RELG 4320
Clayton Crockett Spring
Semester 2006
Email: ClaytonC@uca.edu
Office Hours: MWF 10-11, 12-1,
Office: Harrin 128 Tu
9-11; Th 11-1.
Phone: 450-5506
Contemporary Religious Thought
“And perhaps that is where we find the stake
of today’s reference to ‘culture,’ of ‘culture’ emerging as the central
life-world category. When it comes to religion, for example, we no longer
‘really believe’ today, we just follow (some) religious rituals and mores as
part of respect for the ‘lifestyle’ of the community to which we belong...‘culture’
is the name for all those things we practice without really believing in them,
without ‘taking them seriously….And is this not also why we dismiss
fundamentalist believers as ‘barbarians,’ as anticultural, as a threat to
culture—they dare to take their beliefs
seriously?”
Slavoj
Zizek, The Puppet and the Dwarf
Course Description: This course examines philosophical and theological
issues concerning contemporary religion and culture. We will focus mainly on
cutting-edge theoretical works published in this century.
Course Goals: Students will become aware of the importance
of philosophical and theoretical debates over the nature of religion, and their
implications for contemporary culture. The course will stress theoretical tools
of interpretation over basic assimilation of information. Students will gain
skills of critical thinking, interpretation, and application of important contemporary
developments, controversies and debates.
Course Overview: The course will focus on contemporary
sources and debates. To start off the course, we will read an influential essay
by Walter Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History,” which will serve to frame
the course. Then we will read selected essays by Judith Plaskow, an influential
Jewish-feminist theologian. Next we will read a book by Slavoj Zizek, a
Slovenian philosopher and cultural theorist, called The Puppet and the Dwarf, which takes its title from a part of
Benjamin’s essay. Then we will read an essay by the French philosopher, Jacques
Derrida, “Rams,” a funeral address delivered for the German philosopher
Hans-George Gadamer, and published shortly before Derrida’s death in 2004. Finally,
we will read a book by an Italian philosopher, Giorgio Agamben, The Time that Remains, that serves as a
commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, but also makes reference to
Benjamin’s essay.
Required Texts:
Walter Benjamin, Illuminations
Judith Plaskow, The Coming of Lilith
Slavoj Zizek, The Puppet and the Dwarf
Jacques Derrida, Sovereignties in Question
Giorgio Agamben, The Time that Remains
Course
Requirements:
20% Participation. Students are required to attend class and participate in discussions.
Students will read and discuss primary and secondary sources dealing with contemporary philosophical reflection about religion. Each student will turn in a one-page written response to each class day’s scheduled reading assignment, as assigned in the syllabus. These papers will be read but not individually graded, although they will help determine the quality and quantity of participation in the class. Anyone who misses more than 12 classes will risk automatically failing the course.
60% Response Papers. Students will write three 4-5 page papers, focusing on a central theme of Plaskow, Zizek and Derrida, respectively. Each paper is due on the date assigned on the course syllabus, and late papers will not be accepted without prior permission. These papers should combine descriptive analysis and critical evaluation. Papers should have a narrow focus; a thesis and theme that undergoes development and draws a significant conclusion. Possible themes will be suggested in class. Each response paper is worth 20% of the final grade.
20% Seminar Paper. Students will write and turn in a
seminar paper (approx. 8-14 pages), due in instructor’s mailbox (Philosophy and
Religion Dept., 224 Harrin Hall) or office (128 Harrin) on or before the end of
the day scheduled by the registrar for the final exam, which is Monday, May 1. Although this is not intended primarily as a
research paper, it must include at least one outside source, and all
sources must be cited. The seminar paper should deeply engage an issue or theme
of the course and develop it in a coherent and thoughtful manner. The seminar
paper may be developed out of one or more of the response papers, but should
engage at least two of the readings we have done during the semester. Criteria
for grading include clarity and depth of thought, consistency and style of
writing and overall creativity. The seminar paper is worth 20% of the final
grade.
Participation: 20%
3 Essays: 60% (20% each)
Seminar Paper: 20%
Total: 100%
Grade scale:
A = 90-100%
B = 80-89%
C = 70-79%
D = 60-69%
F = below 60%
Each student is expected to do his or her own work. Any form of academic dishonesty or plagiarism may result in anything from an "F" for the particular assignment, to an "F" for the course, to expulsion from the university (see Student Handbook).
The
Students are responsible to familiarize themselves with the policies listed in the Student Handbook. Special attention should be given to the Sexual Harassment and Academic Policies.
