Western Religions
Humanities 387
Professor David A. Salomon
Black Hills State University
Fall 2003
Office: MH 316
Office Hrs: MTWF 11-11:50, and by appointment
Office Phone: 642-6249
E-mail: davidsalomon@bhsu.edu
The course will introduce you to a range of ways humans experience and describe the sacred. We will seek to understand the religious traditions and not to criticize or evaluate truth claims. In religious studies we do not seek to credit or discredit claims–we seek to study them. This will involve much reflection on your part, especially if and when we touch on issues you feel strongly about. But, in order to be successful, you will need to treat these religions as if they were microbes on a slide under a microscope; you have no vested interest in the microbe but are only there to study it. Proselytization, preaching, or evangelizing will be strictly forbidden, and you are asked to respect the beliefs and ideas of others in the course.
This course is an academic examination of the three major religious traditions of the Western world: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This is not a course in comparative religion; our goal is not to compare these traditions to each other or to others. We will, however, explore each tradition in some depth, looking at the history, doctrine, and ritual of each. This will bring us to look at the history of the regions where these religions were born and glance at the archeological evidence we have for their origins. So much of what the West terms "culture" can be traced to these three faiths, but we will first discuss why we (erroneously?) refer to the three as "Western" religions. Along the way we will touch on symbolism, a little art and music, and discuss the major influences these religions have had on our world. The course will begin with a short introduction to methods of religious studies. The readings are ambitious, and the course texts contain much helpful and informative information that we will not get to in class discussion. The texts have also been chosen to be your first reference source in writing papers.
Course Requirements:
Texts: (all are available at the BHSU bookstore and at amazon.com):
Required
Optional (but recommended)
Attendance: Students are expected to attend class regularly. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class meeting. If you miss more than four class meetings, you will fail the course. Lateness will have a similar effect. If you are sick or have an emergency which forces you to miss more than two consecutive classes, call the Office of Student Affairs and let them know. This way, they will contact all of your instructors, and you might not be held accountable for those absences. Don't disappear for two weeks and then reappear, expecting everything to be all right.
N.B. Papers are to be double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font. Papers must be handed in on time. Papers handed in late will receive a one grade deduction for each class/meeting it is late. If deadlines weren’t important, they wouldn’t begin with "dead." Since this is an upper level class, there are certain reasonable expectations about your ability to write essays and papers in a scholarly manner. Any work that is turned in must be well-researched, properly-documented, spell-checked, proofread, grammatically correct, and compositionally sound. Noteworthy and irritating lapses in writing will affect grades. Issues that arise should be dealt with in one of three ways: through consultation of a grammar or style handbook such as A Writer’s Reference; through consultation with the instructor; or through consultation with the on-campus Writing Center.
Academic Honesty: Plagiarism is the theft of someone else's ideas and work. Whether a student copies verbatim or simply rephrases the ideas of another without properly acknowledging the source, the theft is the same. In the preparation of work submitted to meet course requirements, whether a draft or a final version of a paper, project, or computer program, students must take great care to distinguish their own ideas and language from information derived from sources. Sources include published primary and secondary materials, the Internet, and information and opinions gained directly from other people. Whenever ideas or facts are derived from a student's reading and research, the sources must be properly cited. In addition to submitting a hard copy of your paper in class on the date due, you must, by noon of the day a paper is due, upload a copy of your paper to turnitin.com.
It is the student's responsibility to learn the proper forms of citation according to standards delineated by Black Hills State University. Students who have questions about the standards of scholarly writing should speak with their instructors before beginning research on assigned papers and projects. Violations include, at the discretion of the instructor, failure for the individual paper to failure for the course; such violations may be entered in the student’s permanent academic record, and upon multiple offenses the Dean may recommend expulsion from the University.
Special Accommodation: Reasonable accommodations, as arranged with the disabilities coordinator, will be provided for students with documented disabilities. Please contact the BHSU Disabilities Services Coordinator at 642-6099.
Getting in touch: You can always reach me by e-mail. I check it several times a day. My e-mail address is davidsalomon@bhsu.edu. Please do not abuse e-mail with excuses ("I won’t be in class today") but do use e-mail for questions and advice.
The World Wide Web (WWW) address for this class is http://www.bhsu.edu/artssciences/asfaculty/dsalomon/hum387/fall2003/
At this site you will find helpful links for materials we will cover in the course, as well as a copy of this syllabus and course assignments. It will be updated occasionally. The links provided at this page are for reference purposes only; as we will discuss, online sources (exclusive of online journal articles) are not admissible as sources for papers. You will need, especially for the longer paper, to use Interlibrary Loan services for your research. The BH Library holdings in religion are getting better, but they are still lacking.
Grading Guidelines: If you are enrolled in the course to get a grade, drop now. Education is about more than grades. Unfortunately, grades are a necessary evil. Your work will be graded on a scale from A to F with pluses and minuses. Although BHSU does not use pluses and minuses in semester grades, I believe they are helpful in evaluation throughout the semester. If, at the end of the semester, your grade is teetering between two grades, attendance and class participation become important factors. You must submit all required work to pass the course.
A range: The work is extraordinary. It has said something different or is conceived in an interesting and unusual way. Written work is virtually free of errors in writing or fact. Conventionally, an "A" means the work is perfect.
B range: The work is above average. It presents the material more than competently and is well-written and well-organized.
C range: The work is average. Written work might have some problems in construction, grammar, or conception. Organizational problems may also be present as may some misunderstandings of the texts or topics.
D range: The work is below average. Written work probably has serious problems in grammar and organization. It might show severe misunderstandings of the texts or topics.
F: The work is failing. Written work probably has severe problems in basic grammar and shows little or no understanding of the texts or topics. Note: a grade of F is an earned grade and will not be awarded if work is not submitted or completed (that type of performance "earns" a 0).