry Ventis. The Religious Experience. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Ferré, Frederick. "The Definition of Religion." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 38, no.1 (1970): 3-16.
Fieser, James (Ed.), The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/, July 10th, 1996.
(For
Internet sources the minimum required information is author name, URL --that is
the "http://filename/etc.htm"--and the date you took it from the Internet.
REMEMBER: You must have at least as many print sources as you
have Internet sources!
Your bibliography does not count as part of your length (2,500 words as stated above).