F
1/13 Introduction to the course.
Syllabus.
M
1/16 No Class: Martin Luther King, Jr.
W
1/18 Orientation to Contemporary
Religious Thought: What is Religion in the World Today?
F
1/20 Introduction to Benjamin: the
Problem of History in the 20th Century.
Read “Theses on the Philosophy of
History.”
M 1/23 Benjamin, continued: Messianic Time.
1-page response to “Theses on the
Philosophy of History” due.
W 1/25 Introduction to Plaskow.
Read The Coming of Lilith, Foreword, Introduction, pp.1-19.
F
1/27 Toward a Jewish Feminist Theology.
Read Plaskow, Part. I, essays 1 and
6, pp.23-32, 81-86.
1-page response due.
M
1/30 Identities and Experience.
Read Plaskow, Part I, essays 2-3,
pp.35-55.
1-page response due.
W 2/1 The Question of Theology.
Read Plaskow, Part I, essays 4-5,
pp.56-80.
1-page response due.
F 2/3 Judaism and Christianity: Anti-Judaism and
Anti-Semitism.
Read Plaskow, Part II, essays 1-4,
pp.89-113.
1-page response due.
M 2/6 God.
Read Plaskow, Part III, essays 1-4,
pp.121-127.
1-page response due.
W 2/8 Feminism and Men.
Read Plaskow, Part III, essays 5-10,
pp.138-162.
1-page response due.
F
2/10 Sexuality and Tradition.
Read Plaskow, Part IV, essays 1, 3,
pp.165-177, 193-205.
M
2/13 Psychoanalysis from Freud to Lacan.
W
2/15 Introduction to Zizek.
Read The Puppet and the Dwarf,
Introduction, pp.3-10.
*4-5 page essay on The Coming of Lilith due Feb. 15.
F
2/17 Monotheism vs. Western Buddhism.
Read Zizek, Chapter 1, pp.13-33.
1-page response due.
M
2/20 Orthodoxy and Perversion.
Read Zizek, Chapter 2, pp.35-57.
1-page response due.
W
2/22 Passion for the Real.
Read Zizek, Chapter 3, pp.59-91
1-page response due.
F
2/24 Love and Law.
Read Zizek, Chapter 4, pp.93-121.
1-page response due.
M
2/27 Pause/Interruption.
Catch up and catch our breath.
W 3/1 Subtraction.
Read Zizek, Chapter 5, pp.123-143.
1-page response due.
F 3/3 No
Class.
M 3/6 Introduction to Derrida. Differance.
W 3/8 Derrida and Deconstruction.
Read “Rams,” pp.135-136.
*4-5 page essay on The Puppet and the Dwarf due March 8.
F
3/10 Dialogue and Deconstruction:
Derrida and Gadamer.
Read “Rams,” I, pp.136-140.
1-page response due.
M
3/13 Gadamer and Celan.
Read “Rams,” II, pp.140-147.
1-page response due.
W
3/15 Die Welt ist fort, ich muß dich
tragen.
Read “Rams,” III, pp.147-153.
1-page response due.
F
3/17 The Ram.
Read “Rams,” IV, pp.153-159.
1-page response due.
M 3/20 – F
3/24 No Class: Spring Break.
M
3/27 Points of Passage.
Read “Rams,” V, pp.159-163.
1-page response due.
W
3/29 Derrida, Conclusions.
Read “The Truth that Wounds,”
pp.164-169.
F 3/31 The
Contemporary Relevance of
M 4/3 Introduction to Agamben. Homo Sacer.
*4-5 page essay on “Rams” due April
3.
W 4/5 Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
Read Romans, any biblical translation.
1-page response due.
F 4/7 The First Day.
Read Agamben, pp.1-18.
1-page response due.
M 4/10 The
Second Day.
Read Agamben, pp.19-43.
1-page response due.
W
4/12 The Third Day.
Read Agamben, pp.44-58.
1-page response due.
F
4/14 The Fourth Day.
Read Agamben, pp.59-87.
1-page response due.
M
4/17 The Fifth Day.
Read Agamben, pp.88-112.
1-page response due.
W
4/19 The Sixth Day.
Read Agamben, pp.113-137.
1-page response due.
F
4/21 Interruption, Another Pause to
Catch up, Catch our breath.
M
4/24 Threshold.
Read Agamben, pp.138-145.
1-page response due.
W 4/26
Conclusions.
FINAL
SEMINAR PAPER DUE Monday May 1 by
4:30pm.