Weekly Schedule 


WEEK 1: RELIGION (January 7-11)

Monday

  1. Introductions and Course Overview

Wednesday

  1. Mark Lilla, "Getting Religion" in The New York Times Magazine, 2005, pp. 90-5  resources/RELI1lila.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Winston L. King, "Religion" in The Encyclopedia of Religion, 2005, pp. 7692-701  resources/RELIking.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true

Friday

  1. Dogma (Kevin Smith, 1999), 128min  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120655/?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Questions: How does Dogma present "dogma" as a problem?  Does the film offer possible solutions to the problem?  What are some of the similarities and differences between Kevin Smith's film and Mark Lilla's account?  What description of religion do we get from watching Dogma?  Is it surprising in any way?  The film sparked controversy and protests in multiple countries, which postponed its release date--do you find the film offensive in any way?  If so, why, and if not, why do you think others might have?  Do you think Kevin Smith--like Winston King--is trapped by cultural/personal bias in his approach to religion?  What about yourself and your own relationship to dogma, belief and ideas?


WEEK 2: THE SACRED (January 14-18)

Monday

  1. Frederick Streng, "Sacred" in Encyclopedia Britannica Online, 2006  resources/RELI1streng.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true  
  2. Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, 1957, pp. 8-67

Wednesday

  1. S. Brent Plate, Religion and Film: Cinema and the Re-Creation of the World, 2008 pp. vii-x, 1-17, 50-56
  2. Film Vocabulary Guide, pp. 1-7  resources/RELI1FilmVocab.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  3. The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (Wendy Apple, 2004), 98min  [NOTE: Make sure to watch Part 7 of the video by clicking on the appropriate video on the sidebar.  Also, please pay particular attention to the religious references during the first two and a half minutes of Part 4, 6:57-7:17 of Part 5 and 3:40-4:00 of Part 7] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJcQgQHR78Q&list=PLB5500BE354F41C78&temp-new-window-replacement=true

Friday

  1. Baraka (Ron Fricke, 1992), 96min  Information on the film:  http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/baraka?temp-new-window-replacement=true  Link to watch film on-line:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEyguwQalCI&temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Questions: How does Baraka present distinctions between the sacred and the profane?  What elements of film production/editing does Baraka employ in order to tell a story without characters, dialogue and a narrative plot?  (Pay close attention to the use of sound as well as the juxtaposition of image and sound, the use of establishing shots and close-ups, the sequencing of images and pacing in the film).  How is Baraka an example of "world-making"?  What type of world does it create or re-create?  How is it different from the world "as it is" off-screen? 
  3. Response Paper (2 pgs)


WEEK 3: LIBERATION (January 21-25)

Monday

     NO CLASS -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Wednesday

  1. Raymond Williams, "Liberation" in Keywords, 1983, pp. 181-3  resources/RELI1WilliamsLiberation.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Gary W. Trompg, "Utopia" in The Encyclopedia of Religion, pp. 9491-4  resources/RELI1trompf.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  3. Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, pp. 68-113
  4. FILM SCREENING: 2:30-5:00pm Video Library Screening Rooms in Geisel Library

Friday

  1. Into the Wild (Sean Penn, 2007), 148 min  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1&temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Questions: How is Christopher McCandless' decision to go "into the wild" related to the concepts of liberation and utopianism?  What is McCandless attempting to liberate himself from?  What is the root of his resentment towards the society from which he comes?  Is his attempt successful?  How might we consider his decision also as an attempt to enter what Eliade calls "primordial, mythical time" and to access the sacred?  Pay attention to the relationships between characters in the film.  How might they dramatize differences between "the religious man" or a "religious way of being" and more profane ways of living one's life?  Note especially the impact that McCandless has on some of the people he meets during his journey and think about how that is related to this question.
  3. Response Paper (2 pgs)


WEEK 4: FAITH (January 28-February 1)

Monday

  1. S. Brent Plate, Religion and Film, pp. 18-37

Wednesday

  1. Jaroslav Pelikan, "Faith" in The Encyclopedia of Religion, pp. 2954-9  resources/RELI1Pelikan.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, 1843, pp. 9-53, 341-6  resources/RELI1kierkegaardfeartrembling.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  3. FILM SCREENING: 4:00-6:00pm Video Library Screening Rooms in Geisel Library

Friday

  1. Sin Nombre (Cary Fukunaga, 2009) 96 min  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127715/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1&temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Questions: How is faith represented in Sin Nombre: to what degree is faith a factor in the journey of the Hondurans who ride the trains to the United States?  (Think about Kierkegaard's insistence that Abraham could have turned back at any point during his three day journey to Mount Moriah.  Consider the character of Sayra: do you think her decision to protect and then follow Willy/"El Casper" is related to faith?  Does she act as a "knight of infinite resignation," a "knight of faith," or is she simply naive?  If you think she's a knight of infinite resignation or of faith, indicate the moments in the film when she makes the corresponding movements (by noting the particular scenes).  Think about her decision in terms of what the psychic tells her before she undertakes her journey.
  3. Response Paper (2 pgs)


WEEK 5: EXPERIENCE (February 4-8)

Monday

  1. Raymond Williams, "Experience" in Keywords, pp. 126-9  resources/RELI1williamsexperience.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. John Edwin Smith, "Religious Experience" in Encyclopedia Britannica Online  resources/RELI1smith.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  3. Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents, 1930, pp. 35-66  resources/RELI1freud.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true

