This is a "cluster" course. All students who enroll in Religion 263 are also required to enroll in HIS 161: The History of China. REL 263 is a sophomore course and will be taught as introductory to the subject. A chronological survey will introduce students to indigenous Chinese religion and philosophy beginning in the Classical or pre-Confucian period (10th century BCE). There will be a brief introduction to the texts of that period and their major concepts. The development of the Confucian and Daoist traditions from their earlier forebears will be considered (6th century BCE). The introduction of Buddhism into China and its subsequent adaptations to the Chinese environment will be discussed (1st century CE). The interactions of the three traditions (San Chiao) in China will receive especial consideration. These traditions continued to interact without substantial outside influence until the European incursions of the modern period. The development of Chinese Communism in the contemporary period will be given close consideration with focus on the possibility of regarding Marxism as a competing religio-philosophical tradition.

Attendance and participation will constitute 15% of the grade, repeated absences will not only lose these percentage points but will finally result in a subtraction of points earned elsewhere.

Quizzes (x3) will be held to ensure that the required reading is being properly done. These will constitute a combined total of 45% of the grade.

Examinations. There will be a final worth 20% (There is no midterm exam).

Essays and Presentations. All students will submit a typewritten critical essay of 8-10 pages, double spaced, that is 2,000 to 2,500 words, due in on Monday, December 8^th. Students will have the whole of the semester to work on this paper and it will be their major opportunity to display their personal potential. In order to maintain an acceptable level of technical writing, students are asked to consider the information on this website. This paper will constitute 20% of the grade. Rough drafts of this paper can be submitted to me for comments and corrections up to Friday, November 21^st (one week before the final due date). The topic of this paper will be selected by each student and approved by me no later than week seven. (I will provide a list of sample essay topics but I much prefer that students use their own imagination in the selection of their topic.) An annotated bibliography must be turned in by week eight. Bibliographies should include a minimum of five acceptable sources. No more than two Internet sources should be used. Students will give short oral presentations of their papers to the class for peer review during weeks eleven to thirteen.

Larry Gonick, The Cartoon History of the Universe, Vols. 8-13. (New York, Doubleday, 1994. This is a 300 pp. cartoon history which devotes almost one-third of its content to a pictorial reproduction of Ssu-ma Chien’s Historical Records (Ssu-Ma Chien, also transliterated Sima Qian, lived from 145 BCE until about 85 BCE).

Thompson, Lawrence G. Chinese Religion: an Introduction, (San Francisco: Wadsworth, 1996).

Sommer, Deborah. Chinese Religion: An Anthology of Sources, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).

Other readings will be provided by the instuctor.

Recommended reading:

Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge University Press, 1996).

Wing-tsit Chan, A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy, (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963). This comprises over 800 pages of Chinese philosophical works, arranged in chronological order, and each introduced by a well-informed commentary.

Earhart, H. Byron, Japanese Religion, (New York: Wadsworth, 1982).

Fingarette, Herbert, Confucius--The Secular as Sacred, (New York: Harper and Row, 1972).

Ames, Roger and David Hall, Thinking Through Confucius, (Albany: SUNY Press, 1987).