Kristin Park
April 3, 2013
... the larger population? What is fundamentalism, and why does it seem to be resurgent on the global landscape?
religions, and why do they experience so much hostility from the larger population? What is fundamentalism
/
8. Beliefnet: a popular source with scholarly input
http://www.beliefnet.com/
9. Westminster Chapel Office website for listings of local places of worship (for
term project)
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/
http://www.religioustolerance.org/
http://pluralism.org/
http://www.adherents.com/
http://www.thearda.com/
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/
http://www.beliefnet.com/
9
Tentative Course Outline
*All readings are due for the day on which they are listed. RSC= McGuire
text. EG= Extraordinary Groups text. My WC = article available at course
site for My Westminster/Handouts link.
*Bring the assigned readings for the day to class so you can refer to them.
Date Topic and Reading
I. Defining, Classifying and Measuring Religious Experience and Institutions
Class #1 Introduction to course
How do we study religion sociologically?
Class #2 Studying Religion Sociologically
Defining Religion
Reading: Andersen, Margaret L. and Howard F. Taylor. 2000. “Doing
Sociological Research.” Pp. 33 - 57 from Sociology: Understanding a Diverse
Society. Wadsworth (at My WC). RSC Ch. 1
Class #3 Defining Religion
Reading: RSC Ch. 4 pp. 97-107,113-16,123-4. Geertz, Clifford. 1966. “Religion
as a Cultural System” Pp. 16-23 in Sociology of Religion: A Reader, edited by
Susanne C. Monahan, William A. Mirola and Michael O. Emerson. Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall (study questions #1) (My WC; titled “Geertz
Berger”)
Class #4 Defining Religion
Religion, Meaning and Belonging
--The concepts of “theodicy,” “anomie”
and “plausibility structures”
Reading: Berger, Peter L. 1967. “The Sacred Canopy.” Pp. 23 – 29 in Sociology
of Religion: A Reader, edited by Susanne C. Monahan, William A. Mirola and
Michael O. Emerson. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall (My WC)
(study questions #2); RSC Ch. 2 to p. 39
Class #5 Religion, Meaning and Belonging
Video: Faces of Culture: Religion and Magic
Religion in the News student reports: Sikh temple killings in Wisconsin, Aug.
2012.
Class #6 Theodicies
Video: Frontline: Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero
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Class #7 Discussion of films
Measuring Religiosity
Reading: RSC pp.107-113,124-27. Required mini-assignment: Bring your
religion definition and its derived measures, for use in a U.S. sample, to
class (bring TWO hard copies to class).
Class #8 Measuring Religiosity
Class #9 Religious Collectivities
--The Church-Sect Typology and its Revisions
--Discussion and Critique
Term Project proposal due
Reading: RSC Ch. 5, to p.168, pp.252-54 on “charisma”
II. Theories of Religion and Society Interfaces
Class #10 Theories of Religion
--Functionalist Theory: General Tenets
--Religion and Social Cohesion: Durkheim, Bellah
and the Civil Religion Thesis
Reading: RSC Ch. 6 to p. 208. Bellah, Robert N. 1988. "Civil religion in
America." Daedalus 117 (3): 97-118. (My WC)
Class #11 Symbolic boundaries and social integration: the social
constructions of American atheists
Reading: Edgell, Penny, Joseph Gerteis and Douglas Hartmann. 2006.
“Atheists as ‘Other’: Moral Boundaries and Cultural Membership in American
Society.” American Sociological Review 71 (April): 211 - 234 (My WC) (study
questions #3)
Class #12 EXAM 1
Class #13 Discussion of Secular Student Alliance petition at WC
Religion and Social Conflict and Control
• Marxist Theory on Religion
• Latin American Liberation Theology
Reading: RSC Ch. 6, pp. 208-220, 237-43
Class #14 Religion and Social Conflict and Control
• Application: Women’s religion and gender roles
Reading: RSC pp.127-148.
Religion in the News student reports: “Nuns on the Bus” (Vatican inquiry into
activities of American Catholic nuns)
11
Class #15 Religion and Social Change
• Symbolic Interactionist Theories: General Tenets
• Weberian Perspectives, including The Protestant Ethic
Thesis
Last day to submit Exam 1 take-home essay (to My WC)
Reading: RSC Ch. 7 pp. 236-7. Pp. 241 – 246 in Cuzzort, R.P. and Edith W.