Wednesday

  1. William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902, pp. 51-70, 301-3  resources/RELI1james.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. FILM SCREENING: 4:00-6:00pm Video Library Screening Rooms in Geisel Library

Friday

  1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004) 108 min  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Questions:  How do experience and memory converge (and diverge) in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?  How does Joel and Clementine's relationship mirror what Freud says about the state of being in love?  How might their relationship be thought of in mystical terms?  CHALLENGE QUESTION: Sigmund Freud and Willilam James meet at a bar.  They start talking about the strange, strained relationship between Joel and Clementine.  Write a dialogue between the two as they discuss the relationship. 
  3. Response Paper (2 pgs)


WEEK 6: RITUAL (February 11-15)

Monday

  1. Evan Z. Zeusse, "Ritual" in The Encyclopedia of Religion, pp. 7833-48  resources/RELI1zeusseritual.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Jonathan Smith, "The Bare Facts of Ritual" in Imagining Religion, pp. 53-65, 143-5  resources/RELI1smithritual.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true

Wednesday

  1. Søren Kierkegaard, "The Unhappiest Man," 1843, pp. 215-28, 452-3 resources/RELI1kierkegaardunhappiest.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. S. Brent Plate, Religion and Film, pp. 38-50, 57-58
  3. FILM SCREENING: 4:00-6:00pm Video Library Screening Rooms in Geisel Library

Friday

  1. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) 101 min  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Questions: How can Phil Conners be understood as an example of Kierkegaard's "unhappiest man?"  How is ritual a solution to his unhappiness?  (Or is it?)  How is Phil's transformation related to Jonathan Smith's theory that ritual deals with the gap between the way things "should be" and the way things really are?
  3. Response Paper (2 pgs)


WEEK 7: COMMUNITY (February 18-22)

Monday

     NO CLASS -- President's Day

Wednesday

  1. Raymond Williams, "Community" in Keywords, pp. 75-6  resources/RELI1williamscommunity.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. George Weckman, "Community" in Encyclopedia of Religion, pp. 1863-8  resources/RELI1weckmancommunity.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  3. Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, 1912  resources/RELI1durkheimcommunity.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  4. FILM SCREENING: 2:00-4:00pm Video Library Screening Rooms in Geisel Library

Friday

  1. Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell, 2006) 101 min  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367027/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1&temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Questions: In what ways can the people who frequent the underground club Shortbus be thought of as a community (in religious terms)?  What roles do a shared sense of the sacred, ritual and effervescence play in maintaining the Shortbus community?  How is the Shortbus community situated in terms of "the social" or "society" found outside the doors of the club?  How does the club function as a space that allows for the creation of a sense of meaning not readily available elsewhere for those involved?
  3. Response Paper (2 pgs)


WEEK 8: SCRIPTURE (February 25-March 1)

Monday

  1. William A. Graham, "Scripture" in The Encyclopedia of Religion, pp. 8194-8202  resources/RELI1grahamscript.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. René Pache, The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture, 1969, pp. 11-24, 279-302  resources/RELI1pachescript.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true

Wednesday

  1. Helen Regueiro Elam, "Textuality" in The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry  resources/RELI1elamscript.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Stanley Fish, "Is There a Text in This Class?" in Is There a Text in This Class?: The Authority of Interpretative Communities, 1980, pp. 305-10  resources/RELI1fishscript.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  3. FILM SCREENING: 4:00-6:00 Video Library Screening Rooms in Geisel Library

Friday

  1. π (Darren Aronofsky, 1998) 85min  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Questions: How does pi dramatize uncertainty about meaning as being either fixed or contextual (think about the film in terms of Pache and Fish in order to address this question)?  What's at stake in Max's quest to unlock the meaning of a 216 digit number?  What's the relationship between the theme of the film and its rather uncomfortable aesthetic?
  3. Response Paper (2 pgs)


WEEK 9: DOUBT (March 4-8)

Monday

  1. Richard Popkin, "Skeptics & Skepticism" in Encyclopedia of Religion, pp. 8420-2  resources/RELI1popkindoubt.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Blaise Pascal, Pensées and Other Writings, 1995, 153-6  resources/RELI1pascaldoubt.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true

Wednesday

  1. Bruce Lincoln, "Theses on Method," 1999, p. 395-8  resources/RELI1lincolndoubt.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. FILM SCREENING: 4:00-6:00pm Video Library Screening Rooms in Geisel Library

Friday

  1. The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967) 106min  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061722/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1&temp-new-window-replacement=true  
  2. Response Paper (2 pgs)


WEEK 10: TRANSGRESSION (March 11-15)

Monday

  1. Jerry Falwell, Listen, America!, 1980, pp. 55-68, 204-216  resources/RELI1falwelltrans.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true
  2. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ, 1895, pp. 24-6, 30-4, 41-4, 77-81  resources/RELI1nietzschetrans.pdf?temp-new-window-replacement=true

Wednesday

  1. S. Brent Plate, Religion and Film, pp. 78-91
  2. FILM SCREENING: 3:30-6:00pm Video Library Screening Rooms in Geisel Library

Friday

  1. Set it Off (F. Gary Gray, 1996) 123 min  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117603/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1&temp-new-window-replacement=true


FINALS WEEK (March 18-22)

Final Exam: Monday, March 18 11:30am-2:30pm









 

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