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RELIGION 1
Patterns of Religious Experience
Dartmouth College - Fall Term 1999
Prof. Susan Ackerman(301 Thornton); Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:30-3:00, and
by appt. For special times (exams, etc.), there will be additional office hours.
Prof. A. Kevin Reinhart(315 Thornton); Office Hours: Mondays, 3:00-4:30; Tuesdays, 1:30-3:30,
and by appt. For special times (exams, etc.), there will be additional office hours.
Office Hours and Blitzmail:Please come by during office hours, and not just before exams.
Blitzmail (which we try to check regularly, but cannot always master during busy times) is not
a substitute for a conversation in the office, nor is it a substitute for the syllabus. A substantial
discussion is far better done in person.
Further information about the course can be found atwww.dartmouth.edu/~rel1
I. LECTURES AND READINGS
Date Topic Reading
UNIT I: RELIGIOUS
COSMOLOGY
9/22/99 Introduction to the
Course; Cosmologies as
Maps of the World		 Mircea Eliade, The Prestige of the Cosmogonic Myth,”
Sourcebook
9/24/99 Cosmology in the
Religion of Israel		 Genesis, Chs. 1-24; 1 Kings, Chs. 6-8;
and Psalms 24 & 137 (all from the Hebrew Bible =
Old Testament)
9/27/99 Hindu Cosmology A Hindu Cosmology from The Kurma Purana,
Sourcebook; some further Hindu myths (handout)
9/28/99 Discussion:
Christ and Cosmology		 Prologue to the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18); Philippians
2:5-11; and Revelation, Chs. 21-22 (all from the
New Testament)
9/29/99 Discussion:
Christ and Cosmology		 Prologue to the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18); Philippians
2:5-11; and Revelation, Chs. 21-22 (all from the
New Testament)
10/1/99 Islamic Cosmology Excerpts from the Koran; Tales of the Prophets; both in
the Sourcebook

10/4/99 Cosmology in Puritan
America		 Wm. Bradford, Plymouth Colony: History Of Plymouth
Plantation; Cotton Mather, Nehemias
Americanus: The life Of John Winthrop Esq;
John Winthrop, Christian Charity: A Modell
Hereof; E. Wheelock, A plain and faithful
Narrative of the Original Design, Rise, Progress
and present State of the Indian Charity-School at
Lebanon, in Connecticut; all in the Sourcebook
10/5/99 Discussion: Reading
Cosmological Texts		 To be provided (handout)
10/6/99 Discussion:Reading
Cosmological Texts		 To be provided (handout)
UNIT II: RELIGIOUS
SOTERIOLOGY:
HUMANITY0S PLACE IN
THE COSMOS
10/8/99 The Concept of
Soteriology: The Most
Rational Soteriology in
Religious
History0 Hinduism		 The Bhagavad Gita(entire)
10/11/99 The Hebrew Bible:
Covenant and Salvation?		 Exodus, Chs. 1-24; Jeremiah, Chs. 11-21; Ezekiel, Chs.
