REL 244A: Religion in America
Fall 2002
– La Salle University
T
6:15-8:55 – Olney Hall 219
Instructor: Andrew T. Dolan, Core Adjunct Professor of
Religion
Email: dolan@lasalle.edu
Text: Catherine L. Albanese, America,
Religions and Religion, 3d ed. (Wadsworth, 1999)
·
College-level homework
guideline: Budget two hours for
out-of-class work for every hour in class.
For our course, then, schedule approximately five hours and twenty
minutes each week for reading assignments.
·
Readings: There will be approximately 50 pages of
reading each week. Much of the material
covered in the readings will be new to you, and about 10% of the vocabulary
will require dictionary consultation.
Consequently, please allow sufficient time for careful reading and
re-reading of the assigned texts.
·
Quizzes: There will be quizzes in nearly every class
meeting. The material for the quiz will
be from the reading(s) prepared for that class session. The quizzes will be worth about 50% of the
course grade, though the exact value of each quiz will depend on how many
quizzes occur. There will be at least
one quiz grade dropped. The quiz will
be given at the start of class. Lest
class time be lost for those who are prompt to class, those who are
sufficiently late for class will miss the quiz. There will be no makeup quizzes.
·
Exam: After a focused review and preparation class
on 12/3, a cumulative exam is scheduled for the last class session. The exam will be worth about half the course
grade.
·
Carrot: Those who are neither late nor absence for
any reason through the semester will have the option of being exempt from part
of the final exam.
Schedule
8.27: introduction, syllabus, excerpts from papal encyclical Ex cordē ecclesiæ
8.30: Last day for late registration and change of
roster
9.3: Garry Wills,
“Jefferson: The Protection of
Religion,” in Under God: Religion and American Politics (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), 363-372 http://www.lasalle.edu/~dolan/2002/Jefferson.pdf;
Stephen L. Carter, The Culture of
Disbelief: How American Law and
Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion (Anchor Books: New
York, 1994), 1-22 http://www.lasalle.edu/~dolan/2002/Carter.pdf; Warren Nord, “Religion-free Texts: Getting an Illiberal Education,” Christian Century 14-21 July 1999: 711-715, available through the Connelly
Library subscription to ProQuest and at http://www.lasalle.edu/~dolan/2002/Nord.pdf
Focus questions:
1.
How is
the relegation of religion to the private, “spiritual” realm from the public,
political realm contrary to liberalism and democracy?
2.
Why is
the study of religion necessary both for an accurate understanding of American
culture and politics and as a bulwark for liberal education?
9.10: Wills, “The
Superman Trial” http://www.lasalle.edu/~dolan/2002/Superman.pdf
and “Scopes: Who Won?” http://www.lasalle.edu/~dolan/2002/Scopes.pdf; Gregg Easterbrook, “The Scopes
Monkey Trial” http://www.beliefnet.com/story/2/story_228_1.html and “The Scopes Trial vs. ‘Inherit the
Wind’” http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?boardID=677&pageloc=/story/2/story_226_1.html;
William Jennings Bryan’s summation of the Scopes trial http://www.beliefnet.com/story/2/story_224_1.html
Focus questions:
1.
Apart
from possible kinship among humans and other primates, how was the Scopes case
a “monkey” trial?
2.
Contrary
to popular perception, the issue for Darrow and Bryan may not have been a clash
between science and religion or progress versus biblical fundamentalism or even
biological evolution against Creationism.
Rather, views about social and political power seem to have been the
thinly veiled subtext of the trial.
Explain these views and how they were symbolized by competing theories
of evolution and Creation.
3.
Why is
the Scopes trial labeled “the Superman Trial” by Wills?
Friday, September 13: Last day for filing P/F option
9.17: David Loy,
“The Religion of the Market” http://www.bpf.org/loy-mkt.html;
Robert Bellah et al., “Individualism and the Crisis of Civic Membership,” Christian Century 113.16 (1996): 510-515; idem, “Taming the Savage Market,”
Christian Century
108.26 (1991): 844-849 [both Bellah articles are available through the Connelly
Library subscription to ProQuest; please select the 
Photo Image
option]
9.24: Albanese,
Introduction, “The Elephant in the Dark,” pp., 1-18, and Chapter One, “Original
Manyness: Native American Traditions,”
pp. 23-47
10.1: Albanese,
Chapters Two, “Israel in a Promised Land:
Jewish Religion and Peoplehood,” pp. 49-71, and Three, “Bread and
Mortar: The Presence of Roman
Catholicism,” pp. 73-100
10.8: Albanese,
Chapter Four, “Word from the Beginning:
American Protestant Origins and the Liberal Tradition,” pp. 102-147
10.15: Albanese,
Chapter Five, “Restoring an Ancient Future:
The Protestant Churches and the Mission Mind,” pp. 149-189
October 22: Mid-semester break
10.29: Albanese,
Chapters Six, “Black Center:
African-American Religion and Nationhood,” pp. 191-215, and Seven,
“Visions of Paradise Planted:
Nineteenth-Century New Religions,” pp. 218-248
November 5:
Albanese, Chapter Eleven, “Fundamentals of the New Age: An Epilogue on Present-Day Pluralism,” pp.
350-392
Friday, November 8: Last day for withdrawal with 'W' grade
11.12: Albanese,
Chapter Twelve, “Public Protestantism:
Historical Dominance and the One Religion of the United States,” pp.
398-430
11.19: Albanese,
Chapter Thirteen, “Civil Religion:
Millennial Politics and History,” pp. 432-461
11.26: Albanese,
Chapter Fourteen, “Cultural Religion:
Millennial Explorations of Dominance and Innocence,” pp. 463-500
12.3: preparation/review
for exam
12.10: Final exam
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