Theory and Method in the Study of Religion
Religion 352
Fall 2004

Taught by Omid Safi
contact:  osafi@mail.colgate.edu
office number:  (315) 228-7690

MW 2:45 to 4:00 pm, 202 Hascall Hall

 

This course is designed to introduce the advanced undergraduate student to theoretical debates, approaches, and perspectives within the field of religious studies.  The purpose is not to cover individual religious tradition as it is to introduce them to theoretical debates within the field of religious studies. 

Pre-requisites:

You are not required to be a religious studies concentrator for this course, but I do expect the students to have had adequate preparation in religious studies prior to signing up for this course.  In other words, check with me if you are not sure if you have sufficient background to dive into this course!
 

Aim of the course:
The course will aim to accomplish two goals: 

1)  render the history of the field of religious studies explicit, by studying its "origins" and "evolution" from the 18th to the middle of the 20th century [and indeed problematize the very notions of "origins" and "evolution" along the way...]

2)  Discussing the major theoretical breakthroughs since the time of Mircea Eliade.   As such, we will explore some of the feminist, post-structuralist, etc., critiques that have been made of the "History of Religions" approach that dominated the field in the 1960's. 

Assignments:

This course is being taught as a seminar.  The majority of this class will consist of close readings of primary sources, with heavy in class discussions.  There is simply no way of performing in this course without having done the readings ahead of time and coming to class prepared.


Required Texts:

Evaluation:

Your grade will consist of:

1)  In class performance:  (30%).  This portion will consist mainly of your in-class verbal participation, which has to be based on an informed reading of the assigned readings.  I will ask you to have one page summaries and analyses of the readings prepared with you.  These summaries "talking points" will be handed in, and you will get them back with a check, check plus, or check minus. 
 
2)  Report on an individual figure in religious studies (20%). The list of figures is provided below.

3)  5-7 page midterm (25%)

4)  5-7 page final (25%)

 

Tapping our toes in the water....,
a.k.a. an overview of the discipline of religious studies today

Monday, August 30th:  Half day.

Wednesday, September 1st:  
Paden, Religious Worlds, prefaces+introduction+1-49.

Monday, September 6th:  
Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, chapters 1-2 (pp. 1-48) Includes essays by Olson, Sam Gill, J Z Smith, Gerhart, Wiebe, Miles.

Wednesday, September 8th: 
Mark C. Taylor, "Introduction" and Jonathan Z Smith, "Religion, Religions, Religious" in Critical Terms for Religious Studies, pp. 1-19, 269-284.

Monday, September 13th:
Paden, Religious Worlds, "Worlds", "Myth", "Ritual and Time" (pp. 51-120)

Wednesday, September 15: 
Paden, Religious Worlds, "Gods", "Systems of Purity", "Some Concluding Points", (pp.121-170)
Today, pick the significant figure from religious studies whom you are going to write about in your 5 page critical reading, due September 29th

 

The History of the Discipline of Religious Studies

Monday, September 20th: 
Sharpe, Comparative Religion:  A History, prefaces+chapter 1-3 (pp. 1-71) 

Wednesday, September 22nd: 
Sharpe, Comparative Religion:  A History, chapters 4-6.  (pp. 72-143)

Monday, September 27th: 
Sharpe, Comparative Religion:  A History, chapters 7-10 (pp. 144-250)

Wednesday, September 29th:
Sharpe, Comparative Religion:  A History, chapters 10-13 (251-319)
Your 5 page critical reading of a single significant figure in religious studies is due today.   You can pick from any of the following figures:  
Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Jonathan Z. Smith, Houston Smith, Annemarie Schimmel, Rudolf Otto, William James, Clifford Geertz, Weber, Max Müller, Durkheim, Carl Jung, Levy-Bruhl, Levi-Strauss, Mary Douglas, Mary Daly, Talal Asad, Wendy Doniger.

 

Monday, October 4th:    Fall Break

Approaches to the Study of Religion

Wednesday, October 6th: Animism and Magic (Tylor and Frazer)
Daniel Pals, Seven Theories of Religion, intro+ chapter 1 (Tylor and Frazer). (beginning to page 53); plus Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, chapter 3 (pp. 49-99)

Monday, October 11th: Religion and Personality (Freud)
Daniel Pals, Seven Theories of Religion, chapters 2 (Freud); pp. 54-87; plus Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, chapter 8 (Psychology of Religion); pp. 342-438 [some articles to be assigned]

Wednesday, October 13th:  Society as Sacred (Durkheim)
Daniel Pals, Seven Theories of Religion, chapter 3 (Durkheim); pp. 88-123. Browse Pals, chapter 4 on Marx.  More closely read Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, chapter 6 (Sociology of Religion), pp. 209-237.

Monday, October 18th:  Phenomenology and the Science of Religion
Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, chapter 4 (pp. 100-156).  Focus on Otto, Van der Leeuw and their critics.

 

Wednesday, October 20:  Eliade and his critics
Daniel Pals, Seven Theories of Religion, chapter 5, pp. 158-197; Also read Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane.  1-65.

Monday, October 25th:  Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, 65-232..

Wednesday, October 27th:  Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, chapter 5 (pp. 157-208--you can skip the first Eliade essay as it has already been covered in the Sacred and Profane book.)

Midterm will be handed out here, due back Wednesday November 3rd.
 

Monday, November 1st: work on midterm.

Wednesday, November 3rd:  Anthropological approaches to the study of religion
Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, chapter 7 (pp. 238-341)

Monday, November 8th:  Feminist Perspectives
Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, chapter 10 (pp. 476-547)

Wednesday, November 10th:  Ecological/Biological approaches, plus getting introduced to post-structural approaches to Religion.
Olson, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, chapter9, 11.  (pp. 439-475; 548-595)

Monday, November 15th:  Guest lecture by John Ross Carter.
Mark C. Taylor, Critical Terms for Religious Studies, chapters 1-4 (Belief, Body, Conflict, Culture), pp. 1-93.

Wednesday, November 17th:
Mark C. Taylor, Critical Terms for Religious Studies, chapters 11-13 (Performance, Person, Rationality), pp. 205-255.

Monday, November 22nd:  No class, American Academy of Religion Meeting. 
Instead, read Mark C. Taylor, Critical Terms for Religious Studies, chapters 5-6 [Experience, Gender], pp. 94-135.  We will discuss these chapter on Monday the 29th along with the readings for that day.

Wednesday, November 24th:   No class, Thanksgiving.

Monday, November 29th:  NO class today.

Wednesday, December 1st:  Mark C. Taylor, Critical Terms for Religious Studies, chapters 7 to 10 (God, Image, Liberation, Modernity) pp. 136-204.  [pay close attention to the modernity article]
 

Monday, December 6th:
Mark C. Taylor, Critical Terms for Religious Studies, chapters 14, 16-18 (Relic, Sacrifice, Territory, Time); pp. 256-268, 285-333.

Wednesday, December 8th: 
Mark C. Taylor, Critical Terms for Religious Studies, chapters 19-22 (Transformation, Transgression, Value, Writing); pp. 334-383.
Final handed out as a take home assignment.

 

Useful links:

American Academy of Religion

Gene Thursby's religion meta-page at University of Florida

Theory and Method in the Study of Religion (University of Toronto)


A GUIDE TO WRITING ACADEMIC ESSAYS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES