Sociology of Religion - Syllabus
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Soc. 2600-Sociology of Religion Syllabus Dr. Lawrence McGarry
GHIS 6806 Seminar on Globalization and Religion - Syllabus
Comparative Religion Syllabus
Department: Department of Mathematics, Sciences and Humanities
http://www3.nu.edu/schools/SOAS/DOMSH/
courses/PHL320syllabus.html
Course Description: A survey of major world religions including Hinduism,
Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Also discusses
contemporary religious movements and attitudes. May involve work in oral history.
Course Goals: This course is designed to provide students with a basic
understanding of the different traditions of the major world religions and to address some
of the major questions that concern humanity, such as, "Who am I?" "Where
do I come from?" and "What am I here for?" Students explore their own
religious traditions, and by doing so, better understand how their religious traditions
differs from those of others. Students explore issues including, good and evil, faith,
reason, intuition and experience, life death and afterlife, character, ethics, purpose.
Student Outcomes: By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Understand the place of one's religious tradition in relation to the other religious
traditions studied.
2. Understand how, in the Abrahamic tradition, personal identity is tied into beliefs
about God.
3. Build tolerance for people of other religious traditions through understanding those
traditions.
4. Understand how religious beliefs impact the different social systems of major cultures
5. Identify the different ways of understanding and experiencing the divine.
6. Evaluate theories and problems related to their historical, social, cultural
perspective in the context of the society's particular religious tradition.
7. To understand how monotheism informs beliefs about individualism and free will.
8. Understand how the differences between a "personal" and an
"impersonal" God inform understandings.
9. Understand how egoism (ensoulment) or conceiving of "no-soul" informs
understandings of the world.
10. Understand the consequent emphasis of valuing the contributions of the members of
societies as a whole in many of the eastern religions, in contrast to individualism in the
west, because of varying religious perspectives.
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Course Content:
1. Judaism and Monotheism, the nature of Yaweh, meaning, freedom, the chosen people, what
it is to be Jewish.
2. Christianity and Jesus as revolutionary, exorcist, prophet, Son of God. The atonement
and the resurrection.
3. Catholicism and theology, the trinity, the church as the body of Christ, the
Sacraments.
4. Islam and the life of Mohammed, the five pillars, the nature of Allah, the problem of
determinism.
5. Hinduism and The Bhagavad-Gita, The Vedas, The Upanishads, religion and the caste
system, life as illusion, reincarnation, karma, the nature of Brahman.
6. Buddhism and Life of the Buddha Gotama, life as suffering, the Four Noble Truths, The
Eightfold Path, nirvana, no soul, dependent origination, Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism,
Zen Buddhism.
7. Taoism and The Tao Te Ching, Philosophical Taoism, Religious Taoism, Meditative Taoism,
wu wei (non-action), yin/yang, being, non-being.
Course Outline:
Material may be presented by region or theme. The following is an example of an outline
based on theme
Unit 1: The Major Monotheistic Religions:
Module 1: Judaism
Module 2: Christianity
Module 3: Catholicism
Module 4: Islam
Unit Paper Due, Midterm
Unit 2: The Major Pantheistic and Non-theistic Religions
Module 1: Hinduism
Module 2: Buddhism
Module 3: Taoism
Module 4: Confucianism
Bibliography:
Ahmed, Akbar S. Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society. New York:
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988.
Blofeld, John. The Road to Immortality. Boston: Shambhala, 1985.
Bopp, Julie and Micheal Bopp, Twin Lakes, WI.: Lotus Light Publications, 1989.
Borg, Marcus. Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1994.
Buber, Martin. Meetings. La Salle: Open Court Publishing Company, 1973.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1949.
Chan, Wing-Tsit , Translater and Compiler. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1963.
Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters. Trans. Gia-fu Feng and Jane English. New York: Vintage, 1974.
Comte, Fernand. Sacred Writings of World Religions. New York: Chambers Encyclopedia
Guides, 1992.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. The Evolving Self. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.
Dermenghem, Emile. Muhammad and the Islamic Tradition. Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press,
1981.
Easwran, Eknath God Makes the Rivers Flow. Tomales: Nilgiri Press, 1991.
