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Course Description | Grading |
| Schedule | The Term Paper | Guided Reading |
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will be a study of the histories, narratives, rituals, and
scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other traditions from the Middle
East, with special attention to Judaism and Islam in the twentieth century. The
course will be divided into six sections:
(1) Ancient Middle Eastern Traditions, including religions of the Greco-Roman Empire and the Zoroastrian tradition;
(2) Judaism;
(3) The Christian Tradition;
(4) The Islamic Tradition;
(5) Indigenous Traditions;and
(6) The Contemporary Situation.
Guided Reading: The assigned reading must be done before the classes and class will involve discussion of the reading as well as explanatory lectures from the professor. Students will be asked to answer guided reading questions questions before class and to be ready to respond to those questions in class. It is part of the Guided Reading Assignments that students should ASK as well as answer questions in class. Make a note of anything that you do not understand and be prepared to raise those questions in class. See the first week's questions, for example.
GRADING:|
Assignment |
Number |
Each worth |
Total Worth |
|
Quizzes |
6 |
30 |
180 |
|
Term Paper |
1 |
120 |
120 |
|
Examination |
1 |
100 |
100 |
|
Attendance and Participation |
|
|
100 |
|
TOTAL POINTS |
500 | ||
You must attend classes. Failure to do so might lose up to 20% of your grade points. NO absences are regarded as "excused." If a student misses class because of sickness or bereavement, or for athletic, employment, or other educational purposes this still could damage their progress in the class. All absences will be recorded and after three, all students will have to assure the instructor that their absence was unavoidable, that they have made up for it appropriately, and that their performance in the class has not suffered.
Academic IntegrityWestminster College as an institution and I as an individual both pursue a
strict policy of academic honesty. Plagiarism: leading
your reader or listener to believe that what you have written or said is your
own work, when, in fact, it is not, will be treated severely. But
always remember that while using someone else's work without declaring your
source is dishonest, doing the same thing and citing the source is good
scholarship! Books must be cited in the correct bibliographic style (see here)
and personal sources can also be cited.
Your instructor reserves the right to use the plagiarism software at Turnitin.com.
SCHEDULE:
This class will meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:30 to 11:30 in Patterson Hall 105.
I will be available in my office in Patterson Hall 336 everyday from 9:30 until 10:30.
| Week: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 |
Fri. 8/31 Willard Oxtoby's "Personal Invitation" (handout available on My.Westminster).
See Guided Reading.
Here is a useful link for relevant Maps.
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Mon. 9/3 Preamble: "About Religion" by Amore and Hussain (O&H 4 - 26).
See Guided Reading.
Additional reading material for this section of the course is web-based document on Greco-Roman Religions:
The Eleusinian Mysteries and the Mysteries of Dionysus and Orpheus. Additional Reading:
See Guided Reading.
Wed. 9/5 Reading: O&H Chapter Two, pages 30 - 45. See Guided Reading.
Some Religions of the Roman Empire: Mithraism and Gnosticism.
Additional Reading:
Later Religion of the Greco-Roman Empire. See Guided Reading.
Also you can see On Gnosticism and
Mithraism One and
Mithraism Two for some extra background information.
Fri. 9/7 Reading: O&H Chapter Two, pages 45 - 65. See Guided Reading.
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Wed. 9/12 Reading: Willard Oxtoby on the Zoroastrian Tradition, pages 178 - 195.
See Guided Reading.
See also: Professor Rennie on Zoroastrianism (handout on My.Westminster).
Fri. 9/14 Quiz #1: Ancient Middle-Eastern Traditions.
Wed. 9/19 Reading: Chapter Three, pages 77 - 90.
See Guided Reading and see the class handout on
My.Westminster on the Documentary Hypothesis for information on the J, E, P, and D traditions and
here for information on the Hebrew Prophets.
Fri. 9/21 Reading: Chapter Three, pages 90 - 98. See Guided Reading.
Wed. 9/26 Reading: Chapter Three, pages 107 - 113. See Guided Reading.
Fri. 9/28 Reading: Chapter Three, pages 113 - 127. See Guided Reading.
Mon. 10/1 Reading: Chapter Three, pages 127 - 141.
See Guided Reading.
Jewish High Holidays on the web.
Wed. 10/3 Reading: Chapter Three, pages 141 - 162. See Guided Reading.
Fri. 10/5 Quiz #2: Judaism.
Wed. 10/10 Reading: Chapter Four, pages 185 - 204. See Guided Reading.
Fri. 10/12 Reading: Chapter Four, pages 204 - 227.
See Guided Reading.
Wed. 10/17 Reading: Chapter Four, pages 246 - 265. See Guided Reading.
Fri. 10/19 Quiz #3: The Christian Tradition
Mon. 10/22 Reading: Chapter Five, pages 268 - 278. See Guided Reading.
Wed. 10/24 Reading: Chapter Five, pages 278 - 291. See Guided Reading.
Fri. 10/26 Reading: Chapter Five, pages 291 - 297. See Guided Reading.
Wed. 10/31 Reading: Chapter Five, pages 305 - 312. See Guided Reading.
Fri. 11/2 Reading: Chapter Five, pages 312 - 320. See Guided Reading.
Wed. 11/7 Video: The Legacy of a Prophet, continued.
Fri. 11/9 Quiz #4: The Islamic Tradition.
Wed. 11/14 Reading: Chapter Six, pages 343 - 368. See Guided Reading.
Fri. 11/16 Reading: Chapter Six, pages 368 - 385.
See Guided Reading.
You must submit an annotated bibliography for your term paper by today.
This should contain at least five appropriate references.
Current Issues.
Wed. 11/28 Reading: Chapter Eight, pages 424 - 438.
See Guided Reading.
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Pluralism.
Fri. 11/30 Reading: John Hick, "Religious Pluralism," available as a Handout on My.Westminster.
Today is the last day that you can hand in a draft of your term paper to be checked.
Wed. 12/5 Quiz #6: The Contemporary Situation.
Fri. 12/7 Final class. Closing Discussion. Instructions for the final examination.
Student Assessments of the course.
Today is the deadline for your term paper.
Reading Day, Wednesday, December 12th.
Finals period December 10th through 14th
Wednesday through Saturday.
The final will be a take home examination that covers the whole semester's work.
All questions will be drawn from the set of questions already posed in the quizzes.
The Completed Take-Home Final Examination is due by e-mail by 4:30 on Friday December 14th
Term ends Friday, December 14th.
All students will submit a typewritten or word-processed critical essay of 10-12 pages (double spaced, that is about 3,000 words). This paper is due in on Friday, December 7th.
You are required to obtain the approval of the instructor for your paper topic by Monday, November 5th.
You are required to submit an annotated bibliography for your paper by Friday, November 16th. 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!
Papers cannot be accepted after the due date (Friday,
December 7th).
You may hand in a rough draft of your paper to be checked anytime up to
Friday November 30th.
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY.
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.
1. Papers must have a title which states the topic of your essay. In order to maintain the focus on Religions from the Middle East as the topic of this course your papers should be entitled "Religions from the Middle East: . . . " with your topic or focus following the colon. Papers must submitted as e-mail attachments.
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.
In-text citations can then be given in the form: (Author, page number) or, if the same author has more than one work listed in your bibliography, (Author year, page number). Thus: (Batson and Ventis, 62) or (Ferré 1970, 14) or (Fieser 1996, no page number).
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 (3,000 words as stated above).
