299 – Theoretical Perspectives on the Study of Religion

Monday 1:30-4 , Fall 2022
Gest 101

Ken Koltun-Fromm
Haverford College
Gest 201
610-896-1026 (office)
Coffee hours: Monday 12:30-1:30
kkoltunf@haverford.edu

Summary

This class will explore how scholars have engaged the study of religion as both a theoretical concern and a methodological, scholarly practice. We will ask: what is religion, and how can we study it? How have anthropologists, sociologists, historians, philosophers, and others tried to isolate and study religion and religious phenomena? We will also grapple with issues of gender and race in the study of religion, and the ways that texts and their religious interpreters highlight or obscure those issues. Each week we will discuss texts that open up these questions from within different theoretical and methodological positions, and within different traditions. The goal of the course is to broaden and deepen our conversation about the scope and method of religious studies, and to appropriate that dialogue within our research.

Requirements

Attendance, Engagement, and Participation (25% of final grade):

The success of this course depends on all of us actively participating in class discussion. You are expected to attend class and to participate in discussions that reflect close readings of assigned material and careful listening and response to others. Other modes of engagement in the course include stopping by my coffee hours before class to talk about the course, attending lectures or other events on religious studies, and posting to the course Moodle page.

Reading Notes (25% of final grade):

Every Monday you should come to class with a set of “reading notes” on that day’s assigned readings. The notes should include the following: 1) 3-5 sentences on the main arguments and concerns in the assigned readings; 2) a few examples that highlight those arguments and concerns; and 3) 1-2 questions that you have about the readings (including key terms that you aren’t sure you understand yet). You will hand in your reading notes at the end of class and I will grade them on a credit/no credit basis, returning them to you at the beginning of the next class. No reading notes are due September 26, November 28, and December 5, and you may use one “pass” at any point during the semester.

Close Textual Analysis Paper (20% of final grade):

You will write a short paper (3-4 pages, double spaced, 12-pt font, 1” margins on all sides) due September 26th in which you will offer a close textual analysis of a passage from one of the assigned texts from the first three classes with readings. Details will be discussed in class.

Final Paper (30% of final grade):

Your final paper (approx. 8-10 pages, double spaced, 12-pt font, 1” margins on all sides) will make a thematic argument by offering careful textual analysis from  3-4 texts read in class. Details will be discussed in class.

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I am committed to working with you on your academic and intellectual journey, and welcome the opportunity to discuss with you any academic stresses or concerns.  If you are experiencing challenges or questions related to emotional health, finances, physical health, relationships, learning strategies or differences, or other potential stressors, I hope you will consider reaching out to the many resources available on campus. These resources include CAPS (free and unlimited counseling is available), the Office of Academic Resources, Health Services, Professional Health Advocate, Religious and Spiritual Life, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the GRASE Center, and the Dean’s Office.  Additional information can be found at https://www.haverford.edu/deans-office-student-life/offices-resources.

If you have (or think you have) a learning difference or disability–including mental health, medical, or physical impairment–please contact the Office of Access and Disability Services (ADS) at hc-ads@haverford.edu. The Director will confidentially discuss the process to establish reasonable accommodations, and it is never too late to request accommodations.

Students who have already been approved to receive academic accommodations and want to use their accommodations in this course should share their accommodation letter and make arrangements to meet with me as soon as possible to discuss how their accommodations will be implemented in this course. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive and require advance notice in order to successfully implement.

If, at any point in the semester, a disability or personal circumstances affect your learning in this course, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

It is a state law in Pennsylvania that individuals must be given advance notice that they may be recorded. Therefore, any student who has a disability-related need to audio record this class must first be approved for this accommodation from the Director of Access and Disability Services and then must speak to me. Other class members need to be aware that this class may be recorded.

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Syllabus (All readings are available for download from the course Moodle page)

Monday, August 29: Introduction

Monday, September 5 (Labor Day, no class)

Wednesday, September 7 (7:30-10) : What is at stake in Religion?

Jonathon Kahn, “When the Westboro Baptist Church Came to Vassar College,” 1-34
Robert Orsi, Between Heaven and Earth, 1-18
Bruce Lincoln, “Theses on Method,” 1-3

Monday, September 12: How should we study and teach Religion?

Jonathan Z. Smith, “Religion, Religions, Religious,” 179-196
Kathryn Lofton, “Review of Jonathan Z. Smith, On Teaching Religion,” 531-542
Dipesh Chakrabarty, “Minority Histories, Subaltern Pasts,” 97-113

Monday, September 19: Resisting Religion

Albert Raboteau, “Religion, Rebellion, and Docility,” 289-318
Saba Mahmood, “The Subject of Freedom” and “Agency, Gender, and Embodiment,” from  Politics of Piety, 1-39, 153-188

Monday, September 26: No class

Close textual reading paper due

Monday, October 3: Experiencing Religion

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, lectures 2, 4-7
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents, chapters 3 and 5
Jonathan Lear, “Morality and Religion,” 192-219

Fall Break

Monday, October 17 – Religion and Society

Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, 3-46 (Introduction, and Book 1, chapter 1), 255-260 (Book III, Chapter 2, Section V), 322-327 (Conclusion, Section II)
Kathryn Lofton, “Binge Religion,” 17-33

Monday, October 24 – Race and Religion

Monday, October 31 – Gender and Religion

Delores Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness, chapters 4-5
Amina Wadud, Qur’an and Women, 1-28
Phyllis Trible, “Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation,” 30-48

Monday, November 7 – Ethnographies of Religion

Leela Prasad, Poetics of Conduct, 1-23
Kirin Narayan, “How Native is a ‘Native’ Anthropologist,” 671-686
Mary Douglas, “Deciphering a Meal,” 61-81

Monday, November 14- Where is Religion?

Elizabeth Pérez, Religion in the Kitchen, Introduction, Chapter 2, and Chapter 4
Thomas Tweed, “On Moving Across,” 253-277
Talal Asad, “The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category,” 27-54

Monday, November 21

Student Selections

Thursday, November 24 (Thanksgiving)

Monday, November 28 – Presentation of Final Papers

Reconfiguring the syllabus: bring two-three texts together for a discussion about religion that were not paired within the syllabus. These texts, and the conversation among them, should form the basis of your final paper. We will workshop and offer constructive criticism for each presentation.

Monday, December 5 – Presentation of Final Papers

Reconfiguring the syllabus: bring two-three texts together for a discussion about religion that were not paired within the syllabus. These texts, and the conversation among them, should form the basis of your final paper. We will workshop and offer constructive criticism for each presentation.