Eliade, Mircea. A History of Religious Ideas. 3 vols. Trans. Willard R. Trask. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Evans-Wentz, W. Y., ed. The Tibetan Book of the Dead. 3rd ed. London: Oxford University
Press, 1957.
Fedotov, G. P. The Russian Religious Mind. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1960.
.
Finegan, Jack. The Archaeology of World Religions: The Background of Primitivism,
Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, Islam, and
Sikhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952.
Guillaumont, A., Trans. The Gospel of Thomas. New York: Harper & Row, 1959.
Hall, Manly P. The Mystical Christ. Los Angeles: Philosophical Research Society, 1993.
Hanh, Thich Nhat. Living Buddha, Living Christ. New York: G.P. Putman, 1995.
Harner, Michael. The Way of the Shaman. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990.
Hildegard of Bingen. Mystical Writings. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1992.
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. 1902; New
York: Modern Library, 1936.
Lingerman, Hal A. Life Streams - Meditation and Music, Wheaton, Micheal Lindfield, the
Dance of Change (Ecoscience And Spirituality). New York: Arkana Press, 1986.
McDannell, Colleen & Bernhard Lang. Heaven: A History. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1988.
Moody, Raymond. Coming Back. New York: Bantam Books, 1992.
Newhouse, Flower A. The Drama of Incarnation. Escondido: The Christward Ministry, 1948.
Nigosian, Solomon. Islam: The Way of Submission. Great Britain: Crucible, 1987.
Osmen, Sarah Ann. Sacred Places. New York: St. Martin''s Press, 1990.
Palmquist, Stephan Biblical Theocracy. Hong Kong: China Philosophy Press, 1993.
Payne, Robert. The History of Islam. New York: Dorset Press, 1990.
Picard, Max. The World of Silence. South Bend: Gateway Editions, 1952.
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli and Charles A Moore, Editors. A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy.
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1957.
Reps, Paul, and Nyogen Senzaki. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen
Writings. New York: Anchor Books, 1961.
Robinson, James, Ed. Nag Hammadi Library. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1978.
Sparrow, G. Scott. I Am With You Always. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.
Stassinopoulos, Arianna. The Gods of Greece. New York: Harry Abrams Publishers, 1983.
Strong, James. Strong''s Concordance. New York: Abingdon Press, 1973.
Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1970.
The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui-Neng. Trans. A. F. Price and Wong Mou-lam. Boston:
Shambhala, 1990.
Tao Te Ching. Trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
The Koran. Trans. N.J. Dawood. 5th rev. ed. New York: Penguin, 1990.
The Rig Veda: An Anthology. Trans. Wendy O’Flaherty. New York: Penguin, 1981.
The I Ching or Book of Changes. Trans. Richard Wilhelm and Cary F Baynes. New York:
Princeton University Press, 1980.
Tzu, Lao. Tao Te Ching. Translated by Archie Bahm. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing
Company, 1971.
Soc. 2600-Sociology of
Religion Dr. Lawrence McGarry
As a sociology course, unlike religion courses, no assumption can (or will) be made, or
any conclusions drawn, concerning the validity of any religion, or of religion in general.
However, we do investigate the reasonableness of religious belief. This is done in accord
with a sociological approach, i.e., an analysis of the relationship between the beliefs
(motivations for behavior)-secular and religious-coexisting in societal life, and how
these can affect one another. Following this, we explore the affect of societal secular
ideas on the ideas of religions, and vice-versa. We concentrate on the former since this
affect is little, if at all, generally known or considered.
GHIS
6806 Seminar on Globalization and Religion - New School University. José
Casanova
The first part of the seminar will serve as a forum for the critical reading of theories
of globalization and for a discussion of the main contemporary debates. Particular
attention will be given to the role of religion in processes of globalization and
antiglobalization. Topics critically examined will include fundamentalism; the world
religions and the clash of civilizations; and universal human rights, cosmopolitanism, and
the constitution of global imagined communities. The second and greater part of the
seminar will be dedicated to the presentation and discussion of student papers and
research projects on topics related to the seminar.
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