12 and 24; Isaiah, Chs. 42-53; Job, Chs. 1-12 and
38-42 (all from the Hebrew Bible)
10/12/99 Discussion: The
Buddha0s Life		 Life of the Buddha, Sourcebook
10/13/99 Discussion: The
Buddha0s Life		 Life of the Buddha, Sourcebook
10/15/99 Suffering and
Soteriology: The
Buddhist Case		 W. Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, 16-66
10/18/99 Christianity: He Who
Has Hope is Saved		 Paul, Letter to the Romans (from the New Testament);
John Calvin, Eternal Election, by Which God has
Predestined Some to Salvation, Others to
Destruction, Sourcebook
10/19/99 Discussion: Shi î
Suffering and Salvation		 Imam al-Husayn b. Ali (handout)
10/20/99 Discussion: Shi î
Suffering and Salvation		 Imam al-Husayn b. Ali (handout)
10/22/99 MIDTERM EXAM
UNIT III: RELIGIOUS
COMMUNITY
10/25/99 Introduction to
Religious Communities;
the Case of the Caste
System		 Victor Turner, Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period
InRites de Passage; Kevin Reinhart, Mary
Douglas and the Study of Ritual and Community;
Hans Penner, The Religious Community in
Hinduism; all in the Sourcebook,
10/26/99 Discussion: Hindu
Ritual Communities		 U. R. A. Murthy, Samskara (entire)
10/27/99 Discussion: Hindu
Ritual Communities		 U. R. A. Murthy, Samskara (entire)
11/1/99 The Early Jewish-
Christian Religious
Community		 Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians; Acts, Chs. 1-6 (both
from the New Testament); Becoming A Christian:
Initiatio Christiana, Sourcebook
11/2/99 Discussion: The Jewish
Ritual Community		 Passover Haggadah(entire)
11/3/99 Discussion: The Jewish
Ritual Community		 Passover Haggadah(entire)
11/5/99 The Rituals of the
Islamic Religious
Community (Film)		 Malcolm X: Autobiography, Sourcebook
UNIT IV: RELIGION AND
MODERNITY
11/8/99 From Anti-Judaism to
Modern Anti-Semitism
(Film Night and Fog)		 The Gospel of John Chs. 2-5 and 18-21 (from the New
Testament); selections from the works of Martin
Luther and from Mein Kampf; both in the
Sourcebook
11/9/99 Discussion: Religious
Persecution, the
Holocaust, and
Modernity		 You must arrange to see the film Night and Fog before
discussion section. Details to be announced.
Elie Wiesel, Night(entire)
11/10/99 Discussion: Religious
Persecution, the
Holocaust, and
Modernity		 You must arrange to see the film Night and Fog before
discussion section. Details to be announced.
Elie Wiesel, Night(entire)
11/12/99 Max Weber: Political
Economy and Modern
Protestantism		 Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism, 35-128, 155-183
11/15/99 Fundamentalism Selections from Jerry Falwell, Listen America; Hal
Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth; and Pat
Robertson, The New World Order ; all in the
Sourcebook
11/16/99 Discussion: What
Happened at Waco?		 Bill Pitts, The Davidian Tradition; J. Phillip
Arnold,The Davidian Dilemma To Obey God or
Man? and David Koresh,The Decoded Message of
the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation; all in the
Sourcebook
11/17/99 Discussion: What
Happened at Waco?		 Bill Pitts, The Davidian Tradition0; J. Phillip
Arnold,The Davidian Dilemma To Obey God or
Man? and David Koresh,The Decoded Message of
the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation; all in the
Sourcebook
11/19/99 Women in Modern
Religion		 P. Trible, Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation;
E. M. Broner and N. Nimrod, The Telling; and
M. Daly, Radical Feminism, Radical Religion; all
in the Sourcebook
11/29/99 American Civil Religion Bellah, Civil Religion; Selections from Presidential
Inaugural Addresses; and Ronald Reagan: Remarks
at the Annual Convention of the National Association
of Evangelicals; all in the Sourcebook
12/1/99 The Rise of Religious
Nationalism		 Readings from the Serbian Contemplative Tradition,
Sourcebook; additional reading to be provided
(handout)
II. REQUIRED TEXTS (available from Wheelock Books)
1.Bible (New Revised Standard Version)
2. Miller, B. (translator) The Bhagavad Gita
3. Murthy, U. R. A. Samskara
4. Passover Haggadah
5.Rahula,W. What the Buddha Taught
6. Weber, M. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
7. Wiesel, E. Night
8. Religion 1 Sourcebook(contains other assigned readings).
III. REQUIREMENTS
1.
2.		 A 65 minute mid-term examination on Oct. 22. (approximately 25% of your final grade)
A 65 minute final examination, as scheduled by the Registrar. (approximately 25% of your final
grade)
Two take-home essays on set topics to be done either in conjunction with the mid-term examination
or the final examination. (approximately 30% of your final grade)
Mini-essays written and submitted (via the web-site) by 10 pm the evening before your discussion
section. Attendance at, and full participation in, weekly discussion sections. (approximately 20%
of your final grade)
3.
4.

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