King. 2002. Social Thought into the Twenty-First Century. Harcourt College
Publishers (My WC)
Class #16 Catch-up or consultations on term projects
Term project annotated sources due (Option A)
III. Sectarian Case Study: The Old Order Amish
Class #17 Religious Sects: The Old Order Amish
Video: American Experience: The Amish
Reading: Read “Amish Studies” link at My Westminster/Bookmarks or as below
(note that you need to move the cursor over to use the submenus within each
category): http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/
Class #18 Discussion of film
Religious Sects: The Old Order Amish
Reading: EG Introduction and Ch. 2
Class #19 Religious Sects: The Old Order Amish
Reading: Kraybill, Donald B. 2001. Pp. 295 – 332 in The Riddle of Amish
Culture (revised edition). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press (My WC).
Religion in the News student reports: Internal conflict and hate crimes in an
Ohio Amish community
Class #20 Informal visiting with the local Old Order Amish community: details
forthcoming
IV. The Religious Landscape in the Contemporary United States
Class #21 The Secularization Thesis and Debate
• Does religion disappear as a society modernizes?
Reading: RSC Ch. 8 to p. 295, 300-313, 318-21
http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/
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Class #22 The Secularization Thesis
• Stark and Bainbridge and Secularization as Self-
Limiting
• Rational Choice Theories of Religion
Reading: RSC pp. 295 - 300. Iannaccone, Laurence R. 1994. “Why Strict
Churches are Strong.” American Journal of Sociology 99 (5): 1180 - 1211(My
WC) (just skim Appendix) (study questions #4)
Class #23 American Religion: An Overview
• Individual religiosity
• Dominant organizations and forms
• Are/why are Americans so religious?
Reading: Peruse 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) at My
WC
Class #24 Religion in other “developed” societies
• European comparisons
Reading: RSC pp. 317-18. Work on notes for secularization debate
Class #25 Debate: Secularization in the United States?
Required mini-assignment: Bring 1-2 pages of arguments, with supporting
evidence for each, on your assigned perspective to class. Use course
readings and material as well as, secondarily, your own experiences and
observations
Class #26 EXAM 2
V. The “Cult” Type: New Religions and other “extraordinary groups”
Class #27 New Religions
• Why study them?
• How to classify them?
• Who joins and why?
• Why such hostility from others?
Reading: Dawson, Lorne L. 2006. Pp. 1 - 13, 82 - 94 from Comprehending
Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements (2nd edition). Oxford (My
WC)
Class #28 Conversion, Commitment and Disengagement
--Lofland’s stages
Reading: RSC Ch. 3 pp. 73 - 95
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Class #29 New Religions
• Explaining occasional violence
Last day to submit Exam 2 take-home essay (to My WC)
Class #30 The Jehovah’s Witnesses
Socratic Seminar facilitates discussion
Reading: EG Ch. 6
Class #31 The Nation of Islam
Socratic Seminar facilitates discussion
Reading: EG Ch. 8
Class #32 The Mormons
Socratic Seminar facilitates discussion
Reading: EG Ch. 4
Religion in the News student reports: Media and public response to the
Mormonism of Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney
Class #33 Guest speaker on Mormonism
Class #34 Scientology
Socratic Seminar facilitates discussion
Reading: EG Ch. 9
Class #35 Wicca/Neopaganism
Socratic Seminar facilitates discussion
Reading: EG Ch. 10
Class #36 Guest speaker on “New Age” Religion
VI. Sectarian Case Study: Global Fundamentalisms
Class #37 Religious Fundamentalism
• Defined
• Context for Emergence
• The Question of Violence
• Gaps in our Understanding
Reading: Emerson, Michael O., William A. Mirola and Susanne C. Monahan.
2011. Pp. 83 – 98 in Religion Matters: What Sociology Teaches Us About
Religion in our World. Allyn and Bacon (My WC)
Class #38 EXAM 3
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Class #39 Religious Fundamentalism
Video: Jesus Camp
Class #40 Religious Fundamentalism
Continuation of video
Course evaluations
Class #41 Presentations on term projects
Term project due to My WC by class time
Class #42 Presentations on term projects
**Additional student presentations to occur during the final exam period for
this class. The Fundamentalism paper is due to My WC at the beginning of
the Final Exam period.
Class #36 Guest speaker on “New Age” Religion
VI. Sectarian Case Study: Global Fundamentalisms ..."
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Subject Area(s):
- Religion
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Resource Type(s):
- Syllabus
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Class Level(s):
- College 300
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Class Size(s):
- Small
- Abstract:
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In this course we study religion as a social and cultural phenomenon, with a particular emphasis on the contemporary United States. We examine religious beliefs, practices, institutions and movements as they are shaped by their social context and in turn influence...